They will have the green light from ownership to improve the team and I am sure that they will make at least one or two moves for a reliever or a bench player. If there is a need to fill a glaring hole in the line up I am sure they will do that as well - but Click doesn't strike me as the type of GM to be rash. He has shown he can be quite patient and trusts what his coaches and player development people tell him.
The thing about Click showing patience is that he's giving the Astros player development staff time to develop bench players and relievers. Once the Astros don't need to make a ton of trades/FA signings to fill in for depth and fill in pen, they will be able to use assets/money more for great players even if there isn't a glaring hole.
Completely agree and while I don't agree with everything Click has done and I don't think we know how good he is at the draft, he does deserve credit for a level of patience that few would exercise especially with the core the Astros have. There have been numerous times I would have pulled the trigger for veteran help and he stayed the course. He has relied on Valdez, Urquidy, Garcia in the rotation when most general managers would have been petrified. The closest he has come to panicking was the Odorizzi signing and the vast majority of teams would have signed him with the likely loss of Valdez at the time. In the pen he has made some smart in season deals (Graveman) and some dumb ones (Baez), but for the most part he has relied heavily on what his pitching coaches and player development people have told him. The Astros pen is full of prior unknowns and failures that have been turned around. No one was excited at the Neris signing or making Montero a long term project but both have been excellent. Stanek and Maton have contributed and were after thoughts by most teams. In the line up he lost Springer, Correa and Altuve and Bregman were injured, yet he didn't panic. He relied on players like Meyers, McCormick, Pena, Siri to play well. All of these moves have opened the window for the Astros and how much of it is great drafting and how much is player development? Hard to separate some times, but I suspect from what I have been told, it is more player development than anything else.
BA pre-2022: Korey Lee #70, Hunter Brown was one of the 15 who "missed the cut" "Keith Law is an idiot": Lee 101 Fangraphs 2022: Brown 95, Lee 97 Also, preseason prospect lists are pretty worthless now that people have had ST and ~35 games to further evaluate players. I guarantee you that Leon and Brown would be thought very highly of. Here's BA's take on Hunter Brown after watching him in ST: “He’s looked much improved. Much improved. I always had command and feel concerns with him and whether he was going to be a reliever with just two pitches, but he’s commanding 3-4 pitches pretty well. Just last September, he wasn’t doing that. It used to be just his fastball and a big nasty curve and fastball command was questionable. But now it’s all working. He’s added a little slider that’s very functional and his changeup is pretty good too. Something has clicked or seems to be clicking. That’s a great arsenal and he’s commanding it. If he can command it as well as he’s commanded it this spring, it’s a front-of-the-rotation starter. Before I thought he might just be a reliever with a fastball up in the zone, power curveball and that’s it. He’s a better pitcher now.” GOOD DAY
Yeah I agree with this. I think there is a target on the Nats, but it isn't Soto, it is Bell. Will be interesting to see if Bell gets moved and where he goes. The Astros don't really seem to have any organizational depth at 1B. He is a FA this offseason. Could be an interesting target.
Consumer/fan based publications are always dated and inaccurate outside of the top handful of players. They do not ever deep dive into an organization and are especially off when you are talking about a team not in a major market that has excellent player development. Garcia, Urquidy, Javier and Valdez were never in the top 100 prospects and in the few lists were they were included, they were in the bottom of the top 100 (I believe that Urquidy in a few publications was in the 90-100 range). All of them have been successful and have a lot of value because of their cost compared to production ratio. Alvarez was never ranked where he should have been as a prospect (he should have been top 5-10), McCormick wasn't ranked and based on his production and team control has value. Jeremy Pena didn't get any coverage until late last year after he went en fuego even though the Astros viewed him as an elite prospect. Jake Meyers was never a top prospect either. Commercial publications and even places like fangraphs have serious limitations and should be used as a starting point. With organizations like the Astros, Dodgers, Rays and a couple others; they are often not close to exact. Look at the players that the Dodgers have dealt that were top prospects, most have failed because internally they knew their prospects best and were not in love with those they dealt.
