Also very little chance that he'd be worse than Kikuchi in 2024, and a lead pipe cinch to be better in 2025.
Sure the other team needs to say yes but you don’t need to yank your pants down and waive your ass around in the air begging for that to happen. Doing nothing would have been a big blow but doing this was really really bad. If this was the package for Snell that’s probably an overpay but you shrug your shoulders and say I get it. For this? Gross.
Like if you are going to get worked that bad at least demand that they throw in an A ball lotto ticket or the relief arm you wanted.
thats a little hyperbolish.... no? Bloss is a total unknown (apparently even by the team that drafted/developed him), but claiming he will be automatically better than a pitcher with Kikuchi's FIP and WAR thus far (who also happens to be a lefty) is nonsense. And that's before getting into the injury risk... and he already did 'something' to his shoulder that saw every subsequent start having a lowered velocity. Like I said earlier, wouldn't surprise me if there is a known minor injury that should "heal", but thus required the Astros to add a little more to the final package.
Jake Bloss made three MLB starts and was objectively - by a wide margin - worse than - well, almost every other starting pitcher in baseball. To whatever degree Bloss might put it all together, to suggest he is going to be better than Kikuchi *this season* is pretty silly. And if he does, well - I mean, that's the risk of any trade. We don't have crystal balls. But there's nothing to suggest, today, that Bloss will be better than Kikuchi in 2024.
Maybe he tried... and they said "nope". This is sort of what you have to expect when you, the general fan base, and the front office is desperate to make a move of any kind.
Loperfido was going through an adjustment period after a couple of fast promotions. When he was called up he had the highest home run total in all of baseball. Not just in our system in all of the minor leagues. Not just in the minor leagues but in all of baseball, MLB included. He is going to be a monster.
This looks just like the Cubs trading for Quintana in 2017, a trade that was stupid at the time and got worse with age.
nobody gets this reference here. nobody here remembers the Cubs record in 2017. Speak in Astros or houston language.... only acceptable comparisons are Barkley trade, Hopkins trade, Yordan/Bagwell/Gomez trades... yada yada.
At least you're consistent with your hyperbole... I would have settled for some of that monster for any of his last month's worth of AB's. He's more likely to be Cabbage or a very late average hitting bloomer like Meyers vs. Springer/Yordan.
Kikuchi is 34 years old. He is out of his Prime. Cavan Biggio a former teammate of Kikuchi in Toronto had Great things say about him. Apparently he is a scout for Craig Biggio. Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Enos Cabell, Reggie Jackson are running the Team into the Ground. Out with Youngsters, Old Has Beens In.
Watching other teams get pieces that could have helped us for reasonable returns is like flipping on Cinemax after dark to see your wife was starring in one of those movies. What actually transpired was like finding out your daughter was the lead star on a bang bros production.
Eh... settle down... Jiménez was widely considered a top 10 prospect in all of MLB and sure-fire future star. And Cease was a giant prospect knocked down a bit by injury. At the time of the trade, he was a ~top 70 prospect. The Astros did not send *any* prospect anywhere close to those two.
Kikuchi has fallen off a cliff in the last month and there is a chance that it is an indication of a developing injury. The Astros are going to corner the market on TJ surgeries. Perhaps we should be looking into trading our medical staff.
Which other trade was comparable or featured a team giving up "less" than what the Astros just did? I'm still calling this an overpay... but knowing full well how biased we all are here and how some guys were getting over-inflated due to recency/hyperbole/and lack of other options.
The astros gave up the 2nd and 7th best prospects dealt so far at the deadline and got back a guy that doesn’t make the top 10 in value headed out. So, literally every single other deal made so far was other teams giving up less than we did for a better return. Thats baseball America- no astros fan bias. Atlantic which has the smartest baseball writing had Jays as an A and Astros as a C. MLB trade rumors or something like that had us losing by 18m in surplus value out to 4M in surplus value in and they said their system rejected the trade as unfair. I’m not quoting all that to say they are correct but rather to say this isn’t being mocked and ridiculed in an astros centric bubble- everyone thinks the trade sucked.
I know... as I said, it was cope. A universe exists where he never overcomes the strikeout issues and this trade doesn't haunt us for years as he destroys the league... but it's more likely as he adjusts to the MLB level he becomes amazing and the Astros look like fools.
Three starting pitchers have been dealt. Eflin was dealt for three players from a better system - an OF, utility player; SP (sound familiar?); the Fedde trade was weird because it was a three-team deal and the Cardinals basically gave up nothing to get him because the CWS coveted the Dodgers' prospects. The general consensus is Kikuchi has the best stuff. Not results - but every evaluation of this trade has highlighted his arm as a plus that hasn't reached its potential.
