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Sensing Pine and a Force Disturbance

Christmas brings forth a lot of familiar scents. The crisp and cool air, various foods and treats, and the ever popular scent of pine. Yes, our wreaths and Christmas trees give off an aroma so intoxicating, a joyous yule tide fills our homes and eliminates pet odors, assuming you have any. It is the noteworthy symbol of the proverbial most wonderful time of the year.

But in baseball, pine takes on a different meaning. If your a player that has to end up "riding" it, you are missing out on the action by having to sit out of the lineup. Should any smells arise from the bench, they are usually not very good in nature. Overall, it is a terrible thing for a player to have to endure.

Unfortunately, for your people's champion and mine, Evan Gattis may have to do it a little more often than he or the fans would like in 2017. Why, you ask? Well, the Houston Astros signed free agent outfielder and DH, Carlos Beltran. Who, ironically enough, used to be on the team back when the Astros made it to their first World Series appearance in 2005. He was even a former teammate of skipper A.J. Hinch, and is destined to provide some more veteran leadership to this young Astros team.

That also means, however, that at the age of 40, he may be seeing most of his play as the DH. That may not bode too well for El Oso Blanco making it to the Opening Day roster. But certainly not to a point where it warranted THIS happening shortly after the signing:



That's right, ladies and gentlemen! Even after the Astros already picked up Evan Gattis' 2017 $5.2 million option, there had to be a barrage of trade rumors swirling around the old mill. I, of course, couldn't let such uneducated, ignorant and blatantly disrespectful talk circulate without offering my counterpoint response to it:
I had some pretty strong words for Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe on twitter as well. As I said, I will contain such mindsets of Evan Gattis being expendable like an epidemic. You get or have the bear, you keep him. Pure and simple! Boston doesn't have the pitching or the catching core to even make any kind of remotely reasonable offer to the Astros. Rarely ever would a team pick up a club option on a player and then trade him away.

Especially, not 24 hours after he does an autograph signing for the team at Minute Maid Park's annual "Home Plate for the Holidays" event. Here are some highlights below:
 Dec 3
Dominic said and are his favorite players now 😂😍
 
1 reply3 retweets14 likes

Thankfully, MLB reporter, Brian McTaggart dispelled such talk of trading the Big White Bear later on in the day yesterday:
There was also this quote from Carlos Beltran himself that McTaggart got wind of yesterday during the newly signed player's press conference:

"I expressed myself to A.J., saying that I would love to be in the outfield here and there," Beltran said. "I think it will keep me in the game, but at the end of the day, I understand A.J. will be the manager, and he will put the best lineup out there to make it work, so he has every day a good, competitive lineup. If I'm a DH and I get the opportunity to play a little left or a little right, I'm fine with that."

Some terrific words from a team leader such as Beltran. A good bat to have around that doesn't mean sacrificing Evan Gattis to another team. And I trust the cleverly nicknamed "Taggs" more than anyone else on the matter, because he is actually in much closer proximity to the baseball GM Winter Meetings currently underway near Washington D.C.

For the next 3 days, free agent signings, trades and the ever anticipated Rule 5 draft will rework rosters all across the league. While I can't be too careful after what happened in Atlanta, I still believe that, different from John Hart, that Jeff Lunhow would not do something as impulsive as selling Evan Gattis off. Stranger things have happened before, and I have to keep being vigilant until Spring Training starts, at the very least.

But for now, I can at least breathe a sigh of relief knowing that El Oso Blanco is in Houston to stay. Which is exactly how he and the fan base wants it. He'll get a lion's, or I should say BEAR's, share of the catching starts behind his former and newly reunited teammate, Brian McCann. AND they both are going to hit for some serious pop for the Astros catching core in 2017. I see playing time from skipper Hinch's roster looking a little something like THIS, give or take:

Brian McCann: 90 games at C (360 AB's), 30 games at DH (120 AB's), 42 days off.
Carlos Beltran: 80 games at DH (320 AB's), 40 games at LF (160 AB's), 42 days off.
Evan Gattis: 72 games at C (298 AB's), 50 games at DH (200 AB's), 40 days off.

That is, of course, assuming that none of these players sustain any injuries. Heaven forbid that happens, but these playing time splits are completely doable. This kind of "Force" needs to remain in balance, especially with that new movie about to come out soon. And yes, I don't care who knows I'm a Star Wars geek! Most of us are anyways, whether we want to admit it or not.

Original Photo Credit: Rick Yeatts of Getty Images

Evan Gattis still finds some fans' lack of faiths disturbing!!!!

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Location: Fort Worth, TX, USA

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