Astros trade Myles Straw to Indians for RHP Phil Maton

That's the difference between Click and Luhnow. Click thinks he's still with the Rays and is getting "creative" in the middle of a title run. Who in their right mind trades their starting CF for a below average bullpen arm? What an absolute joke. Hopefully Click gets canned sooner than later.

 

After Alvarez and Brantly , Tucker was exactly the creative thing that 1st came to my mind.

 

I bet all of the other playoff teams....and we pretty much know who they are, don't have a starting CF that's only played 86 1/3 innings in CF.

 

Splash or no splash, the Astros had one major weakness and they addressed that.

They did it without giving up much from a relatively thin farm. Toro could be a solid everyday player, but he was soon going to have nowhere to play. Straw is fun to watch, but the team isn’t really any worse off with McCormick in center. A splash is always more interesting, but the Astros are better off today than they were at the start of the week and have no glaring weaknesses right now.

 

The only thing I can see is the organization doesn't want to blow up their prospects due to not having early picks in the last 2 drafts and going over the luxury tax previously. They feel they need good compensation for Greinke and/or Correa and don't want to get zapped picking up FAs either.

With Story and Bryant available in the off season they may feel they can sign one of them if Correa does leave without harsh penalties in the draft. Unfortunately, this makes it impossible to upgrade the roster as much as other teams have done.

I will say that the Yankees did what they wanted by getting a few left handed bats but neither will make a difference if they don't make the playoffs, and Gallo may do more harm than good to that Yankee squad with his strikeouts and low average. Also, the As getting Marte and Red Sox getting Schwarber doesn't make me feel they are better than the Astros now.

The Rays with Cruz are the only team I feel improved enough to stir up some trouble.

 

Click better be right or he is going to get raked over the coals on this.

 

Straw was a big price for a reliever.

 

I don't get the Yankee excitement over picking up Gallo.

 

Jake Myers has earned his chance. I think the Astros feel very confident in Chaz who in an extended look is playing very well and has good speed himself.

Straw though super exciting, is about average for getting on base, with very little power. Chaz has good OBP and decent power, so. Astros probably felt they could upgrade the offense just by making Chaz a permanent starter. And Myers is someone everyone seems very excited about.

I was really pulling for Straw, but with Leon in the minor and getting ready to move up within a season, Straws time needed to shine and he played solid, but not spectacular.

 

We will see how good Brent Strom really is now with Maton and Montero.
Maton with his high spin rate and Montero who might be an underperformer. With Diaz, this trade might be a steal. Only time will tell.

 

I know Straw seemed wall shy at times, but he had very good range. I haven't seen enough of Chaz in CF to make a judgement. Chas has pop in his bat...has speed. Astros want more power from their centerfielder they got it, but at what price?

 

At least we didn't trade to get Marisnick back - little victories!

 

Myles Straw and his .665 OPS will be hard to replace. He was not very good.

 

Yah maybe yordan at center. That will show em!
Seems like right now we made a weak position weaker.
Also you dint exactly have a creative skipper

 

If the Astros were in the middle of a rebuild, then I may have been more approving of this trade. But this team is one of the top contenders for a World Series. Questionable move by Click. I don't mind trading Straw, but I think he's worth more than what we got from Cleveland.

Hopefully Strom can work his magic with Maton. And Chas may have better long-term upside than Straw. I don't know much about Meyers. But again, contending teams should not be putting "projects" or "experiments" on the field as everyday starting players (barring injuries).

I doubt Luhnow would've made this trade. It feels like Click made a change solely for the sake of change.

Still though...Click did a pretty good job addressing our biggest need with the Graveman etc moves. So I'll give him a C+. And even with all the splashy trades that other teams made, the Astros still have the best lineup in baseball.

 

I don’t think Straw is going to be very good for Cleveland, he is not the type of young player who will haunt a team for trading him away. See Mallex Smith, who the Rays (with Click in the room) traded to Seattle for Zuzino. The Astros added 4 RP (2 proven closers, 2 guys with extreme upside) and only gave up a fringey starting CF and Toro. They didn’t go over the tax. They didn’t give up any of their Top 30 prospects. Meyers/McCormick might struggle in the small sample of August-October but won’t be a ton worse than Straw. The bar was set at like 650 ops. Meyers defense is ELITE.

And the Astros come out of this with one of the deepest bullpens in the league.

There is a lot more pressure on the SP (Greinke, McCullers, Valdez) to hold up against the firepower in other contenders rotations than there is pressure on the new CF to be a good 8 hole hitter.

 

Maybe he promised McCormick a shot at winning ROY

 

I've thought of that and agree with you. Not 100% sold on those 3 to get the Astros another WS.

 

This is actually why I'm disappointed in our deadline dealing.... we're relying very heavily on a mostly unproven starting rotation. While bullpen was our glaring issue, if we falter in the postseason I'm 100% convinced it will be bc we don't established rotation firepower. No Cole, no Verlander, no Morton, etc. I really really wanted us to go all in for TOR guy, especially since we've seen some of our best guys like Framber and Garcia struggle of late.