Also looking back, we really didn't get much for Oswalt, Berkman, Pence, Bourne.... all the trade chips that were supposed to jump-start the rebuild. (nothing directly... yes, Cosart was part of the Pence trade... and he eventually became Marisnick/Moran... and Moran eventually became Cole.... but that was already well after the rebuild had been rebuilt). Jordan Schaffer Brett Oberholtzer Paul Clemens Juan Abreu JA Happ Jonathan Villar which led to Cy Sneed Anthony Gose which led to Brett Wallace Mark Melancon which led to Jed Lowrie and Kyle Weiland Jimmy Paredes Sure, some MLB players in there... but none of them contributed to the Astros during the golden era. Which makes the return for Tucker that much better in hindsight/foresight. And the Juan Soto trades are looking great for both the Nats and Padres. But much like the Astros tanking turning into a decade of dominance... deadline trades don't always bear fruit to the teams receiving all the prospects. Not all teams can just replicate it... even the smartest teams/GM's out there.
He’s not really… striking out a lot more… but he’s in his physical prime and it’s still early in the season. The league will adjust to the new tendencies… and he will need to adjust back. That being said, he’s one of the best adjusters/tinkerers there is so he very well may end up having a bounce back season.
I don't remember the details much, but the memory of it not making sense persists. On the Pence trade, I remember thinking it was much better. Brett Oberholtzer is an example of a player born a decade or 2 late, and the fickleness of pitching. He seemed fine for a non-hard-throwing pitcher until he started walking guys. All walks and no ks makes Brett a DFA'd player. The start of his career made him look like one of those soft tossers that no one would like, but would pitch forever. Game has changed making only the best of the best of these guys sticking around.
Not saying you but many don’t seem to account for things like change of scenery, fresh start - to me it seems things have run stale in Houston and many of our long term guys wanna move on. Our culture doesn’t feel as electric as it did at the start of our run, and the crap they gotta hear about the scandal nonstop has to get old. It was mentioned that both Correa and Springer told Bregman that it got better once they left Houston. Not sure how Altuve still does it since he unfortunately seems to hear it the most. Just like staying at a job too long and how good it feels to get a fresh start. I think the culture has been all over and Dusty may have been the last thing holding it together, barely.
The Bourn trade was the main one where everybody knew at the time that it was a bad trade, but also I don’t think Bourn’s market was that robust. The return for Oswalt and Pence were fair value, but clearly Houston’s scouting was lacking at the time. I think it’s interesting that both Cosart and Singleton had off-the-field issues that affected their careers.
Bregman got humiliated in the offseason. Nobody met his asking price because he had been solid but average since 2019 - though his defense was gold glove caliber. This offseason lit a fire under him, and he merely got more focused. He knows he’s not in the friendly confines of Houston where fans will praise their home team’s players with rose colored glasses.
Former Astros among top 100 in MLB fwar: 9. Bregman 11. Tucker 54. W Abreu 78. Tyler Heineman 85. T Hernandez Pitching: 69. Kikuchi
