Yulieski Gurriel agrees to 5/$47M deal with the Astros

You have 2-3 year window where the core of your guys are still cheap.

Sale is an Ace.
Jose is very good and has been for a few years.
Shields is salary dump
Abreu is a border line all star he would be our starting 1b
David Robertson would be a good setup man.
Eaton would be our starting CF
Melky would be our starting DH.

Heck I would even throw in springer.

Here would be our lineup
eaton
Gurriel
altuve
correa
Abreu
melky
C
LF
RF

And our pitching staff would be
Sale
Quintana
Dallas
4th
5th starter.

As we have seen, a lot of these prospects don't amount to much like singleton, tucker, aj reed (so far) etc.

I would rather take a shot for a ring in the next few years while we have altuve and correa for cheap.

Of course this trade is pretty absurd and would never happen, but if the white sox agree to do that deal without springer I would be all over that deal and with springer in that deal I would be fine with it.


If crane can't afford a 160M dollar payroll we need a new owner.

 

Let's keep going down this rabbit hole. Take out Eaton and Perez. I could then see the hypothetical trade broken down into 2 parts:

Robertson, Cabrera, and Shields in a salary dump for Fiers and Preston Tucker. Maybe Houston throws in a C+ grade reliever prospect like Hoyt, Gustave, Guduan, or Jankowski.

Sale, Abreu, and Quintana for Bregman, McCullers, Martes, K Tucker, Musgrove, Paulino, Reed, Fisher, and Moran. If the Sox want sweeteners, throw in Stassi, Kemp, and any other reliever prospects they want (McCurry, West, etc.). That would essentially give the Sox an entire roster of MLB ready prospects to pair with Anderson, Rodon, Fulmer, and Collins, along with a virtually empty payroll. Plus they'd still have Lawrie and Frazier to trade. Houstons resulting roster would be:

RF Springer
3B Gurriel
2B Altuve
SS Correa
1B Abreu
DH Cabrera
C Gattis
LF Hernandez
CF Marisnick

Bench: Marwin, TBD (Heineman, Stubbs, maybe bring back Castro or sign Avila), TBD (Kemp, Aplin, maybe bring back Rasmus)

Rotation:
Sale
Keuchel
Quintana
McHugh
Shields

Bullpen:Sipp, 2 TBD (competition between NRIs and prospects), Devenski, Feliz, Harris, Gregerson, Giles

If they sign Gurriel they'd still have a viable farm featuring Gurriel, Whitley, Cameron, A Abreu, Perez, Sierra, etc. It would open up some spots in the upper minors for Luhnow to find castoffs which he's shown he's good at.

The real issue would be Houstons ability to absorb all that payroll.

 

what the latest on Lourdes Gurriel?

 

Think we just traded him to the White Sox

I mean for the White Sox

 

I remember back in the 90s when the Astros had Biggio, Bagwell, Finley, Gonzales, and Caminiti. If they had kept that core together I believe we would have one at least 1 WS. I hated that the brass blew up that group.

We had Harnisch, Kile, Shane Reynolds and Hampton growing into a formidable rotation with Hudek as the closer.

I just wish we could keep the current guys, nurture and add to the nucleus as they mature, like I wish they had with that 90s group.

 

+ Kenny Lofton, Curt Schilling

 

He has been retired for 20 years. He managed a bit in his retirement. He is 59 years old, so I just don't see the White Sox being that interested.

 

You mentioned Hudek (essentially a half season wonder) over Wagner?

 

Forgot about Wagner, who was on the 95 team. Hudek I believe was an allstar for that 1 season. Forgot Phil Nevin also who blossomed with the Padres.

The point is, I'd like to keep the nucleus together and add

 

The point is, I'd like to keep the nucleus together and add[/QUOTE]

...pieces as they grow

 

You can't play them all. It's a 25 man roster.

Not every prospect is an ace in the hold, though the Astros do have some highly talented ones. I remember vividly as Luhnow said that his minor league system would be for two things, to produce MLB players or as trade bait; whichever added more value to the club. Hence why he never concerned too much about adding what seemed talent to already talented positions, (see Correa and drafting Bregman with other glaring positions very weak).

Bregman's stock is high. Like stratospheric high, I think is MLB debut rookie season has probably peaked the interest of everyone. Pick an Ace any ace, and a package built around Bregman might entice more teams than we would think.

 

http://climbingtalshill.com/2016/10/27/houston-astros-any-updates-on-the-status-of-lourdes-gurriel/

 

Did yall really meantion 1 year Hudek?

 

Nah he said probably a bunch of garbage. As in prospect fail all the time.
With that logic tho all trades are terrible lol (unless it's a swap of big league all stars)

 

FIFY...

 

Tal Smith and his Phil Plantier BS.

 

Don't forget that crap they spewed how Derek Bell was going to make us forget all about Caminitu and Finley... How we were getting an MVP type player in Bell....

Astros blew it after Clemens and Pettite got them a World Series berth, because Bagwell messed up team chemistry with his ego to be on the roster, even though he took a productive players spot. The tandem of Biggio and Bagwell did not ever lead this team to a World Series appearance.

What a team they'd of had if not for crappy GM'ing and a money pinching owner.

 

I'm sure if they knew that Finley, Gonzales, and Caminiti would have started juicing the way they did they would have kept them around. They were all a bunch of slap hitters that started jacking ~40+ HR per season MVP candidates once they left.

 

Quoted for truth, our biggest mistake was apparently not convincing them to get on the juice sooner. That 93 team could have won the chip if Finley, Cammy and Gonzo hit like they did in Arizona and San Diego.

 

Lol.

Bagwell made the team over, who, exactly? Charlton Jimmerson? Todd Self? John Franco? Who exactly did we leave off that roster who would've gotten us over the hump? No one. Bagwell went 1-8 that series. If you think giving those 8 at bats to Jose Vizcaino or whoever would've made a difference, then I don't know what to tell you.

Also, sans evidence beyond what appears to be pure speculation, I've never heard that Bagwell was an ego or locker room problem. Especially in 2005--with a team loaded with veterans--I just don't see "Bagwell's ego" being an issue. If anything, I'd bet that the players wanted Baggy in the WS. Based on what I've seen, Bagwell's teammates have loved playing with him. But hey, maybe you're right...maybe Biggio and Clemens went to Garner and pleaded for Todd Self's case.