I’m not sold on do anything drastic to bring for a LF bat for the OF. Let’s give Cole a run in center. Defense is fine, speed is fine, and although he might K a lot the power will almost certainly be better than Myers. Pitching is our only real hole in my opinion. If we have two young OF starters in Cole and Cam, I think we still have a pretty long lineup with a lot of potential at 8 and 9 and are better preparing for the future. Apparently, they are not satisfied with our backup catcher situation, so that is an expense as well. The only important player we are losing from last year is Framber. We had the record for the playoffs even without Alvarez for basically the entire year and Paredes during the stretch run. I don’t see any reason they let Dubon and Urias go if not to help sign an FA pitcher or two. They can adjust at the deadline if they are competitive or experiment with young guys the second half if they are not.
Well - then I don't know what to tell you. Everyone that paid attention to his career knew that he struck out a lot and could have non-competitive at bats. I didn't have an issue with his performance in the second half personally as he had an OPS over .800, hit for a lot of power and his glove even firmed up. I would rather have that $20,000,000 to go towards someone else - but that isn't likely to happen. At a minimum he will help Altuve out and forms part of an exceptional defensive infield. Bat his 6th and forget about him - there is a good chance he pulls his weight and helps the team win.
That is the problem - it is why I did not like him hitting in the 4 hole to start the season. He isn't a 4 hitter IMO - he isn't a star either. He is a very solid first baseman that has contact issues, but can also crush pitching for power and he is very good defensively. Hit him 6th or sandwich him between two elite bats to maximize his potential and role. Yordan, Pena, Paredes, Altuve and Correa all should hit in front of him. He hits 6th in that configuration, and that is assuming the Astros don't add another good bat.
I think they need another outfield bat - if they do not get one, they will want one at the deadline. They ideally need someone that can make contact.
Everyone who paid attention to his career, and knew about his strikeouts, should’ve been disappointed by how many k’s he had last year. no, we don’t want a $20 million first baseman having so many non-competitive at bats, in crucial situations (as our season was slipping away). We don’t want that.
If Luis Arraez's price is low enough, I wonder if they would give him second base and Altuve LF again. Arraez has flaws, but his contact rate and batting average fill the Astros needs.... he has also played some LF in the not-too-distant past. Arraez in the two hole helps stretch the line up too.
Wonder what his 2nd half OPS was if you take out the 6 game stretch at Az and LAD, he did a LOT of his damage in that one week
What about the way this off-season has gone with free agents getting $$$$$$$$$$ makes you think that is even a possibility? I don't see Arraez being the kind of guy Crane would spend into the luxury tax levels to land. Astros have multiple holes with not enough highly ranked prospects or money to fill them, but pitching should be the priority by far. Every prospect and dollar they have needs to address pitching first.
Arraez is a league average bat with defensive limitations. Hes worth about as much as Yaz. Something like $24M/2yrs probabiy easily gets him. If Houston only signs one SP in free agency they can very likely also afford Arraez. I think Arraez is a very good fit for what they need on offense but adds to their issue of finding a home for everyone on defense. He would be a 4th on their roster best used at DH.
We don’t need another player that doesn’t fit great on defense, we have more than enough of those already Defense matters way more than most give it credit
Offensively he gives me some serious Yuli vibes. If this reporting is true, seems like the Astros ballpark.
