I like the idea of Mitch Moreland on the cheap... a lefty bat at first and he's seen playoff action... coming off a down year... think 2 years 5 million or so should do... If Yuli starts to slip they could platoon... we also don't have many lefty bat options on the bench...
Build Your Offseason Pitchers, $6. Must select one from each $3: Shane Bieber, Kevin Gausman, Robbie Ray, Marcus Stroman, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Sandy Alcantara $2: Noah Syndergaard, Chris Bassitt, Kendall Graveman, Sean Manaea, Taylor Rogers, Raisel Iglesias, Anthony DeSclafani $1: Yimi Garcia, Chris Stratton, Patrick Corbin, Kyle Freeland, Tyler Duffey, Collin McHugh, Alex Cobb
Scherzer if he's healthy Graveman McHugh no idea if he can continue like he did last year I think he would come back to Houston on a discounted but fair offer. End up keeping their trade pieces and still can upgrade on whatever
Bieber and Scherzer Frankly I would spend all 6 on Bieber if all of them were available for the same cost. He's a beast and has 3 more years of team control. He's not a realistic option for us because the prospect cost would be astronomical, probably the most valuable pitcher in all of baseball when contract, age and ability are all factored in.
I am much higher on Meyers than Chaz. With this development, I would now slightly prefer to sign Marte to a 4/80 deal than Correa to a 7-8 year deal. Basically I feel much better about the production and upside of Marte and Diaz then Peña compared to Chaz/Siri and Correa. And we have more dollars to use on SP and RP. I hate losing the intangibles of Correa, but objectively, Marte is better path forward…if available at 4/80 as speculated.
Agreed on Meyers vs Chas. Meyers can be the centerfielder here for the next 5 or 6 years in my opinion. Chas is an ok 4th outfielder. Siri is a faster Justin Maxwell.
If Houston really is open to moving Tucker to CF then it opens up some more trade targets. I don’t think it changes much on their free agent shopping list other than maybe making Conforto, Bryant, Canha, Pham, and maybe McCutcheon more appealing. I don’t think it opens the door for signing somebody like Schwarber or Belt or Rizzo. But there’s a few potential trade targets that could fill RF, Mitch Haniger being the main one and Juan Soto being the white whale. Others: Meadows, Winker, Happ, Benintendi, Garrett Cooper.
There is a whole lot of posturing coming out of the Astros front office right now with the media and other teams. What I have been told is that the Astros want a #1 starter, another bat in the line up if they lose Correa and a reliever.... they will double dip on starters if it is a real buyers market.
Yeah, the expression of confidence in starting pitching by Click rings hollow. It is pretty hard to ignore the Framber and Luis Garcia meltdowns in the postseason. I don’t have the stats to back this up, but it sure does seem like they are in the record books as all time bad postseason performances, even including their great bounceback performances in Boston.
Soto…. Gross. I know he’s a great bat but still not over 2019. Arrogant POS. Schwarber I do think this Meyers news opens up. It’s easy to think of him as a 1B due to recency bias, but he’s actually played mostly corner OF prior to this year, which, if Tucker is comfortable moving to CF, makes sense. I’d like to see us, if they’ll trade in-division, get Matt Olson alongside Chris Bassitt. Olson can play RF for a year and Tucker CF with the understanding both return to their more comfortable positions in 2023 (Gurriel FA). Before you say “out of position”, Olson actually played RF back in 2016, with Canha the primary 1B that year.
What position do you think Click will add a bat at? Hopefully Click pays the price to bring Graveman back. That will make the backend of the bullpen elite and cover a multitude of issues. I'm also hoping Dubin can add to the backend of the bullpen. You say double dip? Does that mean Click's going after one ace type starter for sure and hopes to get another if the price is right?
If you get a chance to add Soto, you do it. Cant let feelings get in the way of putting a championship team together. The Stros have the team they have today because Luhnow didn't let feelings get in the way of building the best team he possibly could.
I'm not against moving Framber in a deal for a true ace. I think Spider Tac helped him alot. Dont want to trade Garcia, he just wore out because he pitched more innings last season than he's ever pitched in a season in his life.
