Since I cant edit.... Rasmus was a surprise. Also was Castro (thought he would be among the worst). Tucker, the best? Lowrie 2nd best? Hmmmm
I'm surprised Castro is worse, but the others don't particularly surprise me. Tucker hit those big pinch hit HRs. One of the few guys I'd say was better in clutch situations than outside of them. Lowrie was so good early in the season (and hit that grand slam).
I am pretty sure Astros started out clutch...but went bad in the clutch very quickly with Neshek dropping the mic for the bullpen.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Adidas has signed Carlos Correa to a huge, record-setting, 5-year deal. Negotiated by Greg Genske of Legacy Agency.</p>— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) <a href="https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/698607612254941184">February 13, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Adidas now has its biggest deals in Houston: Harden in basketball & Correa in baseball.</p>— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) <a href="https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/698607908846747648">February 13, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Those clutch numbers for Valbuena and Gattis are far below their career numbers, which were positive prior to last year. That was also Rasmus's career worst number, and Carter is gone (although last year was way out of whack for him as well) So there is no career trend to say we have poor clutch hitters, in fact that is a number that typically seems to vary quite a bit from year to year. This is something else that should help explain why the run differential vs win total was on the poor side, and probably shouldn't expect it to happen again.
Interesting that Nottingham got moved to the Brewers, which might open the door more easily to a Lucroy trade (also without having to feed them a catcher of the future). Maybe the Kaz deal is still working for us..
Completely missed this news until now. Crazy that Nottingham already got flipped. Gotta assume that they are dealing Lucroy imminently. He makes all the sense in the world for us. What's interesting is, in that seemingly ridiculous blurb a few weeks ago about acquiring Lucroy to enable Castro to play 1B- while that obviously wouldn't be the motive, I could see Castro being used as a stop gap 1b till Reed is here, if he's not on the opening day roster. It's no big tragedy, but I would have just re-upped with Carter for the pennies that he signed for this offseason. But who knows...their seeming indifference to address 1B leads me to believe that their plan all along was to have Reed on the opening day roster.
I don't think the Astros will make any other major moves until the trade deadline. Lucroy sounds good but would not give up a Top 5 prospect in the Astros farm system.
Having listened to a bunch of Luhnow interviews recently... it really seems that Tyler White will get the early nod (provided he has a decent spring), with Reed available to come up after the first month... or even possibly waiting on him till super 2. Matt Duffy would be the fallback plan if Singleton AND White completely look lost at the plate. Sure, a trade for Lucroy could open up more possibilities... but if Castro isn't playing some 1B at all during spring training, I will find it highly doubtful that he's going to just pick it up on the fly once he's displaced.
I think the excitement of the season approaching is getting to be too much for some people. There is a better chance of it snowing in Minute Maid Park than Jason Castro playing 1B for the Astros. The Nottingham trade does open the door wide open for Lucroy to be dealt. I doubt the Brewers wanted or would want Stassi in a potential deal. I think they would be interested in two of three out of Tucker, Duffy, Singleton plus a younger top 10 prospect. Maybe Fisher. Maybe Kemp. The Astros have some mlb ready players that there is just not going to be playing time for.
Fisher would probably the most likely to go in any trade... simply due to the fact that the Astros already were willing to trade him once before.
With Nottingham not having played above A ball yet I doubt this trade means Lucroy is about to be dealt Nottingham is at least another year away, likely a little more
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A.J. Reed mashes everywhere he goes. Great combination of hitting ability, patience and huge power. Could be a monster. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BA100?src=hash">#BA100</a></p>— Ben Badler (@BenBadler) <a href="https://twitter.com/BenBadler/status/698338110023692288">February 13, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Extremely rare. And Martes started the year in extended spring training! Probably opens back in Double-A. <a href="https://t.co/OsfNg2nHj4">https://t.co/OsfNg2nHj4</a></p>— Ben Badler (@BenBadler) <a href="https://twitter.com/BenBadler/status/698355078864842752">February 13, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Baseball America ranked the Astros farm system second, but check the link for the full list: <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Baseball America's farm system rankings, 1-30: <a href="https://t.co/G7hlTkC1aT">https://t.co/G7hlTkC1aT</a></p>— Ben Badler (@BenBadler) <a href="https://twitter.com/BenBadler/status/698205412256935936">February 12, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Maybe not, but the fact that they've been rapidly trading away every vet of value on their roster probably does.
