Why do people LOVE Kazmir. He struggled mightily the last 2 months. When the pressure to make the playoffs got higher Kazmir succumbed to it. He was good when he was pitching for a last place Oakland and first 3 starts with Houston, but after that he wasn't good. Gallardo won't be a bad option to get or Leake. Kazmir was no longer pitching like an ace and I practically don't want to spend money in a pitcher who might not return to form or can't pitch consistently throughout the season. Losing a top 20 pick in the amateur draft is not the worse thing at all. Unlike the NBA draft were scouting has been good lately and no one pass the 2st rd doesn't really become a star player anymore with the exception of Draymond Green and Chandler Parsons the last 6 or 7 years, in baseball is more of a deal shoot. When you get drafted in baseball, it takes around 4 years to make it in the big leagues most of the time and even then is not guaranteed that player will be a star player.
Oakland wasn't in last place in 2014. His issues appear to be more fatigue-related than "succumbing to pressure" related. Hell, he did not get lit up in his one playoff start this year.
Because for the first 4 months, he was one of the best pitchers in baseball. Would you rather have 4 months of Keuchel and 2 months of suckitude, or 6 months of Feldman? That's the difference between Kazmir and a Gallardo - much higher upside that comes with some risk.
Anybody else worried about Kuechel hitting a wall? We can't afford for him to come out sluggish. He threw a whopping 246 IP last year. 246!
Keuchel probably isn't going to pitch as well as he did last year, but here's to hoping he puts up a sub 2 ERA!
Yeah, thought the same thing. Wonder if Moran will take over sometime this season, and if so what to expect.
Frazier is meh.. He really isnt a huge upgrade over ValnoBueno and is yet another right handed stick.
I thought it was funny that the ESPN front page blurb referred to him as "reigning Home Run Derby champion" as if that has any meaning whatsoever. He strikes me as HR/bust, low-OB% guy (and I don't know about his defense) but he's better than Luis Valbuena: .800+OPS/4.0 WAR last year. And he's only 30. Again, the low OB% would probably scare me off.
Valbuena has posted an OPS against RHP over .800 the last 2 seasons. Marwin has posted an OPS over .800 against LHP. Maybe work Moran in there at some point this year. I honestly think a L/R platoon of Marwin and Valbuena can come very close the Frazier's overall OPS.
well..Justin Morneau bats left and he can certainly hit righties... .300 hitter right there . a 1-2 year deal for him would be allright..gives the Astros time to bring up AJ Reed. If singleton performs, then trade him (or Morneau) at the mid-season mark.
You roll with that if you have to, but would prefer an upgrade at third. Problem is that there are not many 3rd basemen available.
If he isn't too expensive and the Astros have money left over, I wouldn't mind him at all. He can always DH as well. If healthy he would greatly improve the offense.
Agreed but on the other hand, it's time for Crane to go all out and overpay if necessary to push the Astros towards a World Series run. Even if its $8+ a year for Morneau and $15 +/year for Kazmir you do it as long as their deals are shorter (i.e. 1-2 for Morneau; 3, maybe 4 years for Kazmir). In addition, the Astros wouldn't be giving up draft pics (or prospects) and going all in for a run with 2 solid vets. The only other option at 1B is probably Davis, and he wants 7-8 years, way to risky IMHO. Katz & Morneau are two guys who could not only provide veteran experience but come at a palatable cost for a world series-seeking team. If Morenau is heatlhy, he'd be the perfect compliment with his avg and obp for this young team.
A third option is to wait until the trade deadline. I personally am hearing the Astros are going to bargain shop if they don't get the pitcher they want at the price they want.
gotcha. Hate to hear that they are 'bargain' shopping when arguably this is the year to do what it takes (not advocating them to do something stupid but not be cheap either...). Guess we'll see
Bargain shopping isn't necessarily bad. The Astros have a number of areas that they can improve and they may get better bang for their buck doing that. Hypothetically they could get which ever of the highly thought of pitchers that doesn't get a huge contract and someone like a Morneau for the price of signing a pitcher now.
