It's an interesting discussion on Kimbrel. He's a level of dominant right now that would qualify as a significant upgrade. Suddenly in a October where you only need a 4 man rotation, a bullpen of Pressly, Kimbrel, Javier and 2 other starters looks mighty filthy. It would also give us a chance to get Pressly some rest with another proven closer on the roster. It would all come down to prospect cost.
I have thought for the last few years that Abreu could easily be as good as McCullers. And if you slot that in the bullpen that means he could be elite. Definitely hope they keep him but he is pretty obviously one of their most valuable tradeable pieces.
Who was Rodriguez for cash? Was Laureano traded for a small upgrade? Where was Laureano going to play all these years with Springer there? Most teams can play this game, let alone ones that have been playing to win for more than 6 years now.
Rodriguez is one of the 10 best relievers in the game. Laureano would easily have played over Reddick. No team can play this game any where close to as well as the Astros. The Astros made the decision to try to win in the 2017-2020 time frame. I am fine with that. Acting like Astros didn't give up much in trades and made only one bad trade is ridiculous.
I think I would keep Abreu until he's sucking in the majors and out of options. If there's any lesson to be learned from Framber Valdez, it's that you keep giving guys with elite secondaries a shot. Abreu has two incredible breaking balls to pair with a mid-90s FB. The pandemic caused a hiccup in his development, but he seems to be back in shape with huge upside.
Thats' fair. After criticism from doing nothing at the 2017 deadline, Luhnow started to go for the jugular at the deadline. I think this team has less financial flexibility than years past, which facilitated the Verlander and Greinke deals. The history of reliever acquisitions by the Astros/Rays just leads me to believe that the Astros are more likely to 'overpay' in prospects for a lesser known target, perhaps not even considered available, with more control.
ooops, I did it again. I went back to page 19, no tweets showed How was I suppose to know? Baby, like me one more time.
Unlike the POS owner the Rockets are saddled with, Crane has already gone into the luxury tax, so there's no reason to think it's just lip service. I'm sure he would prefer to avoid it (and I think he likely will), but if an impactful move is there he won't niggle over a few million here or there.
Proud of the boys for playing themselves into a position where Crane (rightly) feels this could be another go for it season. His ability to find money for the right opportunity and his relationship/fondness for Correa are the only things that makes me think there is a pathway to keeping Correa (assuming he wants to stay and be an Astro-lifer).
I know Crane wanted to avoid the repeater tax but that being said, the higher penalties aren't that bad unless you go crazy over like the Yankees and Dodgers do.
The draft penalties are probably the more punitive ones for the Astros (unless we keep Correa and JV).
2 rounds in the draft should never prevent you from trying win a world series when you are the second favorite in terms of betting odds.
I don't disagree, but to say it might not be a consideration is myopic. They can mitigate the (further) loss of draft picks by resigning the QO-eligible players, right?
You got a first name? Is he the 31 year old Rodriguez? Who was Laureano traded for again? Nobody is saying "one bad trade"... but at the same time you're putting out names of guys who are yes, major league players but far from being the types of trades that break franchises or lead to years of regret/what-ifs. Yordan to the Astros is one of those types of players. If you want to compare the prospects they gave up to what they acquired, getting a perennial MVP-type guy back for a fringe reliever may supersede any of the other guys they gave up.
