3 Astros who don’t deserve to be on the roster past the trade deadline
By Tim Boyle
2) Astros roster shouldn’t include J.J. Matijevic after the trade deadline
J.J. Matijevic has minor league options left so removing him from the roster should be pretty easy for the Astros. If they add another bat, there will be much less of a need to carry this struggling rookie.
Matijevic is a first baseman/DH that has pieced together only a .178/.245/.356 slash line in 49 major league plate appearances. Compared to the Triple-A performance he had prior to his promotion that included a .313/.373/.640 slash line and 12 dingers in 166 chances, it feels like almost an entirely different player.
It’s fairly obvious what Matijevic’s role is. He is a placeholder on the roster. Although 26 already and much less of a prospect as he once we, the Astros will probably want to hang onto him unless they bolster their roster with a trade involving Matijevic.
Matijevic did give the team a big walk-off hit against the New York Yankees last week but that won’t do much to save his roster spot if they were to land someone like Josh Bell before the trade deadline. In fact, that’s probably whose seat he is keeping warm at the moment.
There will be more chances to hit in the big leagues for Matijevic. However, the Houston front office would do themselves a big favor by upgrading his roster spot with a trade deadline addition.