The utility infielder spot has come down to either Jason Smith or Edwin Maysonet. The Astros want someone who can play short, not just play at short. Both can be sent back to the minors.
On the one hand,
Jason Smith is hitting .441 this spring, but the Astros think he must play better defense.
“We’ve talked about it,” Cooper said of Smith’s need to improve defensively. “We need to see some consistency with the glove.”
Edwin Maysonet
“He needs to show me the glove,” Cooper said . “From what I understand, he’s a good glove man. I need to see it. Up until today, (Friday) I had not. But today he made two sparkling plays.
“That’s what I need to see from him.”
The Astros would rather have Tommy Manzella play regularly at Round Rock instead of serving as a utility infielder in the majors.
“He’s shown me enough,” Cooper said of Manzella. “I know he can catch the ball at short, play short. I want to get him going where he can go play.”
“He’s got a chance to be a regular shortstop, and you don’t want him sitting around and sitting around. Whereas , the other guys are more fitting the utility role. They’re a little bit different. And I need to see those guys a lot more than I need to see Tommy.” Link
They told Manzella at the beginning of Spring Training,
“I had a meeting with Coop and [bench coach] Ed Romero, and they basically laid it out that they want me to be a guy who plays every day and be ready to step in no matter what,” Manzella said. “If that’s Triple-A, or whatever, there’s a lot of time between now and then. You never know when I’m going to be needed.”
The utility infielder is not going to be the end of the bench guy,
Cooper envisions the backup infielder playing consecutive days as a fill-in for two players who are going to need time off this year — Tejada and second baseman Kazuo Matsui. When Matsui has a day off, Tejada might have the following day off, which would give the backup a chance to play two days in a row.
“You don’t want a guy sitting 10 days and all of a sudden you stick him out there,” Cooper said. “This way, he’ll get two days.” Link