There is absolutely zero chance the Astros trade Brantley. He's considered one of the best FA signings of the season, and is a HUGE locker room presence. Also, his bat is a massive stabilizing force in the lineup. You don't trade guys like that unless you want to alienate the clubhouse. They will find ABs for Tucker without having to give up anybody from the everyday 9 IMO.
Not to mention how bad of a look that would be, not what you want to do to a veteran AS caliber player who arguably took a favorable deal to come play here and expressed how much he desired to do so. Plus him and Springer are best friends - he’s been an immediate fit in the locker room as you mentioned. If they did that and I was a FA down the road considering the Astros I would think twice. That goes for current players who we would like to resign.
Agree. Between Brantley, Tucker, and Alvarez, they have LF/DH/1B to work with. In the offseason, they can work with both Brantley and Alvarez on 1B if needed. Assuming health, Yuli is almost certainly the odd man out next year. Or if Tucker can play RF, they can make room there too with Reddick.
So I was checking Yordan Alvarez’s fangraphs page and their projections all have him with an .800+ OPS and a 30+/100 HR/RBI pace over a full season. Generally I’ve found them to be ultra conservative in the past when it comes to projections on players who are this young and haven’t spent a week in the MLB yet. They’ve definitely bought in...I think everyone here would be thrilled if he managed those numbers this season.
Im curios to see what Tucker can do when he gets called up again. That long lazy swing was not working for him in his first trip up. He is killing it again at AAA though. It’s time.
Yeah I’m not sure why anyone would think it’s a good idea to trade Brantley? Even if he’s an average defender, he’s been your nest pure hitter this season. Trading him would be a bad decision.
Wait....what? No way Yuli gets close to those HR and RBI numbers. (although I will gladly eat crow if he does) Edited for idiocy...NEVER MIND
Time for an optomotrist appt, bobrek So I was checking Yordan Alvarez’s fangraphs page and their projections all have him with an .800+ OPS and a 30+/100 HR/RBI pace over a full season.
I gave this post a like, b/c I mentally edited out the part about trading Brantley. I think you are correct that our OF should be Alvarez, Springer and Tucker next year, with Jake and Straw backing up (remember- 26 man roster next year and it can't be a pitcher) and Brantley should shuttle between 4th OF/DH and 1b with Yuli and Reddick moving on. Diaz can play 1b against tough lefties in addition to his other duties if you want to give Brantley a full day off. I'd love to see Brantley at 500 or so AB's, b/c that would mean he's likely playing 120 or so games, which at his age and injury level would be just fine with me. He's a stud. He's also a guy I think you should handle carefully. He can platoon at 1b with Diaz, play DH/LF against any lefties you want to still keep him in there. 550 plate appearances seems fine for him. That gives Diaz 350-400 plate appearances between spelling guys in the infield, playing 1/4 of the 1B AB's and some time at DH. Jake and Tucker can just about platoon as far as I'm concerned. Jake has been all star level against LHP and his defense is obviously better than Tucker. Straw can PR and spell Tucker and Yordan some against tough lefties.
I thought this was settled per these tweets until I heard announcers say it with a Y. Given that he wants his name pronounced with a J, and that's how it's pronounced in Cuba, I would think we've come to a place where we respect things like this especially given how many foreign players are in the game today. I have friends with foreign names and it does bug them when people purposely mispronounce their name on account of 'you're in America now'. Anyway, moving on.