This is all very interesting. I would give up a lot for Mason Miller, but I am sure many teams would and have more to give.
Alonso and Harvey or Florio would be awesome. Wonder what Crane would have to give up to get them? How much more would he have to give up to the Mets to get them to take on Abreu 's contract in an Alonso trade.
Not sure what it would take to get Rooker because the A’s valuation of prospects is very different than just about any other organization. So it is possible they have a high value on Leon - they do like him. As for Rooker, he has now hit last year and this year. I kind of question the legitimacy of his bat to the extent that he strikes out an awful lot. He is on pace to strike out like 40% of his at bats. Still - when he makes contact , he is devastating. What I find interesting is that they have looked at several DH’s now with Martinez and Rooker. I don’t think they would try to put Rooker at first.
As far as I know he hasn't in some time. The fact they have interest tells me that maybe they have an indication he can, but that is my speculation. I am fine with Rooker if he can play first or he doesn't cost much - he has been very productive the last two years, but I don't know that he will keep it up year after year.
It also tells me they are happy with Alvarez in LF and his body is responding well to more play there.
Yes- and it seems to me that they want to try and stack the line up. That could be because they think the cost of pitching is too much, it could be because they are just sick of going from Maldonado to Abreu, and always having a festering hole in the line up. Their preference is for a lefty bat, but there are not many of those that are expected to be available, and the cost is likely going to be very hard. I know the Astros management believes the cost at the actual deadline may be very high because there are only a handful of real sellers. If the Astros were to get Rooker to play first - or have another outfielder play 1st.... their line up would be pretty lethal Altuve Tucker Alvarez Bregman Rooker Meyers Diaz Pena McCormick/Loperfido/Dubon
It tells me this front office has no clue what they are doing. A DH, and even an OF make no sense. As far as Alvarez playing the OF. It is great that they think he is doing better, and he is, but it doesn't change the fact that in the playoffs when it matters most (late and close) there are better defesenvie alignments with him out of the lineup. However, his bat is too good to take out of the game in the same situation, thus DH makes more sense. I really wish he could have learned how to play 1B.
I also think the way the rotation has performed over the last month plus the pending return of Garcia and McCullers has them very hesitant to chase the SP market. I am surprised they’re not being aggressive in the RP market because it’s hard to count on Scott and Martinez not turning into pumpkins and Montero is no longer a reliable leverage guy. Combine all that with injury risk and to me at minimum they should be going after a Maton or Graveman type. Of course everything depends on price but targeting DH’s with hopes of playing them at 1B on the fly seems foolish. I would rather them just gamble on Dubon or Loperfido as the everyday 1B and go get a bat that can play LF if they don’t think McCormick will rebound.
They are being aggressive in the reliever market - they have spoken about Harvey, Florio and Scott. The names I have heard are guys on one year deals for the most part, which tells me that the Astros don't want to expend a lot of prospect cost for a reliever. It almost feels like they want to add more than one that is having a good year and see who does or doesn't stick and perform. If the Jays sell, that opens up more options. It is also interesting that the Yankees and Cubs are interested in Bregman.
Nook, Just throwing this out there. Would it not behoove us to move Presley for a solid lesser paid set up man. I say this because a pitcher that has a clear designation of being a setup man as opposed to a mostly lately closer may have more value for us. I think Presley wants and needs to be a closer. Why not reduce payroll closer to the luxury tax threshold and get a solid controllable piece for now and the future
Agreed about getting more RP and I hope they can get a high leverage RP. I'm hoping they bring in either Martinez or Pederson.
34 left handed hitters w/ 100+ PAs have a wRC+ of 120 or better. I picked 120 because the specific reason to add said hitter is for offense and 20% above average feels to be minimum improvement they should actually trade for. 2 of them are Tucker and Yordan. (Leaves 32) Soto, Kwan, Henderson, Ohtani, Freeman, Harper, Devers, and Seager simply aren't available. (24) Yelich, O'Hearn, Josh Smith, W. Abreu, Cronenworth, Massey, Busch, Muncy, Schwarber, Turang, Arraez, Hamilton, Marsh, and Josh Naylor are on teams expecting to vie for post season and buy rather than sell. (10) Pederson, Greene, and Gorman are among the bottom 33% in K rate so are less attractive than others but still in play. The other 7 are Wade SF Carpenter Det McCarthy Ari. Sheets ChW Winker Was Bleday Oak Burleson StL There are 5 switch hitters 120 or better Ramirez and Rutschman are not available. Profar is on a team in the hunt. Rengifo is in the bottom 33% in BB% and xwOBA so less attractive. The other is K.Marte Ari. This just basically shows how few impact LH bats the Astros have to choose from and why they must branch out looking at RH bats. It also shows the relative scarcity of impact LH bats in the MLB in general. It shows why the Astros keep sticking with Singleton and Cabbage and why developing Loperfido is so important. Melton, Cole, Wagner, C. Hernandez, Barber, Fisher, Jaworski and Hamilton are other lefty hitting prospects with some promise.
If the Giants sell then Wade seems like the best fit there is. I also like Pederson assuming the cost isn’t crazy. I have pegged McCarthy as an Astros target for awhile but I doubt he’s available for a reasonable price. Rengifo only interests me if the cost is low and the Astros think he can adequately play both 1B (this year) and 3B (next year). Nome of those other names excite me and I’d rather roll with Loperfido over them.
Astros should not expect to make the playoffs. Going 59-34 over their remaining games (to get to 90 wins) is not realistic no matter what moves they make. They should proactively market Bregman, Tucker, Framber, and Verlander and listen on most of their other players. A half assed deadline where they sell Bregman and keep everyone else wood be a worst case scenario.
That’s a perfect line. A half assed deadline. If Breggy is the only guy getting traded, might as well keep him here and not help other clubs win championship. All or nothing at trade deadline.
If this team does not win another game this year, Tucker and Framber will still be on this team in 2025. There is NO scenario where they get traded before the 2025 trade deadline. This roster has too much talent coming back in 2025 for Crane to punt before the season even starts.
I would hate to lose Tucker in a trade, but I think it highly improbable given the amount of years Tuck will want that Crane will get a contract done. tucker is our Desaun Watson (not comparing the persons) as a trade chip. He is our most immediate way to get our future 1st baseman and a lot more. We have people to replace him, not as good as him, but I believe there are serviceable options within our system. But I don't see a 1st baseman in our organization that will be ready any time soon. Each day towards the end of his contract next season his price goes down because he is a one-year rental. Teams will empty the cupboard to get him for this post season and next. sometimes you have to take a step back to take steps forward
