I haven’t heard anything different than what I have said the last few weeks or what has largely been reported. My opinion is that Crane will do what he has done ever single time other than with Verlander last year - he will evaluate the value of players, and offer up to the top of that range but not over it. They got Abreu done because Bagwell and others quickly offer the upper range early in the Winter and got him. They had to beat out teams like Chicago, Boston, Cleveland and other teams with GM’s that don’t over play for players. They have offers out to Benintendi and Conforto. As far as I know those offers haven’t been pulled. If they can get one or both those guys done in that range, they will. My guess is that Conforto and Benintendi are waiting and hoping someone will give them the number of years they want - so far no one has. They have spoken to Kluber and Cueto and have made an offer to Rogers and expressed interest to Minor and some low level relievers. I think they will still add a couple of players but beyond left field, we are getting to the point where some of these guys can be had for very little. Consider catcher… Nevarez, Zunino, Alfaro and others are out there. Is Barnhart really appreciably better? Same with pitchers - Minor, Smyly, Moore, Wacha, Lorenzo and Duffy all are out there and not all will get good deals. Is it really worth paying 3-4X as much or waiting and signing one cheap. Even someone like Eavoldi could get less than some expect with the QO attached. I think he still finds someone to give him a lot… but someone could slip through and it could be him.
He is connected. McCarthy has been the one connected to the Astros most recently from what I have been told and Alek Thomas has been a long term interest for the Astros.
Really? He’s a a super utility, can play CF at least as good as our current one, while also being a platoon with yordan in Left AND Tucker in right. Could also play 1b or 3B should anything happen to Peña or bregman. Can bat almost anywhere in the order. All while being a career .280 hitter with 132 OPs+ .800 ops, with covid year being the only real down one besides last year being hurt. I mean if conforto is 20, I think Bryant is worth 25 but maybe not. Maybe not a 30hr guy anymore but still got some pop.
Varsho is not an improvement over Chas. He is not the hitter that Contreras offers. He is not a great catching option. His cost is going to be too high.
They have greatly improved at first base and add an all star bat at that spot. They have been pretty aggressive attempting to improve at catcher. They made a good offer to Contreras and were beat out when another team went 5 years. They tried to trade for Murphy and the cost was just too high. If there should be any criticism I guess it would that they didn’t get in on the Braves deal and get back the Contreras brother. The Brewers didn’t give up a lot for him. At the end of the day, Christian Vasquez doesn’t move the needle. As for left field. They have offers out to Benintendi and Conforto. If I were to criticize them, I would say they should have made a more competitive offer to Hanniger before the Giants did…. But they have other avenues to upgrade at LF as well. I heard someone say the Astros should have traded for Teo Hernandez. Well, the M’s gave up a really good pitcher for him. I doubt the Astros add a full time catcher at the trade deadline, but if they struggle in LF, they are in a spot to trade for an upgrade. As for Pena, I expect him to improve offensively next year. I know that’s just my opinion, but I expect him to be a 115 OPS+ hitter, which is good for a shortstop… if they add a LFer with an OPS+ in the 115-120 range, they will have a line up of 7-8 guys with an OPS+ of 110 or higher, with only catcher being a negative.
Nightingale is now reporting the Astros and DBacks have had another discussion tonight about Varsho. Why would he be reporting that? He gets his information from the Astros. Why would the Astros want it reported they are actively in discussions for an outfielder in trade?
Are you talking about this article? If so, it doesn't say anything about new discussions. I don't see any tweet from him about Varsho after 2:29 Central, so unless he deleted it I see nothing new. I assume if we trade for him, he'd be exclusively an OF, or do the Astros still see him as a C (at least part-time)? https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022...eportedly-discussed-daulton-varsho-trade.html
I can't believe so many fell for this. He said clearly he wanted to start and a three year deal and told Crane no thanks more than week ago. Besides its not like he is a must have at 3 years 30 mil. His offense is ehhh at best. Plenty of that around the league. Find a cheap catcher that can timeshare with Maldonado.
Yes that one. Nightengale is known to get his information from the Astros when talking about the Astros. Why do you think the Astros keep telling him they have been talking about Varsho? This isn’t the first time it has been leaked. I think the Astros would primarily play him in CF but would love the idea of having him available to start a playoff game behind the plate or in a double switch. From what I remember, he didn’t play much catcher in the second half because his glove was so good in center…. If the Astros get him I expect him to play center 120-140 times with the occasional PH for catcher. Seems to me that the Astros either cannot control the leaks from their caravan of front office people OR the Astros want a free agent to think the Astros have leverage to fill a hole outside of free agency.
This is just my opinion but yeah… either to push a free agent to agree to the Astros terms OR Crane cannot control the leaks from within his organization.
Every year after the spending spree money dries up and bargains are to be found. We missed JV which may be a mistake, time will tell, but we may unleash some other arms and save a ton of money. Adding allstar hitting at the 6 hole is amazing. Getting a lefty that gets out on the cheap would be nice. But have all the payroll headroom to add in a trade incase of injury or whatever is going to be amazing. Someone will be on the market at some point and currently we could take on salary easy. Patience folks. We are trying to win year after years.
1. He should absolutely be playing at minimum 100 games. 2. Are you actually asking how someone who hit nearly .100 pts higher last year alone would lengthen our lineup? Maldy was a black hole offensively.
He’s a monster upgrade of Chas on both sides. His power and speed are better than Contreras. And I don’t see the Astros wasting his gold glove in the OF by ruining his knees behind the plate.
https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/chas-mccormick-676801?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlb https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/daulton-varsho-662139?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlb
Yea, together they are slightly above avg hitting against lefties AND righties. But even if we worked those splits. Are we really trying to get ****ed in a trade for basically a chas clone with a little more pop? And you still need chas to play the days against lefties because Varsho can’t do that..
