Do what it takes to get Bieber. He's a workhorse and an elite talent with a sustained track record of success. It's a Crane type of acquisition as well -- along the lines of the Verlander and Cole acquisitions.
James Paxton and Blake Snell are two lefty rental starters that I think could be really huge for us. Red Sox are still in the WC hunt, but I could see a major leaguer for major leaguer type trade with them. Maybe something including Verdugo as well? Padres are 7 games out of the WC. Not sure if they will be sellers, but they should. @Nook any chance you’ve heard either guy connected to Houston?
The All-In-One: Astros get: SP Blake Snell RP Josh Hader OF Trent Grisham IF Matt Carpenter Padres get: OF Jake Meyers SP Luis Garcia SP JP France C Korey Lee RHP Spencer Arrighetii Playoff roster: 2B Altuve 3B Bregman DH Alvarez 1B Abreu RF Tucker LF McCormick CF Grisham C Diaz SS Pena Bench: Dubon, Maldonado, Carpenter, Julks Rotation: Framber, Snell, Brown, Javier Bullpen: Urquidy, Dubin, Montero, Stanek, Maton, Neris, Abreu, Hader, Pressly
Wait what? I think the Astros are giving up too much in this scenario for two rentals, a guy in carpenter who is worse offensively than Maldonado and geishas who had upside but maybe no more than Chas. I would imagine Padres fans would be celebrating in the streets.
Been pretty predictable that almost every hypothetical trade I propose is met immediately with someone scoffing followed shortly by someone who feels the opposite. The difference is that usually one poster scoffs without offering any detail as to why they think the trade is lopsided or unrealistic while the other provides a logical reason for disagreeing.
Deadline pitching needs. Based upon this projection for next year and what we need for this years post season it appears we will need to add one rental starter(the best we can find) and one set up man/closer with multiple years of control to replace Neris. The set up/closer acquisition will be the most important and costly deadline move we need to make. Please let me know if you think I am missing anyone. 2024: 5/6 man Rotation #1 F Valdez* in his 2nd year of arbitration #2 C Javier under contract through 2027 #3 H Brown Pre Arbitration #4 J Urquidy in his 2nd year of arbitration #5 France Pre Arbitration #6 L Garcia 1st year of arbitration (Returning mid season) Candidates #7 Colt Gordon Pre Arbitration #8 R Kouba Pre Arbitration 2024: 7 man Bullpen with Candidates Opener/Long relief (assume three innings each if Dusty retires) 1 Blanco 2 Bielak 3 L McCullers (Returning mid season) 4 Arrighetti (Available mid season) Traditional Relievers 5 Middle Relief R Montero 6 Middle Relief (P Maton, S Martinez, M Ruppenthal, et al) 7 Set up B Abreu Pre Arbitration 8 Set up (deadline trade) 9 Closer R Pressly 2 years left
Maton is a free agent after this season. Arrighetti should probably be viewed as a SP and will very likely be ready before Gordon and Kouba. Obligatory mention of Forrest Whitley who is out of options next season (as is Bielak and Enoli Paredes). Dubin is a viable option at either SP or RP. Macuare, Tamarez, Solis, Gage, Taylor, and Mushinski will all be options and all have potential to contribute in Houston. Looking at next season: Rotation: Framber, Brown, and Javier are locks assuming they are healthy. Urquidy and France can also probably be slotted in there. The inning/workload limitation problems with Brown and Javier should be less of an issue next season. So that’s 5 starters locked in. Garcia and McCullers are good enough to warrant a slot if healthy but their injuries are serious enough not to bank on them next season; if they get well they can be viewed as internal deadline additions. Bielak and Whitley are out of options. Bielak has been effective enough to warrant a roster spot and Whitley has a high enough ceiling to warrant a roster spot as well, even if it’s just as the 13th pitcher. Blanco, Dubin, Arrighetti, Gordon, Macuare, Solis, Kouba, and Robaina make for a solid 8 man tandem SP rotation in AAA with Gage, Mushinski, Taylor, and others who perform well in AA over the next few months (McDonald, Gaither, etc.) will round out the AAA staff. So the Astros pitching staff will probably have 7 SP from this year on it (Framber, Brown, Javier, Urquidy, France, Bielak, and Whitley), leaving 6 BP spots. Pressly, Abreu, and Montero will take 3 of those spots. In an ideal situation the pen would be so deep that Martinez would be optioned for depth but for now he can probably be pencilled in. So the way I see it is Houston will need 1-3 additions from the outside. The number and quality of those depends on how you feel about all the internal options. There’s a lot of unknowns with consistency issues, injuries, and workload limitations. My current prediction for Houston’s 2024 opening day staff is something like: SP: Framber, Brown, Javier, France, Urquidy, Bielak RP: Whitley, Martinez, Montero, TBD, TBD, Abreu, Pressly With Whitley being given a shot until Garcia is healthy and Martinez being optioned once McCullers is healthy.
TBD and TBD probably have to be pretty good because that’s a pretty shitty bullpen (I think) unless Montero really gets it together. I thinkI’d like to trade for both our TBD’s this year if we can get them for some combination of Meyers, Melton and maybe Dierden or Julks.
Mariners going to target bats. Rangers going to target pitchers. Astros fans looking for both… those are your main competitors. Should be fun.
I'd def like to target Graveman too. And he would definitely bump some pitchers down. I dont think he bumps Abreu down
Easy fixes.... I would do the following... Add 2 long relievers from this list: Tristan Beck Bryse Wilson Advert Alzoay Carlos Hernandez Chris Devenski Those are all guys pitching multipe innings effectively this year... here's the worst stats among them: ERA: 3.82 WHIP: 1.18 BAA: .242 They are all on non contenders, only Devenski is rental, no one makes more than 1 million. Ages range 26-32. Add Jeimer Candelario from the Nationals. He is making 5 million and would be a rental. He can play 1B and 3B. This gives us depth so we don't have Diaz as backup 1B and he would be behind Bregman at 3B. Slash line against righties: .274 BA .347 OB .525 SLG .872 OPS Pair him with Dubon. Dubon DH against lefties: .355 BA .385 OB .500 SLG .885 OPS This makes Candelario primary DH with Dubon going against lefties leaving Dubon's versatility available on the bench most of the time. Diaz catches 4 out of 5 days. MccCormick is every day CF Meyers to SL to play every day Montero goes on 60 day DL for depression (it's believable, have him work in Florida) Bielak goes to SL to convert to 1 inning reliever, his splits show he could be effective there. I think we can afford that with our prospects. My preference is Tristan Beck (Giants) and Bryse Wilson (Brewers). Beck: 19 Games 46 IP 3.09 ERA 1.18 WHIP .242 BAA 596k salary 27 years old FA: 2029 Wilson: 30 Games 43.1 Innings 2.70 ERA 1.06 WHIP .213 BAA 732k salary 25 years old FA: 2027 We then use them to limit innings on Javier and Brown to 4-5. End result: Altuve Bregman Alvarez Tucker Abreu Diaz Candelario McCormick Pena (Altuve hits behind him to protect) Bench: Dubon Maldonado Julks Kessinger Rotation: Valdez Javier Brown Urquidy France Bullpen: Pressly Abreu Stanek Neris Maton Martinez Beck Wilson I think that's squeezing some value without adding a big name... I think Candelario, Beck, and Wilson could be had for the prospects we can move...
