He updated and said Twins asked about Walker and Astros declined. Which is odd since it's the complete opposite of what he originally said.
I think the Astros would need to eat about half his contract to dump him in a trade in the offseason. For that price it makes more sense to keep him around, although my preferred choice would be to have Parades at First. I don’t think Parades is agile enough to play second, but Correa is too good to be wasted there.
I think it’s too early to tell with Walker. He has his OPS over 700 for the first time this year. A lot of his advanced numbers are trending back towards the previous 3-4 years. I don’t think the Astros would eat close to half his contract. If he has a .750 or greater OPS the rest of the way, I think they go into season with Walker at 1st and Correa at second unless Paredes can not play 3rd anymore. I could see the Astros including Walker in a deal for a starting pitcher that is maybe over priced. Walker had a terrible start and still strikes out too much for someone that doesn’t hit 40 homers, but he is still someone pitchers don’t want to face.
They were also going to move Paredes to 2b if they got Arenado. They were still trying to do that as ST started.
...Except Walker can still field. Abreu somehow had the same amount of errors in 35 games as Walker does so far in 100+...
I am pretty convinced by the last 6 weeks that Walker is not washed up, and that his struggles were related to putting pressure on himself to produce, which had him expanding the zone and swinging at more bad pitches than he did in his best years. I think he’ll be a decent, above average hitter the rest of this season and for at least next season. Unfortunately, that won’t make him worth his contract and there is more downside than upside to his projections. If given the choice between the Astros keeping Paredes and swapping Walker for a pitcher with a bad contract but more upside or trading Paredes while his value is down due to injury, I’d trade Walker. I don’t think making either move is 100% necessary, since I think Paredes could be passable at 2B with an entire offseason to get prepared to play there.
And I think all of that comes down to Yordan's hand. We have a solid outfield now that even includes a lefty bat. We're getting closer to the point of Altuve needing to play DH full time. Can't have 2 of them. If you're moving Paredes to 2nd, it's for an every day role. This coming offseason is going to have some interesting decisions that need to be made.
I think they can get thru next season with everybody playing: 1B Walker, 2B Paredes, SS Pena, 3B Correa, LF Altuve, DH Alvarez. Especially considering injury risk. But it probably makes 1 of Dubon/Urias redundant. The real question is payroll flexibility and how the starting pitchers look. How Javier, Walter, and Arrighetti (and to a lesser degree McCullers and Garcia) finish the season is huge.
Lets be clear that we did not give up on Bregman. He gave up on us. He got his bag and left town. From all indications the Astros put up a good offer.
Yes, I would rather have him at third - but if the alternative is not having Paredes or eating half of Walker's contract, I will go with Correa at second. I can roll with Paredes/Pena/Correa/Walker in my infield for the next two plus years and feel really good about it. Even if none of them end up with MVP votes over the next few seasons, that is a very deep and overall good infield defense that benefits pitchers and also will wear down opposing pitchers. There is above average power at every spot and a mixture of aggressive hitters and patient hitters.
You don't think Paredes can play second? I think he can be serviceable. Especially with the rest of the infield being strong. I don't want to eat half of Walker's contract either. So we're definitely in agreement there. Agree here. I don't forsee any MVP votes outside of Correa. Really wish we could have gotten Cease but that asking price was nuts
To me, it’s either below average defense at 2B (Paredes) with elite defense at 3B (Correa), or above average defense at 2B (Correa) with average defense at 3B (Paredes). I’d probably force the issue with Paredes at 2B and live with below average defense there, especially because it wouldn’t really be errors that made him below average, just range. Walker has good range at 1B so that mitigates it a bit.
