Is Willson Contreras Worth Giving up the 2nd Round Pick?

I think its more like:
40 C
70 DH
20 LF (MMP only)

 

Kevin Kiermaier is 32 years old Lefty Bat, Great Defender in Centerfield, Strong Arm

 

He's between replacement and average in centerfield. I can't see him as anything other than a bench OFer because he could replace all OF positions. He seems more like a Trade deadline acquisition if a we don't have some success with prospects.

Defensively, he may be off a down year and a buy low opportunity. But I still don't think he's an overall improvement over McCormick.

 

Honestly, looking at the projections of Benni and Nimmo, the value is with Nimmo. He's just more consistent and better all around and the price appears to be too close with current projections. I think he's worth $5M more per year.

 

If the astros really like chas for CF, hes 19M cheaper.

I can see them only prioritizing a bat first C that can share time with Alvarez when hes not catching. So for similar $, i understand why its contreras over nimmo.

if we assume that McCormick and Alverez are primary outfielders, the only starting position that is open is DH. It would be hard to convince Nimmo to join us.

 

The more I think about it, 4 years for Contreras would be good. He's young, has a good bat and can play a premium position and versatile enough to play left field and DH. This coming season will be Maldy's last season as the primary catcher.

 

I've thought that for three years. It hasn't happened yet.

 

I don't think playing LF and Dh qualifies you as versatile LOL.

More like we may be able to hide him in LF for a game or 2.

 

I can only think of 2 catchers in the league that I would put at DH on purpose.

 

You could stick me in CF and claim I'm versatile, but someone might actually hit a ball to me. Playing a position and playing it well are DIFFERENT.

 

Not if he isn't your starting catcher.

 

What do you think he’s getting?

 

I get that DH/LF/1B are usually not considered versatile, but the Astros only minor weakness last year was not having enough guys (not playing premium positions already) who's bats made them versatile enough to play DH/LF/1B. Contreras's bat makes him potentially versatile for those positions. I see him as the DH when the worm killers are on the mound (Framber and Brown) and Alvarez is in LF. I would not want to see Contreras in LF.

I see no issue carrying a 3rd catcher. I think Astros still can sign a platoon LHB like Brantley or maybe even Benitendi (though I doubt he would want to sit when Alvarez is in LF or Chas is in LF because there is a LHP even if the Astros don't sign Contreras).

 

The beauty of DH is that you can play people there who are slightly injured for other reasons. If Alvarez has more knee problems or you just don't want him playing OF that much, you can play him a ton at DH. If you need to rest an aging Abreu, you can play him at DH some. If an Altuve is coming off of injury and not quite ready for the field, DH him. Etc. Signing a guy to $20MM for many years to primarily be a DH seems less than ideal on a team with two guys who are limited positionally as-is in Alvarez (LF / DH) and Abreu (1B / DH). This season, Yordan got more than half his ABs at DH and that seems like a good plan for him going forward.

I'd rather sign a slightly weaker bat but someone who can actually be a good outfielder to give them more ability to mix and match.

 

whats the difference between him playing 20 games in LF or 60 games in LF? In his case, he's either a liability and incapable, or he isn't.

 

Why would Chas be lucky other than being on a great team? He still has to fight off Leon, Meyers, and Dubon for time in CF with the possibility of those guys fighting for corner OF PT as well. Tucker has one corner OF spot locked down. Alvarez probably gets about a 3rd of the time in LF. Even if the Astros sign Contreras, they likely still try to get a guy like Brantley.

I really like Chas as a player, but I think odds are very good the Astros are going to be stacked with position players this coming season.

 

You just have to expect he will miss 30%+ of his games due to injury. He missed significant time in 2017, 2019, and 2021 from various injuries.

 

If Chaz is your 8th best hitter, you're in pretty good shape.

 

he won't have to fight off any of those guys to start the season (maybe leon later in year). he would be the starting CF on one of the most stacked lineups in history. an insane 1-8, plus him. isn't a knock against him by any means. i like chas. he would be just be sticking out like a sore thumb among the rest of that lineup is all i meant.

 

Problem with that is Vazquez is a good hitter for a catcher, but not overall

His OPS the last couple of years has been around .700, strong for a catcher, but if he isn't catching that is bad anywhere else. As long as Maldanado is here, he is going to catch a majority of the time. With Vazquez not good enough to be the DH really, he simply wouldn't play a lot, and he isn't going to sign somewhere that he isn't going to play a lot. I think he would be a great sign for most teams, just really doens't fit what we are looking for