Love how the Realmuto thread has become a SP debate. Williams would be a good addition if the price is right, and adding Cervelli makes sense for both teams. I've advocated that we look at Williams or Taillon (who's understandably going to cost an arm and a leg) in the past. HOU is in a good position as far as arms are concerned. We do need to add one proven starter/innings eater, but I think JL is comfortable with letting the rest of our depth battle it out and/or rise from the ranks. I think we sit tight with Chirassi to start the season. If things nose dive quickly, we may very well bite the bullet on a Salvy/Cervelli/Realmuto trade. I think we're setting up for the wait and see approach over adding Grandal right now. It's not by coincidence that we added RC with his history with Strom.
I can totally agree with you that some of these asking prices are just to high there i no reason to give up the farm to get one player.
The bar to be a great hitting catcher these days isn't very high. If a catcher hits 20 homers in a season then that's considered a great year. The more I think about it, the more I'm okay with Chirinos.
If Stassi can improve on his consistency on offense, a tandem of Chirinos and Stassi could be very good. I’d still love to see J.T. here, however.
Only 5 catchers hit 20+ HR last season: Perez, Grandal, Realmuto, Molina, and Zunino. Interesting that 3 of those (Grandal, Realmuto, Zunino) will have changed teams and another (Perez) is on a rebuilding team. Chirinos was tied for 6th with 18 HR. 6 of the top 9 C in HR will likely have changed teams this offseason.
Chirinos hit 18 but with only 360 ab’s with 100 more AB’s like Realmuto had, he most likely ends up with a few more than J.T.
The more I think about it the more I’m fine with the roster even if all they do is add a cheap innings eater. A 6-7-8-9 of Gurriel-Reddick-White-Chirinos is solid. And who knows, Alvarez, Tucker, Beer, and Stubbs all could assert themselves as replacements for those guys as soon as this season. Keep the prospects and money on hand for the deadline.
At bare minimum, the current roster would result in us demoting Jake, blocking Tucker and using Kemp as a 4th OF. Something needs to happen in the OF to maximize our talent and get a decent return for players we don’t keep.
I see no issue with DFA’ing Kemp (I think he’d pass thru waivers) and optioning Tucker to start the season. Getting some more ‘prove-it’ PA in AAA while securing another year of control and waiting for an injury or underperformance to open up a spot is better for everyone. Assuming Tucker is hitting well in RR, an injury or major slump by any of the 12 projected position players would open a spot for him, since so many players can play multiple positions.
Pfft. But that’s fine. Even if he gets claimed or traded for peanuts, it’s no meaningful loss for the Astros.
Meaningful loss probably not, but still a loss. There's absolutely no chance the Astros simply waive Tony Kemp.
No he didn’t. See how easy it is to spit out worthless opinions with no statistical or even logical support?
Assuming you know the difference between releasing and designating. I agree they won’t release him. If everyone stays healthy and Houston doesn’t make any big trades, they will be forced to DFA or trade Kemp. Not sure what you think his trade value is but it is very low; if they found a taker it would be cash considerations or a PTBNL. Their best outcome is to be able to get him thru waivers and stash him in AAA.