Keith is a very nice man in person and will talk baseball for hours.... interestingly enough he was offered the position of scouting director by Luhnow but turned it down..... having said that, Keith Law is not all that great at evaluating players that are not elite to begin with. His methodology doesn't really allow for exceptions. He is someone that is huge on physical skills and a few metrics and that is it.
Everything is beginning to settle near normal. Hot players go cold and cold players get hot. Today, 5/16/22, this is the TYD Team Stats: POSITION R ALTUVE, Jose 2B 348 531 159 1.1 L BRANTLEY, Michael LF 347 404 124 0.8 R BREGMAN, Alex 3B 353 460 142 1.0 L ALVAREZ, Yordan DH 359 587 178 1.4 Now R GURRIEL, Yuli 1B 292 416 109 0.6 Now Hot L TUCKER, Kyle RF 360 441 138 1.7 R PEÑA, Jeremy SS 339 514 151 2.2 R McCORMICK, Chas CF 279 396 99 (0.3) Meyers 60 day R MALDONADO, Martin C 200 238 30 (0.4) Bench L CASTRO, Jason C 231 63 (7) (0.3) R DIAZ, Aledmys IF 277 312 76 0.4 R SIRI, Jose CF 270 310 73 0.8 R DUBÔN, Mauricio IF 245 391 80 0.2 Rotation STARTERS IP ERA+ WHIP L VALDEZ, Framber SP 40.0 123 1275 0.6 R ODORIZZI, Jake SP 26.2 108 1238 (0.1) R VERLANDER, Justin SP 45.2 261 679 1.8 R URQUIDY, Josē SP 28.2 83 1326 0.0 R GARCIA, Luis SP 33.2 123 950 0.5 R JAVIER, Cristian SP 25.1 441 785 0.2 R McCULLERS, Jr., Lance SP 0.0 0 0 0.0 Rehabbing Relief CLOSER R PRESSLY, Ryan C 6.1 89 1263 (0.2) RELIEVERS R ABREU, Bryan RP 15.2 94 1537 0.0 R MATON, Phil RP 15.2 91 1404 (0.2) R MONTERO, Rafael RP 14.2 599 818 0.7 R NERIS, Hëctor RP 16.0 652 500 0.6 R STANEK, Ryne RP 12.2 260 1184 0.3 L TAYLOR, Blake RP 11.2 96 1457 (0.1)
Even our weaknesses are replacement level players. Improvements require extraordinary players, not replacement level players.
The important ones are in the CBA, They must appear on at least two for benefits. MLB.com, Baseball America ESPN.com
Couple hypotheticals: Astros get: CF Cedric Mullins Orioles get: RHP Hunter Brown OF Chas McCormick RHP Alex Santos II Astros get: RP David Bednar Pirates get: RHP Peter Solomon 3B Joe Perez RHP Misael Tamarez Astros get: 2B Ryan Bliss C Adrian Del Castillo RHP Slade Cecconi Diamondbacks get: RHP Jose Urquidy RHP Bryan Abreu Resulting roster: CF Mullins 2B Altuve DH Alvarez 3B Bregman RF Tucker SS Pena LF Brantley 1B Gurriel C Maldonado Bench: Dubon, Castro, Diaz, Meyers Rotation: Verlander, Valdez, Garcia, McCullers, Odorizzi Bullpen: Javier, Taylor, Stanek, Maton, Montero, Neris, Bednar, Pressly
All 3 Arizona players are minor leaguers. It’s a Tampa-style move where we sell in addition to buy as a way to replenish the farm.
The idea is that Arizona is ready to compete, and they need big-league ready pitching, and would be willing to trade 2nd/3rd tier prospects that are a few years away from contributing. Also, the presence of Strom means there would be a voice on their side lobbying to acquire Astros pitchers. Strom was a HUGE fan of Abreu. For the Astros, they have a glut of pitching (especially after adding Bednar) and this trade would help restock the lower levels of their farm with a former 1st rd pick and 2 former 2nd rd picks. Unlikely to be sure. But reasonably fair value and I think a good way for Houston to improve their outlook in both short and long term.
I don't see that much value in Mullens. A slight improvement and blocks Meyer's who might be better. I don't see it.
