26-year old righty swinging Hunter Pence is a good baseball player but the Astros think he has the potential for much more. Pence played in 159 games for the Astros last season and he was 165 of 585 (.282 avg, .818 OPS) with 76 runs scored, 25 homers, 72 RBIs and 14 stolen bases. I think that Pence will have better numbers in 2010 for the Astros across the board. Pence made 5 errors in 157 games in RF for the Astros last season but he showed good range and he had an amazing 16 assists there as runners that challenged him often paid for it. Pence is a natural CF so having him in RF allows Michael Bourn to cheat towards left to help out Carlos Lee.

33-year old righty swinging Jason Michaels played in 3 error free games in RF last season but he showed poor range. Michaels will battle Corey Sullivan this spring for the right to backup Pence. 30-year old lefty swinging Corey Sullivan played in 2 games in RF for the Mets last season and he didn’t make any errors while showing slightly above average range.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE RF IN 2010: B

27-year old lefty swinging Michael Bourn had a outstanding 2009 season for the Astros and they hope he will build on that success in 2010. Bourn played in 157 games for the Astros last season and he was 173 of 606 (.285 avg, .738 OPS) with 97 runs scored, 3 homers, 35 RBIs and 61 stolen bases. Bourn made 3 errors in 154 games in CF for the Astros last season while showing slightly above average range. Runners that challenged Bourn last season found that he had a good throwing arm as he had 11 assists in 2009. Bourn was outstanding all around for the Astros in 2009 and they hope that it was a glimpse of things to come and not a mirage.

30-year old lefty swinging Corey Sullivan played in 64 games for the Mets last season and he was 34 of 136 (.250 avg, .720 OPS) with 17 runs scored, 2 homers, 15 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. Sullivan has the potential to hit better than he did in 2009 as he has a career batting average of .276 in 419 major league games. Sullivan played in 6 error-free games in CF last season and he showed outstanding range there. He also had 1 assist in CF last season.

33-year old righty swinging Jason Michaels didn’t make any errors in CF for the Astros last season while showing above average range. Look for him to battle Sullivan this spring for the right to backup Michael Bourn in CF this season.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE CF IN 2010: B

33-year old righty swinging Carlos Lee played in 160 games for the Astros last season and he was 183 of 610 (.300 avg, .831 OPS) with 65 runs scored, 26 homers, 102 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. Lee is pretty darn dependable for the Astros as he has averaged 145.7 games played, 73 runs scored, 28.7 homers and 107 RBIs per year in his three seasons with the team. Expect similar numbers out of Lee again in 2010. Lee played in 154 games in LF last season and he only made 2 errors but he showed pretty pathetic range. He does have a good arm as he had 9 assists last year but he will still be replaced late in some games in 2010 for defensive reasons.

33-year old righty swinging Jason Michaels will be around in 2010 again for the Stros’. He played in 102 games for the Astros last season and he was 32 of 135 (.237 avg, .752 OPS) with 17 runs scored, 4 homers and 16 RBIs. Michaels can probably hit a lot better than he did last season as he has a .269 career batting average in 836 games and the Astros hope that is the case in 2010. Michaels didn’t make any errors in 31 games in LF for the Astros last season but he didn’t show much more range than Lee did. Expect that to change in 2010 as Michaels is a better defender than he showed in LF last season.

30-year old lefty swinging Corey Sullivan could also get some P.T. in LF in 2010 for the Astros. He played in 38 games in LF for the Mets last season and he didn’t make any errors while showing above average range. He also had 2 assists in LF so he has a decent little arm.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE LF IN 2010: A-

The Astros went out this winter and signed 34-year old righty swinging Pedro Feliz to start at 3B in 2010. Feliz played in 158 games for the Phillies last season and he was 154 for 580 (.266 avg, .694 OPS) with 62 runs scored, 12 homers and 82 RBIs. Feliz’ addition should give the Astros a huge boost over the platoon of Geoff Blum and Jeff Keppinger that they used in 2009. Feliz made 15 errors in 155 games while showing good range for the Phillies last season. Feliz is a solid all around player who will help the Astros in 2010.

36-year old switch hitting Geoff Blum will go back to coming off the bench for the Astros in 2010. He played in 120 games for the Astros last season and he was 94 for 381 (.247 avg, .681 OPS) with 34 runs scored, 10 homers and 49 RBIs. Blum only made 3 errors in 102 games at 3B last season but he showed pretty poor range there.

29-year old righty swinging Jeff Keppinger could also get some P.T. at 3B in 2010. He played in 67 games at the hot corner for the Astros last season and he made 7 errors while showing average range.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 3B IN 2010: C+

26-year old righty swinging Tommy Manzella heads into spring training as the starting shortstop for the Astros. Manzella played in 7 games for the Astros last season and he was 1 for 5 (.200 avg, .400 OPS). He also played in 133 games in AAA-ball last season and he was 153 for 530 (.289 avg, .756 OPS) with 68 runs scored, 9 homers, 56 RBIs and 12 stolen bases. Manzella didn’t make any errors in 2 games at SS for the Astros last season while showing above average range. The Astros just hope that Manzella hits enough for them not to regret signing or trading for a SS over the winter.

28-year old Edwin Maysonet will battle for a job on the bench this spring for the Astros. He played in 39 games for the Astros last season and he was 20 for 69 (.290 avg, .695 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 1 homer and 7 RBIs. Maysonet also played in 59 games in AAA-ball last season and he was 44 for 187 (.235 avg, .640 OPS) with 21 runs scored, 1 homer, 14 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. Maysonet played in 3 error-free games at SS for the Astros in 2010 but he showed pretty pathetic range.

29-year old righty swinging Jeff Keppinger can handle playing SS in a pinch for the Astros. Keppinger played in 11 error-free games at short for the Astros in 2009 but he showed below average range there.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE SS IN 2010: D