Unless he develops a third pitch, Javier is ideally suited to not only join the pen but be an elite bullpen arm, and I hope that's a direction they pursue. The other thing I think might be interesting to watch... if they can't extend Tucker, would they entertain the idea of trading him? The only way they can be in any trade mix this offseason is by offering some of their established Major Leaguers - and Tucker would be the best of the bunch and, with two years of control, would net a gigantic return.
Cease is interesting. But Anderson isn't very good. His best year was the COVID year, and he's declined every year since. Last year, he was *significantly* worse than Jeremy Pena - like, by a lot. Unless a truly viable alternative emerges - they'd be silly to move on form Pena, who is an elite glove and has had sustained runs of power and discipline - just never at the same time. I'd rather bet on him putting it together.
Tucker for Luis Roberts (signed until '26 with a team option in '27). Throw in Hunter Brown and/or Pena for Cease and/or Tim Anderson.
I just looked at Tim Anderon's baseball reference and didn't realize how much had fallen off since his peak as a top 5 SS a couple of years ago. Take him off the table then.
Too bad we know Crane won’t go full Cohen this offseason because unlimited money sure could make this roster an all timer. Signing Josh Hader, Jordan Montgomery, Teoscar Hernandez, Mitch Garver, and Jordan Hicks would make them easy WS favorites and even allow them to flip some pieces (Brown, Urquidy, Meyers, Pena) to rebuild the farm to extend the window.
Anderson is a punk who can't play SS. But he is a talented hitter. I just don't want him playing SS on my favorite team.
I expect Jordan Montgomery to have a big market coming up, especially in the AL. He's pretty a guaranteed 5-6 shutout innings against the Astros in every playoff game he starts and that's massively valuable. Rangers probably pony up big money just for that alone.
We need another legit starting pitcher or its hard for me to see them winning the World Series next year. We need to win another one to be a legit dynasty.
Rangers had most of the lineup miss time Seager and others, or had a player Carter just brought up. Then Altuve and Yordan also missed a month and during the playoffs the players with missed time had a good postseason. Players that played most of the season like Peña and Tucker was a negative factor for the Stros in the playoffs. Or Framber and Javier never rested. Warriors and Spurs had great success resting their players. The grind at the end hurt us, manage rest. I’d be shocked if the players don’t say they are exhausted. We have to manage rest somehow.
Well next time around, the Astros should take care of business at home against the Yankees, A's, and Royals. Then they'd be able to rest their guys the last week of the season.
They have the arms they need. They just need to avoid getting unlucky regarding injury. 1) JV = exactly like 2023 2) Framber =the average of 2022 and 2023 3) McCullers = exactly like 2021 4) Javier = his current career avg after 2023 5) Brown = his 1st half of 2023 6) Urquidy = career avg before 2023. 6 man rotation= 27 starts each. JV = 13-8 with 3.22 ERA Framber= 15-8 with 3.12 ERA McCullers = 13-5 with 3.16 ERA Javier = 10-6 with 3.63 ERA Brown = 10-10 with 4.12 ERA Urquidy = 10-6 with 3.74 ERA. That's a 71-43 record from your rotation with only 1 of 6 having an ERA over 4. That is plenty good enough. The talent is there. This group just needs health.
If the Rangers outbid us, so be it. He fits us very well that it would behoove Crane in trying to throw more money.
We don’t need a huge offseason 1. we are replacing our worst player with an All-Star without spending a dime, nor spending prospect capital 2. We are only losing two players who truly contributed this year, Neris and Maton. We can sign Maton if we want, Neris will get offers outside our spending 3. A full offseason for Javier will do wonders. He was worn out all year and until last night was still great come playoff time. Brown and France were rookies, their ceiling (especially Brown) is very high The biggest thing is we MUST get the manager hire right. Chas playing every day and Diaz becoming the everyday catcher is a huge improvement right there. Dubon was over used, some of it out of necessity, but he will be a strong utility guy and if we hire the right manager who will mostly use him vs LHP, he could be as good as any utility guy in baseball As down as some get on this team, it is still loaded with talent. What Brown needs to do more than anything is fill some holes on the bench. We really need to not have to be buyers at the deadline next year and further deplete our farm. These are not moves that require huge money though. Let’s see how Brown does in his first shot at roster building, he didn’t get a chance this year Get the manager hire right, whoever that may be
