Stassi is currently set to be the backup with Gattis DHing. FA catchers next year: Gattis, McCann, Weiters, Ramos, Mesoraco, Moldonado, Flowers, Grandal And quite possibly Lucroy will sign a 1 year deal.
Fewer teams are competing for free agents. 1/3 of the teams are shedding MLB talent via trade as a start of a rebuild and not interested in free agents. 1/3 are in process of rebuilding & only moderately interested in free agents. And the 1/3 competing prefer to get younger talent via trades than purchasing on the free agent market. Getting free agents is the last resort if teams have run out of prospects to trade or the prospect price the trade partner is asking is too high.
Just a heads up... Brian McCann will be on Hot Stove this morning. I'll post anything news worthy here.
McCann said he wished he had done better throwing guys out and hitting left handing pitching better. Said he is working on getting better for the 2018 season.
Correa, Altuve and Springer all finish in the top five in the MVP voting and Verlander, Keuchel and Darvish go 1-2-3 in the Cy Young vote, the Astros can reach 110 or 115 wins. Wins would be north of 120 games if this happens provided rest of the team isn't in the medical ward.
Astros are very good about penny pinching and keeping their guys happy. Will never forget that time Morton said he would want to retire after his stint with the Stros because he knows he would never have as much fun playing ball.
Looks like no Lucroy: http://www.chron.com/sports/astros/...ad-12494041.php#click=https://t.co/J90DL3wtgQ I’m cool with seeing what Stassi can do. Would be great if he showed enough to pencil in as the everyday guy for the next 5 years.
I'm personally rooting for him to do well. His mother is an amazing individual who took great care of my grandad while he had cancer. I remember when she asked me which city did I live in and I said Houston. She was so proud to talk about her son.
Thanks Eric. He did beat cancer back in 2015. Unfortunately, he had passed away this past September and didn't get a chance to see the World Series. He was a huge Dodgers fan and I would have loved to have given him crap over them losing.
So sorry to hear it, but I am glad you got those extra couple years with him. I'm sure wherever he is, he's really glad his grandson's team won it all... even if he is a Dodger fan!
Stassi excelled against LHP last season, so maybe we will get to see him share some of the DH duties with Gattis. He put up an OPS of 1.106 in 112 PAs versus lefties in 2017 at AAA. And in his limited ML playing time, he looked like he could put up above-average hitting numbers if given a chance at playing a full ML season.
.230/.320/.430 is probably his offensive ceiling. But that’s still a really good player as he is potentially a plus defensive player. I would be surprised if he was platooned at DH. Any ABs he gets will be at catcher. I’m encouraged by his progression and how well he’s done in limited MLB time. For some reason I feel like guys who are able to hold their own out of the gate have a higher chance of success (I think this is more important for non-elite prospects who may not have a long leash).
It would be a pity to lose Stassi to waivers. I'm hoping he has a strong spring training so that the team doesn't have to spend prospects on acquiring a catcher from outside. Those resources may be needed to make one or two more bullpen upgrades and to cover any injury replacements that might be needed over the course of the season.
