I don't see Gurriel being replaced by Smoak. Gurriel would be need to be dealt for this to happen; he doesn't offer a lot of value coming off the bench in the playoffs; his contract is prohibitive for a trade; the value increase of Gurriel to Smoak is minimal--Gurriel's 0.1 WAR to Smoak's 0.3 WAR.
Likewise man. I think overall they will be okay with the bats if everyone can get healthy. I'm not sold they have enough depth if the team can't get healthy by October
I prefer Smoak because of the greater power compared to Gurriel, and better walk rates. Though, Gurriel does offer higher AVG. As I've said, Dodgers (and other teams) found ways to manage their lineups and fit everyone. Just saying, look at the insane offenses these days. I'd argue the Yankees, assuming of course it's only ONE piece, even when taking Andujar's season-ending injury into account. Just so much depth with Voit, Edwin, Urshela, DJ, Didi, Stanton, Judge, Hicks, Gardner (and for now, Frazier). We can agree to disagree, eh. And they also keep on producing young studs from their farm, even better than we do, IMO.
Yes. Right now my big "trade crush" is Wheeler, though the fact that he's a rental may be an issue. Still, I love him way more than the other trade candidates. Just amazing stuff, already playing decent. Imagine his potential fully unlocked with help from Strom and JV.
Worth noting, Mike Minor was the opposing pitcher. If the Rangers sell, he's a top candidate to be moved. Has very high spin rates, and a great ERA, no wonder the Astros (supposedly) checked in on him in the offseason, though the Rangers apparently refuse to do business with us.
Rangers being competitive hurts Houston on multiple levels. Luhnow is in a tight spot; the pressure is really on for him to add a starting pitcher, and he may not have time to let prices come down given no August deadline. This team is one Verlander or Cole injury away from having a completely shitty rotation; McHugh and Valdez have failed, and Whitley and Martin are hurt. Jose Urquidy is the only AAA starter having success and he’s only really broken out this year, not exactly the pedigree of someone you start Game 3. I imagine prices are still crazy high even for guys Luhnow doesn’t really even like. The bullpen is fine, as 4 guys have established track records and McHugh and James have shown flashes. Add in that Peacock is likely to be in the playoff bullpen and I’ll be surprised if they focus on relievers. I think Luhnow’s comments today were GM speak. I do think Devenski is toast so there are 1-2 spots open in the bullpen if the right deal comes along.
Guys I want on the playoff roster: 1. Bregman 2. Springer 3. Altuve 4. Brantley 5. Correa 6. Alvarez 7. Chirinos 8. Marisnick 9. Reddick 10. Diaz 11. Gurriel 12. Verlander 13. Cole 14. Osuna 15. Peacock 16. Pressly 17. Miley 18. Harris 19. Rondon 20. Smith 21. McHugh 22. James Stassi is the current 12th position player, but I do not feel at all comfortable with him as the backup catcher especially given Chirinos age and injury/concussion history. Straw, Tucker, Fisher, or Kemp would be fine as 13th position players. Devenski and/or Valdez (or whoever is the current 3rd SP) are the 12th and 13th pitchers. I suppose Devenski is fine as the 13th arm, since he’ll be in the minors for most of the rest of the regular season and would not be on the playoff roster. So upgrading their game 3 or 4 starter is the main goal.
To be honest, Luhnow has done a great job but i do feel like he made one mistake this past off season. He needed to either sign Morton or trade for a SP. He wouldn't be so pressured into making a deal before the deadline and possibly overpaying for a SP.
He did add Miley... Coming into the season, they had 2 aces and a competition between Peacock, James, McHugh, Miley, and Valdez for 3 spots, with Rodgers and Armenteros as MLB-ready 5th starter types, and 3 other top 100 prospects, including the consensus best pitching prospect, expected to be ready to contribute this season. Fangraphs thought Cionel Perez was a top 100 type too. That's a lot of pitching depth, it just hasn't worked out so far.
I mean, it's beyond obvious that Gurriel and Reddick are both easily possible to upgrade from in an offensive sense. Neither are bad (Gurriel actually might be for his position) per se, but neither are anything much above average. Now, is it ok to have a league average offensive bat in the 8 & 9 spots in the lineup? Sure. But when those league average bats are corner OF and 1B it's not some impossible dream to believe that you could upgrade either or both of those guys. Tucker is the obvious upgrade candidate for Reddick if he hits.
It's also pretty obvious that the Astros don't want to get rid of Yuli or Reddick to add another bat. The best performing rental 1B right now looks to be Smoak, who hasn't even hit as well as Aledmys Diaz this season (though I do think he's a better hitter) who remains a free option to be the primary 1B for the playoffs. The question of whether or not Smoak (or someone else) is enough of an upgrade over Diaz/Yuli to justify the prospect and financial cost as well as sending Yuli down. Maybe they can grab Kendrys Morales on a minor league deal, and see if he can get it going in AAA to be competition in September for the pair.
Yep, and after looking at the likely available options I don’t see them upgrading from Stassi either. Barring an injury I don’t think Houston will trade for any position players. Bumgarner, Stroman, Syndergaard, and Boyd are likely to be the only 4 good starting pitchers traded, and though I’m sure Houston will be involved on all 4, I will be surprised if any of them end up as Astros. There will be a dozen or so lesser arms available and I expect Houston will end up with one they think they can help blossom. The reliever market is also stocked so I get why Luhnow’s comments indicated he’s looking at both relievers and starters even though they have 6 quality relievers (Osuna, Pressly, Harris, Smith, Rondon, McHugh) locked in.
With 1B being the weakest spot in the lineup, an upgrade should not be too difficult. Smoak still has good HR numbers, good BB/K numbers, and has hit into a ton of bad luck, plus can benefit from better protection in the lineup. Or at least be a platoon guy. For prospect costs, simple. We're going to have Rostermaggedon soon, just flip two of Sneed/Armenteros/Guduan/Rodgers to clear roster space. Based on recent deals (like Freese, Diaz, etc) and what the market looks like, and who TOR wants/likes, that should do it.
40 man roster spots and prospect costs are not an issue. But assuming you don’t want to disrupt chemistry by getting rid of Gurriel, Reddick, or Marisnick, there really isn’t room on the 25 man roster (or likely within the payroll) to add a bat. Which available 1B would serve as a meaningful upgrade over a Reddick/Gurriel platoon? Keep in mind Houston has one of the 10 best prospects in the entire minors sporting a 900+ ops in AAA.
To be clear I don’t expect a other bat due to chemistry and lack of a glaring need. I’m just saying it is a position that could be upgraded.
https://www.crawfishboxes.com/2019/...stroman-trade-astros-blue-jays-marcus-stroman Actual found this the most intersting "Astros will have roughly $14 Million dollars to utilize to re-sign or replace 7 players (Cole, McHugh, Miley, Chirinos, Rondon, Smith, and Harris" . My guess is they'll also get rid of Reddick and Gurriel's contact which would give them another $20 million per year, but still that's not a lot.
