Depends on your outlook window. Sure, over the next two years, I agree. But beyond that, no value at all except maybe a comp pick. On the other hand, if we do trade him, what we get back has to turn into at least one very productive guy. I think it would make total sense to trade Correa for someone who would be a star type player in the future. Problem is, no way to predict how a given player(s) turns out. If we do do a trade, it will have a returning player that the Astros brass thinks will be a future star.
Potential targets to flip Reddick and his $13M: Mike Leake Chris Archer Jordan Zimmerman Jeff Samardzija Danny Duffy Alex Cobb Joakim Soria Raisel Iglesias Andrew Miller Craig Kimbrel Wade Davis Jake McGee Bryan Shaw Kelvin Herrera Ian Kennedy obviously a lot of those guys aren’t perfect matches; some would require prospects added to one side or the other, others would require a little money to even things out, and some of those teams may have to have a 3rd team involved because they don’t have a need for a corner OF. But all of those players are making somewhat close to the $13M Reddick will cost this season and would have value on Houstons roster.
Out of that entire list, Samardzija, Cobb, Zimmerman, Leake, Kennedy, and the overpaid Rockies RPs seem to make the most sense for a straight up swap. Samardzija projects to throw 193 innings and post 1.2 fWAR while making $18M. That lines up pretty well with Reddick, and SF could easily find a spot for Reddick in their OF.
Of all the folks who could potentially be for trade I think Jon Gray has the most Gerrit potential. Not a good fit for us trade wise I wouldn't think. Perhaps a three way with Arenado going to a third team and Correa going to Colorado.
They already have Trevor Story at SS. If I'm the Rockies, I would just stick with Story than acquiring Correa. Unless Story can play 3b.
The smartest play I can think for Colorado is to trade Gray, Story, and Blackmon for big league ready prospects, and add those to Arenado, Rodgers, Marquez, and Freeland to contend. A comparable to the Cole trade would be Urquidy, Toro, Deetz, and Ronnie Dawson for Gray. That’s a lot to give up but I would be on board.
If I'm putting Urquidy in a package it's only for a proven stud or a live young arm with lots of team control. I'm not doing it for a decent starter who "may" be able to break out. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Urquidy was outright better than Gray this year.
I agree with this. The Astros have 6 years of control with Urquidy. Including the playoffs he pitched over 50 innings in the big leagues and had an era of 3.17 and a FIP of under 3.00 He walked 9 batters in 50 innings.... and struck out a batter an inning so his BB/SO ratio was elite .... his WHIP was around 1. Could it be fools gold? Sure it could be, but his minor league numbers show his WHIP, SO, BB/K are legitimate. Trading him away is a dicey proposition because you have a decent chance at a 1-3 starter for over half a decade at pennies.
Hope one of them returns to the Astros. If Astros are concerned about their payroll at 228 mil, I don’t know why they’d offer Cole 7/250. Seems like they could parlay a little bit of that into 2/15 for Harris or 1/8 for Chirinos
Can't speak for him, but yes I view him quite a lot better than Musgrove. When he came up, I saw nothing from Musgrove to suggest he was anything special as a starter. That's not to say I didn't think he could be good, but he screamed solid middle of the rotation guy as a best case scenario. That has value obviously, but I never felt like we would truly regret trading him. I've already seen quite a few stretches of wipeout work from Urquidy with 2 true out pitches. My bigger question with him is how will he handle a full workload because he seemed to fatigue pretty hard around 75 pitches or so.
Eek. He's 35. Not sure I'd want to give a guy that old 6-7 per year for something like 3 years. I know fangraphs says he was worth high 8s/low 9s per year in value, and projects he'll only be slightly worse than that this year. I also know that the Astros are thinking win now, not economize now. Just not sure this club, with these finances, can give Harris 6-7 a year, when they might have to give it to a 4 or 5 SP. Nah, I've talked myself into it. Offer 20/3, and see if he goes for it. Even if it's only 2 years of good performance, it's a modest overpay.
I wonder how Musgrove would be viewed if Hinch pulled him as quickly as he pulled Urquidy. Probably not as good as Urquidy, but most of Musgrove's problems were when he was pitching when he should have been pulled.
I do for a number of reasons. First I remember Musgrove struggling to finish hitters. I have not seen that with Urquidy thus far. Second, at the time the Astros dealt Musgrove, salary was less of a concern and the Astros had several high end pitching prospects close to ready. Third, I really valued Cole highly. Health was really my only concern. While I like Gray, I don't like him to the degree I did Cole. I think that Jon Gray is a good target for the Astros, and I do think he will likely pitch to a 3.50 era with nearly 200 innings outside of Colorado. There is definite value in that. With the Astros offense, if he stayed healthy he could win 18 games........ however with Urquidy, I think that he is very capable of doing the same and we would pay him little and have him for 6 years. I also think Urquidy with more consistency could become a 200+ inning pitcher with close to a 3.00 ERA. Personally, I would have interest in Gray and maybe even slightly over pay but wouldn't move Urquidy or Whitley..... the Astros really need to add to Urquidy. Right now a lot really hinges on Urquidly and Whitley. We will need home grown starting pitchers or all of this will fall apart. Look no further than the Cubs. The player I would deal for a good starter under multiple years of control is Kyle Tucker. The Astros can always get above average corner outfielders on team friendly deals.
That is some of it. I also noticed that he really struggled putting away hitters. I saw the same thing with Corbin Martin. Sometimes guys with that problem get such pin point control that it doesn't matter or develop a secondary pitch that leads to soft contact.... For example Kuechel; but that is pretty rare. While Urquidy relies on his command, he usually gets guys to put the ball in play and it isn't hit too hard. His stuff isn't swing and miss like Cole or the very best. He does give up hits, and he does sometimes give up extra bases. He just strikes out enough guys and walks so few guys that they seldom score a whole lot. I don't think he will ever be someone that just flat out dominates....... but a guy with good stuff, that doesn't walk guys and can get guys to hit his pitches can really be effective.... especially with our offense.
