He’s cheaper than what Benintendi or Nimmo would get as FAs right? If you swing a package of Garcia, Whitley, Leon, Lee etc and still sign JV and Contreras that’s some serious going all in for the next 3 years.
Pass. He’s already 6.75M and will escalate to 15M+ in 2024 and 2025. That will be a very similar AAV in 2025 to Nimmo, and it will cost a huge amount of talent.
Pass on Reynolds -- the trade packages that have been proposed have all been too rich. He's a nice player but not worth gutting our pipeline. McCormick/Meyers/Leon can step up and fill the need.
I'm torn. If we've learned anything in the last few years, it's that the Astros have done amazing when it comes to replacing players that leave with their own homegrown talent. The Astros have a pretty dang good development team and scouts that keep on retooling the farm system with prospects. So do you put together a package for Reynolds because you have trust in the team to keep finding young talent for the farm system and it isn't depleted? Or do you just let the homegrown talent keep developing and hope they are as good as they are projected to be?
I’d do Garcia, Meyers, Leon and Lee if we signed Contreras. That should leave you 15-20M to spend to being in a SP and for the deadline. I’d also get rid of Dubon and Maton so that’d give me 20-25 to spend on another starting pitcher.
The Astros maybe get one season out of Reynolds in CF. He is really a corner outfielder playing center field.
Garcia, Meyers, Leon and Lee are all pre-arb and would shed next to nothing off our payroll. Adding Contreras and Reynolds would add around 26M to our payroll for 2023 and about 35-45M in 2024 and 2025, while at the same time removing our future catcher (we have very little depth here), one of our 6 quality starters that we would have to pay the 15-20M you suggested to replace him, and 2 of our better OF depth pieces with a lot of potential. All this for a OF that is a poor fielder (compare Reynolds 6% rank OAA to Nimmo’s 90% rank OAA) that only has 3 years of control remaining.
Well, JV hasn't officially signed elsewhere yet. I'd offer him $38M annually for 3 years, see what he says, and try to keep him. Even so, I'm not a big Garcia fan. I'm not a homer who thinks our players are better than they are. I just think he's about average. Also I'm really not a fan of his delivery.
I guess it depends on if they are going to use Hunter Brown out the the pen or if they are going to prep him to be a starter. It's risky, but that move could lead to a scenario where the Astros are the top hitting team in baseball, especially if the Astros sign Willson Contreras too.
I wasn’t saying you were wrong, I was just curious. I am a big fan of Garcia’s ability but he is inconsistent. He would be dominant as a closer though. I would personally pass on Reynolds most likely if we are not certain we can bring back Verlander.
If the Astros put Brown in the pen this year it will be with the idea of still giving him a shot to be a long term starter in 2024. The Astros even have been considering Abreu as a starter down the road. The bad blood goes further back. He felt the Astros lead him to believe he would go #1 at one point.
For Reynolds I would be ok with Trading for. But it would have to be For a Package around Meyers, Whitley, Maton, Lee and PTBNL And I would still try and add Bat like Contreras and Brantley after that
That's kind of what I thought, and that's why I'd be okay with the gamble of flipping Garcia if it could potentially set up a scenario where the Astros have lineups with 8 or 9 players above .800 OPS next season. Let the 5th starter be an Abreu/Brown combination and create the best hitting team in the league.
If we trade for an OF, I'd honestly prefer Varsho to rotate between OF and C. He can catch 50 games, and when he's in the OF provide great defense. Lefty with great pop, profiles well at MMP. Arizona is said to want a RHP in exchange for one of their OF.
