Eric Lauer was a solid big-league starter before he was injured a year or so ago. I have not seen him personally, but after a terrible start in AAA this year, his velocity is up and the reports are really promising.
I can only hope for this , as well. God help us all if Kikuchi is Kikuchi of this season so far. We need a new Kikuchi. We can rebuild him, we have the technology.
One had autonomy when it came to making baseball moves, the other doesn't. The Luhnow model obviously works, other model's we will see. Do you really think at the trade deadline Luhnow would've come away with a pitcher with a 5.00 era and a RP that was an after thought in the Yankees system?
This season, last season, what season? I'm fairly certain that nobody in MLB would trade GM Luhnow a plug nickel unless he was overpaying. And...oh my god would yall be screaming about The Prospects!
How did Dana get played? I don't think he got played at all. They identified Kikuchi as a priority and he made it happen because they HAD to make it happen. I don't think Brown gave up players he's going to lose sleep over, and the fact he didn't meet the reportedly sky-high demands of some teams bears that out. Giving up your top 5 prospects for a 33-year 1B old having a bad year (seriously, has anyone actually looked at Yandy's numbers? His slugging is down ~50 points; he has a BJAE (Big Jose Abreu Energy)) would've prompted outrage and accusations of being played.
And the reason the other doesn't have that autonomy is because the one who did grossly abused it. Likely, as Luhnow would've been infatuated with Kikuchi's stuff. We need to stop lionizing Jeff Luhnow as if he was some magic wizard that tricked teams into trading great players for zero return. Markets are markets; you can't manufacture something that doesn't exist. Teams were very clearly not making top-line talent available and/or if they did, the Astros didn't have enough juice to get it done - which goes back to Luhnow and the whole cheating scandal/punishment which has played a significant role in depleting our system. It just wasn't a very good deadline - I don't think a single team got appreciably better. Maybe the Padres, who stacked their bullpen?
You dont know this and Luhnow didn't have issues making trades in the past. I would've had no issues giving up 5 top 10 prospects not named Matthews for Paredes or Diaz for that matter. I know it doesn't seem like it, but the odds of winning a WS is rare and when you have a chance to win a championship they should do whatever it takes to give them their best chance to get a ring, prospects be damned. Dana failed at his job yesterday and that's even if Kikuchi has some kind of magical turnaround that hasn't happened in his 7 years in MLB.
He didn't do enough to give his team their best chance to win a championship. BTW, Yandy has been hitting like he usually does for the last 6-8 weeks. It didn't have to be Yandy, but Dana really needed to find a bat. Adding a pitcher with a 5.00 ERA and a RP that the Yankess got rid of so they could open up a spot on their roster for a RP they traded for doesn't scream Dana was doing all he could to win another championship. Heck he didn't even trade prospects to get Montero off of the books. Look, I like Dana but right now he's in over his head as a GM. Hopefully he will get better while learning on the job. Some guys are GM's other guys are best as scouting directors. Lets hop Dana can grow into the GM position. Right now he's not there IMHO.
I'm really curious to see what the reaction to the Kikuchi trade is going to be 3 months from now. If Houston has a deep run and he pitches well all will be forgotten, but God help Dana Brown if that doesn't happen, especially if Kikuchi walks after the season, and if the three we gave up play well. Dana might get run out of town at that point. It's about to get really interesting...
Years of tanking - and not losing draft picks because of a cheating scandal he oversaw - flooded the system. To pretend Brown has the same resources as Luhnow is head-burying denial. As is the idea that Luhnow would've magically made better players available. I could be wrong - but I don't believe a single All-Star was traded. The players dealt were, mostly, medicore. Luhnow did not win a World Series 7/8 years he was here. If Dana told the media the team didn't need arms or a bat and sat idle at the deadline, *that* would be a failure. But the Astros very clearly tried. But buyers have no leverage; they are at the mercy of another team - in this case, with Tampa, one of the smartest, shrewdest FOs in baseball. So this idea that Brown failed because he couldn't reach a deal that made sense for the organization... I just don't see that as a "failure."
I know you want to down play Luhnow's work, but he did build a dynasty so maybe some lionizing should be in order. Dana's job should be to add to Luhnow's work and so far he's failed at this job. Heck, even Click added to Luhnow's work, adding Maton, Diaz and rebuilding the bullpen. What has Dana done? Added a pitcher with a 5.00 ERA and a throw away RP. Sad part is if Dana really believed in Kikuchi he could've made this deal 10 days ago and the Stros would probably be in 1st place. Enjoy Singleton/Chas striking out as the Stros struggle to make the playoffs. Look at what the Mariners did at the deadline vs what Dana did. Are you telling me Dana didn't have the talent on the farm to add Arozarena? DiPoto didn't even give up much to get him.
Luhnow built a dynasty. We look at things differently probably because we come from different worlds, in my world coming close/2nd place is the 1st place loser and doesn't pay the bills.
I haven't dug all that much, but I'm pretty certain that Kikuchi needs to pitch better to justify this trade and help the Stros get to the postseason.
I know what was given up for Arozarena and a deal could've been done. You will never convince me that it was impossible to add a bat when other teams didn't have issues trading for bats. Maybe Dana shouldn't have been so focused on dealing with the Rays and looked elsewhere.
