The truth is, the Carlos Lee injury was a blessing in disguise for Houston, as the left fielder was hitting a paltry .207/.248/.360 (BA/OBP/SLG), despite Brad Mills' excited declaration that he already had 15 (!!) RBIs at the time. Sarcasm aside, that is simply not enough for the supposed star player of the team who is earning far and away the most amount per year of anyone on the club (that's $19 million, folks).
Conversely, Bourgeois has been hot of late, with a line of .361/.361/.444. Sure, that's a sample size consisting of 36 ABs, but it's impressive nonetheless. Not to mention that he's already swiped 8 bags, second only to Michael Bourn's 11 on the club (which also leads the majors). If the 'Stros were able to line up every night with TWO base stealers of that quality, it could wreak havoc on opposing pitchers and catchers everywhere. As the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays showcased, speed can end up winning you a lot of games; hitting power isn't always essential.
Now everyone knows that the rumor around town is that the Astros are trying to showcase Lee's "talent" to the rest of the league in hopes that they can deal his hefty contract and body to a contender at the deadline. But at this rate, who's going to want him? Lots of teams already have their overweight, overage slugger, and adding another one, even at a discount, will probably not be worth the prospects. So what to do?
I'm advocating for Bourgeois to take over the starting 2B spot. Bill Hall, in all honesty, was an experimental signing. You can look at him like the Astros did Pedro Feliz last year. Feliz was supposed to come in and shore up the 3B spot, and instead he hit a ghastly .221/.243/.311 in 97 games. The Astros promptly dealt him to the Cardinals for David Carpenter and cash. In his place, the Astros started the young Chris Johnson, a move that worked brilliantly as Johnson hit the cover off the ball for the latter half of the season, leading some writers to call for him as NL Rookie of the Year. Why can't this happen with Bill Hall? I know it's early; May 3rd isn't necessarily the day the GM starts the fire sale, but if Hall continues to struggle (and he's a career .249 hitter, so that's not unlikely) why not deal him for some second-tier prospect and stick in Bourgeois at second? After all, he's shown the ability to hit in the clutch and field the position, so what's holding him back? Luckily for us, Bourgeois will be batting second and playing LF with Lee on the bench making sure his ribs are good to go. Let's hope Bourgeois can keep it up and shock the baseball world.
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