Interesting but understandable from both sides. So he will end up somewhere between $57M/3yrs and $15M/1yr. It will be interesting if they give him a QO, but otherwise my guess is he gets something like $30M/2yrs with an opt out after the first year. I wouldn’t be opposed to Houston signing him for that price.
The Cubs felt he may be hurt - but he also turned down his option, which leads me to believe that IF he was hurt, he must be close to healthy to turn down the option. Also, it is looking like there may be a lot of starting pitching on the market so the Cubs likely target someone they think is better than him.
That could potentially be an almost perfect outcome for the Astros - they trade for a #2 starter, then they DFA some guys and spend the money on Shota to be the second starter they add to the group. Especially if he doesn't have any QO issues.
The Jim Crane “**** it I’m getting me and Altuve another ring” offseason moves: Sign Dylan Cease $170M/6yrs, front loaded with opt outs Sign Luis Arraez $47M/3yrs Sign Ryan O’Hearn $52M/3yrs Sign Victor Caratini $17M/2yrs Sign James McCann $4M/1yr Trade Yainer Diaz and Jake Meyers for Drew Rasmussen Trade Spencer Arrighetti and Zach Dezenzo for Steven Kwan Trade Jeremy Pena and Jose Fleury for Freddy Peralta, Cooper Pratt, and Coleman Crow Trade Jesus Sanchez for PTBNL Trade Ramon Urias for PTBNL Trade Christian Walker and $8M for PTBNL Resulting roster: LF Kwan 3B Paredes DH Alvarez SS Correa RF O’Hearn 2B Altuve 1B Arraez CF Smith C Caratini Bench: Dubon, McCann, Matthews, Melton SP: Brown, Cease, Peralta, Rasmussen, Javier, Pearson RP: Hader, Abreu, Sousa, King, Okert, McCullers, Alexander
We really need to figure the log jam in the infield. Either Paredes can play second of we need to trade Walker for some payroll relief and some prospects/ pitching reclaimation projects We also need someone to replace Framber and have two of our young kids to make a jump. I think Cam is very likely to figure it out.
Who knows how close they are on any trades. But they’ve gotta clear 5 spots this week. Garcia, Ort, and Rooney are 3. McCormick is probably gone. The 5th would be between Rooney, De Los Santos, VanWey, and France in my opinion.
Out of all the kids that will probably get a chance in 2026, who are rooting for to figure it out? Mine is Zach Cole. I love unique players and he has the loudest tools. If he can keep his OPS in the 800s, I don't care if he strikes out a lot. If he can cut down the strikeouts without losing power, he has the potential to be top 10 in WAR.
The Astros were pretty close on Rasmussen at one point last year. He is under team control for 26 & 27 at a low number and is a prime candidate for an extension. If I had to guess, at this point the Astros would likely go beyond Meyers and Diaz and would include one of their young outfielders or pitchers in a deal. There is potentially quite a few starters in the trade market and free agency = In no particular order and off the top of my head Peralta Lopez Ryan Woodruff FA Giolitto FA Berrios Bieber FA Scherzer FA Verlander FA Singer Bassitt FA King FA Imanaga FA Gore Rasmussen Keller Severino Gray Alcantara (Astros like a lot) Cabrera Feel free to add more - but the point is that the Astros should be able to add two starters like they want. I haven't heard this recently, but the more I think about it - the more likely they are to move Walker.
The Astros have a number of very loud tool guys.... Matthews and Melton both have very loud tools ... but Cole has the loudest tools. All three of those guys have great power if they can improve their contact profile.
Since options were rejected I don't think they are able to attach a QO to him. He should be 100% a free agent.
I am not certain either but I think you are wrong. The MLBTR article mentioned the cubs could still QO him and they usually have their stuff in order.
Yea, I think you're right. I was thinking if there were team/player options involved then that removed a potential QO.
Re-Sign Caratini Sign JV, a reliever Trade Walker Non-Tender Sanchez, McCormick, Garcia, Santos, Wesneski, Urias, etc Sign Naylor Pena SS Altuve 2B Alvarez LF LH Paredes DH Naylor 1B LH Diaz C Smith RF Correa 3B Meyers CF Caratini C Dubon UTIL Two Spots for Cole, Melton, Dezenzo, Matthews, etc I’d love Bellinger in CF but I think it’s a pipe dream and the Yankees will pay. Brown Javier JV Arrighetti McCullers Hader Abreu Okert King Sousa Ort FA RP Starter/Long Relief Guy (plenty of internal options)
Fangraphs appears to have updated their depth chart projections with the latest rosters. Here’s how Houston ranks (with notes): C 19th (should improve a couple spots if they resign Caratini) 1B 17th (would improve by moving Walker and installing Paredes) 2B 12th (would improve by increasing Matthews allotment) SS 11th 3B 3rd LF 1st CF 27th (would improve by increasing Meyers allotment or possibly moving Cam Smith to CF) RF 18th (would improve by increasing Jesus Sanchez allotment) DH 2nd SP 25th (need to add 2 really good SP) RP 7th Position player: 10th Pitching: 19th Total: 10th Based on those projections the moves would be: Trade Walker, Meyers and Urias Increase Paredes role at 1B Increase Matthews role at 2B Move Smith to CF Increase Sanchez role in RF Add 2 extremely good SP Sign Caratini
