WTH 25-Man Roster

The 15th player selected to the What the Heck 25-Man Roster was 3B Jonathan Meyer.  Also receiving votes were Matt Duffy, Mike Kvasnicka, David Flores, Kyle Redinger and Fredwin Campusano.  (For more information on the WTH 25-Man Roster, go here.)

Coming Monday - Let's pick our second catcher.

As you may be aware, we had a case of stuffing the ballot box in order to make this more of a popularity contest than a thoughtful exercise in who we see as the best player for the position and I had to make a judgment call as to how to handle it.  I hope that this doesn't happen again because I think those who have participated thus far have enjoyed having a voice in the process.  Thank you for your thoughtful consideration and please keep on voting.

Don't Make Me Turn this Blog Around

First of all, I would like to thank those readers who have been with me for a while and have enjoyed the journey we've undertaken together as we learn more about the players who make up the Astros farm system.  From the interactions I've had with Terri, John, Steve, Bryan and some of my other readers, I think they have enjoyed the process of hand-picking our own little 25-man roster of prospects to follow over the 2012 season.

With that said, it appears that someone is "stuffing the ballot box" this week in order to make light of our little exercise.  What this individual or these individuals don't seem to realize is that my blog is not a democracy ... it is a benevolent dictatorship.  I can make the rules, suspend the rules, or change them at my whim.

Up until this point, I have only voted twice in my own polls for the WTH Roster.  In both of those instances, I gave players who had zero votes a last minute vote because I thought they deserved it.  I have purposefully withheld my vote in case I needed to break a tie.  These choices have been my readers' choices.  Until this week.

This week someone is repeatedly voting for a player with a .148 batting average, a .197 slugging percentage and ZERO home runs for our third base starter, traditionally a power position.  I am sure this individual is a wonderful young man and has a great deal of talent, but until I see more positive results, he will NOT be appearing on the WTH Roster.  If he's good in 2012, we'll talk again next year.  If he wins this year, I will veto the choice.

So I am asking whoever is doing this to please stop so we can get back to enjoying this look at the best players by position.  Don't make me turn this blog around.

For those interested in participating in the poll, here are the details on this week's choices.

WTH 25-Man Roster - Third Baseman

As posted over the weekend, we did not add a name to the WTH Roster as we were only trying to narrow down our candidates for the final two relief pitchers.  Top vote-getters Evan Grills, Chia-Jen Lo, Jack Armstrong, Matison Smith, Zach Dando, Rodney Quintero and Brad Dydalewicz will join runners-up from previous votes to compete for the final spots at a later time.  For more information on the WTH Roster, go here.

This week we're going to pick our starting Third Baseman.  The list isn't lengthy as this has been a position that has been a problem area for the Astros in recent years, but there are some worthy candidates to consider.  Matt Duffy has the best overall batting line and hasn't had a lot of errors.  Jonathan Meyer has good power numbers, and David Flores has good RBI numbers.  Mike Kvasnicka led all Astros minor leaguers in doubles.  And, although Fredwin Campusano didn't play in 2011, his batting line for 2010 with the DSL Astros was .326/.425/.461/.885.

With all that said, here are the 2011 stats for the players.  Look them over and vote.

WTH 25-Man Roster

There is no winner this week in the WTH 25-Man Roster as we were only trying to whittle down our choices for relief pitchers.  Top vote getters included Evan Grills, Chia-Jen Lo, Jack Armstrong, Matison Smith, Zach Dando, Rodney Quintero and Brad Dydalewicz.  All of these pitchers will join our runners-up from the previous rounds of voting and will make up the pool from which we will chose our final two relief pitchers.  (For more information on the WTH 25-Man Roster, go here.)

Coming Monday - We will vote for our starting Third Baseman.