I legit read that as Justin Morneau at first LOL (he's been retired for some time). We'll see, maybe we see something nobody else does. He caught the Skaggs Memorial no-hitter, so that's a cool accomplishment. If not, at least some depth.
One theory I have is that players who have both never been given a full mlb audition and players who have never played on a good team might have untapped potential. Only when a guy gets a chance to get into a routine can his true talent level show, and sometimes surrounding a player with better players (especially hitters) allows their talent to play up. Garneau fits both of those criteria. He’s never really been given a full shot in the majors, so it’s hard to know how good he really his other than scouting reports and minor league numbers (which say he might be really good). Also, putting a player in a stacked lineup might allow him to see better pitches than he has during any of his other mlb stints (which came on lesser teams), which may increase his production. I feel like this latter point partially explains some of why Chirinos had such a good year with Houston.
So we literally signed the catcher that was released right before the Angels acquired Max Stassi? Awesome.... to all those that had high hopes of a solid catching tandem... this sucks
I think this is just the reality of having such a high payroll team (and only getting more expensive from here). We weren’t going to shelve out several million on a backup catcher slot. We can still have a solid catching tandem with Garneau on the back end. He needs to improve several facets of his game, but hopefully our players, coaches, and internal competition with Stubbs can make the backup catcher roster spot a good value play.
This is very similar to claiming Chris Hermann off waivers last year(who was released before the season even started).I think it’s as simple as a back up plan for our back up plan so to speak. I think after thanksgiving a few dominoes will start falling with the big guys stretching out until January at least. I believe that there is some uncertainty in what potentially could happen with the mlb investigation, so I expect Luhnow to try to move a little more swiftly than other GMs to fill holes and address certain needs.
Sounds like Luhnow expects to make a trade rather than sign a free agent. A little strange Luhnow wasn’t at the signing. Anxious to get the verdict on the scandal. Would suck if Luhnow has to go.
I figured all along we may just punt on offense from the catching position. We have to tighten our belt somewhere.
I don’t think that’s the plan. Garneau is a backup and they were never likely to spend millions on their backup. I will be surprised if they don’t acquire a solid starting option (Chirinos, Castro, Narvaez, worst case somebody like Avila or Maldonado).
Voight for 3 mil seems pretty reasonable to me. But I fully trust Luhnow to know what the market looks like.
Grisham was the outfielder who had the crucial error in the bottom of the 8th in Wild Card game that lost it vs the Nats...
Rangers signing Kyle Gibson. The Rangers are a star 1B or CF and a decent hitting catcher away from having a pretty complete roster, although the track records for Odor, Andrus, Mazara, Calhoun, Solak, and Allard make them a team with an unusually wide range of potential outcomes. Houston will still likely be heavily favored to win the division, but every team will be better than they were last season and this’ll be the toughest the division has been in 4 seasons.
I wonder if HOU is interested. BAL clearly knows our farm well, and Bundy could be a (sizable) project for Strom for a once heralded young arm
Waiting to see contract details on Pomeranz and Gibson, will give good insight as to how the pitching market is shaping up. I’ve pegged Bundy as a potential Astros target for awhile. Would be more than fine with him as the 5th starter as long as the prospect cost is low, but don’t see him as much of an upgrade from Urquidy.
Unless the Astros coaching/scouting really do not like Urquidy's upside, they really need to keep him in the rotation. The Astros desperately could use a couple home grown good starting pitchers that are under team control for multiple years. Urquidy is under the Astros control for 6 more years....... if Whitley comes up and pitches well, that would be a MASSIVE boon for the Astros........
$30M/3yrs for Gibson is extremely affordable imo. Would have been totally cool with Houston giving him that. To me it bodes well and indicates guys like Porcello, Lyles, etc will be cheap.