Hunter Harvey has been pitching well this year. At least that's the stats I looked at. Martinez won't cost much in prospects. Send a border line prospect like Kessinger and a young pitcher for Martinez. Dodgers need SS depth.
This is all true. If you want a mediocre-hitting skillet-handed fielder who can play 78 games a year, you absolutely want JD Davis, or the Tampa guy, not sure it matters.
I think Davis is a waste of time unless you are willing to play Alvarez full time in LF making JD a full time DH/PH.
He does just doesn't have the knees for that anymore in my opinion. He might be OK there in an emergency but I would not do it if I had another choice.
Awful defense isn't the answer to turning this around Plus, we are 10 games back, JV just went on the IL. Arrighetti and his 6+ era is now our 4th starter and who the hell knows who our 5th is. It's over. We should be fielding calls on Bregman
Yankees get: Alex Bregman, Ryan Pressly, R Montero Astros get: Chase Hampton Hampton is a back end top 100 guy, so asking them to pick up Montero salary might be too much here. But Hampton is more of a high floor guy and not a big ceiling, I think he could be had. Adding a 3B and two pen pieces would make the Skanees the without a doubt AL favorites Dodgers get: Alex Bregman, R Montero Astros get: Jackson Ferris, Jake Gelof Ferris is the opposite of Hampton and likely way more the kind of guy Dana would go after. He has a way bigger chance of being a bust, but his ceiling is as high as anyone in the sport. Gelof is another high upside low floor guy, but the organization could certainly use a 3B prospect with power Cubs get: Alex Bregman, Ryan Pressly Astros get: James Triantos, Pedro Ramirez It's probably unlikely the Astros move Bregman without getting a pitching prospect in return, but the Cubs would immediately make Pressly their closer and this combo gives them a legit chance to win a playoff spot, and then gives them two proven playoff performers. Astros get a couple of infield prospects, and although 2B/SS is likely taken for quite a while in Houston, Ramirez has a chance to play 3B and Triantos could end up as a corner outfielder KC gets: Alex Bregman, Ryan Pressly Houston gets: Mason Barnett, Trever Werner Not sure we could get KC to take on Pressly money, but they need a closer and as with the Cubs, this would cement them as a true contender and give them some proven playoff experience. Barnett is another SP that could be here next year, and Werner is a Houston kid with some good tools at 3B
Orioles get: Framber Valdez, Taylor Scott Astros get: Sam Basallo, Chayce McDermott, Max Wagner Basallo is a top 20 overall prospect and it's all about the bat. If he were going to remain a catcher he would be top 10 overall easily, but he is likely going to be a 1B. Defensively he profiles a bit like Diaz, but at the plate we have a guy who likely hits for average, has a great approach and will be a high on base guy, with pop. The type of legit top prospect that would be required to move Framber McDermott is a Dana Brown kind of pitcher. There are some command issues so there is definitely some bust potential here. But there is also some upside and he is a guy who could be ready next year. Wagner is a guy who defensively will stick at 3B, an organizational position of weakness for the Stros. So far he has failed to live up to his skills, but he is 22 at AA and as the 3rd guy he fits an organizational need In addition to the top of the rotation pitcher the Orioles would love to add, they get a guy in Scott who is having a great year, but is 32 and doesn't necessarily profile as a long term piece here. He is a guy who could definitely help a contender, which he thought he was coming to here in Houston
Surefire sellers: White Sox, Angels, A’s, Marlins, Rockies Likely sellers: Tigers, Mets, Nats On the fence: Blue Jays, Rays, Rangers, Astros, Cards, Cubs, Reds, Pirates, Diamondbacks, Padres, Giants Likely buyers: Red Sox Surefire buyers: Yankees, Orioles, Twins, Royals, Mariners, Guardians, Dodgers, Phillies. Braves, Brewers A lot to be decided over the next 3-6 weeks. If Houston isn’t gonna go on a run, then I hope the Brewers falter (to convince the NL Central teams not to sell) and the Jays, Rays, Rangers, DBacks, Padres, and Giants play well enough to buy.
