Why would any Astros fan seriously think we could go after a rookie catcher who is hitting everything he sees BUT is struggling defensively? Do the people who post on here even follow the Astros and how they do things?
OK. I'm sold. Historically a defensive liability, but not this year. Better offends and better defense and a pure rental so cost should be relatively low. It shouldn't interfere with prospects.
Welcome to the club…now let’s just pray they don’t get Mancini. He’s arguably worse defensively and has one year prior to the cancer where he had an OPS above Bell’s CAREER OPS… I’d rather ride Yuli out if it’s him or Mancini.
The chance of them trading for someone to “replace” Yuli is very low A Mancini trade would be adding a bat to the roster that could play LF, 1B and be a nice upgrade as a PH off the bench Honestly any move we make is probably gonna be for a player or two who hasn’t even been mentioned on this thread, someone versatile who has some control left, or potentially another arm for the pen.
Almost certain to be traded: RP Andrew Chafin, RP Michael Fulmer, OF Andrew Benintendi, SS Elvis Andrus, SP Frankie Montas, C Willson Contreras, SP Jose Quintana, RP Daniel Bard, RP Alex Colome, SP Chad Kuhl, IF Brandon Drury, IF Cesar Hernandez, 1B Josh Bell Likely to be traded: RP Lou Trivino, OF Ian Happ, C Yan Gomes, OF Ben Gamel, RP Chris Stratton, SS Jose Iglesias, OF Tyler Naquin, OF Tommy Pham, SP Luis Castillo, DH Nelson Cruz, RP Steve Cishek Possibly traded: RP Joe Jimenez, RP Gregory Soto, 1B Trey Mancini, SP Jordan Lyles, OF Michael Taylor, RP Scott Barlow, SP Zack Greinke, SP Brad Keller, 2B Tony Kemp, OF Ramon Laureano, OF Chad Pinder, OF Stephen Piscotty, IF Patrick Wisdom, OF Bryan Reynolds, DH Dan Vogelbach, RP David Bednar, OF Randal Grichuk, OF Charlie Blackmon, 1B CJ Cron, P Jhoulys Chacin, SS Kyle Farmer, SP Tyler Mahle, RP Jeff Hoffman, P Mike Minor, RP Hunter Strickland, RP Carl Edwards, RP Erasmo Ramirez, SP Erik Fedde, SP Patrick Corbin
I like Josh Bell for a long term Yuli Replacement. If they wanna resign Yuli he would strictly be a Bench guy for me. But the more I see Andrew Benintendi the more I wanna see him play for the Astros
I also suspect that they would be able to adjust rather quickly to a catcher that could catch 2-3 days a week and dh 2-3 days a week. Getting a guy like Contreras would solve the language barrier issues.
Nope I think they want some type of Pitching return they are hurting really bad in that department. Ivey Solomon and maybe Santos would work
No. Dubon got traded for a minor league catcher that was released 3 weeks later. If Dubon had trade value that could pull Bell don’t you think the Giants would have explored that?
How do you think I feel about Maldonado? If the clubhouse is that fragile, they aren't winning a championship whether they make any trades or not.
Trades I do NOT want to see: Laureano or Reynolds to the Yankees Contreras to the Mets Bell to the Braves
It has nothing to do with being fragile. Maldonado impacts the pitchers and the game positively in many many ways. As fans we see it almost every game Hustling down the third base line to catch a pop-up that nobody else can get because of the shift. Tagging out a guy at first base who isn't paying attention. Throwing the fastest runner in MLB ( statistically) out on a steal attempt of a tie game in the 9th inning. Many many things we don't even see. This organization and this team LOVES Maldy and genuinely believes he is the best catcher in baseball and there IS NO upgrade to be made.. All fans see is bat bat bat.. hit hit hit.. runs runs runs.. Well, it takes run prevention to win also. Maldy is not going anywhere and he will be starting every game in the playoffs so even if they were to bring in another catcher it would be a waste because he would be getting splinters in his butt sitting in his pristine clean uniform.
I agree Maldonado will be our primary Catcher. But we do need a better hitting backup catcher, whether it's from within or by trade. Castro should be given a nice retirement party and a hardy Thank You for your service to the Astros.
This also is worrying. Pirates wont sell Reynolds unless the Yankees overpay like massive, plus I can name 20 teams in on him if was available. Braves will have big competition for Bell, Red Sox has a big hole and makes perfect sense, Mets, Blue Jays, Brewers have DH and 1b ab needs But if we don't compete for Contreras, who is making offers for him to not go to the Mets? Giants are not making the playoffs, other contenders could get an improvement at C but they have bigger needs.
I'm not saying bench Maldonado, I'm saying trade for Contreras and let him learn the pitching staff by taking on the Castro role plus one day a week. The extra day of rest certainly couldn't hurt Maldonado at this stage of his career. Then if the pitchers like throwing to Contreras Maldonado takes over Castro's role. You guys make it seem like it's impossible to replace a catcher that hustles or calls a good game. It's not, plenty of catchers hustle and the game can be called from the dugout. What most catchers don't do is catch regularly with a .150 batting average.
It's not impossible. The issue is the Astros think its a bad idea and aren't interested in entertaining it. Therefore it's fantasy. You might as well propose that they trade Josh James for Mike Trout. It is just as likely. And actually trading away the talent that it would take to get Contreras so he can sit on the bench sounds like a bad idea to me too.
