He ain’t a franchise player. He might be a decent every day CF or he might be a good 4th OF that can play all the positions ok and provide a little jolt (and back up first base and maybe 2B) occasionally when he plays. Thats sort of his floor probably right? Thats more valuable than rental of kikuchi and that’s just one of the 3 guys we sent over.
I don’t need a good trade I am absolutely fine with a fair trade. Nobody needs to get fleeced. We give up some of what you need for some of what we need and everyone walks away better for it and we can do it again next year and the year after and people will be fine with dealing with us.
I don't know if this is the rational part of my brain fighting back against the irrational part of my brain or if it's cope.... but I'm trying to focus on Loperfido's sky high strikeout percentage and his unsustainable (I hope) high BABIP. Then I try to focus on Kikuchi's FIP in relation to the rest of the starters on the Astros and hope maybe he can have some kind of hot streak in Houston. Feels like cope though.
Obviously in terms of future WAR/value of the controlled assets we sent over, we are going to lose this trade without question. We definitely overpaid. That being said, I’m going to wait to see how Kikuchi pans out. They made this trade clearly because they believe they can alter his pitch mix and/or see something to unlock his stuff, which is elite. If this doesn’t happen, it’s going to be a massive failure and Dana/management deserves all the criticism.
Will Wagner is already 26 (I was today year’s old when I saw that.) Koperfido is a strikeout machine (being replaced by another strikeout machine) And Bloss, who the hell knows? Still seems a little steep for a 33-year old rental but maybe not as bad as 12 hours ago. That’s my cope.
A good trade doesn't necessarily mean someone gets fleeced. But if someone is going to be fleeced, I would rather it is not us.
The Astros should get Kikuchi (or any pitcher they bring in) to sign an extension with team options before said pitcher can meet with the pitching coaches to optimize their repertoire and sequencing.
On Eflin, this looks like you are correct, but TB always wins trades. I'm going to trust TB more than you and me. I can't imagine TB did not do their due diligence. On Fedde, there is a PTBNL and Vargas. I'm guessing Vargas is better than Bloss. PTBNL could be really good as well.
I'm not so sure Eflin was dealt for "less". I won't pretend to know anything about Baltimore's system - only that it's generally considered very good & likely better than Houston's. And they dealt an outfielder, a super-utility and a pitcher. That... kind of sounds *exactly* what the Astros gave up, doesn't it?
There’s a solid chance he’s going to sign a reasonable extension regardless. The only chance he becomes too expensive is if he has a Jordan Montgomery type run and I think we can all live with that happening.
I could tell you that he will go 10-2 with a 3.25 era the rest of the season and will be a solid #2 in the playoffs. Does that help? Too bad I don't believe a word of it.
He's making $10MM this year; made $10MM last year. If he's a 3/4 starting pitcher, you can likely/easily retain him for a reasonable cost. To your point, if he puts it all together... you might *still* be the frontrunner to retain him - but, yeah - that would be a nice problem to have.
Wouldn't Leon fit that exact same potential floor/ceiling? And he was just sitting there waiting for a promotion. OF is still the easiest position to draft, develop, acquire, sign and trade for. People should be lamenting Bloss more... but its easy to see why Loperfido gets more angst since he was actually here and playing (and making some highlight reel material in the field, despite not having done much at the plate for more than a significant chunk of time now).
For sure. I’m more talking about I don’t need Dana to trade Tony kemp for Mike trout to be happy. I’m fine with what we give up hurting- but what we get needs to really help.
Oh I agree completely. My point in typing that was to say Loperfido alone should have been enough to make the deal happen and he was ONLY the secondary piece. I have Leon slightly ahead of Loperfido on my internal calculation of this stuff. My only issue with Leon is he’s a RHH and I like Loperfido being a lefty.
Let's pray on this some and all will be well, I think. Or maybe Kikuchi will be a bust. Maybe he will be '98 Randy Johnson as well
Isn't that up to the other team though? Bloss for any rental should have been enough. Even if he's never going to make it, young pitchers potentially turn the corner more often than 25 year old OFers who strike out a ton. Unless there's something medical involved... which nobody has to make public... and thus that is why sweeteners needed to be added.
