I don't think they need to. At least it can't be a priority considering money and other holes. Framber, Brown, Blanco, Arrighetti, and Garcia make the rotation 5 deep with legitimate MOR or better starters. McCullers and Javier have TOR talent and could possibly help at some point. France is a proven BIR who should keep his team in a game. That's 10× better than the lineup, currently.
Hypothetical offseason to fix short term and long term outlook: Trade Out: Caratini, Framber, Pressly, money Trade In: 2 Top 100 prospects + 1 org top 10 prospect Free agents signed: Carlos Santana ($14M/1yr), Michael Conforto ($24M/2yr), Yusei Kikuchi ($52M/3yr), Gio Urshela ($6M/1yr), Kendall Graveman (NRI, $5M/1yr in majors) Resulting roster: 2B Altuve RF Tucker DH Alvarez 1B Santana C Diaz LF Conforto 3B Urshela SS Pena CF Meyers Bench: Dubon, McCormick, Salazar, Singleton Rotation: Kikuchi, Brown, Blanco, Garcia, Arrighetti, McCullers Bullpen: Hader, Abreu, Graveman, Montero, Scott, Ort, Whitley 60-day IL: Javier Non-tendered: Urquidy DFA: Dubin, Martinez, Sousa, Hernandez, Contreras Optioned: Dezenzo, Cabbage, Whitcomb, Kessinger, Leon, Corona, Gusto, Gordon, Ullola, France, King, Ortega, Murfee Updated top 10 prospects: 1-2. Prospects added in trade 3. Matthews 4. Melton 5. Dezenzo 6. Janek 7. Baez 8. Prospect added in trade 9. Blubaugh 10. Ullola The lineup gets deeper without breaking the bank, and the bench offers good insurance. The farm improves from bad to slightly below average with upside for a lot better. The pitching staff takes a slight ding but has loads of upside if guys get/stay healthy and young guys develop; the AAA pitching staff provides much better insurance than it did last season.
Santana sucks vs righties and is 38. He's fine if you want him to be the small side of the platoon with Singleton, but $14m is a really high price for that. Urshela was like a .650 OPS guy last year. He's one of the worst starting 3B in the majors. I like the Conforto and Kikuchi signings.
What pitching holes do they have? I'm for trading for Robert and Lowe. I'm not giving up Baez. I'm going with a lineup that looks like this. 1. Altuve 2B 2. Alvarez DH 3. Tucker RF 4. Diaz C 5. Lowe 1B 6. Robert CF 7. Pena SS 8. Gamel/Whitcomb LF 9. Dezenzo or with the 35 mil you've got on hand, plus the other 25 or 30 mil you've saved by letting arb guys and trading Pressly/Caratini go, re-sign Bregs, Or maybe let Bregs walk and sign Walker. You could also probably bring back Kikuchi if you wanted too. This can be done, but it's gonna cost guys like Melton/Blughbaugh/Ullola/Cole/Pecko. Heck I would probably put Arrighetti in a deal to get Lowe. Arrighetti/Melton/Pecko for Lowe Ullola/Brito/Cole/Hicks for Robert.
Dont want Santana. I'm OK with Urshela as a starting 3B if Bregs isn't brought back or Dezenzo isn't ready.
I'm not asking for A level hitters, I am asking for 2 A level hitters, one to replace Bregs (Whether that be an OF/1B or 3B) if they have the money to add a guy like Walker too, they should do this also. If not play a guy like Lowe at 1B with Robert in CF and platoon Gamel/Witcomb in LF. until Baez is ready. Then let Dezenzo and a cheap FA 3B like Urshela fight it out for the starting 3B job. The backup plan to these things is at some point next year hopefully Matthews/Baez will be ready at some point next year. to the Gamel/Whitcomb and Dezenzo/Urshela platoons. This is very financially doable. In fact depending on what they do with Bregs/Kikuchi they should have enough money to extend Framber. This would give you the AAA guys you long so much for.
Astros hiring Arizona’s 3B coach (who was also infield defense coach) can’t hurt with their potential pursuit of 1B Christian Walker.
I think Santana is perfect for this roster, as long as at least 2 other bats are brought in. No way it takes $14M. He played on a $5.25M deal this year and Spotrac has his market value at 1yr $5.65M. I would offer him $6.5M and an opportunity to win his first ring.
