Quantrill is out there. Cleveland moves on due to injuries and salary it seems by DFAing him. At 6 million he seems like a decent gamble. If he's healthy he's McCullers level and could allow us to part with other arms.
Braves acquire a good reliever for Nicky Lopez and a bunch of junk clogging up their 40 man. This is a smart trade.
I think he is blocking a better player. This Spring You will see Tucker in right. McCormick splitting time with Alvarez as the primary left fielder and 4th outfielder. We have a future gold glove center fielder in the person of Kenedy Corona that will get an opportunity to win the starters job this coming Spring because Brown is the GM. He is known for doing things ahead of schedule. When the right player is not quite ready at the right time he will not wait but forge ahead and let the chips fall. I know some will not be receptive but I will enjoy it very much. The youth and the spirit that once had us excited about this team is possible again. Dubon will never be a full time outfielder for the Astros. He is a versatile bench player who is getting a little pricey for a part timer. He will undoubtedly play a few games in the outfield but he will be third on the list of possible players in center field if he is not traded to a lesser team that could start him almost anywhere this winter.
Potential good trade for both sides. I like Bummer and an equivalent deal for Houston might’ve been something like Whitley, Kessinger, Dubin, Meyers, and P prospect Joey Dixon. Not sure I would like that deal so I think the White Sox probably got a pretty good deal. They could be getting 2 bottom of the order regulars and 2 complementary BoR/MR pitchers out of this deal which considering how shallow their org is, seems like a great return for an elite RP coming off a bad year.
Myles Straw had a WAR of 1.4 in 98 games when we traded him and finished over 3 that year... You make a big assumption to assume he'd be better is he played more. He played 112 games starting 87. He got almost as much playing time as Chas who is actually a 3-4 WAR player.
Wtf are you talking about. Only 11 CF posted more than 3 war this season. Only 73 position players in the league total posted >3 war. 3-4 war is a star player or borderline star player.
3-4 WAR is pretty good for WAR. That is assuming that WAR is the end-all be-all measure. Jake Meyers with an OPS of .775 is pretty damn valuable. Jake Meyers with an OPS of .700 is replacement level IMO. Meyers has a lot of affordable team control left - and the Astros have holes to fill and a glut of similar type players as Meyers. McCormick will likely be the centerfielder. Meyers should platoon at this point.
WAR isn't the be-all end all measure, but regarding fans opinions, it is right more than wrong. On replacement level....an OPS of 0.734 was average last year. There is absolutely no way a defender as good as Meyers with an OPS of 0.700 is replacement level. The Oakland A's were essentially a replacement level team with a 0.669 OPS and much worse defense on average than Meyers. If you think the average A's player was as good defensively as Meyers, there is something way wrong with how you evaluate defense and replacement level. On Meyers being platoon...if only the Astros had the best hitting OF versus RHPs that could play DH vs LHPs and in the OF half the time versus RHPs.
Especially when he has made a couple Billion on the team, and we have the third highest average cost of going to a game in MLB Yes, as the best team we should expect one of the most expensive game costs....but we should also expect our owner to pay up to keep out own guys when it's the best option
I'd probably do... Hunter Brown Jacob Melton Spencer Arrighetti Rafael Montero (for salary) For Luis Robert. Then move France for Cal Quantrill. 2B Altuve CF Robert DH Alvarez RF Tucker 3B Bregman C Diaz LF McCormick 1B Abreu SS Pena Rotation Verlander Valdez Javier McCullers Quantrill 6th: Urquidy 7th: Bielak Adds about 12 million in payroll. Still leaves Pressly / Abreu / Graveman on back of bullpen assuming Neris is gone.
More on Meyers, he has roughly had a healthy season's worth of PAs in his career and has about 3 fWAR. About 2 of that is in the 28% of the time he's played against LHPs and about 1 of it is in the 72% of the time he plays against RHPs. So most of the time, he's been a below average player, but above replacement level. Under a predictable set of circumstances, but he's been highly valuable such that even though he's usually a below average player, he's been a better than average player on average. This year was rough for Meyers as he only played about 22% of his time against LHPs. I do not think eye ball tests work well for guys like Meyers that accumulate most of their value in a small subset of games especially when the manager is not competent enough to get him in most of the time in those scenarios.
Replacement level is overkill, but he's a player you are looking to improve the position if he's what he was last year. If we didn't acquire another OF, I would hang onto him and platoon him, using Yordan in the OF against RHP. But if the right deal comes along, I'm shipping him out.
Either way, it would be nice to clear a log jamb of mediocrity in center for a slightly above average bull pen arm.
Pena, France, Meyers, Montero, C Gordon, Kouba to Milwaukee for C Burnes, Devin Williams Astros get another Ace level pitcher to front the rotation, no team could match JV, Burnes, Framber, Javier... And a backend of Williams, Abreu, Pressly would also be better than any pen out there Brewers get a controllable SS to replace Adames, a controllable starter to replace Burnes, a CF and two more young arms We would only have Burnes for one year, but Williams is controlled for 3. Deal only adds about 6 million in salary The obvious downside is we either have Dubon or Kessinger as our everyday SS, but we would have plenty of offense to support what would be a staff that would rival (or possibly be better than) 22
For the right deal, any player should be shipped out. On looking to improve the position, Alvarez, Tucker, Chas, Meyers, and Dubon are by far the best OF combination even with Alvarez playing most of his time at DH. SS, 1B, backup C, and a platoon bat vs RHPs should all be higher priorities than improving the OF. The main reasons to deal Meyers is to improve other positions, trade club control for a better player with less control, don't want to play Alvarez in the OF, or if other team is just making a deal in the Astros favor. Meyers was fabulous defensively and vs LHPs last year. The Astros basically have 50 games that they need someone to cover vs. RHPs as they aren't unlikely to get someone better than Alvarez vs RHPs and better than Meyers vs. LHPs for how they played last year***. For having little money under Crane's budget for non-stars, I just don't think OF is a priority or a weakness at all. Sure, if you can get a 4th star OF, do it. ***assuming Espada is competent enough to play Alvarez at the DH vs LHPs instead of the OF to give Meyers more time versus LHPs.
I think there’s a ~70% chance Meyers next 3-4 seasons (barring injury) pans out as somewhere between a good 4th OF and a solid everyday CF, but I still think there’s more upside than downside: Myers at 550 ops or less is not a major league player. (1%) Meyers at 600 ops is a replacement/AAAA player. (9%) Meyers at 650 ops is a solid 4th OF. (30%) Meyers at 700 ops is an average everyday CF. (40%) Meyers at 750 ops is an a borderline star player. (10%) Meyers at 800 ops is an all star. (9%) Meyers at 850+ ops is an MVP candidate. (1%)
Buy low candidate Cal Quantrill off the board. Traded to the Rockies. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/11/rockies-acquire-cal-quantrill.html
