Chas McCormick's mysterious eye issues may be better IF you believe the Astros. I don't believe what teams say and pay attention to what they do.
The Astros are saying it is now McCormick's BACK that is keeping him out.
Here is a theory. Did Chas suffer a concussion or something that is now affecting his eyes and/or his back on THIS play? This happened on April 12th. He was pulled from the next game on April 14th in the third inning and has not played since. Something to think about.
Today, they sent Chas to the IL. The Astros called up Rylan Bannon to take his place on the 26-man active roster. Why Bannon you may ask.
The Astros have 18 position players on their 40-man roster. Now three of those are on the IL (Altuve, Brantley, and McCormick).
With Dubon CAPABLE of playing CF (it's debatable how well), The Astros needed to add a CF OR a player that could play a reasonable 2B so that Dubon could be used in CF.
THE ONLY options for promotion to the Astros from the players on the 40-man are:
Korey Lee- The Astros are NOT going to add a fourth catcher
Joe Perez- Perez is a 1B/3B position player and not a 2B
Rylan Bannon- Has played 135 games at 2B in MiLB and 2 innings for the Brarves at 2B last year. Also, can play 3B (26 innings at 3B for Baltimore last year.
Bannon was essentially the only option the Astros had without dropping someone from the 40-man. They are telling us with their actions that they do not think Chas will be out long enough to even consider DFAing someone.
The Astros added Bannon off of waivers on 12/2/22. The Astros were Bannon's third team this off-season. He is probably the MLB definition of replacement level. That is NOT a slam. He is another utility player the Astros love to have for such a time as this. He turns 27 in four days so he is not extremely young. Fangraphs projects him to hit 88 WRC+ and to be a decent fielder.
We shall see if Dubon splits time with Meyers in CF and if Hensley is slotted in at 2B. I suspect Bannon will be there much like Salazar is. He will be the last IF used regularly.
Let me know if you have questions.
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