Luhnows trade history is a mixed bag like most GMs The Giles story is yet to be told Does anyone really think Carter had turned the corner and become a stud? He has always been a guy who has great streaks Martinez was released not traded, and no one else really wanted him when we released him. Would be great to still have him obviously
What would really be really bad is if we gave up the kitchen sink to get Trout and then his game went south.
There is a tipping point where consolidating talent/value becomes too risky. Trout puts up numbers thst make him as valuable as 3-4 really good players combined. But that doesn't mean he is worth trading 3-4 proven good major league players for, because then your entire season rides on one player.
Jarred Cosart & Delino DeShields for <strike>Giancarlo Stanton</strike> Mike Trout — who says no?
A Baseball team, unlike a basketball team, isnt going to blast into stardom virtue of one awesome player. Lebron would have a much bigger impact for the Rockets than would Trout for the Astros. I know, Captain Obvious..... But looking at the Astros right now, we have holes to fill. Many more than we expected. You get rid of several very good players for one great one, and your hole filling ability is diminished even further. Not to mention you will have more of them (holes). Lets make an analogy. Would you rather have: BBBBBBBBB level hitters or AABBBBCCD or AAABCCCDD
Astros Finally Do the Right Thing, Send Gattis Down to Catch http://climbingtalshill.com/2016/05/07/astros-finally-do-the-right-thing-send-gattis-down-to-catch/
Castro, White, Valbuena, Rasmus, Gomez, Gattis, Gonzalez, Tucker, Kratz, and Mirisnick are all hitting .223 or less. How does a team win games with that kind of hitting? Meanwhile, the Astros have the worst team ERA in the entire American League. I'd like to see what some of our minor leaguers could do.
It's a bit of a shame that AJ Reed continues to struggle in AAA, the power is there but he is down to .235 with more K's than hits...numbers look eerily similar to big Jon But why the heck are we waiting around so much on Musgrove? 26.3 Innings, 1 Earned Run...ONE, 19 hits, 3 BB...THREE, 30 K's 30-3 K to BB I don't want to hear about not having a "spot" for him either, I don't want to hear about 40 man concerns The kid is DOMINATING Meanwhile we have the 25th "best" starters ERA in the majors Meanwhile we have the 23rd "best" relievers ERA in the majors And we apparently have no place for this kid?
What's the rotation you suggest? Those pitching best right now are Keuchel McHugh Devenski Fister. When Lance is back, he has a spot. So do we have Fister Fiers and Feldman in the bullpen? Are you assuming some of them can pick up single inning type duty? We certainly don't have room for 3 long relievers. What does this mean? You want people to answer the question without addressing potential hurdles? Doesn't make sense.. I'm sure you know that. I'm assuming you want the team to start making moves like DFA'ing Feldman, Valbuena, and Gomez as needed for the young guys. That's certainly possible, but you give up all hope of potentially getting even some minor league lottery tickets back at the trade deadline if you do that. I could see them all getting dumped for nothing after the deadline if their trade value is absolutely zero.
I agree that they need to do something with Musgrove. He is 23 and has shown all he needs to show in AA. They should move him up to AAA (at least) and give him a shot against some better competition ASAP. On the other hand, Reed doesn't look at all ready to me at this point. Not enough contact to justify bringing him up right now. He needs more work.
40 man we could can Kratz and move up Stassi, certainly wouldn't be taking a step back Rotation Keuchel McHugh Lance Fister Musgrove Devenski back to the pen and in high leverage situations. We have 2 reliable pen arms right now, he would make 3. Fiers to the pen also, I like Fiers but this is big boy baseball and he needs to be better if he wants a rotation spot Fields is an easy cut, throws hard but results aren't those needed by a team that wants to contend Feldman could be traded for a lower level piece OR, we can let Musgrove dominate the minors, keep having a staff that ranks in the 20s, and blame Hinch
LOL. Trout is two years younger than Springer and just two years older than McCullers. If the Angels deal him - in the division, no less - it begins with Carlos Correa and ends wth Reed, McCullers, Musgrove and Martes. Think about how much you'd want for Correa if you were going to deal him - and then... double it (if not triple it) because Trout is monumentally better (right now).
You're ignoring the $34,000,000 annual salary that comes with Trout starting next season, so no, he is not worth double what Correa is worth. LOL. Like I said, I don't think the Angels will/should trade Trout. But if they go that route I doubt they will find any offers significantly better than a 5 player package built around Springer/McCullers/Bregman.
A huge factor in last season's success wasn't so much player performing at a star level, it was the collective ability of the entire roster to avoid sucking. Not a single position player posted negative fWAR last season. No pitcher posted more than -0.1 fWAR. The Astros bench (Marwin, Tucker, Kratz, Gattis, Marisnick) have been collectively below replacement. Combine that with Valbuena and Gomez struggling and there's why the offense has sucked despite Altuve, Springer, Correa, and Rasmus all playing at superstar levels. On the pitching side, the same can be said. Neshek, Sipp, and Giles have dragged down the overall performance. If those guys had just been replacement level to this point Houston would probably be 1-2 wins better. The shortest path to the playoffs for Houston is for Gomez, Giles, and McCullers to start performing like star players. If that happens, everyone else can either keep doing what they're doing (or balance each other out) and Houston should still be in the mix.
Who's out for McCullers? Feliz I guess. Musgrove is already on the 40 man. So I'm not worried there. But Kratz will be gone for either Stassi or Gattis. The alternative rotation is Keuchel McHugh Lance Fister Devenski The only difference is Devenski vs. Musgrove. Devenski has looked good. Are we so sure Musgrove jumping from AA to the ML is a significant upgrade over Devenski? Wouldn't we be better off bringing up Hoyt or someone for Fields while Devenski is proving his worth? And why remove a guy who is building value as an ML starter right now? FYI Musgrove only threw 100 innings last year. He's probably not going much higher than 130 this coming year...another issue with throwing him into the rotation.
Even if everyone plays to their desired level, we still get no further than we did last year. So moves are necessary. At best, this was a .500 team that was not ready to compete with Anaheim, Texas, or KC. My position remains the same. Go get a number 2 or 1 Pitcher without giving up top 3 prospects. Replace anyone in the lineup hitting less than .250 except for Castro. I don't care if they minor league or not. Can they really be any less productive. And if we can get a true 5 hitter then make it happen. But start with the above first.
That would be everyone (8 players) minus Altuve, Correa & Springer. And Springer is only hitting .256
