And hopefully Avilla I like the idea of bringing in Bradley. Osuna/Healthy Pressley/Bradley/Harris is a very deep/good bullpen.
No idea. Just passing on what I heard an hour ago. Supposedly the Astros like him enough to try to trade for him.
They have discussed Avila (not sure I posted it or not). They have had a lot of discussions with Arizona.
Seems like it will be Arizona or bust... and if a deal is made, could be something that links the two franchises for a little while...
There have been some reports of Stroman to the Astros as a possibility. I trust the front office to do the right thing. I do think we really need to address getting a back up catcher and pen arm. A starter would be nice but there are not many out there.... especially with the Dodgers looking for a starter to then move someone in the rotation to the pen.
Nah. The lineup will be 100 win caliber until Correa reaches free agency after 2022. The rotation is built around Verlander and the pen will have Pressly and Osuna. Of course bad things can happen but there’s a good chance Houston will be able to develop or trade for the pitching they need. Nobody was worried about the window closing 4 months ago and the only thing that has changed is Whitley has struggled and Martin has had Tommy John surgery.
I was, and it's about the starting pitching. Before last season, the Cole trade gave us 2 years to develop some quality starting pitching in house. Even before this season I was fairly optimistic, but to say the only thing is Whitley and Martin isn't true. James has been inconsistent, and we haven't seen him in the rotation. Valdez has been mostly awful. Bukauskas has been extremely inconsistent. Whitley has had a completely lost season. Martin showed major control issues, and now is likely done for 2 years. I think our failure to develop a great starter is mostly bad luck not a systematic issue, but the fact is we have no proven starters moving forward. As the superstar core continues to inch towards free agency being able to simply trade for one great starter won't be enough.
I get it. I have been leading the charge for them to add a top of the rotation pitcher under multiple years of control. Here is the reality though. Next year we will have pretty much the same lineup.... maybe they trade Reddick and bring up Tucker (if he isn't traded) and maybe a different catcher. The year after that 4/9 of our lineup will be Altuve, Bregman, Alvarez and Correa. Then the following three more years we still have Altuve, Bregman, and Alvarez locked in. We will be good. The question is how good? I think even next year with a rotation of Verlander, McCullers, and 3 question marks we are still the prohibitve favorite to win our division. Most likely, the Astros will be in the same position where they are looking for starting pitching at the deadline a year from now. I can assure you though... Luhnow won't start the season next year with Verlander, McCullers and 3 question marks. He will use his resources as best he can to fill out the roster.
Next season isn't in question, we will be great. We'll probably still be good in 2021 also, beyond that is the issue.
As long as Jeff Luhnow is running the show this team will be competitive I don’t care what year it is
With the Indians now a game of the Twins, I expect the Twins to make a splash at the deadline. Pitching has been rough for them. The Red Sox are now in the second Wild Card spot. I still think this deadline is going to be wild
if only there was some way for the astros to get potential pitchers in the offseason who are not signed with a team and are free to sign with any team that would be cool!!
This is exactly the kind of player I like the Astros trading for. While he has average spin, he has 95+ velocity and a regarded curve, was a dominant reliever a couple of years ago, has three years of control after this one, hasn't allowed a run in the last 7 games after making analytics-informed adjustments, and is probably available at the middle to lower end of our prospect list since he's been struggling this year prior to the adjustments, after which he's been dominant. These are the kinds of players we'll never hear about until after the trade because the Astros are so good at identifying players like this. I'm surprised this even leaked out, because now every other team will look that way.
This run by our minor leaguers will certainly provide some badly needed leverage in trade talks, as in, 'We're not desperate to make a trade. Are you? If so, let's talk.' I would expect a last minute deal when teams literally are desperate to get any kind of return on a player vs nothing. It sure seems the organization changed something system wide starting in mid July, and it's definitely showing. July 27 Bielak 7IP 3H 2R 2BB 7K, Yohan Ramirez 6IP 1H 1R 1BB 8K July 26 Urquidy 6IP 4H 1R 2BB 6K, JP France 7IP 2H 0R 1BB 9K July 25 Javier 4IP 0H 0R 2BB 9K, Abreu 5IP 5H 2R 1BB 6K July 24 Bukauskas 5IP 1H 0R 1BB 7K, Ivey 2.1IP 1H 0R 2BB 5K, Emanuel 7IP 3H 0R 1BB 5K July 23 Jojanse Torres (scheduled start day, pitched next day b/c of rainout): 7IP 1H 0R 1BB 8K July 22 Chad Donato 4.2IP 6H 1R 1BB 3K July 21 Armenteros 5IP 2H 1R 2BB 6K, Yohan Ramirez 5IP 2H 0R 3BB 4K July 20 Urquidy 7IP 2H 1R 1BB 9K, Bielak 7IP 1H 0R 2BB 7K July 19 Abreu 4IP 2H 0R 0BB 7K July 18 Bukauskas 6IP 7H 1R 2BB 9K, Ivey 3IP 0H 0R 1BB 2K July 17 Paredes 6IP 3H 0R 2BB 9K July 16 Sneed 7IP 5H 0R 1BB 7K
