I don't think Teoscar was the question for these deals. It was likely the Martes/Whitley level guys that we didn't want to part with to get a Britton type. I think if it was a Teoscar + Preston Tucker + someone else, you'd have seen the package go for a great RP
It's disappointing, but I think luhnow has proven he is going to do what it is the best interest of the franchise regardless of public opinion. I trust he is doing that now. In 2012-14, he was killed for enagaging in a full rebuild. It would have been easy--and eased criticism--to take short cuts to try and win ~65 games instead of 55. Instead he did what was in the best interest of the franchise and ultimately turned a 100+ loss team with a mediocre farm system into a playoff team within 3 years. In 2014, in the depths of the rebuild, he faced a public relations crisis after realizing that Aiken was damaged goods. He was absolutely hammered in the press for not signing him. But he held firm and did what was best for the franchise. Now Bregman is manning 3rd for a 100+ win team and Aiken is throwing 85 mph in A-ball with a bum arm. This trade deadline, I don't know what was got close, or what was offered and rejected. But, I know luhnow will do what's best for the team--PR be damned.
I wonder which pitchers will pass through waivers. I assume Verlander will, but I could also see a NY or Boston claim him and be willing to eat the money. Cueto, Samardzija, and Zimmerman might also be available.
I agree with you. If there is a criticism it is that Luhnow seemed to put all his eggs in the Britton basket while other teams moved on after getting mixed messages from the Orioles.
I think it's obvious they had a deal in place for Britton, and Peter Angelos nixed it. Crane and Luhnow said as much to that effect as they could say without breaking "baseball code", and it jives with what Rosenthal (I think) tweeted right around the deadline. It's July 31 (not anymore, actually). It's two months before the playoffs start. Look at how we were playing two months ago (you look at it). It's as likely that we round back into that form in another two months as not. The key to this team, as I see it, is the same as it's always been: the health/effectiveness of our top 2 starters. Keuchel and McCullers' unhealth and uneffectiveness more or less sunk 2016. When this team was mowing through the league at the start of the year, every Keuchel and McCullers start was basically a guaranteed win. All these other shiny new trade toys would've been nice to have. So would Josh Hader. But ultimately, this team will go as far as Keuchel and McCullers take it, and I don't think any realistic trade we could've done would've changed that essential truth.
https://sports.yahoo.com/inside-frenzied-12-minutes-led-dodgers-deal-yu-darvish-061433584.html ... That left the Houston Astros, the poor-man’s Dodgers. At full health, the Astros are every bit as inspiring a team. Today, star shortstop Carlos Correa and center fielder George Springer are on the disabled list, and All-Star right-hander Lance McCullers joined them there. Ace Dallas Keuchel returned from nearly two months on the disabled list this week and lasted three innings. The Astros’ hallmark is their depth, and while Brad Peacock, Mike Fiers and Charlie Morton have done a more-than-admirable job fortifying the Astros’ rotation, the prospect of adding a frontline starter excited the coaching staff and players. While the Astros and Rangers organizations share a mutual dislike bordering on contempt, it didn’t prevent the sides from talking about Darvish. Never did they come anywhere close to the parameters on a mutually agreeable deal, though, which surprised teams around baseball – including the Dodgers – who believed the Astros and Rangers matched up best of all the teams involved. The last conversation between Houston and Texas was an hour before the deadline, and the stalemate was obvious. The Rangers didn’t have time to consider how they could have gone about ginning up a market. It was too late for that. If they held onto Darvish, tendered him a qualifying offer before free agency and he signed elsewhere, they would receive a draft pick after the second round as compensation. Surely they could do better than that, even with next to no leverage. And it led the Rangers back to the one team they knew liked Darvish even if he gave up 10 runs in his last start or carried a 4.01 ERA or in his one playoff start last season allowed four home runs or would be with his new team for only two months before seeking a contract in excess of $100 million. ... _________________________ Ken Rosenthal: THE ASTROS’ BIG FAIL Astros reliever Will Harris went on the disabled list Sunday with right shoulder inflammation. Starter Lance McCullers joined him Monday with lower back discomfort. The team’s monthly ERAs have increased from 3.38 to 3.60 to 4.79 to 4.99, and the depth of both the rotation and bullpen for the postseason is in question. The Astros’ answer to all this was ... ... trading for Blue Jays lefty Francisco Liriano? Explain that to a team that has built the best record in the American League, a city that has yet to win a World Series, a clubhouse that includes distinguished veteran Carlos Beltran, who at 40 is still seeking his first Series title. General manager Jeff Luhnow made a big deadline trade in 2015, acquiring Carlos Gomez and Mike Fiers from the Brewers in a deal that ultimately did not work out well for the Astros, costing them Josh Hader, Domingo Santana and Brett Phillips. Is Luhnow spooked? The GM, operating with a lesser club, did nothing at last year’s deadline but off-load two pitchers, Scott Feldman and Josh Fields. He told reporters that he had some possibilities Monday that he thought were more than 90 percent certain to happen, but ultimately slipped away. One of those, presumably, was a trade for Britton – the Orioles, operating on their own planet, decided about an hour before the deadline they would hold the reliever, sources said. No excuse. The Dodgers also were trying for Britton, but launched into Plan B after learning he would be unavailable. The Astros evidently had no Plan B – or at least not one that came to fruition. What happens if Dallas Keuchel ends back on the DL after missing more than seven weeks earlier this season with neck discomfort? What happens if McCullers fails to regain his equilibrium, if the bullpen continues to show cracks? The Astros hold a 16-game lead in the AL West and 11 1/2-game lead for the league’s best overall record, but no longer do they look clearly superior to the Indians, Red Sox and Yankees. There’s no getting around it: Monday was a lost opportunity.
Can anyone see what our team ERA would be without the stats of Tony Sipp, Musgrove, Martes, Hoyt, Jankowski, Dayan Diaz, and Guduan? Because none of those guys would be on this team come September. Well...Martes maybe but probably not on a playoff roster accruing leverage innings.
No team is willing to take Verlander's contract when a couple of days before they could have traded for him with Detroit picking up a significant portion of it.
Forget that. I'd look at team ERA when the Astros have a 5 run lead or more... its probably horrible.... but if you think about it, you'd rather be at your worst only when your team has a huge lead, vs the alternative.
I don't have any data for this, but it seems we have a snowball team to some extent - both our offense and pitching often explode or implode, leading to a lot of blowouts, one way or the other. The wins make sense because we're a great team - but its weird that we lose so many games in blowout fashion too. I wonder if that's actually true or just perception. I believe we've had the fewest 1-run games in baseball, but I suspect we're low on the 2 or 3 run type games too.
I assume this would probably be referring to the Orioles owner. I've read and heard that their owner meddles way too much with roster moves and thinks he knows how to run the team just as well as the GM. If this is true, then I don't think we can be terribly critical of Luhnow.
I would guess on Astros getting blown out is happening more frequently as Astros pitching staff has been stretched a lot with SP injuries. Astros ran a a long time without a long reliever. I'd expect the Astros getting blown out to slow down now that most of rotation is back, and they have a long reliever. It should be easier to give a short reliever who is in a funk an extra day off or two as needed.
Angelos is 88 years old. In addition to having senility and dementia kicking in, he probably just wants to win something sooner rather than later, hence his reluctedness to be a seller.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that if the general public knew Angelos could and would likely do this...then Luhnow probably should have also (and i'm sure he did) So don't put all your eggs in a basket that is likely empty anyway...unless of course, you really don't want to move your prized prospects in the first place
