Too much sense in this post. Will be a shame when it is ignored and buried under the "****" Luhnow whine fest.
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hinch on not making big acquisition <a href="https://t.co/mq7JCLYjw4">pic.twitter.com/mq7JCLYjw4</a></p>— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) <a href="https://twitter.com/brianmctaggart/status/760220856001843200">August 1, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
MLB on Sirius is ripping the 'Stros. The guy is going off the rails saying we failed miserably. Gave them the worst grade in all of MLB lol. Says Lunhow is absolutely clueless. So clueless he's built up a top farm system from trash in a few short years. Of course he's MAJOR propping the Rangers. Says prospects are just prospects (Prospects are cool, parades are even cooler!), trade whatever you can to compete! Bruh needs a Xanax.
No splash trades this year, but last year we made a couple of splash trades while we were in 1st place and then barely made the playoffs. I'm cool with standing pat. Gotta think long with this team. We're too young to go all-in for this year.
Listening to Rick Hahn in my office and he claims that nothing ever came close on either Sale or Quintana. He said he never even had to discuss offers with the owner. That tells me that there was no realistic chance of Sale being moved. I suspect that the White Sox will move him this summer, once the reality of the situation sinks in for all involved. Chris Archer is a tough one. He is under team control for another 5-6 seasons at a very reasonable rate. The problem is that he has been a #2 when pitching well, AND he simply hasn't pitched that well this season. So do you empty a farm system for a guy that may be a 4+ era guy from here on out, hoping he becomes the 3.2 era guy he has been in the past? That is a really big risk. As for Matt Moore, I think that he is an upgrade over Fiers. However, when he is healthy and pitching well, he is more of a #2. Also the Giants paid a heavy price for Moore. They gave up a young starting third baseman, a well thought of very young middle infielder (Fox) that is the 4-5th best prospect in their system and a third player in Santos that is viewed as a possible #4-5 starter under long term team control. The Astros would have had to give up a fair number of prospects to meet the Giants offer.
Yes all valid points. Doesn't diminish the fact we gave up quality prospects for major league talent who ultimately underachieved (outside of Fiers). I think it's fair to say Luhnow might've been more cautious this go around. Not slamming his character or anything, just stating the obvious (at least to me) that he probably learned from previous transactions. And while the prospects in the Gomez/Kazmir trades haven't torn it up, we all know how well VV is performing this year in Philly. Giles is making the trade more equitable with every outing though.
Yup, overall I am disappointed with how the deadline shook out, but I'm not all that surprised. My pipe dream has been Sale or Archer, but I knew the asking price would be sky high, and that neither team had a compelling reason to trade their best, cost-controlled pitchers. I also feel the Rangers got appreciably better, and I don't think they mortgaged their future in order to do so. Beltran was definitely a bold move (that I probably wouldn't have done), but I think they actually underpaid for Lucroy and Jeffress, so overall, I think they did well. Hopefully all 3 centerpiece prospects they dealt (Tate, Ortiz, and Brinson) turn out to be great, but I can see them all busting as well, meaning they timed it perfectly by selling high. So while I understand the logic and value of standing pat (which is what I guessed would happen with the Astros), it's still not a great feeling to see the team you are already looking up to get better. I'm still not ready for crown them just yet, this team can do some incredible things when things are rolling. I may be down right at this moment, but I have full confidence that Club Astros will be poppin' soon, and often.
Very happy Luhnow didn't deal away our farm system for rentals. This team is setup to compete for WS championships for the next 5-6 seasons+.
Depends on how you define "decent". Before today they had ~45% chance of making the playoffs. After today, when they did nothing and the team they trail by 6 games added the 2nd best catcher in baseball and hot hitting borderline HoF aging DH, it's about 35%. So sure, there's still a chance they make the playoffs, but it's unlikely, and far more unlikely than it was yesterday (and or especially last week).
Come September 1, this could be a drastically different - and decidedly better baseball team. Gurriel and Bregman both have the potential to outperform any hitter dealt these past few days; Valbuena will solidify 1B. That alone could significantly upgrade the offense. And hopefully a Rasmus/Gomez platoon in CF nets an above-average CF. Pitching is the big concern - but there's still time for Keuchel to return to form - that, too - if it happens - would represent a bigger upgrade than any other move made at the deadline. All this doom and gloom over your fantasy baseball fix not getting tweaked is absurd. Let the ****ing Rangers win a meaningless title on August 1. Who cares?
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jeff Luhnow after deadline. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Astros?src=hash">#Astros</a> <a href="https://t.co/910oPNCM4P">pic.twitter.com/910oPNCM4P</a></p>— Brian T. Smith (@ChronBrianSmith) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChronBrianSmith/status/760230798968578048">August 1, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I like your optimism, but I don't see the pitching being there to automatically pencil them into contender status. I don't have confidence in Luhnow being able to consolidate the farm talent into significant MLB contributors. It hasn't happened yet. We'll see.
We only managed to weaken our roster at the deadline, not that I am complaining about either deal. The Rangers got significantly better by giving up what I consider overrated prospects.
The chance to make the playoffs entering today was MUCH greater as a wild card than a division winner. The Rangers improved themselves greatly, but what one team did when it is a team we are not extremely likely to catch anyway, did not drop our playoff chances 10% We need to catch Toronto, Boston and Detroit We trail Boston by 2.5 and Detroit by 1.5 Those three teams didn't exactly do anything to greatly improve. I'm not happy that we did not make any moves, but for our chances to make the playoffs, the teams in the fight for those spots didn't really do anything to change themselves much
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Luhnow: "Texas took 3 of their top 5 prospects out of their system to improve today. … We are not prepared to do that for our organization."</p>— Brian T. Smith (@ChronBrianSmith) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChronBrianSmith/status/760243645215744001" data-datetime="2016-08-01T22:39:44+00:00">August 1, 2016</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
As others have mentioned I am actually happy with the moves today. There wasn't anything out there (besides Sale and that seems like it was never going to happen) which would have been worth emptying the farm for. This team is set up to compete for a long time, there is no point in mortgaging the future for this year. I fully trust the process that we have seen and believe we will be in it right until the end this year. This is the ultimate show of faith in the current players, hopefully they respond.
It just sucks that the only bonafide star player that changed hands went to the Rangers. Especially since he plays a position that Houston has a hole at next season.
I'm ok with this. I wanted the team to get better thru trade today, but not by gutting the farm system. Trade prices were pretty high across the board. We all want the Asttos to win, but I absolutely trust management to make or not make deals. Too many guys have underperformed this year and we are still in the mix. My hope is that we get better performances from a few of these guys coupled with YG and Bregman being solid contributors. We have holes, we have issues, but it's also possible the Astros get better with what they have.
