Here’s the list of teams 5+ games out of the WC and their division: White Sox, Tigers, Royals, A’s, Cardinals, Nats. Those are likely the only teams even taking calls right now, and they’re taking calls from 15+ other teams. Now is an abysmal time for a buyer to make a trade. Just the way it works.
Still some talent to be had. Luckily, our schedule isn't all to difficult right now but we must find a way to stay close heading into AS break. Maybe slightly overpay for a Cease or Giolito.
Maybe we line up well with CWS. I know an aging clubhouse vet who could be useful for a rebuilding team
I'm not saying we should sell but I wonder hypothetically what we could get for bregman. Don't think we resign him
I like this breakdown replace McCullers with Urquidy. Maybe another leverage reliever in place of Martinez
I like this breakdown replace McCullers with Urquidy. Maybe another leverage reliever in place of Martinez..maybe France or Bielak
I think a closer should be priority one, followed by another SP. We don’t really need a bat, just need to sit Maldonado 75% of the time and Julks 100% of the time.
Disagree with this unless by closer, you mean high leverage relievers. Like in 2021 when Click brought in Seatle's closer (Graveman) and Miami's closer (Yimi Garcia) to be set up men for Pressly. Pressly has been nails in the post season and the vast majority of the regular season for 6 years as an Astro. All relievers give up hits and runs occassionally. It's just MLB. He has been there and proven himself. Any high leverage reliever in the 7th or 8th inning and when Pressly is unavailable has to get the same outs and potentially give up the losing runs. It's not any more important so don't rock the boat. Get a high quality short reliever and insert him into the high leverage rotation. But don't " drmote" Pressly. Completely disagree. If Yordan and Brantley come back healthy, then there is not a need, merely a want for a bat However, Now and for the next 6-8 weeks this team needs a bat. Badly. And Maldy will likely have his starts reduced down to 50-60% depending on how well Diaz is playing, but we all know that about the best we can expect even if Johnny Bench was on this roster.
Literally everytime Pressly has a hiccup for a few games people are back on about how they don't trust him and we need a closer. You would think after a dominant clutch run to a WS people would chill, but nope same ol nonsense. Track record means nothing if you have a few bad games.
I am not as down on Pressly as some but he has me a bit concerned. I don't necessarily want to replace him but I wouldn't mind finding someone who has closed (like we did with Graveman) in case he does falter. I don't see anyone currently ready to fill the 9th if that happens. Abreu maybe but he hasn't really closed before and been shaky lately himself. Montero has a long way to go to get back to even the 8th inning job. Neris has done it and might be the next in line but I like him where he is now.
The snap jerk fans would not trust any closer in baseball. As soon as Bregman threw the ball away last night I told my buddy here come the posts about how awful Pressly is lol
Abreu has been one of, if not THE, most dominant relievers in baseball Dude has thrown 32 innings, gave up 22 hits, 12 walks and has 51 strikeouts! That's domination Pressly has 29 K's and 4 BB, FOUR Problem with back end bullpen guys, is fans NEVER want to see them give up a baserunner. When they come in it's usually a very tight game so every single baserunner makes fans stress out. If relievers came in pairs, I can't think of a pair of relievers on another team i'd rather have then Pressly/Abreu. Maybe Romano/Swanson in Toronto but honestly that would be a no, because we know Pressly/Abreu can hold up and dominate in the postseason Now i'm not saying I wouldn't want us to add yet another back end type to go with our current group, i'm in the can have too much pitching group....but we are as good as any when it comes to the back end of the pen
Relief pitchers are just like that. Last year on June 23, Pressly has a meltdown and gave up 4 runs in a walkoff loss to the Yankees, raising his ERA to 4.26. Many here had a meltdown and started calling for his head. How did he respond? With 10 consecutive perfect innings and only giving up runs in 5 of his remaining 29 games leading to a dominant performance in the playoffs. These things happen. Especially to relief pitchers. It's only June 15th and they even won the game. All will be well.
Just a quick overview on Pressly's postseason performance since he took over as closer in 2020. 28 IP 0.96 ERA 0.82 WHIP 20/20 closing out wins. What few runs he has given up were strictly cosmetic before he closed it out. So yeah, I'm gonna need an extremely large sample of suck before I give the ball to somebody else when it matters.
If Brantley and Yordan are both 100% and back by the All Star break then this team does not need another bat. Coming into this season, Altuve, Abreu, Bregman, Alvarez, Brantley, and Tucker were all projected to be significantly better than league average with the bat. Bregman and Tucker have had an OPS of over .800 over the past 30 days and Abreu has been over .900 in June. If Brantley returns, I have no doubt he will be the doubles machine .775+ OPS guy he has always been. He was .785 last year and who knows how many games he played with 1 arm. Diaz is over 1.000 OPS this month with regular playing time. Dubon, Pena, Meyers, and McCormick have been between average to slightly above average all year. This offense will be just as good and scary as any (yes even Texas) if it gets healthy - and that's without any trades Brown may make to replace Julks who is a drain on this team.
Agreed. Brantley and Yordan will split LF/DH. Nobody on the infield or RF is getting benched due to a trade. Is there a significant upgrade available at center? If not, then the Astros are only trading for a bench player that won't move the needle much considering they would be cutting into the playing time of Diaz and Dubon. Hopefully Julks goes to Sugar Land when these guys come off the IL.
