Houston Astros: Chirinos signing underwhelming but provides interesting twist

The Houston Astros bolstered their catching position by signing veteran catcher Robinson Chirinos and former Texas Ranger to a one year deal.

The Houston Astros bolstered their catching position by signing veteran catcher Robinson Chirinos to a one year deal, according to Astros beat writer Brian McTaggart. Chirinos, whose career started in 2011, has played with the in-state rival Texas Rangers for the past six seasons.

Last year, with the Rangers he hit .222,18 home runs with 65 RBI’s (both career highs). His slugging percentage was .419 with an OPS of .757. Behind the plate, he just threw out 10% of all baserunners last year compared to 25% of all baserunners for his career.

He will join fellow Astros Max Stassi and Garrett Stubbs on the Astros 40 man roster. Chirinos replaces Brian McCann who signed with his hometown Atlanta Braves in November. Astros veteran catcher Martin Maldonaldo is a free agent and there have been no reports of where he will sign.

I know McCann had an awful year last year (.212 BA, 7 home runs, 23 RBI) with the occasional McCannonball, thanks, Geoff Blum. Maldonado turned out to be a pretty excellent trade but the organization may have soured on him after he fell of the map defensively in the playoffs, which is his main calling card.

I’ll be honest, I’m quite underwhelmed with this signing. I just think the Houston Astros could have done so much better shoring up the catcher spot with someone with a little more pop in his bat, We could have used more offense from our catcher at times during last year.

I know this completely goes against the “Astroball” approach, but spend a little more money and get someone like Wilson Ramos. Ramos is also more known for his offensive skills rather than his defensive chops, similarly to Chirinos. However, he produces more evenly across the board and ranks better as a defender.

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I think if the Astros can get a dynamite catcher who can not only hit but throw, the Astros will be that much more dangerous offensively and defensively, especially since we are trying to go after another World Series ring.

An interesting twist to this is Stassi. This could indicate that the team is really confident in Stassi and his elite pitch framing. They could also be banking on his offensive game to be more consistent than it was last year. If they think this happens, Chirinos could be quite the compliment and a pretty good pinch hitter in Minute Maid Park.

Regardless, Jeff Luhnow and company must see something in Chirinos that I clearly don’t see, but that’s why they run the team and I don’t. I just have to trust Luhnow’s decision making and hopefully, it’ll work out for the Astros.

Chirinos is a career .233 hitter and has launched 68 career home runs and driven in 204 runs all while in a part-time role with the Rangers. It’ll be interesting to see how the Houston Astros utilize Chirinos and what their exact plans are.