Burnes brought back: #69 overall mlb prospect who ended up starting 3b. #97 overall mlb prospect with 2 cups of coffee without success.( yet?) #34 overall pick in draft ( comp balance A ) Trade Framber for a similar return. Trade Chas OR Meyers and Pressly for whatever prospects they will bring back. Bring back Alex and Kikuchi Sign Santana to platoon w/ Singleton. Trade for Robert. Sign a LH OF to platoon w/ Whitcomb or Chas/Meyers in LF
Framber's return hopefully ads to the 2025 roster and really adds to the 2026 roster. Maybe that LF that is needed and pitching depth.
Man, I hate the Dodgers, but I respected this guy when he played us. He always dominated us when he was on the mound. RIP.
The lineup was 5th best last season. The Astros are losing a 118 wRC+ hitter in Bregman. That's what they need to replace to be a Top 5 hitting team. The Astros were 6th in ERA and 13th in FIP in pitching last season. It was much worse before Kikuchi came in. Hoping Javier and Garcia are both healthy and can turn that into a Top 5 pitching team without Kikichi seems optimistic to me. Also, Verlander ate some innings. I don't want the Ryan Gusto experience*, and I don't think any team will have a pitching staff ten times better than the Astros lineup next year. *unless he figures it out and is amazing just to spite this post.
This is a good point. Also, Houston’s offense should (hopefully/likely) be boosted by full seasons from Tucker, Alvarez, and Altuve as well as an absence of negative value from Abreu. That said, I think it’s safe to say their top priority is adding at least one bat. Whether adding a 2nd (or 3rd) bat is a higher priority than adding starting pitching is debatable.
I think if you're counting on full, healthy seasons by all the star players, you will be let down. Injuries are a part of the game. Altuve is going to be 35. Yordan is Yordan. I'd expect more games from Tucker and fewer from Jose, Yordan, and Yainer next season. And Bregman is a guy who rarely misses games, whoever replaces him might not be as durable.
I agree that the Astros need to add a bat. I wouldn't be shocked if the Astros got two bats. I've been on and off again on this board, but the overall impression I get is that people want to get rid of the Caratini, Pressly, and a bunch of arbitration players (Meyers, Chas, Urquidy) to add two bats basically using up all available budget. Losing Caratini and Meyers/Chas basically means the Astros are trying to fill 1B, 3B, LF, and CF with 2 bats. That leaves 2 positions to fill with prospects and no way to get a No. 3 starter. I don't think the Astros have the depth of MLB talent to consolidate the non-star position players into two position players. I'd give up the dream of having 9 average or better hitters (unless it is with guys like Meyers hitting better) and work on filling 1B and 3B and accept that the OF will have defensive first players. Or add some OFs, and just take the loss on defense at 1B. I consider a No. 3 SP as a top priority along with adding a bat.
You can look at the actual numbers and say the hitting was better than the pitching last year. Or you can actually look at the roster and assess strengths and weaknesses, set positions and areas to improve. The rotation has: Framber, Brown, Blanco, Arrighetti, and Garcia all expected to he healthy to start the year without reasonable red flags. McCullers and France should be but "fool me once. . . " Javier is a lottery ticket. That rotation COULD be improved, but if it's not, that team can compete. The lineup has: C= Diaz/Caratini 1b= Caratini/Singleton /Dezenzo 2b= Altuve 3b= Dubon/Dezenzo ( keep Shay away !!) SS= Pena LF= McCormick CF= Meyers RF= Tucker DH= Yordan Bench= a bunch if? That team is; 1) ineffective and/or inexperienced at 1b vs LHP 2) very weak and/or inexperienced at 3b 3) extremely shallow in OF 4) very weak vs RHP in LF and CF. That is not competitive as constructed.
I think priority 1) 3b projected at 110 min OPS+/wRC+ 2) LF and/or CF who hits RHP at min 110 OPS+/wRC+ 3) 1b who hits LHP at 110 min OPS+/wRC+ 4) another OF who can hit RHP to compliment the one at #2. 5) SP who has as small an injury risk as possible. Obviously these can he everyday starters instead of platoon bats or a TOR SP instead of BOR if that's where they choose to go, but I think these are bare minimums. I think this team needs 4 bats before a pitcher is prioritized.
