I agree they should try, but if Snell and/or Hader are on the market the demand will be through the roof. It may actually take more not less but I'm still hoping.
Great hypothetical trade. Fair and reasonable for both teams. I would go ahead and have the Padres throw in Gary Sanchez to replace Diaz. What a sick lineup 1-8: 2B Altuve LF Soto 3B Bregman DH Alvarez 1B Abreu RF Tucker CF McCormick SS Pena C Maldonado Having Dubon, Sanchez, and Julks on the bench to pinch hit for Maldy is great too. I would love this trade and I think it would be a fair/good deal for SD too.
Pipe dreams aside, here’s the list of potential targets that fit Houston’s needs that I think will actually be available: LF: Teoscar Hernandez, Alex Verdugo, Cody Bellinger, Tommy Pham, Victor Robles. I also think the Giants have a surplus of OF that they’d deal one of (Yaz, Pederson, Slater, Conforto) Lefty bench bat (i.e. 13th position player): Jeimer Candelario, Matt Carpenter, Dan Vogelbach, Yasmani Grandal SP: Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, Marcus Stroman, Kyle Hendricks, Eduardo Rodriguez, Lucas Giolito, Drew Smyly, Michael Lorenzen, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Jack Flaherty, Seth Lugo, Trevor Williams RP: this market is too robust and the Astros targets too unpredictable, but Hader, Robertson, Barlow, and Sewald will be big names that could be dealt. Fulmer and Cisnero are 2 under the radar names.
I’m extremely curious as to why so many believe the lineup needs some massive overhaul. Over the last 30 days here’s where our best players rank by their position in OPS: C - Diaz - .795/7th among catchers 1st - Abreu - .894/9th 2nd - Altuve - .830/9th 3rd - Bregman - .689/24th (.800 over last 2 weeks though) SS - Peña - .628/28th LF - Julks - .812/17th CF - Chas - .878/9th RF - Tucker - .961/7th DH - will be Yordan post All-Star break This doesn’t include Dubon who has a .814 OPS over that span. Would a lefty bat of the bench help (Uncle Mike, Wade Jr, Yastrzemski, etc)? Yes. But who do you add to this lineup to make it significantly better and what will it cost you? Where we lack (and what won it for us last year) is pitching. Bring in another starter and a high leverage reliever and I think we’re in good shape.
Logan Gilbert is someone that teams have asked about, but the cost is very high at this point. It is possible he is actually worth the cost - as he fits the model that Brown has targeted before.
I know that the market hasn't really heated up yet - but Brown really needs to be looking for pitching........ the Astros are an injury to the pen or rotation away from being .500%.
That’s a no for me dog. But, if the goal was to win 2 more before Altuve and Bregman were gone that would be the way to do it. Both those guys up after 24? I don’t think I could man. Could I do Tucker and Meyers and Garcia instead? I think I value diaz and Gilbert a little more than Tucker. And that gives SD 1 more year of club control on their all star RF than they currently have.
The more I look and think about it and see it play out the more I think I just can’t trade Diaz. He’s been too good at catcher to believe he won’t stick and having that kind of elite bat play catcher for the next 5.5 years for peanuts is too much for me to send away. Even for Soto. If Soto had 2.5 years left I could probably make my peace with it. I don’t think I could handle it at 1.5 years left.
It makes you a little better this year and next year doing the Soto for Tucker switch and it makes you worse in 2025, obviously. But, you get to keep Gilbert and Diaz who are both cornerstone type pieces imo. San Diego is dead on the water this year so it’s not really 2.5 of Soto for 1.5 of Tucker it’s 2/1. It’s also a pretty decent money savings for them. Add in Garcia and his 3 years of club control after coming back from TJ and Meyers as a decent 4th OF and that seems like it should be enough value for Hader coming back the other direction on short time. I don’t know man, that would be really hard for me to say no to, but I could almost guarantee the astros would be sending out a fair bit more WAR over the life of the remaining deals than they are bringing in with either version of the deal. mite a really fascinating trade proposal. It’s breaking my brain.
