The Astros - J.D. Martinez = Bob Grossman

It has been two years since J.D. Martinez encouraged us to Root. Root. Root. for the Good Guys via his larger-than-life Billboards adorning America's Fourth-Largest (and most beautiful) city, an honor he shared with Carlos Lee, Bud Norris, Jason Castro, and Jose Altuve. In the time since, Carlos Lee has dedicated his life to not engaging in physical activity (or something), Studly Bud Norris was dealt to Baltimore, and sadly, today, our second-favorite J.D. was released to make room for Robbie Grossman, who henceforth will be known as Bob Grossman, or just Bob.

2012 was Martinez's opportunity to break-out and secure himself an everyday spot patrolling the hallowed grounds in front of the Crawford Boxes, but he wasn't able to put it together. With the acquisition of Grossman, the key piece of the Wandy Rodriguez deal, it could be argued that the writing was on the wall for Martinez from the beginning, after an injury-ridden 2012 and a part-time, bench role in 2013. Coming off two less-than-successful campaigns, Martinez needed to crush this Spring and as seen below, with limited opportunity, he wasn't able to make it happen.

Spring	Tm	Age	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2014	HOU	26	14	20	18	0	3	1	0	0	1	2	7	.167	.250	.222	.472

Good Luck, J.D.!

Organizational growth is painful, but with the release of rebuild-mainstays like Brett Wallace and J.D. Martinez, spots open up for Luhnow's guys, which has been the plan all along. Houston Bias wishes J.D. and Wally World well; we hope they get picked up and have renewed success at the Big League level, because they're both great guys and are truly deserving of another shot.

With Martinez out of the picture, Luhnow has left the front door, window, and garage door wide open for The Bob Grossman, now at the top of the organization's depth-chart in Left Field. Fangraphs isn't high on Grossman's projected performance in 2014, but the organization has been grossly supportive (you see what I did there?) of him since his acquisition, even  discussing the possibility of an extension after only 250+ MLB at-bats. Grossman has also shown signs of brilliance this Spring...

Spring	Tm	Age	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2014	HOU	24	15	38	33	3	13	3	0	1	5	3	7	.394	.421	.576	.997

Remember This Face!

Do we believe that Grossman will really turn into a .1000 OPS guy over the course of a 162 game season? Of course not, but his recent performance can't be overlooked. If he can put together a solid 2014 campaign, he has a good chance of sticking around and being a part of the 2016 American League Champion Houston Astros (we've been to the future, and it happens, just wait). Jeff Luhnow is giving you the ball, Bob. Run with it.

God Bless 5 & 7

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UPDATE: For our in-depth, Houston Bias analysis of Grossman, click here!