Now is the time to bring up Tucker and see if he is going to force his way into the lineup. Since Hinch is adamant about 13 pitchers during the regular season, once everyone is back in all likelihood Tucker will have to be sent down until the playoffs. You can bring him up right now and let White go or send Mayfield or Straw back down. As the others comeback: Tucker + Straw - Altuve + Mayfield - Springer + Kemp - Diaz + White - Correa + ? - Eventual lineup if Tucker is raking and everybody is back. Springer Altuve Bregman Brantley Correa Alvarez Gurriel Reddick Chirionos Tucker Marisnik Diaz Stassi Who goes if they keep 13 pitchers? Presuming they can't/won't trade Marisnik, Reddick, Gurriel (which they won't).
They can’t have both Alvarez and Tucker on the roster if they carry 13 pitchers. Trading Reddick, Gurriel, or Marisnick during the season is not realistic. Here’s their best roster when everybody is healthy: CF Springer LF Brantley 3B Bregman 2B Altuve DH Alvarez SS Correa RF Tucker 1B Gurriel C Chirinos Bench: Reddick, Diaz, Marisnick, Stassi Rotation: Verlander, Cole, Miley, Peacock, Valdez* Bullpen: McHugh, Devenski*, James, Rondon, Harris, Pressly, Osuna Traded: White, Kemp Optioned: Abreu, Armenteros, Deetz, Guduan, Martin, Perez, Rodgers, Stubbs, Reed, Mayfield, Fisher, Straw 60 Day DL: Smith, McCullers *I expect them to trade for a SP and a RP; Valdez and Devenski would be traded or optioned in that scenario. Joe Smith could complicate that if he comes back healthy. One interesting thing is that there’s no room for a 3rd catcher, which they’ve typically carried in the second half and especially in the playoffs.
Hate to be a KOF but have to find a way to keep Kemp. For a low 200's hitter he seems to come up with a key hit, or scores on a walk, or makes a good play in the field. Plus... a good locker room and dugout guy (Hugs for Homers). Besides, I don't think you will get much if anything for Kemp (or White). Tucker is definitely the better player and next season I'd be all in favor of him competing for a starting outfield position, but prefer Kemp through this season.
Kemp is a capable major league player but he has no place on Houston’s 25 man roster. The only way to keep him is to keep Tucker down or trade a better player like Reddick or Marisnick.
I think we are in complete agreement. That's why I say bring Tucker up now so he can't get a month or so while Correa is out. Then you have to make a trade of reddick, diaz, marisnik, or Gurriel to keep him up, which I don't believe they will do. I can't see them going through the regular season with 12 pitchers. They can bring Tucker and/or Straw back up in September and decide which one to keep up for the post season when you can ride with 11 or 12 pitchers.
One option is to use James and Devenski (each have options remaining) as taxi squad players. They can keep 12 pitchers, but if the bullpen gets overused, Devenski or James can be optioned and temporarily replaced by a fresh pitcher from AAA. Once the minimum days have passed they can be reinstated.
They're going to need to find a time to experiment with him again. The idea that he's already got some semi-reserved spot on the Astros is not at all the case. When he eventually comes up again, I suspect it's going to be his final chance to prove whether he ever will or not, because he got a chance last year, and I think made a really poor impression with it. That's my personal opinion, but I'm also surmising from stuff that Hinch and Luhnow have said about him in the offseason: "he's going to have to earn it." Now, this does beg the question: when and how do you do this? The team is in a constant state of flux right now and pretty saturated with callups already. I don't think you'll see them bring yet another one up right now, especially an outfielder. And certain guys on the IL are going to start trickling back in soon including our starting CF. Really hard to see how you get him in there. He doesn't have an offensive track record, nor does he have a defensive track record like Jake does. And if Yordan keeps Yordaning, there's no spot for him at DH. Gotta see him again to be sure, but man, there's a waiting list in the outfield on top of the guys that have already proven themselves out there. Maybe he should start learning some infield.
No need for Tucker right now. He's still only batting .267 in AAA. Let him play the season in AAA until the Astros can expand the roster in September. If he's able to hit well during that time explore trading Reddick in 2020 to promote Tucker.
Tucker's time is in July....playing RF for the Nationals or Mets when we acquire Scherzer or Syndergaard.
Still would prefer more time down there to build his confidence and develop. We've got time. He looked rattled last time he was called up.
Right now if you want to get Tucker some MLB at bats, you're going to have to have Alvarez play some 1B. Have Bregman play SS and move Yuli to 3B and you now have room to put Tucker at LF/DH platoon with Brantley. White leaves and Superjack gets sent back down to make room. If Tucker is mashing, you have to send Kemp somewhere. I think Straw's ability to play SS makes Kemp redundant as the IF/OF utility guy. Straw is a better defender in the OF and is a faster pinch runner. His value to this team is more than it is on the trading block though, so you won't get much in return. If Tucker mashes, it also makes Fisher redundant. Perhaps package them for something.
Mad Max is the guy I want given the package and right circumstances. It's basically right place at the right time. Throw out the high BABIP, he's still a presence at the top of the rotation, at least that's what you're banking on. IF the NATS can eat a good portion of the salary remaining... I'd give up Tucker and a few other prospects for Mad Max. 30+ million for the next 3 years is rather rough and means we couldn't keep Cole under any circumstance. On the flip side, it keeps you in win now mode (which we already in but it gives us an extra year of certainty if Verlander leaves at end of contract or retires) and it just makes sense. BUT A trade for Thor could maybe keep Cole for a bit even though ARB will go up for him. It would also require a bigger package to bring him in though. My gut say's they add Max Scherzer. I can't explain it but it's right place at the right time and would any other team give up a fringe top 10 prospect for Max at his age?
If I believed there was a a real shot at resigning Cole I wouldn't be talking about a trade for Scherzer.
Tucker right now is being blocked by Reddick. No other way around it IMO. There are no other options as Brantley and Alvarez are going nowhere. Reddick is playing well enough that he isn't getting benched for Tucker. a) Reddick gets hurt; Tucker plays b) Reddick goes into a tailspin; Tucker plays (tailspin would have to start now and go into July) c) Reddidk gets traded (highly unlikely as who wants him @ 17 mil and why mess w clubhouse chemistry) d) Tucker gets traded (I see this as likely as his AAA performance this year has resurrected his trade value; if he gets called up and struggles again, then his value would be hard to recover a 2nd time) e) Astros keep him in AAA all year (unless a) ) and give him RF to start 2020? I don't see many scenarios where both Reddick and Tucker are on active roster?
But you make the deal anyways and get to the Cole part whenever the time is necessary. Can't let potential offseason decisions dictate a chase for a ring. In this scenario, you make the trade and deal with the ramifications later and if Cole leaves (which would happen after the QO) then you get compensation.