Yulieski Gurriel agrees to 5/$47M deal with the Astros

Good morning...first post...had to jump in.

Valbuena is one of the top producers on the team as of late. Maybe he is finally settling in. He is not a contact hitter, but does have very nice pop, ice in his veins and a very nice glove. He has a spot in this infield and line up even when Bergman and el vule make their presence. I cannot wait to add to contact hitters to this line up. We will score so many more runs. They will also stress pitchers, extend pitch counts and help get top pitchers out of the game earlier.

As Correa is adjusting to how they pitch him, he becoming a much better hitter than his average currently shows. More contact hitters will protect his young bat IMO.

We need more starting Pitching.

 

Please. Valbuena is ranked around 30 as a third baseman. Marwin actually ranks higher at third than Valbuena does in my book, although not by much. Bregman is top 10. Valbuena is totally expendable at this point unless we give him looks at DH or let him pinch hit, either would be fine by me, but Gonzalez is very good in that role.

 

agreed, Valbuena appears to become a much better hitter. He has the second highest BA on the team last I looked, even if it's 260's. He also has great value with his glove and that he has ice in his veins. He has a place in this line up.

He still have a place when Bregman and El Yule make the appearances. I cannot wait to see this line up with two solid contact hitters creating problems for the pitching staff. Contact hitters put pressure on pitchers, extend pitch counts and help get team off their game plans. We will score more runs with those guys and it will help protect young bats like Correa. Correa has made adjustments and becoming a much better hitter. He needs more protection, just like Bagwell did. When he has it, he will increase his already outstanding game.

I'm excited of the team we have an the very strategic way the team is being built not only for now but the future. Managing the young players and salary cap very wisely. Sure I get frustrated when they don't pull young players up earlier, but that also seems to be improving.

We still need a dominate pitcher. Maybe McCullers and Keichel are the guys still, but add a true ace and we have something. I'm also game for letting Giles do what we brought him here for. Do it before the playoffs. Let him settle in. He has the most dominate stuff in the pen.

I am also a fan of moving Felix to starting line up, just who's spot does he take? Fiers? I love that dominate arm. It's also a complete change of pace over all the soft throwers. McCullers and Felix have heat. Staff needs more hard throwers.

Just a couple of thoughts...love reading all you guys posts. I'll try to continue more...been reading for a couple years now.

 

Agreed, huge fan of Gonzales.

Until Reed figures it out, we need Valbuena. Right now he is hot anyhow. I like his bat at DH more than Gaddis. Gaddis just doesn't seem to have the plate coverage required. As a platoon catcher I am a fan as many of you have pointed out. Still prefer a trade for young Brewers catcher.

 

His OPS since May 1 (61G) would place him in a virtual tie for 6th with Kyle Seager among all MLB 3B.

 

Stop it with the facts already!

 

Over the last 3 years Valbuena has a .776 OPS. Of the 31 3B who have had 1000 PA in that time, he ranks 11th. His walk rate would be 4th in that group, so he doesn't just hit the occasional HR.

Even before his hot spell this year he was basically middle of the pack. For a primary 3rd baseman you can do better than Valbuena, but you can do a lot worse. He certainly isn't a scrub in desperate need of replacement that some prople have been calling him for the last 2 years.

 

It was obvious Luhnow knows he will be losing some of our free agents this summer.

Don't expect Rasmus and Valbuena back.

What position does yulis brother play?

 

If that G stands for gig, then that is incredible.

 

Little Yuli plays OF. Depending on his timeline and skill set, he could replace either Gomez or Rasmus. Could see an outfield of Gurriel in RF, Springer in CF, Bregman in LF.

 

I just looked it up. Lourdes Junior is a shortstop and center fielder.
Gomez is definitely gone.

 

I've heard ppl say Springer likes CF.

Is Bregman worth putting out there? Is his defense elite enough that he's better suited in the infield?

A lot of questions going forward but I'm glad to have this problem.

 

There's fun youngish latin players here, I'm sure Luhnow talked up him being a leader and mentor, I wouldn't doubt that the atmosphere and the success of the club last year and this played a big part of it, hell, El Yuli said as much.

 

I expect Rasmus back, losing Valbuena would suck but I can see someone offering more money

C Castro
1B Reed
2B Altuve
3B Valbuena
SS Correa
LF Bregman
CF Rasmus
RF Springer
DH Gurriel

 

Little Yulli is a big time prospect. Heard He will sign with Houston Astros in October! Maybe the #1 international prospect not in the Majors.

 

Rasmus is really hard to predict.

It doesn't look like he'll garner a ton of interest on the market. And, it seems like he may entertain the idea of a home-town discount given his affinity for HOU. Plus, only 2 of HOU's 4/5 OF slots are guarantees in 2017 [Springer, Bregman/Gurriel].

If Rasmus is back, I hope it's in a 4th OF role. Regardless, the progression of Kemp/Fisher/Teoscar/Marisnick? will have a lot to do with it as well.

 

That would really help! I have high hopes for this core, if we can keep the main pieces together and continue to add talent and depth maybe we can finally get one.

 

4-0! Taggin the Mariners.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Yulieski Gurriel may not make <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Astros?src=hash">#Astros</a> debut until mid-August, because of time required to obtain work visa and get ABs in minors. <a href="https://twitter.com/MLB">@MLB</a></p>&mdash; Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) <a href="https://twitter.com/jonmorosi/status/755045883977150468">July 18, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Buster: It was interesting to me on two points. 1) Their infield is seemingly filled. Bregman, Altuve, Correa - everyone around baseball asked what does it mean for those infielders & 2) I wonder about the money spent on a 32-year old, who may not have an impact until next year when he's 33 and given the high number of failures of players from Cuba, it continues to surprise me the money spent on these free agents.

Crasnick: I was surprised too. You hope he turns out better than Héctor Olivera. To sign a guy who's over 30 from Cuba, that's a risk. By all accounts, good guy, good player but if you're the Astros, don't you really want pitching? You have Carlos Correa & Jose Altuve, Bregman looks like he can play 3rd, maybe LF but you're overloading in certain places and eventually gets tough to find spots for these guys. If you're DHing them, is that really the best use of their skills & time? A little puzzled by it. It it a lot of money but they obviously feel he's a good player & will have an impact. If I'm an Astros fan or Astros person, I'd like to see them go out & get more pitching.

Buster: It'll be interesting to see the next couple of winters, if they wind up being outbid by $5M-$10M on a starting pitcher, it's gonna make me scratch my head. When you look at the performances of players from Cuba, the older guys, throw Yasmany Tomás in there - some evaluators are writing him off as a bust, Alex Guerrero, Puig has struggled of late, there are questions in front offices about the returns based on investments. We'll see. I wish the best to him.