I will be utterly shocked if Sasaki signs with anyone other than the Dodgers. Outrecruiting Ohtani and the west coast plus knowing LA can pay him later seems like a pipe dream.
I agree it's a huge long shot But the Astros have 1 bullet in their pitching development track record, which includes Kikuchi as a very recent example. Kikuchi would be a 2nd bullet. It's a shame Nolan Ryan is no longer in the organization. He could do the star striking recruiting like Bagwell did with Abreu, lol.
I doubt 25 year old Rori Sasaki knows anything about Nolan Ryan outside of he is a HoF pitcher. He probably knows more about Koufax or Drysdale. Theres a reason the biggest Japanese stars almost always end up on the west coast or in NY.
I wouldn't count out the Padres. Good friends with Darvish. They also have Matsui. West coast and has history with Japanese players. With Ohtani and Yamamoto, does he want to be the 3rd Japanese star?
It’s painfully obvious he will sign with the dodgers. Ohtanis deferred contract gives them room for Soto as well.
Sure if they want to pay 100% of his salary and take a low level flyer prospect.... then again Stromm couldn't fix him.
The potential first base market for the Astros keeps growing - they should be able to get a noticeable upgrade. With players like Pete Alonso, Christian Walker, Paul Goldschmidt all free agents they would seem like obvious targets. However - there are other possibilities - Santana, Mountcastle, O'Hearn, Bell, Diaz, Naylor, France, Burger and Wade all have been linked as possibly available. The Astros may be able to get someone like Wade at a reasonable cost and spend money at another spot.
Wade to me is a great fit, assuming he won’t cost a meaningful prospect, but he is really just a more stable and better version of Singleton; sees lots of pitches, hits righties very well, but in a best case probably needs a platoon partner. I can’t see any way both Wade and Singleton are on the roster. Naylor is the dark horse guy I’m looking at; shouldn’t cost a ton, crushes RHp, playable against lefties, and he’s only 27 so he probably hasn’t had his best year yet. Bell and Santana are good options if Houston cheaps out. I assume the Rays still have too high of a price on Yandy Diaz.
And if things turn south for the team in a few years, it isn’t like you couldn’t move Soto and his huge contract
I don’t know how the CBA is written, but it wouldn’t work because a player surely can’t be part owner of a team he doesn’t play for, so the contract would never be tradable
I am leaning towards Wade as well, largely because he has an OB% of like 390 the last few seasons. The Giants are considering targeting someone like Alonso or another big time player and they don't want to pay Wade his arbitration number of around 8 million dollars. If the Astros could get him to play 1st base - and move Caratini and/or Pressly, they will have money and assets to add another good bat and possibly a starting pitcher. Wade isn't going to be an all star but he is a tough out and the Astros don't need him to hit 35 homers.
Wade is an elite hitter against righties if he’s in the 6 hole of the lineup with a guy like Diaz in front of him and McCormick or Pena behind him. Thats part of the appeal to me is that he hasn’t been hitting in tremendously deep lineups so there may be some upside to him if he sees more tired pitchers or gets up more often with ducks on the pond.
If Houston can upgrade 1B for relatively cheap (<$10M/yr and/or not giving up prospects from their top 10), they should have enough money and prospects to add a good SP and potentially find a decent OF (either a guy to platoon with McCormick who is better than Trammell or a genuine everyday LF). 3B is the real question because outside of Bregman there are no obvious answers. Not sure Bregman and Kikuchi both fit in the budget but an offseason haul of Bregman, Wade, and a guy like Andrew Heaney or Verlander seems very doable and would give them a really good team.
That would be great - but even if they lost out on Bregman, they would have an avenue to replace his bat with this kind of deal. I think Kikuchi comes down to how strongly they believe he will be the pitcher they had last year - if they are convinced, then he is worth the 3/54 or 3/60 numbers I have heard teams are targeting him for.
hard to imagine Houston being a legitimate contender for most of these guys. Maybe I’m stuck in the days where Woody Williams was a big FA signing for the organization. Hopefully Crane proves us wrong and gets with the times.
Soto, Bregman, Santander, Burnes, Snell, Flaherty, and Fried would be beyond any free agent signing Houston has ever made. The other guys wouldn’t be much bigger signings than guys like Josh Reddick, Michael Brantley, and Jose Abreu were.
