So, had the Astros not won game 2 in LA, they were going to lose the first 2 games in Houston "in all likelihood"? If the front office valued Marwin as much as he is being valued by Boras, they would not have made the Diaz trade. Marwin was instrumental in the Astros winning the World Series. Marwin was good-great in June and August offensively in 2018, but very mediocre the rest of the season. And, while Marwin played a lot of left field, he was, at best, an average left fielder. His best trait is his ability to play multiple positions and play them decently. Not many guys can do what he does. The Astros have guys that, together, can fill his slot.
We can debate all you want, but without Marwin tying and sending it into extras, there's no Giles meltdown in the 10th inning. I think that means, if Game 3 plays out as IRL the first 8 innings, Hinch takes out Peacock, brings in Giles for the 9th, and he effs it up. Game 4 goes as it did IRL. At least, that's my thought. Anyway, back to offseason discussion.
Just a weird way to think about things, that the next two games would have played out exactly the same way as they did had game 2 played out differently. Except that Giles would have blown a 9th inning save in game 3. And following that, they would have lost game 4 because it would have been the exact same game even though the Astros were down 3-0. Also, using your logic, Giles would have pitched a perfect 9th in game 3 (since he pitched a perfect 9th in game 2 before the 10th inning melt down).
Gerrit Cole (5.111) – $13.1MM/$6.75MM Roberto Osuna (3.097) – $6.5MM/$5.3MM Collin McHugh (5.085) – $5.4MM/$5.0MM Carlos Correa (3.119) – $5.1MM/$1.MM Lance McCullers (3.140) – $4.6MM/$2.45MM Will Harris (5.102) – $3.6MM/$2.8MM Ryan Pressly (5.039) – $3.1MM/$1.6MM Brad Peacock (4.165) – $2.9MM/$2.44MM Jake Marisnick (4.132) – $2.4MM/$1.9MM Chris Devenski (3.000) – $1.4MM/$599K NEXT: Astros: Collin McHugh starts
We do lots of business with Toronto, how about a one-stop shop for a bat and pitching upgrade? I'd like to work a deal for Stroman and Smoak. Send them Gurriel and a some (non-Whitley, James, or Martin) pitching prospects. Astros shed Yuli's contract, get more power for less money in Smoak (I think the Crawford Boxes help his RHH power), and another stud starter in Stroman. Gurriel brothers are reunited. Blue Jays seem to love Astros AAA pitchers (Hauschild, Thornton, etc).
Smoak is due around 8.2 million over the next two years while Yuli is due over 18 million. Why would Toronto want Yuli over Smoak? Stroman is still under club control through 2020 and is probably their best major league commodity. They will want a better haul than a couple of Astros pitching prospects.
To buy prospects. Though, I doubt this would happen. I think Astros would need to include 1 (or more depending on if there other people lower in organization that Blue Jays want) of the Nova, Beer, Martes, Bukauskas.
I don’t think Houston wants to get rid of Gurriel. If Toronto likes Tyler White a lot (and assuming Houston likes Smoak), then including Smoak in a Stroman trade makes some sense. Personally I am not a big Smoak fan and don’t see him as a meaningful upgrade over Gurriel or White. Cionel Perez, Derek Fisher, Ronnie Dawson, and Cristian Javier seems like a fair price for Stroman. It’s a comparable package to what they gave up for Gerrit Cole.
Right...if it were Yuli and prospects for Smoak, that is one thing, but when you’re asking for Stroman as well, then you’d have to double the prospects.
The Astros wouldn't pay Morton because of concerns with his shoulder. I doubt they will pay the prospect cost for Stroman after he had "shoulder fatigue" and was on the DL multiple times for shoulder inflammation last year. He also lost some of his velocity from the year before.
When Astros signed Morton, he had injury issues. I'm not sure injury issues scare Astros as long as price accurately reflects the risk. Stroman's salary would likely fit in Astros budget. Morton's likely would as well, but would have hurt Astros flexibility. I think Astros are just trolling for a good deal at the moment. Whether it is Stroman or someone else, I have no idea which team will crack regarding needing to shed salary or maximize their return before the season. If they can't get a good deal, Astros likely fall back and just get someone cheap to pitch for about 3 months so they can try again at the deadline. Astros will make playoffs as is so there isn't much pressure for them to do something overly aggressive.
Based on comments from Luhnow I think Houston feels like it has 3 high quality SP waiting in the wings in James, Whitley, and Martin. Add in McCullers and the 2020 rotation situation isn’t as dire as it looks at first glance. They still very likely need to add (or extend) a ToR SP sometime in the next 12 months, but an NRI has-been type will fill the immediate need of someone to eat innings at the back of the rotation until they can sort through which young arms they want to commit to.
Provided the Astros aren't lying about the procedure and he doesn't have any structural damage he should be fine. The season is still 11 weeks away.
Bregman has generally been a slow starter. This news is a bit concerning in the short term but long term I'm glad he won't have to deal with those loose bodies throughout the season.
I can't stand them, and there's no (foreseeable) reason why the Astros wouldn't be able to beat them in the playoffs, but the Yankees are going to be reaaaaaally good this season. LeMahieu, Paxton, Happ and Britton have made for a really good offseason for them. Their pitching staff of Severino, Tanaka, Happ, Paxton and Sabathia has the potential to be really strong to go along with that lineup they have. A 7-game series with them would be just as intense as 2017. EDIT: The more I think about it, the more this offseason actually looks like it will end up as a "disappointment for the Yankees". Kind of forgot that guys like Happ and Britton were on the team at the end of 2018. That, combined with LeMahieu's extreme Home/Road splits, make for an offseason (outside of trading for Paxton) that I'm sure many Yankees fans will deem disappointing.
