Signing Framber always made sense for Detroit. There is the Hinch connection and having a second ace in the fold gives them the flexibility to trade Skubal before they lose him for a draft pick after the season.
I don't think Detroit paid a ton of money for one star pitcher just so they could trade their other star pitcher. They did it to compete. If they are in the race in July, they'll keep them both to try to win a WS. If they aren't, they likely trade Skubal, but that would have been true whether they had Framber or not.
IMO it was an excellent pick up for the Tigers, if there not in it by the trade deadline they can trade Skubal and still have an Ace but if they are in it that's a hell of a 1,2 punch
Agree with all of this But there was never really a chance that he was going to come back from everything he has gone through and immediately have success I'm not saying he is going to be ok, but I felt from day 1 that the only real chance he had was to come back and pitch competitive innings last year, then go through the first real offseason he has had in years, and then see if there is anything left. If there is, that would be awesome. If there is not, then he will leave as a guy who was a major part of bringing us our first title, and also one that seems to honestly love the fact that it was done here in Houston
I don't think he would bring back a legit high leverage guy, and outside of that, i'd much rather have him on the team Right now other than Jake we have a couple of upside question mark types. If one of them hits, then Jake can become a great defensive 4th OF who would also be a good bat off the bench, or he could become deadline trade bait to fill a need. If none of the others take CF and run with it, we would have a great defensive CF who isn't a zero with the bat
I would say right now that Jake has more value to the Stros than he has to other teams. I just hope Jake still being here doesn't take AB's from Cole.
Until our outfielders prove themselves, we should be in no hurry to get rid of Jake. If he continues to hit like he did last season, he is very valuable to us. If Cole is not a fluke, Cam plays like he did during the first half of the season, then our outfield is set. There is a lot of upside on our team.
We really don’t have much of a gauge on Meyers’ value. Who knows what Houston is asking for and what other teams are offering. We know that to this point Houston has not gotten an offer they were willing to accept, so it’s safe to say that so far Meyers has been worth more to Houston than other teams. But we also know that Dana Brown hasn’t really shied away from the idea that the Astros have Meyers on the block and that they are trying to open up CF for Cole (and to a lesser extent Smith and Matthews). This late in the offseason I would be surprised by a trade. But it won’t shock me if Meyers is moved, and the return won’t shock, whether it’s a pittance (some Juan Bello level pitching prospect) or a significant haul (2 Org Top 10 level prospects). It’s obviously not going to happen, but what really needs to happen for Houston would be to move Walker and Meyers (and maybe a young pitcher or 2 if it’s required) to somehow bring back a solid middle of the order lefthanded hitting outfielder, an established backup catcher, and a decent AA SS prospect. That would, in my opinion, have the Astro heading into spring with a virtually complete organizational roster.
The problem is that the younger players can’t prove themselves if they don’t play. And Meyers is the primary OF whose bat would likely not be missed if swapped out with Smith or Cole. 2026 wRC+ projections for Houston’s OF: Sanchez 107 Meyers 97 Smith 97 Trammell 97 Dezenzo 96 Matthews 93 Cole 91 Meyers just isn’t separated from the other options offensively; he’s just as likely to suck as the young guys. The main loss/risk with trading Meyers is defense, but Cole projects to be perfectly fine defensively, while Trammell and Smith would likely be at least average.
This would be my position player roster/lineup if opening day were today: SS Pena 1B/DH Paredes DH/LF Alvarez 3B Correa 2B Altuve C Diaz LF/1B Sanchez/Walker RF Trammell/Dezenzo CF Cole/Meyers Salazar would be the backup C paired with 1 of the 6 SP. Matthews and Smith would be optioned to preserve service time. Allen would be DFA. The 7-9 spots would be platoons but not strictly. This maximizes offensive output and would result in good defense, but it risks wasting value of Meyers and Walker (and perhaps pissing them off since they’d only be playing 50-80 games if everybody stayed healthy). The Trammell/Dezenzo platoon would be given 2 months and if they weren’t effective then Smith would be called back up to be the everyday RF (now with an extra year of control).
You may be right. My thinking is: 1) if you have a 6 man rotation, you have 1 fewer bullpen arm so each is more important. 2) Lance's injury history means that his arm can not take the stress of irregular and unplanned use. He won't be able to throw multiple times in a short period and with a short bullpen, this is a huge disadvantage. 3) We have heard for years, from multiple front offices, that a starters regular schedule is required for Lance to have any chance of staying healthy. 4) Heading into camp, Lance will have a leg up for a rotation spot so 6 pitchers will need to outpitch him. 5) Hader, Abreu, Okert, De Los Santos, and Pearson do not have options and will need to fail or get hurt in ST to not be on the opening day roster. King has options but has all but earned his spot. That leaves only 1 bullpen opening and over 162 games, that spot simply must be rotated among pitchers who have options. It just feels like having McCullers in the rotation and a guy like Blubaugh, Sousa, or Weiss etc who can pitch twice in a 3 game series or be sent down to get a fresh arm in the bullpen makes too much sense. Just my guess.
If Smith and Dezenzo can't get everyday AB's it makes sense for them to start the year at AAA. I think both of their bats have a lot of potential, but they shouldn't be platoon players. You need Allen as the late inning defensive replacement for Altuve, but I would also keep Matthews to make the starts at second when Altuve sits. Matthews can also play CF against lefties with Meyers moving to RF in favor of Cole/Sanchez.
That is true of Smith but in my opinion, Dezenzo has a ceiling of a bench bat which is perfectly good and valuable but does not required further minor league seasoning or everyday playing time.
Cam Smith not starting in the Astros’ outfield is poor player development. He’s not going to improve by seeing Triple-A pitching and was a plus defender in right field as a rookie. If the Astros want him to reach his potential, he has to make adjustments at the big-league level against big-league pitching. You don’t jerk him around to preserve service time after he already played an entire year in the big leagues. Also, Jake Meyers is the clear starter in center field heading into Spring Training. Zach Cole has to show his 52 at-bat sample size wasn’t a fluke and significantly cut down on his strikeout rate. Either Cole or Cam Smith must also show they can be plus defenders in center field for a Meyers’ trade to pick up steam.
