My point wasn't to bash Astros. My point was that it's how postseason baseball is, so I am not as happy about 5 MLB average hitters in the lineup as I am in the regular season.
Here's the thing....postseason baseball affects every team. Not every player is affected the same way, but an average hitter has a lot less value to lose than some big time power hitters do.
I know, I’m just saying overall I’ll take our guys over most in the playoffs. What Yordan has done is incredible. Outside of Bryce Harper, he’s been arguably the best performer in the playoffs if you take into consideration the number of PAs he’s amassed. Altuve has been great and Bregman better than most in the playoffs as well.
I wonder if Richards would be a cheaper option. He's very solid. Abreu has been very fortunate lately. His control, command has been spotty lately.
Framber would bring back a huge return. Fast forward to a couple of days before the deadline. . . Let's say: Luis Garcia has finished his rehab looking good and no setbacks. JV is healthy and back in rotation Bloss is healthy. McCullers is ready to start rehab w/ no setbacks (reportedly 5 weeks behind Garcia) Blanco, Brown, and Arrighetti have continued to pitch at current levels. I realize it's a risk for a contending team to trade away a TOR starting pitcher. I also realize Brown, Blanco, and Arrighetti will be approaching career high innings and ideally be coddled a bit. But there are still 6 SP + Lance 3-5 weeks away even if the Astros don't trade for another guy - like Flaherty But his role for the rest of 2024 and 2025 would be easier to fill than trading Tucker.
Can't do it in season. In the playoffs, it's essential we have Framber. Aces are everything. Trade him in the offseason if we have to, but we can't do it midseason if we are making a run.
Barring some kind of collapse, Houston will be deadline buyers. Deadline buyers do not trade away ToR SP. Ever.
Framber is the most durable (at least physically) starter we have. It may be an open question whether they extend him, but trading him now should not be considered. The Astros look up now and see a viable path to win another ring.
My brain tells me all of these things. But then I see him flip a ball into the press box with his glove, from 20 feet in front of the plate. And I see him lose focus and give up 4, 5, 6 runs in an inning. And I see people wanting to trade Tucker And all the pitching coming back from injury. But of course you are right.
They won’t trade him and they won’t extend him. They’ll get the most innings and best years out of him by far and let somebody else deal with the downside and eventual injury that gets all pitchers. He’ll have enough stretches like he had in June, in between the “madness” to still be worth keeping and throwing every 4th day. Won’t be an all-star this year. Hopefully the internal competition with Brown being the pace-setter and Blanco being consistent all year will light something else in him… never fun when after 4 games, Framber’s start was the obvious dud (with Blanco being a close second).
Jake Meyers and Spencer Arrighetti for Vlad Guerrero Jr. Grae Kessinger, Kenedy Corona, and Colton Gordon for Jack Flaherty. Flaherty takes Arrighetti's spot in the rotation. Leon gets promoted to share CF w/ Loperfido and be RH bat and PR off the bench. And provides an alternative in case Chas doesn't improve in the 2nd half.
Chas, Montero and a 15-20 organizational prospect to Toronto for Bassitt Montero helps even the money out, they get an extra year of control out of Chas and a prospect, we get a workhorse starter who is throwing way better than the overall numbers because of a bad start to the year
We saw this play out last year, as the Astros too often sent these average bats to the plate in crucial situations during the ALCS. Three Astros had a 1.0+ OPS in the series - and its the three you're probably thinking (Altuve, Alvarez, Bregman) Unfortunately, Tucker struggled. But that only underscored the fact Dubon, Singleton, Brantley, Maldy, Pena and Diaz were all sub .600. For the postseason, essentially, you need about six bats you can count on game-to-game. The expectation is that your proven bats (we'll call them "stars") play like stars - so the formula is 6 minus # of stars. Your goal at the deadline should be to change that formula in your favor as much as possible. The Astros have four stars (Altuve, Alavarez, Bregman, Tucker). They need at least two bats to step up. And, again - that's assuming none of your stars hit a rough patch. That's why adding Guerrero changes the formula significantly. The more proven ("star") bats you can have in your line-up, the better off you are in the postseason, when almost every AB is critical. Of course, none of this is scientific. The bottom line is that on no planet would a team rather have some combination of Dubon, Singleton and/or Lopefido getting postseason ABs over Guerrero.
I can’t think of a reason the Blue Jays would trade a solid #3 SP for a veteran playing like a AAAA OF, an overpaid crummy RP, and a 3rd tier prospect. McCormick may very well be traded, but it will be only if Houston has given up on him, not because he has a high trade value. He has a wRC+ of 72 this season and he’s not a defensive star.
Thats a very interesting idea. The clutch board says now way but think of the rubles n rubies would bring. Whoa.
