I see option 1 as viable. Beltran's salary suggests Astros think he can still play in field a good portion of the time.
What purpose does Matt Wieters serve? He's a mediocre hitter - his value comes from playing catcher, and we have an excess of those already. Using him anywhere else and he becomes a below average player.
To who? For what? I find it highly doubtful that any other team views GAttis as a starting catcher, which is the only way he has enough value to make senseas a trade candidate.
Gattis's contract is for 5.2 million. His expected value as a backup catcher/part time DH is estimated at 11 million. Seems he would have some value to another team even if all Astros receive is essentially someone else paying his contract. That said, it would be unlikely Astros trade Gattis to acquire Weiters.
I'm sure Luhnow knows. I don't think we are really interested, but if we were it is the most logical outcome, IMO.
Makes sense Astros are shallow in left. Playing deeper typically helps range against extra base hits. Granted, it doesn't seem to hurt Springer going towards RCF.
Agree. In terms of the results of the players involved, Wieters and Gattis are about equal in terms of career OPS vs. lefties. Last year, Gattis absolutely mashed (and Wieters had down year while oft-injured). McCann handles the strong side of the platoon fine. I could see the swap being a net upgrade, assuming they're mostly playing vs lefties, given Gattis's deficiencies behind the plate and Wieters's strength. Even more of an upgrade if Gattis brings back anything of value. The only (pretty big) risk is Wieters getting hurt.
He was already under control, so not a ton gained by this signing, but it's still nice to get this possible arbitration mess out of the way for the next few years. If he's as awesome over the next 2 years as he has been the last 2, I imagine we could see some savings in 2019 with this deal, and it's always better to keep guys happy. And good for Will Harris as well. At this point 2 years ago he was a 30 year old fringe MLB reliever. I imagine at that point he had to be pretty concerned this baseball thing would never amount to a big payday.
As you said later, it is big for Harris. Glad Astros worked with him. Mostly, having his contract set for 2018 and mostly for 2019 helps Astros planning as I expect Luhnow will try to squeeze every cent of the budget on to the playing field.
I typically root for those kind of guys. Hopefully with some young arms in a deeper pen this year he won't have the late season fade we've seen the last year or 2.
Nothing substantive, just wanted to check in and say that I'm excited to celebrate the 2017 WS victory with all of you buffoons. Our time is coming!
McCullers at superbowl media day pretty good. Got some questions in for Brady on the beard. He do ok. A little strong willed, but confident, maybe a future.