I'm not crazy about most of the shortstops getting big money this year... if they don't get a big name and plan to go with Pena/Diaz, I wouldn't mind something like this... The Reds are trying to unload salary. Castillo would be great but our prospect chips aren't as good as a lot of other teams can offer. If we are willing to take more bad salary from them we could reduce the prospect cost... I'm thinking something like this: Castillo - 7.5 million + ? (2 years) Moustakas - 16 million + 18 million + 20 million (club option) Naquin - 3.5 million That's 27 million this year and maybe 30 million next year... For: Jake Meyers Tyler Ivey Peter Solomon Brandon Bielak We keep Brown, Lee, Leon, and Pena in the process of taking on Moustakas' deal. Moustakas is overpaid but could be a useful utility guy off the bench for us. He's lefty giving us a second lefty bat off the bench. He can play 1B, 2B, and 3B giving us depth and options with injuries. Naquin isn't a huge upgrade but he's a local kid with more experience. Defensive metrics are on par with Meyers. Meyers has a little more upside but that's part of the cost of Castillo. This gives the Reds a CF option beyond the one year left for Naquin and at cheap cost. Still leaves us about 35 million to upgrade rotation further or bullpen. Re-sign Verlander for about 20 million and Graveman for about 10 million. I then like Jace Fry as a lefty specialist from the White Sox... decent splits against lefties and should cost only 1-3 million. Lineup: 2B Altuve (R) RF Tucker (L) 3B Bregman (R) DH Alvarez (L) 1B Gurriel (R) LF Brantley (L) SS Pena (R) CF Naquin (L) C Maldonado (R) Bench: McCormick (R) Siri (R) Diaz (R) Castro (L) Moustakas (R) Rotation: Verlander (R) McCullers (R) Castillo (R) Valdez (L) Urquidy (R) Bullpen: Pressly (R) Graveman (R) Stanek (R) Maton (R) Fry (L) Garcia (R) Javier (R) Odorizzi (R) Understood there's 27 there... that's for injuries as someone always seems to be hitting IL somewhere... May put McCormick or Siri in AAA for playing time... Moustakas or Diaz may be able to handle a corner outfield spot... I think Garcia may look better in the bullpen where he can boost his velocity and not worry about eating innings...
Depends on the market really. The Astros are flexible to adapt to opportunity. It could be SS if someone like Story or Baez are affordable. It could be catcher if someone like Contreras or Murphy is affordable or it could be outfield. If you are asking my personal opinion (not what I have heard from Astros), I think it will end up being the outfield just because there are so many bats available. The Astros could get Olson like someone else said with the idea of moving him back to first base in 2023 or it could be signing Marte if the market for him isn't strong. I will say that I don't see the Astros adding more than one "swing and miss" type bat to this line up. a large part of the Astros success has been because they put the ball in play. That is to say they could possibly add someone like Baez OR Chapman OR Schwarber, but they aren't adding more than one. I think the Astros are as likely to trade for an outfielder as sign one. Like everything else, Graveman will likely depend on how much he costs and by what method the Astros address a #1 starter and a bat to replace Correa. So if the Astros sign Verlander for two years and TRADE for a bat, then they likely have enough in their budget to sign Graveman if his contract is reasonable. However if the Astros have to pay someone Marte and Verlander, then they likely cannot get Graveman in their budget. There are potential #1 starting pitchers the Astros could target in trade on the Reds for example that won't cost as much financially, but it seems like the Astros are locking in on Verlander as the guy they want at the top of their rotation and that will likely cost 20 million a season and the Astros would still need to add a bat to replace Correa's production..... so one of SP, hitter or top reliever will be addressed through trade if possible. The Astros are not an organization that will fill a need at any cost. So if the cost is insane then the Astros will pass on a #1 starter...... but what I can tell you is that the Astros #1 objective is to add a #1 starter to the rotation so it will be a top priority. What I am saying is lets say Verlander resigns with the Astros for 2/40 and then the Reds say they will deal Luis Castillo for Urquidy and McCormick. The Astros are willing to make that sort of deal even if it means that perhaps they don't get quite as good a bat to replace Correa. They see it is whatever maximizes the potential team success.