Likely trade market: C: Jansen, Diaz, Stallings IF: Guerrero, Bichette, Turner, IKF, Rosario, Baez, Urshela, DeJong, Moncada, Rengifo, Alonso, Senzel, Bell, Anderson OF: Springer, Kiermaier, Arozarena, Canha, Benintendi, Pham, Jimenez, Robert Jr., Ward, Rooker, Brown, Martinez, Thomas, Winker, Chisholm SP: Bassitt, Yikuchi, Civale, Littell, Eflin, Flaherty, Maeda, Fedde, Crochet, Anderson, Sandoval, Stripling, Severino, Quintana, Manaea, Corbin, Williams, Luzardo Leverage RP: Chafin, Kopech, Garcia, Miller, Erceg, Ottavino, Harvey, Law, Floro, Scott If the Rangers sell it would add a ton of pitching to the market. Rays could end up selling Lowe and Diaz. If the NL Central is decided those 4 runners up could flood the market. Padres/Giants/Snakes have some good players. I think Tucker, Bregman, and Framber would find a robust market, and I actually think there’d be a lot of interest in Pressly. Houston could also probably get out from a lot of Montero’s contract. I think interest in Verlander might be relatively tepid. High interest in Pena wouldn’t be shocking. Same for Hader. I don’t see much chance of McCormick, Meyers, Dubon, or Caratini getting dealt.
As much as it hurts to say I think they should trade Bregman, framber, pressley, Jake, and McCormick. This year is toast.
If they’re going to trade any good players other than Bregman they have to trade Tucker. His value is immense and it will fall dramatically after this deadline. Their choices are: 1. Trade Bregman and lean on Crane to buy a 1B and 3B this offseason and hope they have insanely better luck in 2025. 2. Decimate what little farm depth they have to buy a bat and a pitcher ant this deadline and pray for a miracle this season, then go into the offseason leaning on Crane to buy a 1B and 3B. 3. Trade everybody under short term control that has high trade value (likely means Bregman, Tucker, Framber, and maybe Pressly and Verlander, maybe more), tank the 2nd half playing young players trying to establish a new core, and enter the offseason with a top 5 farm system, ~$40M to spend, a pending top 5 draft pick, and likely holes as 1B, 3B, OF, and SP. An effective offseason means being back in contention in 2025 with a much healthier long term outlook.
Keep Tucker to try and contend 2025. The Astros will have better luck next year. How much will they have to spend if they somehow get rid of pressley, montero, contracts including the loss of Bregman?
If you trade away those guys, be prepared for the rest of the core star players (Altuve, Hader, Yordan, etc) to be on the market too. Either because they don't want to waste their primes, or because the team is now rebuilding and is leaning into that process, again. Trading away your core players is not the way to contend long term. Who has that worked for? Not the Red Sox with Betts, not the Nationals (and now the Padres) with Soto. The one year dip becomes a full rebuild pretty quick. This isn't the NBA where you can tank for a lottery pick and then contend quickly thereafter.
The best Astro team in this entire run lost to the Nationals that were 34-38. This website is called clutchfans because the city newspaper quit on the rockets. Why would you give up?
Snake…give one example ever in any sport where a dynasty traded a core piece for the future benefit mid season before they had failed. You keep saying trade everyone like it’s the smart thing. Who has ever done that? This season isn’t even half over. Maybe you are smarter than every GM in sports history but it’s tired. You don’t break up a team that always wins until they actually don’t. Especially not when an 87 win Phillies team and an 84 win diamondbacks team were the last 2 in the World Series. I think you are really smart but you enjoy transactions more than most. But I bet if you were in the clubhouse when those bottles were popping you might not be so quick to give on the people that did it 7 years in a row
If I'm Dana Brown (w/ Crane's OK) I go to Boras and offer Bregman a 6yr $150M contract and say there is 5 weeks to get a deal done or else they will trade him. Obviously Boras will counter w/ 10 yrs $275M If they can settle at no more than. 7 yrs at $27.5M AAV ($192.5M) I would do it. I think it's pretty likely Alex remains 3+ WAR player at least 4 more years, have a slower than average decline, and get to at least 24 WAR over those 7 years. He should "earn" a $190M deal, but there is not likely any excess value and he is unlikely to "earn" $200M+ Reasons to keep him: 1) lack of replacement w/o spending 2) Team icon w/ postseason success 3) team still has talent to compete and needs to put best team on field. Reasons to let him go: 1) $$$$$
