default-cbs-image

The Astros made a big addition to their playoff this weekend. General manager Jeff Luhnow announced on Saturday that the team has signed prized Cuban infielder Yulieski Gurriel to a major-league contract.

Gurriel landed a five-year deal worth $47.5 million with the Astros, according to MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez:

For those unfamiliar with Gurriel, here are some tidbits worth knowing:

  • He has been one of the top Cuban players for more than a decade.
  • He defected alongside his brother (Lourdes) back in February.
  • He was declared a free agent in June, about a week after he celebrated his 32nd birthday.
  • He's considered a good all-around talent -- or, as Mike Axisa put it, he was probably "the best hitter not in MLB."
  • To wit, he hit .500/.589/.874 with just three strikeouts in 49 games last season.
  • Ben Badler of Baseball America once compared him to an in-their-prime Hanley Ramirez or David Wright.
  • Most of his experience comes at second and third base.

With all that established, Gurriel is an odd fit for the Astros, isn't he?

After all, these same Astros already have Carlos Correa (under team control through 2021) and Jose Altuve (2019) to man the middle infield, and have another near-ready infielder nearing the majors. It's unclear how they intend to fit these pieces into place, which leads us to wonder about various scenarios. Would the Astros try Gurriel in center field, where he has played before? Would they rotate these skilled infielders through the designated hitter position? Is there a plausible trade in the works?

We can't say for sure what the Astros plan to do. But we can say that Gurriel is probably in their plans, given they just handed him a contract worth nearly $48 million. Likewise, we can say there are worse team-building strategies out there than accumulating as much talent as possible then figuring out where it all fits later on -- to state the obvious: It's better to have too many good players than not enough.

Besides, let's be realistic here: There's legitimate risk with Gurriel. He's a 32-year-old who has never played in the majors before. For as good as he projects to be, there's a chance it doesn't work out for whatever reason -- maybe he can't adjust to big-league pitching; or he can't adjust to the culture; or he ages quicker than expected; pick your worst-case scenario and plug it in here.

That doesn't mean Gurriel is not worth signing -- he is, and you can play this what-if game with literally every player -- just that, you know, having some additional depth is always a smart play. That's why it's hard to knock this deal -- even if it's harder to figure out what the future Astros will look like.