Shakeup!

Well well. After getting manhandled by the Mariners in a weekend series sweep, the Astros have decided to shake up the roster by designating Ronny Cedeno and Carlos Pena for assignment. Jonathan Villar has been recalled from Oklahoma City and will be the starting shortstop.

Ronny Cedeno, he of the .558 OPS (54 OPS+), is reportedly shocked at the news. Carlos Pena was a little more pragmatic about it, saying that, "In my mind, I was an Astro until the end...I'm very sad." He went on to say that he totally bought into Bo Porter and Jeff Luhnow, but he understands why he was let go.

So the Jonathan Villar Era begins. Villar, who turned 22 in May and came to Houston from Philadelphia in the Roy Oswalt trade, was hitting .278/.342/.444 for Oklahoma City in 90 games, but .299/.372/.482 since June 1.

There likely won't need to be another corresponding move since the Astros had already planned to call Cosart back up on Tuesday.

One way to fix the Astros right now

Astros shortstops are hitting .222/.249/.389. The .580 OPS is the 2nd-worst by position (somehow, Astros center fielders have a .577 OPS) on the team, and they - between Marwin Gonzalez and Ronny Cedeno - have 100 total bases in 94 games. Since Marwin Gonzalez got optioned to OKC on June 24, Cedeno has responded by going 3x27 - all singles - with 11K:3BB. In the seven games he has started at shortstop, the Astros are 1-6. And when he hasn't been starting at SS, he's been the DH, which is a slap in the face to Almighty Baseball.

Ronny Cedeno has got to go. The Astros were probably hoping for even a small regression from his career-high .741 OPS in 78 games for the Mets in 2012. What they got instead was a .223/.264/.302 line and a 56 OPS+. The Astros are 13-29 when he starts, which is actually a worse winning percentage than what they've put up through 94 games as a team. I know there are other factors to consider blah blah blah, but look at this:

His -0.6 WAR is the second-worst among shortstops with a minimum of 150 plate appearances, mainly because he's striking out in 26.8% of his plate appearances, the highest among SS with the 150 PA minimum. And he's sucking this much with a .306 BABIP - so it's not like you can even say he's been unlucky. Oh yeah, his -3.6 Fld rating from FanGraphs is the 6th-worst among shortstops. He just sucks.

Solution: For God's sake, bring up Jonathan Villar. He's in the middle of a career-high .788 OPS season, with 31 of his 92 hits going for extra-bases (he has as many triples - 8 - as he has homers.) And this is his first season at Triple-A. Since June 1, he's hit .305/.372/.492 (assisted by a .372 BABIP). He's 22 years old. There is absolutely no reason not to give him a shot. He hasn't played since July 6, so...that might be a reason, because I don't know why he hasn't played in a week. No transactions listed, nothing. So someone find Jonathan Villar before he drifts out to Weiland Island.

Astros make moves, some of them strange

So the Astros did a couple of bizarre things today. Let's recap, with what it says about the direction of the club:

*Signed infielder Ronny Cedeno to MLB contract.
*Told Tyler Greene that he won't make the team, and that the Astros will try to trade him.
*Cedeno will be the primary SS1, with Marwin Gonzalez seeing some time throughout the season.
*Catcher Jason Jaramillo, J.D. Martinez optioned to Oklahoma City.

So here's what it looks like the defensive lineup will be:

1B: Brett Wallace
2B: Jose Altuve
3B: Matt Dominguez
SS: Ronny Cedeno
LF: Chris Carter
CF: Justin Maxwell
RF: Rick Ankiel
C: Jason Castro

*The outfielders will be rotated in and out, but there you have it.

Cedeno, 30, was released by the Cardinals last Tuesday, hitting .290/.371/.419 in 16 games. He was signed to backup Rafael Furcal, who will be out for the season, but the Cardinals are going with Pete Kozma with Daniel Descalso backing him up - pushing Cedeno out.

Cedeno has a career .647 OPS (coincidentally, the exact same as Tyler Greene). In his lone AL experience in 2009 - 59 games and 206 PAs with the Mariners - Cedeno "hit" .167/.213/.290. ZIPS puts Cedeno's WAR at 0.4 for 2013, while Tyler Greene's ZIPS put him at 0.9. A negligible difference, for sure.

But the real difference comes in their fielding. FanGraphs says Tyler Greene was worth -8.8 runs defensively. Cedeno was worth -2.5. So he's the less-worst defensive shortstop option.

*J.D. Martinez's optioning to Oklahoma City (where he has only played 23 games in his minor-league career) is good news for The Brandons (Barnes and Laird), who stick around at least for a few more days.

*It was already pretty much set, but Jaramillo heading down means that Castro and Corporan are your Opening Day catchers.