Yordan article back in March 2019 before he made the majors. They tried him out at 1b but said nothing why he didn't stick. I'm extremely surprised Yordan can't play 1b even though he played there before and in Cuba. https://www.milb.com/news/houston-astros-reassign-yordan-alvarez-to-minors-camp-305409282
1B is tougher on your lower body than corner OF (or hitting and running the bases, where he seems to always get hurt), and takes more skill that people realize. It's not for everybody.
And it's this reasoning that I feel trading him away isn't such a bad thing. He's limiting our defense and if we can get a haul then it's better for us in the long run.
The long run?? We’re in the long run. You’re not going to re-create a dynastic type stretch without bonafied legit all-star caliber promoted prospects…. And you need them both for pitching and hitting. And you’re not typically going to get them all from trades as teams do have the slightest sense on which ones to keep (slightest). At the very minimal you may have a chance to fleece another team to get the next Yordan. Or you could trade a castoff relief pitcher, and get lucky, and find the next Yordan like you found the first Yordan.
Trading Yordan is not a popular idea by any means, but if we can get max value for him then do it. We may not see the post season for the next few years anyway (and our window for competing in the post season is done without getting some big time players added). If this org is going to cheapen their lineup then might as well make the best of the situation. I feel rebuilding now would cost us three years before we are relevant again with younger talent. Not rebuilding and keeping our players as is will keep us on the outside for a few more years and not bad enough to get talent back, costing us more money in that span and more mediocre seasons to follow.
Just saying there have been players with knee issues who played 1B Not that it is relevant since they have too many 1B, not too few.
Fun Fact: The only seasons in Mick's 18-year career where he didn't receive MVP votes were his rookie (19yo, 96 games) year, '63 when he blew up his leg and played 63 games, and the last 2 years of his career where his OPS+ was 150 and 143 in 144 games each year
Never said I want to trade Yordan Simply saying if others want are showing strong interest you have to listen, because I disagree that you can only trade him if you are going into a rebuild. We got very little from him last year and missed the playoffs by one game. Would have to be blow away by an offer from a team who really wanted that one big bat and had their DH spot open Agree to disagree on comparing Yordan to Judge. Yordan needs to be a DH on a team with others who really need to be a DH. I love Yordan and hate the Skankees as much as anyone, but overall value of those two is not =
Because he isn’t going to the bench, Yordan isn’t going to play the OF more than he already does, and they have already said Altuve will play less in LF (if you believe them)
I see Altuve playing as a DH/bench bat over 50% of the time this coming season, much more if Alvarez goes down for significant time as I expect. He has no business at 2nd base or in left if the Astros are serious about contending in 2026.
I’ll be surprised if Paredes is moved He was specifically targeted by Dana as a player who would excel in our park and that was proven correct last year He also doesn’t make big money and has multiple years of control. Anything is possible, but that one would greatly surprise me
If the Astros were planning to move Paredes, I doubt they get rid of both Dubon and Urias, their universal infield plug-and-play guys. If you trade Paredes, you have no depth and no versatility amonsgst your infielders, so now you need the super-utility guy more than ever.
You’re still trying to piece-meal it though. If you’re keeping 15-20-30 million players on the payroll (Altuve, Correa, Walker,Hader) and also keeping higher value younger players (Paredes, Pena, Brown, Yanier)… what kind of needle are you going to really move by selling Yordan now (who is also very affordable for his age/contract), but also selling him at his lowest value? Selling low on anybody is always problematic, and it’s not really going to add much to the current highly paid and younger about to be paid chances of winning. They’re in a position to compete now. They need luck. They need health. They need pitching. They have roughly $20 million to improve the roster as is. Maybe they find a taker for Walker. Maybe they get a sweetheart deal for one of the younger players (although I don’t think the lineup can afford to lose any younger players). Maybe Cam Smith takes a huge leap. Maybe Blubaugh becomes a bonafied all-star. There’s enough potential where you don’t need to try to marginally improve things by selling low on guys… unless you’re doing a complete tear-down.
I agree they are in "position" to compete now but they need to spend to make that happen. If they are not willing to spend then keeping their current roster just delays the inevitable.
I prefer not to have another Yordan. I want an actual baseball player, not just a bat who is useless on the field. Now with Altuve's positional value fading away we have a second bat only player to work around. Yordan may be able to play a few innings in left and Altuve may be able to play a few innings at 2nd base but neither of them belong on the field. DH is the only full time "bat only" position in baseball. If trading one is not possible the next best option is to play them both as part time players and split the DH innings between them. A half season at DH plus a few innings in LF and at 2nd base and a few more batting off the bench and both should play at least 3/5ths to 3/4ths of a season. Perhaps not the most optimal solution but it is as good as any I have heard that does not involve trading away Alvarez and/or Altuve.
Then you trade/jettison everybody. You can also do it at the deadline or next off-season as well when some of these guys (including Yordan’s) trade value may be better. If you’re trading any key/affordable player now it’s to try to improve the team now (even though we’ve already gone through the futile exercise of how its silly to trade from an area of need… lineup… for another area of need).
