I like the move. We can keep talking about Lyles's potential (and I really wanted him to succeed), but 65 starts is a lot. We have a track record on him, and he has shown minimal improvement. Yes he's still young, but he should have been on a noticeable upswing by now.
Like the move as well. It's really not a risk as I can't imagine Lyles or Barnes are apart of the big picture.
I'm excited about the move. He is only 27 so he could be hitting his prime despite the injuries and off year.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Bad deal for @dfowler24 :-(</p>— Chris Singleton (@c_singleton) <a href="https://twitter.com/c_singleton/statuses/408045062979739648">December 4, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/bensonp55">@bensonp55</a> sorry bro. not buying it.</p>— Chris Singleton (@c_singleton) <a href="https://twitter.com/c_singleton/statuses/408045924594618369">December 4, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Very good move by the Astros. He's a bargain at his price when taking WAR into account (2.4 I believe). He can cover left with Springer in center, making a pretty decent defensive OF. In the case of Lyles, I hope we regret this trade in a couple of years if he figures things out...but I just don't see it happening. Remember what happened to Darryl Kile's curve when he left for Colorado?
i've never been a huge fowler fan, but the fact that we virtually gave up nothing for him makes this trade palatable. he's the definition of injury prone, so we'll see how it pans out.
Activating J.R. signal. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Once more unto the breach, dear friends - for Insiders, my take on tonight's Rockies/Astros trade: <a href="http://t.co/iJWDw8HQPI">http://t.co/iJWDw8HQPI</a></p>— keithlaw (@keithlaw) <a href="https://twitter.com/keithlaw/statuses/408084904648269825">December 4, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Lyles had all that potential and never really lived up to it. I wonder why he started throwing less changeups because I thought it could have been his strikeout pitch.
Lyles could be good.. but he wasn't gonna be good here.. hope he does well.. but not as good as Dexter.. Keep wheeling and dealing Jeff.. It worked
Jr that's why he turned on the Jr Signal. Also I like the deal, really feel bad for Lyles though. I thought he would be a good #2 pitcher, now he has to try his luck in Colorado. Good luck lyles
i dont see how people can be upset with this trade... i mean, did anybody else watch lyles the past 3 years? he's nothing special. sorry. he's not. he's could be, at best, a #4 on a championship team, and thats if he VASTLY improves. i like barnes and his attitude, but fowler should be just as good of a fielder and definitely a better hitter. 1-2 punch of fowler-altuve at the top of the lineup is enticing. fowler NEEDS to avoid injuries, but he was having a phenomenal year prior to his injuries.
Keith Law Reaction The Houston Astros-Colorado Rockies trade might be the one move of the crazy past 48 hours that truly came out of nowhere for me. I knew Dexter Fowler was available, but didn't think Houston was a suitor and thought the Rockies would get more for him. Those preconceived notions didn't quite match the market reality, though. Instead, the Astros get something of an upside play for the short term, while the Rockies save money and get a back-end starter candidate who'll have to make a big adjustment to handle Coors Field. For the Astros, trading for Fowler is a gamble on a player with star-caliber tools who has never taken that last developmental step to get to that level, instead settling in as merely a good everyday player who might be closer to average had he spent the past few years at sea level. Fowler is a great athlete who shows four tools, lacking more than average power, but whose tools haven't always translated into skills: He should have good range in center but hasn't shown great instincts. He's an above-average runner but is under 70 percent for his career in basestealing. And nearly all of his offensive production in the majors has come at Coors Field, in part because he doesn't make enough hard contact. He also has missed a lot of games since reaching the majors, critical at-bats for a player whose game is still crude in many respects. Fowler is due to make $7.35 million in 2014 with one season of arbitration after that. I thought that was a good value before the hot stove warmed up, but which turned out to be more than most teams think he's worth given the home/road splits and lack of overall refinement in his game. Houston can play Fowler in left or right fields and leave prospect George Springer in center, as he's also a superb athlete and has better feel for playing the outfield than Fowler does. If Fowler does fare better outside of Denver or simply benefits from a change of scenery, the Astros will have opportunities to flip him for younger assets in July or next offseason. The Rockies clear some payroll room with the trade, and also get a young back-end starter in Jordan Lyles, who has yet to fulfill most of the promise he had as a prospect in the Astros' system, before former GM Ed Wade promoted him way too early in what appeared at the time to be an attempt to save Wade's own job. Lyles has been below replacement level through 72 big-league appearances when gauged by ERA, but playing in front of bad defenses hasn't helped him and he has been below-average but above that replacement-level baseline when measured on his own performance. Lyles has a good feel for pitching and above-average control, suffering from his lack of any clear out pitch. He started out as a fastball-curveball-changeup guy, with a curveball that was pretty but wasn't sharp enough to miss bats. In 2013, he tried to work in a slider, but the pitch was awful, so easy to pick up out of his hand that hitters could tee off on it if it finished in the zone. In Coors Field, his best attribute is his ability to get ground balls, which he generates a little more often with off-speed stuff than he does with his fastball. The Rockies might want to have him work more on the changeup, a pitch that loses less at altitude than a breaking ball does, and hope he improves his fastball command. Otherwise, he's a contact-heavy starter in a home park that does not suffer those pitchers gladly. Brandon Barnes is just a throw-in, a fourth or fifth outfielder who's probably not going to see much time in Denver as the Rockies try to give Fowler's at-bats to Corey Dickerson and Charlie Blackmon.
