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With the recent news that Lance Berkman is out for the start of the season I almost certainly have to pick Chris Johnson as the Houston Astros non roster invitee. Johnson is actually hitting this spring with a .313 average and 2 home runs and three doubles in just 16 at-bats.

Of course the Astros signed Pedro Feliz to be their third basemen this season since well… Johnson didn’t exactly do himself any favors last spring or during his time with the team.

The simple solution may be to slide Feliz over to first base in Berkman’s absence allowing the Astros an extended chance to evaluate whether Johnson or Feliz is the answer at third base.

Personally even with Johnson’s hot spring numbers I’m not sure he’s much of a major league option. He’s shown inconsistencies at the plate, he can’t draw a walk and his power swing is only what you’d consider about average when you compare him to other players at the corners.

Then again I also picked him as the teams non roster invitee so there ya go.

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I really wanted to write about Jason Bourgeois but considering the injury to Berkman and the fact that Chris Johnson is actually hitting I couldn’t take the risk.

Anyway here’s what I originally wrote.

Jason Bourgeois has cracked the major leagues the last two years and the 28-year-old utility player is hoping that he can make that three in a row as he looks to make the hometown Houston Astros.

Bourgeois was originally drafted by the Texas Rangers back in 2000 but he never quite hit enough to be considered a pivotal part of the organization. He found himself bouncing from Richmond (Atlanta) and San Antonio (Seattle) the next two years as part of waiver claims and the Rule 5 draft.

In 2007 he was picked up by the Chicago White Sox and suddenly things came together for him at the plate.  He stuck with the team for the 2008 season earning a cup of coffee and then headed to Milwaukee for the 2009 season. At the Triple-A level he continued to hit for a good overage and found his way on base enough to again get a crack at the majors. Sadly he didn’t exactly produce and finds himself again looking to latch on.

In his minor league career he’s found himself lined up at every defensive position except catcher and while he may not be the best option at each position he does give a major league manager flexibility should he need to rest a player or complete a double switch.

The biggest obstacle for Bourgeois making the Astros appears to be the presence of Geoff Blum, a similarly tooled player, already on the roster. The injury to Lance Berkman likely leaves open one roster spot for either Chris Johnson or another non roster invitee but Bourgeois has yet to capitalize on the opportunity.

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Jair Jurrjens was scheduled to make his spring debut today but with rain in the air it’s been pushed back until tomorrow.

I have little else to say about the matter other then I was really hoping to read accounts of his first outing since there still seems to be concerns about his arm whether or not the Braves are saying so publicly.

I guess I’ll have to wait until tomorrow.

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Brian Giles is the latest former big league star to announce his retirement. Giles was once a pretty good player for the Pittsburg Pirates and San Diego Padres until injuries caught up with him.

He had 1,897 career hits and a .291/.400/.502 batting line.

This follows the same announcement by Nomar Garciaparra yesterday and similar ones from Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas, who while they didn’t play last year had never announced retirement.

Giles best asset during his big league career was his ability to get on base. He was a bit of a late bloomer not getting an everyday role until he was traded by Cleveland to Pittsburgh in 1999. He went on to hit 30-plus homers for four consecutive seasons before he was traded to San Diego midway though the 2003 at which point his power swing disappeared again.

Last season he appeared in just 61 games compiling a dreadful .191/.277/.271 line.

It’s been a tough last sixteen months for Giles. Aside from his knee trouble, his name was recently named in Jason Kendall’s divorce papers as anadderall junkie. He’s also being sued by his former girlfriend for more then $10 million as she alleges he began abusing her in 2002 and battered her while she was pregnant with Giles’ child, and caused her to have a miscarriage.

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The Washington Nationals made their first round of cuts and two of the names on the list are left handed pitchers Eddie Guardado and Shawn Estes.

Guardado was signed to a minor league deal but given his previous success in the majors many thought he had a pretty good shot at making the club but after allowing seven runs of which four were earned in two innings of work this spring the team has decided to go ahead and release him. At 39 years of age it’s uncertain if Guardado will look for work else where or retire. Guardado had most of his success during his time with the Minnesota Twins and had bounced around the league the last couple of seasons. He had a 4.46 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP last year in 38.1 innings of work while with Texas.

While Guardado’s release may be a bit of a surprise the release of Shawn Estes probably isn’t.

The 37-year-old Estes pretty much seemed destined to be cut when the Nationals resigned Livan Hernandez and picked up Miguel Batista on a minor league deal.

Estes pitched one inning and allowed two runs on three hits, of of which was a homer, and walked a batter. Estes last appeared in a major league game in 2008 when he was 2-3 with a 4.74 ERA in 9 appearances for the San Diego Padres. There doesn’t figure to be must interest for him and he too could choose to retire.

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The playing days of Nomar Garciaparra are over. For eight seasons Nomar was a member of the Boston Red Sox until a noteworthy confrontation over a contract eventually saw the team send him to Chicago during their 2004 World Series season.

He played as a part of the Cubs, Dodgers and A’s following that time but those times were more highlighted on the disabled list rather then his contributions in the lineup.

