Waiver Trade Deadline (Potential help to solve the triage problem?)

I hope Marwin keeps hitting and makes the whole question moot, he's the bat we need in LF.

 

He’s the best catcher on the team

 

They carried 3 last postseason.

 

You're counting Gattis?

 

No he is not. Possibly the 3rd best.

 

Yes, since last season he actually was a catcher.

 

Well, he's actually not one this year.

 

And? They’re still going to carry 3 actual catchers (4 counting Gattis).

 

Well...3-1/2 counting Gattis.

 

No they won't. The only reason you think they did or will is because you considered Gattis a catcher and not a DH last postseason.

No team carried 3 catchers in the last postseason.

 

I count Gattis as DH only, though he did start that one (disastrous) Game 3 in the ALCS where the Astros were destroyed (do you think Gattis had any effect on Morton's meltdown? He was solid every time he pitched to McCann).
McCann/Maldonado is enough, Stassi has been ice cold with the bat outside his red hot May, and it sounds like our pitchers really don't like pitching to him for some reason. Once McCann is back there's really no need for Stassi to waste a postseason roster spot at all.

 

Disagree. By far the best bat. Rated the #1 pitch framer in all of baseball.

All have intangibles. I’d pick McCann as a backup and Maldonado would be someone I’d consider if carrying 13 position players, 12 pitchers

 

Gattis caught a ton of games last season. He was the primary backup.

 

Stassi's bat was red hot in May, but in June/July, he had a 0.189 average. I think May was just a massive outlier, although with a 0.250 average and 0.900 OPS in August (so far), we might have evidence that his bat is starting to heat up again, although the sample size is VERY small.

 

Wrong. Astros, Rockies, and Diamondbacks all rostered 3 catchers in the postseason last year. And I didn’t even look up all of the other teams.

 

BUCK GOT OWNED.

 

McCann and Maldonado are both better than Stassi in the most important area of catching: game calling. You aren’t starting someone in the playoffs that gets dressed down by multiple members of the Astros rotation for not being on the same page as them when it comes to pitch sequencing. Provided McCann is healthy, Stassi will be the emergency catcher in the playoffs.

 

It'll be interesting to see how Luhnow and Hinch play out the rest of the season. Who makes the playoff roster? Do Kemp and Jake round out our offense, or do we still add a veteran bat? With the injury bug, it's probably safe to assume that we're not catching BOS for home field advantage. The question is, do we add reinforcements or just spread out ABs amongst our AAAA core until October. I think the latter is more likely, but the idea of adding a Beltre or McCutchen-esque bat sound re-assuring. The question then becomes: who would they replace on the playoff roster?

Adding Beltre seems to throw everything off, but maybe we have the roster flexibility to actually pull it off. He'd be a great addition to our clubhouse (and lineup).

I'm guessing the final playoff roster, if nothing else happened, is:

C: McCann, Maldonado, Stassi
IF: Yuli, Altuve, Correa, Bregman
OF: Springer, Reddick, Jake
Util: Kemp, Marwin
DH: Gattis

SP: JV, Cole, Kuechel, Morton
RP: Osuna, Rondon, LMJ, Peacock, McHugh, Devo, Smith, Sipp.

I think we're done adding arms. I don't see Pressly making it. Devo needs to get his act together, too. Maybe Harris? Whitley would be a true wildcard, but I don't see him making it just yet.

My guess is that Jake's spot is the first one on the chomping block. He's been playing better lately, but I get nauseas at the idea of him hitting in the post-season. Maybe we get greedy and add a bat like Beltre. Sprinkle around ABs and playing time to keep everyone fresh. Bregman would get pretty ticked if he were moved to LF, though.

 

Marwin, White, Kemp and Marisnick are hitting well so I think it lessens the need to add a bat.
My guess is that Pressly will be on the roster, likely over Devenski (if he doesn’t pitch well after he comes back) or Smith.

CF Springer
3B Bregman
2B Altuve
SS Correa
1B Gurriel
DH Gattis
RF Reddick
LF Marwin
C McCann
Bench: Maldonado, Marisnick, Kemp, Stassi

SP: JV, Cole, Kuechel, Morton
RP: Osuna, Rondon, LMJ, Peacock, McHugh, Devo, Pressly, Sipp.

I’d like White to be on the roster over Kemp or Stassi but I don’t think the front office would agree.

 

When not Justin use a Gattis and the emergency 3rd catcher? I doubt we even need to go down that road. Stassi is a pure waste of a roster spot, use White instead as a RH PH option. I know he’s good at framing, but the fact that Maldonado always catches everyone except Morton since the trade (in spite of Hinch insisting Stassi was still he started) is really telling.