34-year old switch-hitting Kaz Matsui is in the Astros’ Dog House but he is still the best 2B on the roster heading into spring training. He played in 132 games for the Astros last season and he was 119 for 476 (.250 avg, .659 OPS) with 56 runs scored, 9 homers, 46 RBIs and 19 stolen bases. The Astros really hope that Matsui hits more like his career norms of .271 with a .712 OPS. He is still a good defensive 2B as he made 6 errors in 130 games at 2B while showing outstanding range.

29-year old righty swinging Jeff Keppinger played in 107 games for the Astros last season and he was 78 for 305 (.256 avg, .707 OPS) with 35 runs scored, 7 homers and 29 RBIs. He will be used as a utilty man instead of a platoon 3B in 2010. He played in 22 games at 2B for the Astros last season and he made 1 error while showing outstanding range.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2B IN 2010: C

Lefty swinging Jose Cruz Sr. was a solid player in his career with the Astros. Cruz played in 1,870 games in his 13 years with the Astros in which he was 1,937 for 6,629 (.292 avg, .789 OPS) with 871 runs scored, 138 homers, 942 RBIs and 288 stolen bases. Cruz hit over .300 six times for the Astros. He also made two All-Star teams and he got votes for the MVP Award 5 times while he was with the Astros. Cruz is #3 all-time in Astros’ history in games played (1,870), #3 in hits (1,937), #7 in batting average (.292), #5 in runs scored (871), #8 in homers (138), #4 in RBIs (942) and #3 in stolen bases (288). Cruz was one of the best players the Astros ever had, period.

33-year old switch-hitting 1B Lance Berkman is one of the best hitters in all of baseball when he is healthy. He played in 136 games for the Astros last season and he was 126 for 460 (.274 avg, .908 OPS) with 73 runs scored, 25 homers, 83 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. In Berkman’s 10 full seasons for the Astros he has averaged 95.9 runs scored, 30.9 homers and 102.6 RBIs per year. The Astros would be content with his average numbers in 2010. Berkman has also turned into a decent defender at 1B as he made 6 errors last season in 131 games there.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 1B IN 2010: A-

The Astros have signed 32-year old righty swinging Kevin Cash to a minor league deal. He played in 10 games for the Yankees last season and he was 6 for 26 (.231 avg, .558 OPS) with 1 run scored and 3 RBIs. Cash has now played in 197 games in his major league career and he is 98 for 527 (.186 avg, .535 OPS) with 47 runs scored, 10 homers and 53 RBIs. Cash came to the right place because he just might get a shot for the Astros at some point in 2010 based on his defense which is outstanding.

The Astros should really consider signing Rod Barajas or Yorvit Torrealba because they can’t possibly go into a season with J.R. Towles and Humberto Quintero at catcher could they? Maybe the Astros are going to bite the bullet and give 25-year old righty swinging J.R. Towles one more chance to prove himself. He played in 16 games for the Astros last season and he was 9 for 48 (.188 avg, .604 OPS) with 7 runs scored, 2 homers and 3 RBIs. Towles also played in 56 games in AAA-ball last year and he was 40 for 145 (.276 avg, .841 OPS) with 23 runs scored, 4 homers, 22 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. Towles is starting to look like a AAAA-player as he has a career average of .188 with a .609 OPS in the majors and he has a .299 average with a .864 OPS in his six years in the minors. Towles didn’t make any errors and he had 1 passed ball in 114 innings behind the plate for the Astros last year. His defense wasn’t all good last season though as he only threw out 9% of base stealers while pitchers had a 5.61 ERA with him behind the dish.

30-year old righty swinging Humberto Quintero projects out to nothing more than a so-so back-up in the majors. He played in 60 games for the Astros last season and he was 37 for 157 (.236 avg, .662 OPS) with 11 runs scored, 4 homers and 14 RBIs. I don’t think he can do much better than that as a hitter in the show. He made 5 errors and he had 5 passed balls in only 59 games behind the plate and that’s way too many of each. But, he does have a great throwing arm nailing 39% of the runners trying to steal against him while Astros’ pitchers had a 4.34 ERA with him behind the plate.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE CATCHERS IN 2010: D-