The Red Sox are having a  press conference this morning to officially announce the one day contract and subsequent retirement.

While there has been rampant reports that Garciaparra used steroids during his time in Boston there hasn’t been any official comment on the matter by the athlete himself. He finishes a 14 year career with a .313/.361/.521 line with 229 home runs and 936 RBI. He finishes with 1747 career hits.

Some will remember Nomar for things like his name is Ramon, his fathers name, spelled backwards. His constant toe taps inside the batters box which was from his childhood playing days where his shoes were too big for his feet.

But for me the career of Nomar Garciaparra is filled with more questions. Did he use steroids? What would his number be like had he not been so injured at the end of his career? How come the Red Sox couldn’t win a World Series until the year they traded him?

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Jason Heyward continued his demolition of spring training pitching hitting a two-run homer off Max Scherzer and collecting a walk in Monday’s trashing of the Tigers.

Heyward is currently 5-for-12 with three extra-base hits so maybe just maybe he’s starting to make even me believe he’ll be on the opening day roster. Ah but there is still a few more weeks of March so I won’t bet on it yet.

Still it’s great to see him get off to a good start and even I can’t discount that.

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Troy Glaus has done this to me in the past and I just have to hope it isn’t happening again. Glaus was once a very good third basemen for the Anaheim Angels. The type that could lead the AL in homers on year and take his whole team on his broad back to a World Series in another.

He was one of the power hitting guys who could be called “The Slugger” you know the type of power that hit balls onto picnic tables, the kind that could drive in 100-plus yearly, the kind of guy you wanted on your team.

Oh but what havoc a bunch of injuries will do to your career. He’s been bounced around both the NL and AL since the time he was thought of that highly and while the results have been very good when he’s healthy the time on the DL has also been so large that you can only begin to think of the stats he could have had on the back of his baseball cards.

A new season, a new team and yet Glaus is still giving me good vibes. He’s always seemed to get off to reasonable starts and if Sunday is any indication of things I think he’s again set the bar high for my expectations. Glaus was 3-for-3 with a double and an RBI on Sunday as the Braves middle of the order was in full check and they were clicking.

Glaus is without question the Braves go-to guy at the cleanup spot with the hope that Nate McLouth, Martin Prado, and Chipper Jones are on base for him to drive in. If he struggles he’ll move down the order which ultimately means the Braves are going  to again turn to McCann/Escobar as the four-five combo which isn’t the worst thing in the world but something everyone hoped would be updated by the acquisition of a big bat this winter: Troy Glaus’ big bat this winter.

Ideally Glaus remains in the four spot much of the year which puts a very couple of very good hitters behind him in McCann and Escobar which would only elevate the number of runs the Braves score this year. Exactly what we need to go along with a stellar rotation.

Despite the fact the Braves finished sixth in the NL in runs scored last season they struggled for good portions of the year to give their starting pitching any wiggle room and found themselves in tenth in home runs and slugging percentage.

Glaus will need to put an end to that power outage or this team isn’t going any further then it did last year. I hate to say it but it’s true. As much as we can write about Jason Heyward it’s the free agent first basemen that will play the biggest role for the Braves in 2010.

Heyward at best puts up number that could be replicated by Melky Cabrera. That’s fine.

But for the Braves to be a serious playoff team Glaus needs to put up numbers that read 30 homers, 100 RBI, 70 runs scored.

Can he do it? I’ve always believed he could but he’s sometimes left me disappointed. Will he do it? For the Braves sake I sure hope so.

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Jason Heyward was 1-for-3 today with an RBI while he also stole a base. Of course he also was thrown out after that so I don’t know if it’s even worth mentioning it.

Anyway the Braves won 11-8 and it’s worth pointing out that Heyward again hit second in the order. The rest of the lineup today featured what the Braves starting 8 should look like on opening day with the exception of Nate McLouth.

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Jason Heyward met his match today perhaps Charlie Morton decided it was better to just throw at him. Aside from the HBP the youngster went 0-for-2 while batting second in the Braves lineup and playing right field.

Heyward has continued to gain support within the Braves system with Dale Murphy being the latest to compliment the 20-year old.

That is all for this daily Jason Heyward note. Please check back tomorrow for another update so I can get more money and keep my power turned on. You may think that is a joke but it’s not completely.

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Jon Heyman of CNNSI.com said that he thinks Hank Blalock is choosing between the Florida Marlins and the Tampa Bay Rays.

Blalock wouldn’t appear to be the primarily option for either team at any position but would be a fine complementary player at both locations. Blalock never quite lived up to the expectations in Texas after the strong start to his career and despite hitting 25 home runs last year had a dismal .234/.277/.459  line last season.

The Marlins would figure to use him as their top left handed bat off the bench while in Tampa Bay he could be looked at to share time at DH with Pat Burrell.

Personally I think that Tampa Bay offers the best situation for him since Burrell is hardly a lock to keep the DH spot held down for the entire season after he hit just .221/.315/.367 with 14 home runs in 476 at-bats with the team last year.

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