2023 Season Astros General Discussion Thread

If Baker's back that guy will play 125 games and Diaz will again be a very part time player. I think you go the other way and get someone abjectly terrible like Salazar that will only play 30 games if Dusty is back.

 

If dusty is back Brown needs to trade Chas for an equal talent that dusty would potentially use

 

An alternative to Snake's plan would be my Willson Contreras plan. Trade Abreu, Julks, and Dubon (maybe a prospect for sweetner) for him and Baker will start Diaz at catcher.

 

Cards are stacked with position players.

If they trade Contreras it's for starting pitching

 

It sure sounds like adding David Stearns would be adding one more chef to the kitchen. Subtraction by addition, if you will.

 

I sure hope they get Stearns. It'll bring balance back to this team.

 

I'd guess both Abreu's and Contreras's contracts are $25-30M under water with the Cardinals probably prefering the less years and less overall money Abreu's deal. Maybe the Astros could throw Urquidy in the deal to sweeten it, but overall....Contreras's contract should not be viewed as a positive asset and I think Crane is probably more willing to take on the additional risk financially for the better player.

 

Where is Abreu going to play with Goldschmidt and about 10 DH OF types on the roster?

 

I would literally have an erection that lasted the entire off season. They could just swap pitcher and 1B however they wanted to do it. Get a LF that can also play first base for the 30 or so days they get a full day off (15 for each) and we are good to go. Even frees up an extra roster spot to do something else with. Maybe you could have a strict platoon in LF or something like that.

 

I don’t think his contract is negative. He makes like 17M a year and he has 3 war or something like that. He’s overperformed easily this year and he’s only got what- 4-68 left. I will be surprised if he can’t average 2 WAR per year over the remainder of his contract.

 

Doesn't matter. The trade would be about the $40M the Cardinals can use elsewhere. They could DFA Abreu if they want.

 

He's at 1.9 fWAR this season so far and will likely end up around 2.2. Assuming about a 0.6 drop a season for an aging catcher yields a total of 3.3 fWAR for $72.5M. Being able to DH should help mitigate some loss in WAR, but I don't see an average of 2 WAR.

 

FWIW Stearns is very likely to go to NY as their owner seems he’ll bent on adding him. Astros had spoken to Stearns about also adding the Brewers manager.

Crane won’t rush anything. They will add to the front office and player development and scouting department but they won’t rush executives being added.

 

I haven’t heard anything about the Astros wanting to move Jose Abreu - and if anything, they are relieved they know what his issues are.

Hypothetically, would the Astros make this trade? Maybe but I don’t think it is a slam dunk.

Contreras has some serious issues the Cards have tried to downplay. His effort was questioned in Chicago and he himself said he lost focus and interest in the second half of seasons. An outfielder can get away with this if they hit enough - but not a catcher.

This season he AGAIN had his preparation and game calling questioned. The breaking point was him calling pitches that the pitchers didn’t even throw (yes I am serious).

A catcher like that will never be respected by a team like the Astros. Contreras could DH some and play first, but even then his bat is uneven.

Diaz is going to catch 100-125 games next year and play 1st or DH another 20-25.

 

He would be a great hire

 

I get all that. But couldn’t he catch 40 games and be fine?

 

I get all that. But couldn’t he catch 40 games and be fine?

 

I use bWar where he’s at like 2.6. Based upon his accumulation rate he should end up about 3- that’s where I got that from.