All the talk about him being fat, and that being the cause of his struggles was BS. We've seen numerous examples of guys a lot bigger than him hit just fine. He may still struggle, but losing weight isn't gonna fix that issue. Having said that, it's hard to defend him being overweight because there is zero benefit to carrying around that extra weight, it can only help him as a ballplayer to tone up. And the optics suggest a guy that isn't doing everything within reason to make himself the best player possible.
The WBC could be a blessing in disguise for some of the fringe players looking to the make the roster. I'm sure White, Reed, Fisher and Moran are enjoying the extra playing time to try to prove themselves.
Are you feeling better about the team now? Amazing how much better they are when they use rostered pitchers.
Quintana versus Archer in the WBC (Colombia vs U.S.) right now. It is 2-0 Colombia in the 6th. Quintana has thrown five scoreless innings and Archer threw four scoreless. I could see one of these guys being targeted by the Astros at the deadline. Gregerson has also thrown a scoreless inning. Mychal Givens gave up the two runs.
Quintana is the real deal. 5.2 innings of shutout, 1 hit ball. I'd love to see him in Houston. WBC has been fantastic so far. I love passionate, competitive baseball in March.
Eh - it's Spring Training. This stuff happens every year. Last year, Moran had a 1.000+ OPS and Reed had a 0.933 OPS in the spring. Both batted 0.300+ and had very few strikeouts. Outside of maybe answering some health questions, we know nothing more about the team today than a month ago. And that likely won't change much in the spring because spring training stats are generally meaningless and have very little correlation to regular season performance.
Forget the trade deadline...I'm ready to include Martes, Tucker & Reed for Quintana. He looks like an Ace.
We don't, but the people that matter, that watch them every minute of practice time, do. But your point about ST stats is quite valid.
Whether you agree or not that Astros should trade Tucker, Martes, and other for Quintana...can we put it to bed that it has anything to do with status of farm system? Martes and Reed likely aren't prospects by September. Tucker likely isn't a prospect September 2018 or is considered much less of a prospect. These guys are gone from farm system one way or another, and as such, whether they are traded or not does not impact replenishing needs of farm system. Astros appear to be a team that values balance and depth across positions and years. If anything, Astros much more likely to deal with Rays for Archer. Rays more likely to accept creative trades (i.e. lots of low level guys) instead of just wanting the Astros top prospects. Losing low level guys wouldn't affect Astros balance and depth for a long time.
I just want the Astros to win one WS title. Who knows how good a team is going tyo be iun the future. A very dangerous thing to gamble on.
Absolutely. However (insert Steven A Smith voice), dealing Tucker is kind of problematic. They don't have many (any?) high-end hitting corner OFers in the system, and I'm not sold on Springer/Correa being here long term. They have to pay several young guys some serious money in the upcoming years and having a guy like that ready to plug in for cheap has definite advantages. Trading pitchers I'm not so concerned about. Except Whitley, I've had a mancrush on that kid for a year or so.
Astros looked good last year before season and laid an egg. Astros could easily have traded away long term value for short term value and basically given away their near term chance at a WS. When there is uncertainty in the future, diversification is the solution. There's no guarantee that Astros are good in future, but there's no guarantee that Quintana stays healthy even with his past good health. Not to say Astros won't combine some assets, just don't expect Martes and Tucker in the same deal as they should each be able to headline a big deal. Considering CWS's willingness only to take elite talent according to rumors, I think Astros are much more likely to get better deals elsewhere.
