CF - Meyer could be a better option in CF. But this is his early Spring Training. 1B - Gurriel shows some signs of life at the plate and he's good when he's on. Matijevic is a good in house prospect. But I doubt either will have enough ABs by the deadline to rule out a plus rental. C - It looks so obvious, but pitcher management and controlling runners may not make replacing him quite so obvious if we can get the lineup one or two players deeper. 1, SP - It's risky to start with and we are already loaded so finding a true upgrade is unlikely. RP - It's been doing well until recently, but that's the nature of the job. Even then it is some pitching on some nights rather than an overall meltdown. 2. C 3. 1B 4. 2B Altuve's one of the best 5. 3B Bregman is coming around and plays premium D. 6. SS Pena is a ROY candidate. 7. LF Brantley is hard to upgrade. 8. CF 9. RF Tucker is impossible to upgrade. 10. DH Best hitter in baseball at the moment. We're actually in pretty good shape barring a long term injury.
Versatility. Hits left handed, can play C and OF. He also might have upside if he improves by hitting in a better/deeper lineup. He wouldn’t be a superstar or anything, but the depth of Houston’s roster makes it hard to see an obvious place to upgrade since the perceived “weaknesses” have complicating factors: Maldy is key to the defense/pitching, Gurriel is a key clubhouse presence and has shown signs of life, and Meyers has big upside. Varsho is an extremely unique player who represents a potential upgrade in multiple areas. Of course the key is how much he would cost. But I think he is an extremely uniquely good fit for the Astros roster.
Another thing to note is the Brent Strom factor - He knows what it’s like to catch a Brent Strom-coached pitching staff, and while he’s obviously no longer here, Miller was definitely influenced by him, and out pitching staff had Strom last year and many years prior. While it’s not easy learning a new staff mid-season, Varsho would be in a better situation than most because of that.
Varsho, Contreras have been the pipe dream. You add one of these bats. Go for the jugular with Bell and a lefty arm. Leave no stone unturned.
With Yuli and Breg's bat coming around, I don't see any rentals that would help up us much. If we make a trade this season, it will be for someone that could help us in the longer term. Maybe a backup catcher to that is better than Castro or someone younger that could potentially replace Maldy.
I value defense and I'm very glad Meyers is back. I also think the addition of Dubon is a very underrated trade. I also don't care how good of a mentor Maldy/Castro are to the pitchers, you aren't winning a championship with your catchers hitting .100-.150. Speaking of this, what's the worst ba of a starting catcher on a championship team? I think Click knows he needs an upgrade but Dusty is giving him pushback.
Hunter Brown/Leon should be on the table in a Varsho trade. It looks like it's going to take an injury to Maldy to force change.
Andrew Chafin is moving up the list of targets for me.... left handed reliever 3.10 ERA, 2.20 FIP, 1.082 WHIP, 1 HR, 11.07 K/9 He keeps the ball in the park. Plus, only Abreu and Javier have a better K/9 on the Astros
After hearing Brantley talk about his shoulder injury, I’m not as concerned as I was initially. Nevertheless, I’d like Click to be in the market for a RH Power bat that can play 1B/LF, a backup catcher has to be a priority, and a LH reliever. Very encouraged by what Meyers has done thus far(the power will come, eventually). Breggy and Yuli are on the rise. Very good signs.
Ok I seen this in an Article maybe 2 or 3 different ones for awhile now. Padres are trying to free up some money and are willing to dump a prospect or 2 to get it done. Eric Hosmer is owed 20 million this year and 13 million per for the next 3 years after that. He plays 1st and is an obvious need . but looking at what they have as prospects might make it worth it to take on that contract. Last I heard Luis Campousano was talked about a lot as the Padres willing to move him to make a deal happen. So would we be willing to do a deal like Eric Hosmer, Luis Campousano and Matt Waldron for Chas McCormick, Peter Soloman and Jonathan Bermudez We shift Yuli to a Bench role kind of like a super utility role. Hosmer to play 1B Let Campousano to back up C role and Castro says Good bye.
The Astros have the money to eat Hosmer's contract, as we're about 35 million below the tax threshold as of today, but I have questions about that trade. 1. Is it smart for ownership to take on that contract? Will it get in the way of resigning any of the youngins on the team? 2. Luis Campusano over the last two years is hitting worse than Castro as of right now, and the "prospect" we get in return is a 26 year old still in AA. All that for giving up a few AAAA guys. But I like the idea of a Hosmer trade provided Yuli's recent hot streak dematerializes at some point, for the right return.
Because he plays catcher and CF and has 3 or so years of control. That's a unicorn Edited to add- that's 3 years of control after this one (maybe 4- don't know if he got enough service time in 2020 being so screwy with Covid), His "pedestrian" bat is exactly 100 OPS+ after being 103+ last year making him league average with the bat. That might be pedestrian in being an offensive player, but for a guy playing Catcher and CF that's a really good bat. If you hit him 9th you essentially have a lineup without a single below average hitter in it. That's really really really hard to do.
I will bite- I haven't seen San Diego play in 3 years nor heard Hosmers name mentioned at all- but he's got a 117 OPS+ this year and he hits righties better than lefty's pretty significantly throughout his career, while also having a positive WAR this year. Presumably they would be taking back a reasonable amount of money. He's only 32 so his best years are behind him, but at 35 by the end of the deal he shouldn't be awful, merely average, whereas right now he's slightly above average. He hasn't made my list of people I'd have any interest in so it's not like I'm pounding the table for him, just curious as to why it's a stupid suggestion.
The thing is we have better depth on the Bench Aswell spelling Yuli can play 3rd base Aswell as 1st and maybe 2nd idk about SS.. Campusano is young and more cost effective and might just need a change of scenery some players are like that. it just depends on the coaching. The AA SP prospect might be a slight gem if he can turn that corner and get his Knuckle ball under control. he is pretty decent with a Wipe out Slider. Hosmers contract goes down after this year so its not like a big hinderance and the biggest thing is are you resigning Brantley and Yuli? that alone is around 25 million saved if you don't. Hosmer is currently hitting in the .290 AVG range which is exactly what we need in our Offense. having a bench of Yuli, Dubon and Diaz would take things for us to an entirely new level. I don't like the age aspect of it as he is 32 and when his deal is done he will be 35. BUT and I say BUT, his contract next year would be way easier to trade then it has been. Campusano is only 23 years old. He blocks the plate very well and has a damn good Defensive side to him. His hitting just hasn't come around yet. he has the tools just may need better coaching. Change of scenery could be a steal if he snaps into a slim jim.
What's wrong with Hosmer besides his age? his contract goes down 7 million in 2023 to 2025. he is batting way better then Yuli just saying and having a better defined Bench goes along way with injurs
He is a good fit in many baseball fans eyes But offensively he is only “good” if he is playing catcher, and I won’t act like I know how good he is or isn’t as a defensive catcher, but if he were the level on defense that we prefer I doubt Arizona would play him in the OF so much I also think they expected a lot more out of him offensively than what they are getting this year. He showed some good promise last year but just isn’t following that up with a very good year
He has been a .270 Hitter his career. which isn't bad but I'm angling for a C. And decent depth overall in out lineup and bench
Because I don’t want his salary to be a factor when it comes to trying to sign Tucker long term, or the young pitching
