Thanks for the great info/post. Good luck with Philips, Santana and the rest. Phillips especially is going to be awesome.
Guys, stop talking about Carter traded, he has no value at this moment, a DH that is just not a good hitter, and having an awful year. What AL team would take him out of our hands???
Welcome to ClutchFans, appreciate the insight. I don't post often in this forum, but I read almost every post. Been a fan of the team since 1980. There are a lot of good posters in this forum and I appreciate reading what you guys bring. I like the trade. Losing Phillps may sting one day, but you have to make this deal. This team has shown that they are good enough to make a deep run this year. I think Gomez is going to fit right in and contribute in a big way. Gotta love what Luhnow is doing, dude can build a team. Exciting times for sure.
This. Nothing against Gomez but for the level of players the Astros gave up they should have gotten more in return. I think the Brewers got the better end of the deal on this one but still a decent move if Gomez can produce.
I think the Astros traded a few prospects they really were not in love with. Santana for whatever reason was out of favor in the regime. Hader was another arm that was quality, but you just never saw the Astros brass be more than professional about him. Phillips was probably a guy the Astros traded at the highest value of his young career; before last season most had thought he was just another minor leaguer before he turned a whole lot of eyes. Houser is an arm in AAA ready to move forward in a super deep team, his chance was going to come somewhere else. Astros probably thought that in Gomez they get what they would be hoping for in Phillips 2 years or 3 years earlier, not counting all of the adjustments that are required before ML guys get established. So Astros included a guy in Santana, who showed he can play in the minors; which the Astros just didnt project on the future team, via their handling of him. I think they see Santana as a AAAA player, and dont want to deal with another Wallace, Krauss, Villar, etc. In Fier they get what they might be expecting from a guy like Hader. As Fier has already shown he is a good player, and under team contol for 4 or 5 more seasons. In retrospect, if I was the Brewers I would be ecstatic over the prospect haul. But as we have said before, there isnt room on the Astros for every prospect who will make the majors. Biggest prospect lost was Phillips, but you just replaced him with an allstar defensive minded centerfielder who plays hard. It was a win win for both teams.
Brewers got the best prospect. The Astros also got the best two MLB players in deal who are worth more than Phillips. The Brewers also got Hader and two pigs with lipstick. The Astros get a pick if they lose Gomez which will likely be more valuable than Hader and the two pigs with lipstick. Brewers win deal if Santana becomes more than a pig with lipstick.
Don't underestimate the value of an innings-eating, average-ish BOR starting pitcher. Those aren't easy to find, and when you do find them, they tend to cost a lot (see: Feldman, Scott). As for Gomez, looks all the world to me like he was an immature kid, shipped around a lot (likely because of that immaturity) who probably wasn't coached up in the interim (or he didn't listen to the coaching). When he settled in with the Brewers, sounds like he grew up a bit, the coaches got through to him and he finally tapped into his potential. Here's his slash line since 2012: .275/.335/.474/.809/118 OPS+/17.1 WAR. When you factor in his ++ defense at a premium defensive position (CF) and speed... that is a freaking stud. He's essentially what we all want George Springer to be. He has "Carlos Beltran, 2004" written all over him. Guy posted an 8.5 WAR in 2013. He's a legitimate upgrade for this team.
It's easy to look at Gomez's numbers this year and say he isn't that good. But over the last 4 seasons he has the 6th highest WAR among all OF's, he has been great. He also replaces Marisnick, who has been one of the holes in the lineup. Our pojected lineup 1-8 once Springer gets back, and their OPS over the last 3 years. Altuve .760 Springer .813 Correa .877 Gomez .821 Gattis .769 Lowrie .751 Rasmus .784 Valbuena .733 That's not including Singleton, Tucker, or possibly Tyler White who could all factor in. Conger has been hitting over his career numbers, while Castro has been in a nasty slump over the last month,so I'm not positive what to expect from the catchers down the stretch, but otherwise the addition of Gomez makes this an extremely deep lineup, while sacrificing little if any defense.
Without going back through 11 pages, anyone know if Gomez will be in uniform tonight? Planning on going to the game.
Tucker will play plenty against RH pitching regardless of whether he's a starter or not. I could see Tucker getting DH PAs against RHPs if he keeps it up.
Yes, comparable offensively, but Rasmus is head and shoulders better defensively. I think Gattis v Tucker becomes the bigger question. Gattis has been pretty bad for most of the season. This all of course depends on how well they are playing once George gets back.
Rasmus is the better defender.... but Tucker starting to put up some monster numbers against right-handed pitching. Ideally, both should be in the lineup against right-handers, where Tucker would be the DH... (and then attempt to convert him back to 1B in the off-season if there are no other options). Not sure why Gattis has been so mediocre against left-handed pitching this year, but career-wise, he's better from there... good enough to be in a platoon (either hidden in LF for home games, or DH'ing).
Jonah Keri spitting hot fire. http://grantland.com/the-triangle/2...carlos-gomez-mike-fiers/?ex_cid=story-twitter
Sure; but they're playing LF, which, I think, mitigates some of the defensive advantage (esp in MMP), as does having Marisnick/Gomez in CF. Regardless, it's a good problem to have. I wonder, also, if they'll push Tucker/1B, assuming it's at all viable.
It does... till Tucker mis-plays at-em balls over multiple games (as he did the last home-stand). His arm is also a huge liability on balls that there "should" be a play on with the short dimensions. I agree on the 1B move... but it won't happen right now. Will need to work on it in the off-season. In the mean time, Valbuena will just have to borrow an extra 1B glove from whoever the opponent is.