My basis of the framework was Diaz can't be the primary catcher for the Astros, and the Astros want to get that value without eliminating the reason that Diaz can't be the primary catcher. I was just speculating on what a trade of Diaz would look like. Soto for a year and half is the bottom of the barrel of what I would consider. If the Astros are amenable to playing Diaz at catcher, I would not do this trade. Though, I value Tucker a lot more than Gilbert. I see this season and the 2 following as likely championship window years and would be hestitant to include any of the good Astros players with control over those years. I'm in the minority, but trading MLB value that cover this and those 2 seasons should be done as a last resort and not for minor upgrades (e.g., if you can't beat Meyers in a fWAR/PAs this year, you aren't a significant OF upgrade).
Even assuming Brantley does not return, I am getting more and more comfortable with our outfield. With Yordan coming back and playing some LF, I am ok with having Julks as our 4th outfielder, and Chas starting most games at center. Julks would fill in for Yordan in LF on his DH days and rest days. I would not trade resources for another outfielder, I would put put Meyers and an assortment of prospects on the trade block for, in order of need: 1) SP; 2) bullpen arm, 3) Left handed hitting bench player.
Lots of talks about market prices being super high, but there are a lot of difference makers potentially on the market. It of course depends on how many teams are in denial about the season, but the Tigers, White Sox, Royals, A's, Cubs, Mets, Cardinals, Nats, & Rockies should all be sellers. Then look for some of the other teams to be a little bit of both as they try to better balance their rosters (like us potentially). Rotation: Eduardo Rodriguez Michael Lorenzen Dylan Cease Lucas Giolito Lance Lynn Michael Kopech Mike Clevinger Mitch Keller Rich Hill Marcus Stroman Drew Smyly Jameson Taillon Kyle Hendricks Blake Snell Michael Wacha Yu Darvish Seth Lugo Miles Mikolas Jordan Montgomery Jack Flaherty Kyle Freeland Cost will vary greatly, but any of those names could be on the move. I'd count 10 guys in that list that I'd want starting playoff games this year for us, and a couple more that are intriguing possibilities. The rest are more about depth to help get through the regular season.
Yeah- my point was I value Diaz and Gilbert more than Tucker- but if Diaz is going to be nothing more than an occasional DH and spot starter once Yordan returns then you are just pissing away value. But after this year he will have 5 more years of club control and I suspect MM and DB will be gone, so that nightmare fuel will be over for me. Yeah- Soto is a pretty sizeable improvement over Tucker. I still hate your deal the more that I think about it. But if we won a world series in 23 or 24 I'd love it, and I think that might be the thing that could win us a world series in 23 or 24. That's all provided Hunter Brown looks like the guy from the first half of the season so far and Javier not the guy like the last month. Altuve/Soto/Alvarez/Bregman/Tucker/Abreu/Chas/Pena/Maldy doesn't suck. Personally- I'd trade for someone else at Catcher and still not play Maldy as I think he's bad on defense too- because that would mean I'm really going for it, but if France is pitching game 2 in the playoffs that rotation isn't winning a WS even with that lineup. The only way I think I'd consider your Soto deal is if we traded for JV and got him back fronting the rotation. That would then be a yes for me. I think. But man, I'd be terrified that we didn't win a world series in 23 or 24 and Diaz turned into Buster Posey and Gilbert turned into Jim Edmonds.
I would trade Gilbert for Soto but not Diaz. To me Diaz is a guaranteed all-star at the catcher position with 5 years of control. Gilbert is all upside, but he isn't some sure thing and he definitely isn't going to give us .900 OPS over the next 1.5 season. All that being said, I'm comfortable with our position players and bats assuming everyone is healthy. We need a high level starter and a reliever. I think we can get Gravemen again without giving up too much. Don't know what it would take to get someone like Stroman but his name belongs in an Stros uniform.
Sure. But San Diego would laugh at Gilbert for Soto, or what have you. Diaz and Gilbert likely both need to be in that deal to make it happen. Man, that would be so tough to process. giving up a huge chunk of the future for a big shot at a win here and now.
