That and prospect costs. I can see the Astros letting Harris and Sipp go, sealing Smith and letting Dallas leave and replacing them with cheap internal options and going after a bat like Nelson Cruz with the money saved.
I would def pick up Harris option and try to trade him. The guy is far from trash, and would have a lot of value to quite a few teams.
Really, any bullpen that ends with Rondon, McHugh, Pressly, and Osuna is going to be pretty good regardless of who the other 3-4 guys are. So if they are under severe payroll constraints, it may make sense to trade Smith, Harris, Peacock, and Devenski if they can save $10-15M and add a handful of good high upside lower minors prospects.
Do you trade/let walk Smith, Harris, Sipp, Keuchel and McHugh. Let internal options replace them and target someone like Nelson Cruz or Daniel Murphy or possibly Ramos. White can play 1st, Gurriel can replace Marwin and Cruz can DH... etc.
Not knowing their payroll capacity or how other teams value those guys it’s hard to say. But I wouldn’t trade McHugh unless another team offered something of real value. His versatility and effectiveness are rare and not easily replaced. I’d personally go all in for the next 2-3 seasons. That means Realmuto, adding an elite DH/1B/LF type (Cruz), a MoR SP (Morton), and possibly an elite reliever (Britton). But when you analyze the difference between these 2 rosters: Roster 1: C: Maldonado, Stassi IF: Gurriel, Altuve, Correa, Bregman, White OF: Reddick, Springer, Tucker, Marisnick DH: Kemp SP: Verlander, Cole, McCullers, James, Valdez RP: Peacock, Devenski, C Perez, Harris, McHugh, Pressly, Rondon, Osuna Roster 2: C: Realmuto, Maldonado IF: Gurriel, Altuve, Correa, Bregman, White OF: Reddick, Springer, Tucker, Marisnick DH: Cruz SP: Verlander, Cole, McCullers, Morton, Whitley RP: James, Peacock, Devenski, McHugh, Rondon, Pressly, Osuna, Britton That 2nd roster is significantly better, but it’s tens of millions of dollars and a handful of good prospects to gain less than 5 projected wins.
I would sign Ramos in FA and roll with Tucker in LF. Kemp would be the utility guy. Who are the the FA DH's or trade options that may be available? I'm thinking somebody like Dickerson or Baor. I dont know about the $$$$.
