I think you're overvaluing him. He's been good but way too inconsistent. He wasn't able to put to 2 good starts in a row together all season. I want to improve on McHugh...not get another one. You're the one that said he and Pineda are equals.
Except that he had a stretch in June where in 7 of 8 starts he allowed 2 earned or less (in the other start he gave up 3 earned in 6 innings) And to end the season he allowed 2 earned or less in 6 of 7 starts
I'd put my money on us trading for Gray with a deal centered on Whitley. It makes sense for both sides. I doubt OAK will see a better pitching prospect for Gray at this point. OAK will take the long-term upside of Whitley over the shorter-term, and lower ceiling, benefit of other pitching prospects on the market. I'd hope a similar proposal could get it done for Archer, but I think other teams can offer a more competitive package than one centered on Whitley.
I'm with you on Whitley, Astros need pitching help right now. Whitley and Cameron for Sonny Gray. I'm cool with a rotation that consists of Keuchel, McCullers if healthy and McHugh as the leftovers from this past year's rotation. Put Sonny Gray and another quality veteran in the rotation and the Astros have something cooking. Whitley is no where close to the Majors and you want to start winning now with the Astros young core.
He's a great cheap back-of-the-rotation guy, just like Fiers (and you have Martes in reserve). Bring in 1 stud and the rotation looks a whole lot better.
You think we should go after Cespedes? How much did we give Rasmus 11 0r 15 mil? Maybe give him something like that to play with Gurriel. I do think our priority should be quality starting pitching
Rasmus got a one year, $15.8M qualifying offer. Yoe made $27.5M this past year. If he opts out, as expected, he's walking away from 2 years, $47.5M ($23.75M/year). Very unlikely $11M or $15M gets a deal done.
Cespedes would be a nice pick up but I doubt the astros are in the running for him. I hope they don't give up on Whitley this soon
I think Astros fans have convinced themselves we have a bigger window than we actually do. It's time to win. If they can add an ace, they need to do it. Seen a lot of teams in a lot of sports look like pending dynasties, only to find that circumstances pushed those opportunities away. It's time to win.
It is hard to tell how long the window is. However I agree the window is more than likely a few years at most for any young collection of talent. The Astros need either spend a lot of money or be very aggressive on the trade front. The Astros handling of the trade deadline this past season is not acceptable. I know they thought until the last hour that they were getting something done with the White Sox; but after that fell apart they just did nothing. They blew a playoff birth letting players like Lucroy, Beltran, Braun and Moore go to other teams (sans Braun who was very available). Blowing a playoff birth to save Musgrove and/or Martes isn't acceptable.
The assumption by Astros fans seems to be that the Boy Wonder (Correa) will be here for forever. Correa strikes me as a kid who is big on his own brand. I wouldn't assume he's here long-term. Hope I'm wrong. Just the sense I get. And agreed entirely on how they handled the offseason...
Whitley is THE guy I wouldn't give up in the Astros system. Whitley is a guy that Nolan said will become the next great ace for the Stros and they went over slot to sign him. Whitley has the kind of talent that says hev can be in the rotation in 2-3 years.
