My thoughts exactly. SOK (southern oklahoma) just doesn't have the depth. They have (1) top 100 prospect, a LHP ranked 56th by MLB Pipeline. If they really want to trade some combination of Profar, Odor, and Mazara, then so be it.
The Rangers can't acquire Quintana without making their big league roster worse. If anything it's a sign that Chicago is still pushing to get a deal done before spring training. Hoping Houston gets it done.
I am thinking Houston is about to get this done. Surely they got pretty far down the road earlier in the offseason, so if they are reengaging it's got to be pretty likely.
Martes, Paulino, Laureano, Stubbs, #75. Four very talented prospects and the comp balance pick. Astros get out of it w/o giving up Tucker, Whitley, or Perez. Still probably not enough but it's close.
I'm going to be super pissed off if the Astros miss out on a pitcher of this magnitude and he ends up as Ramger because they're too scared to part with unproven prospects. God I'm so sick of that crap.
I'm saying Martes, Teoscar, Fisher, Perez, and the #75 pick. Chicago needs position players (specifically OF) with all the pitching they got for Sale/Eaton.
Martes and Tucker will be big league stars one day. I can see us including one of them in a package (even include Musgrove) but not both. If I had a choice of the two I would want to keep Tucker. The guy seems to have .300/30/100 written all over him. Wishful thinking I am sure, but if and when it happens I want him to be on the Astros roster. Not to mention Martes is already close to being called up (Even for a part of the season). If Tucker can produce even at just the AA level like he has so far then his trade value shoots way up.
It's a virtual guarantee that if Houston gets Quintana that they will have to give up at least 2 "don't trade" guys. If the Astros are lucky Chicago's will take PEREz instead a Tucker
??? More likely, Hahn said Tucker or no trade and Luhnow responded no trade then. Hahn has likely accepted the idea of more quantity in lieu of the highest quality. Astros should be able to offer a reasonable package without Tucker that is still likely better than anything else that the CWS will be offered.
They will need to give in at some point. Just wear them down. Quintana is essentially useless to them. And when they do give him up they will feel robbed and ravaged. But I think if they walk away with picks they can sell themselves on that mentally.
Astros probably aren't in that conversation yet, if we're talking about rosters as of this exact moment. Even with our improved batting lineup, I'm not confident that our pitching rotation can get us to the Promised Land.
But we just need our guys to go 6 then hand it off to the bullpen! We have work to do but we are in the conversation due tour projected "best lineup in baseball".
