Way too much for Wheeler, not only is he a rental, he is a guy you are “hoping” gets much better after he is traded
Would be sweet nabbing Bumgarner, especially the way he’s pitching again. What if they trade for TWO starters? And go big for a controllable arm..Boyd, Grienke, Ray Wheeler, Roark, types I see no reason to make a deal
Hard to see the Astros including Urquidy in a deal unless it's a deal breaker for the other side. A cost controlled, effective BoR arm is just what the Astros need moving forward.
If Houston gets a good starting pitcher there is bound to be a part of it that is painful. Gave up their only good catching prospect for Verlander, gave up Musgrove for Cole. Urquidy is one of the only healthy big league ready SP prospects in the system. If a team wants a prospect in return that they can immediately stick in their rotation, with any hope of that player being decent, Urquidy is pretty much the only option.
A blockbuster netting Greinke, Ray, Chafin, Bradley, and Avila would be the ultimate move today. Solves a ton of pitching problems both this year and next. Not much I wouldn’t be willing to part with for that package.
No, it's not. Not close. In 2017, their rotation was Dallas Keuchel and then hope that McCullers would stay healthy and.... That was a great team with a fatal flaw. If your priority today is a backup catcher and improving your third or fourth best reliever... you don't have a fatal flaw and should therefore be more judicious in how you manage your valuable assets. Fans should inherently understand this. That's not to argue they *shouldn't* make any moves, up to and including another starting pitcher. But this "they owe the fans" is nothing more than fan-wank bullshit. They've constructed a team on pace to win 103 games and will be the odd-son favorite to win the WS. If fans think they're owed *more* than that, the problem is with the fans, not the team.
I could see making that move for a high upside, controlled guy like Thor, but Robbie Ray? Urquidy's steamer and The Bat projections are already similar to Ray's, and Ray has been bleeding velo. Seems like you could get Archer'd here with Urquidy out performing Ray following the trade.
Does he?...... Utilizing assets to improve a team is smart - it is in no way indicative of there being a "significant" problem, however. And while you might dismiss that as semantics - it informs the urgency with which he'll approach the deadline. Is Kyle Tucker available? If not, then he probably doesn't view it that significant. Again, I'm not suggesting it's *not* a problem; I'm suggesting I don't believe it's a "significant" problem.
Marquez has great, great stuff and he's young. He gives up a ton of HRs though even away from Coors. Dude will pitch great for 4 innings and just implode every start.
In the vain of this post, no matter how good a team is at the deadline, if they are in contention, many fans will advocate for "gotta take your best shot". A team can smartly try to make their moves in the offseason so they have the players for the full season instead of just a couple of months, but the fans will still want more big trades at the deadline no matter how little they affect postseason odds. This isn't to say teams shouldn't make smart trades to round out the roster, but Astros are far from desperate. I expect Astros to add a couple of players today. I expect fans will have a wide range of emotion. If I had to guess, I'd put relief as the most likely emotion after Astros make a move(s), but not a big move(s). I'd put anger at second as Astros are unlikely to get player "X" a given fan is pining for. I'd put jubilation as a close third in case Luhnow acquires a player that is both great and perceived to be great by fans.
I won't be either but that would be a huge mistake. We simply don't have the quality pitching depth that we had in 2017. Win now, figure out next year, next year.
