Cardinals aren't going to have any interest in Tyler White. They have this guy named Paul Goldschmidt, and then on the rare occasion he needs a day off they have this other guy named Matt Carpenter..... They also have utility guys in Gyorko and Munoz.
He also got the experience in the minors because the major league 1B slot was presumed to be blocked by Reed. I’m not arguing that he’s a naturally a good 2B or 3B. I’m saying his rich exposure to these positions IN THE MINORS makes him versatile and helpful as a depth piece in case of injury to others.
Goldschmidt only for 1 year. I get your reasoning though. I’m just saying it’s possible they may be interested if they deal Martinez.
White's career Fld% at 3B in the minors (240G, 2000 innings) would have put him 28 points below the average mlb 3Bman and 8 points below the worst team's average 3B Fld%. You can trade other guys to STL, but he won't be going with them.
White's OBP in the majors was 30 points higher than the average MLB 3Bman last season. As 3Bman come to bat more often than balls are hit to them, it would seem White potentially could play 3B part time or be better than 3-4 starting 3Bmen that really bring the average down. Despite many teams having great 3Bmen, there were a couple of teams last year that got worse hitting from 3B than Marisnick's career averages. I think Astros are so good right now that it distorts what people think as average. White may not be a sure thing, but outside of the super teams, his bat likely plays well enough that he's starting somewhere despite fielding deficiencies.
Totally agreed with White’s trade value. We like to point out the weaknesses, but he offers a ton of value as a offensive weapon.
Totally agree. Those places are 1B and DH; if he could play an even remotely acceptable MLB 3B his trade value ceiling would be through the roof.
There are not a lot of players out there with White’s offensive tool set and ability to play 1B that can also play a good 3B. Maybe that’s a bit much to expect?
I saw Tyler White at top golf a few days ago in Katy. Him and Reddick frequent there quite often. You can tell he likes food.
The world is not binary. There are not 30 starting 3B that can remotely play acceptable defense and hit as well as White.
One interesting coincidence of the Boras-in-Houston sighting this week is that due to when he was posted, Japanese pitcher Yusei Kikuchi must sign by Wednesday, Jan 2. I know nothing about Kikuchi other than that MLBTR ranks him 7th on the current list of remaining FA, he is left handed, and they project him to get $42M/6yr. Luhnow hasn’t been all that active on the pacific front in the past, but given their need for pitching and the apparent lack of other good options, it does make sense for Houston to be involved.
I think a lot of people who are in love with 5 weeks of Tyler Ruth’s bat are in for a rude awakening of regression in 2019.
You folks can keep saying 5 weeks all you want. An .880 OPS over his last 300 PA is not 5 weeks. No matter what kind of alternative math you want to do.
You are oversimplifying the situation. The reason upgrading the DH spot from Tyler White isn't that important to a lot of us is because of how the rest of the roster has been built. Right now the Astros are at about 175-180 million in payroll that counts towards the salary cap. Crane said they would at most get close to the salary cap which is 206 million. That means we have 25-30 million in space left max for free agent signings, trades, and deadline moves. Starting pitching is still the biggest need on this team. Until they add a starter they need that cap room. For instance, a trade for Greinke would eat all that cap space up depending on how much the Dbacks ate in salary, or maybe the Astros trade for Alex Cobb that makes about 15 million and would leave 10-15 millon for adding salary at the trade deadline. The Astros also have several options if White struggles. Brantley can move to DH if Tucker deserves another shot in LF. Diaz can play the Marwin role and eat up a lot of the at bats at DH or subbing for Bregman, Correa, etc while they hit at DH for a game. I would like to have a hall of famer at every position. It doesn't work that way and we need cheap guys sprinkled in across the roster. White is worth the risk until they add to the rotation. Then if they want to chase Jose Martinez or somebody else... have at it.
There are not a lot of players out there with White’s offensive tool set and ability to play 1B that can also play a good 3B. Maybe that’s a bit much to expect? I get the priority of starting pitching, but the FO is prioritizing the DH right now because it is an area that is more reasonable and available based on the market. We weren’t using all of our cap room for Eovaldi, and we’re not going to overpay for Kluber or anyone that will cost us more than we are willing to pay. Cruz was very affordable, which is why we tried to lock him up. Now we are looking at EE and Martinez because the talks for SP are very slow. Eventually we will add a pitcher. Hopefully they can get someone with upside like Lugo, or they can pry someone like Robbie Ray away from AZ. Our FO is obviously going to have to get creative to fill out the roster, but a 6.2 mil Realmuto and a pre-Arb Martinez aren’t going to limit the budget.
The front office is prioritizing improving the roster. Stories about pitchers the Astros were in on have been as frequent or actually more frequent than stories about designated hitters. Astros were talking to Eovaldi, Happ, Morton, and have had trade discussions about Lugo and Robbie... and that's just the reported rumors and not other info like from Nook, etc. Signing Cruz for his 14.3 million guarantee would have left us with about 10-15 million in cap space. That certainly limits the pitchers available to the Astros and impacts additional salary to be added at the deadline. A trade for Realmuto and/or Martinez will be a large cost in terms of prospects. That may not limit our ability to sign a free agent pitcher but it could hurt our ability to trade for one. Considering what is left in the free agent starting market... I would say it would very much impact our ability to get a pitcher despite the minimal impact on salary cap.
I see us getting a Lugo-like, relatively inexpensive piece to add to our rotation. It won’t cost us the roughly 25 mil we have left to spend. What really goes on in the FO probably looks like Wallstreet. Lots of moving parts all the time. I think we were prioritizing Cruz most recently because we knew he was going to sign soon. It’s anybodys guess what the next move will be. I’ll just guarantee you it will be a move our FO feels is the right deal—regardless of position.
He had 210 AB last year...almost half a season. Even if his .888 OBP (which was higher than Altuve's .837) regresses by .100 points, it would still be higher than Springer (.780), Gurriel (.751), Correa (.728) and Reddick's (.718) last year.
