Jake Meyers has a career .671 OPS, Cam Smith has a .665 OPS, both are great defensive players Jo Adell has a .691 OPS, Mickey Moniak had a .673 OPS prior to joining the Rockies and has a .703 OPS away from Coors. Both are bad defensive players. I don't see how those 2 move the meter in the slightest much less provide "huge improvement". I'll take my chances on Myers glove and the likelihood that he will return to an average level of offensive suckiness by seasons end. If the Astros insist on trying to win, then try to win. Don't shuffle the scrub deck chairs. Nootbaar I'm OK with targeting because he's actually been a consistently solid bat in his career, has a good glove and could work in a platoon. Meyers and Cam have both been fine vs. LHP for their careers.
^^^ this guy gets it I was just responding to your question: Would Teng or Burrows bring back Nootbar? The answer is "no". The question is moot.
Adell doesn’t offer the Astros anything they can’t likely get from Wade. Moniak has value as a platoon partner for Meyers if you think Moniak can handle CF. But neither of those guys should be expected to carry the offense. If other entrenched guys (Walker, Diaz, Altuve, Smith) don’t start producing the Astros are cooked regardless of what they do in CF/LF.
You need to look at 2026 instead of careers. Players change greatly over time. I HATE Adell and would never want him on my Astros. Besides, he hits right-handed so doesn't fit. (I Just kept including him from previous posts in the thread) But he has a .739 OPS outside of Anaheim this year and .750 last year. That is a considerable improvement over the guys who play LF now. Moniak has a .771 OPS away from Coors this year and a 1.022 OPS vs RH pitching. I don't know how to sort both RHP and away but it is almost certainly .771 or better. Nootbar is my choice but there is no world where Moniak is not a huge upgrade to this team.
Moniak has 165 PA this season, and only 71 away from Coors field Brice Matthews has an .857 OPS in 107 PA away from MMP, that's one half of an all star platoon right there. Forgive me if I don't put too much stock in small sample sizes. Moniak could have a decent use as a platoon partner...while we likely sacrifice defense. Or it could also work out just as well as Sanchez did for us last season. This all deck chair shuffling, the likely cone of possibility for the team will not change noticeably with these possible fringy upgrades. There's the very real possibility that Moniak will be a not good player for us in half a season, or that Meyers will be pretty good for half a season. We've seen both happen.
An “All-In” trade deadline: Astros get: CF Byron Buxton SP Joe Ryan $3M (2026) Twins get: OF Cam Smith OF/2B Brice Matthews P Ethan Pecko P Mike Burrows Astros get: OF Mickey Moniak RP Antonio Senzatela $4M Rockies get: OF Joey Loperfido P Bryce Mayer PTBNL Rays get: RP Bryan Abreu Astros get: PTBNL Mets get: OF Taylor Trammell Astros get: PTBNL resulting roster: CF Buxton SS Pena DH Alvarez 3B Paredes RF Moniak 1B Walker 2B Altuve LF Wade C Diaz Bench: Allen, Vazquez, Shewmake, Meyers SP: Brown, Ryan, Lambert, Arrighetti, Imai, Javier RP: Hader, Senzatela, King, Okert, De Los Santos, Pearson, Teng IL: Walter, McCullers Optioned: Blanco, Blubaugh, Gordon, Alexander, Ullola, Santa, VanWey, Wesneski, Sousa, Dezenzo, Cole, Price, Whitcomb, Delgado
That’s not necessarily true as Adell has crushed LHP and Wade certainly isn’t going to provide that. No one on this roster outside of Yordan has even been close to Adell against LHP since the start of last season. I doubt he would be happy in a platoon situation though so doesn’t really matter.
Not sure how realistic Buxton is but they have said they are open to moving Jeffers. Definitely wouldn’t be opposed to getting off the Yainer train if they do decide to go for it.
Yep and this is on Dana and his failures in trades, scouting. I said in spring training that the only hope for this offense was to trade for an OF bat and hope that Cam and Diaz came around. Dana chose to do nothing. Thing is, with Wade coming back and platooning with either Matthews or Cam, if they were to trade for an avg to slightly above avg hitting OF the offense would be playoff worthy.
Those are the 2 best outfielders currently on this team and also most likely to be the best in 2027-2030. Of course they aren't untouchable but if you are actively shopping them then you either need 2 OF instead of 1, or just give up on 2026. And if you are giving up on 2026, its dumb to use young cheap players with 5+ years of control as your trade assets. I am not particularly attached and, in a vacuum, I don't care if they are traded but IMO they are not the ones you try to trade away.
Depends on how you see them as players in the future. I'm not as high on either one of them as most on here. They will become solid everyday players in time. But not star level players. I see them at best on the Larnich, Nootbar level players eventually. So I would have no problem trading either one of these guys. Which one do you think will become the better player?
I don't know how feasible it is. I guess it depends on if the twins want to win now or later. That being said, I would probably do it.
I don’t think the Twins would do that deal even though I think it’s a good value for them. If they trade Buxton/Ryan it will be in separate trades and they’ll be looking for more traditional prospects for Buxton, headlined by somebody in the current MLB Top 30, which the Astros can’t offer. But you never know.
Certain sellers: Rockies, Giants Likely sellers: Red Sox, Mets, Angels, Royals, Tigers Leaning sellers: Reds, Orioles, Twins On the fence: A’s, Rangers, Astros, Marlins, Nats, Pirates, Diamondbacks Players of interest from those first 3 groups: OF Mickey Moniak OF Jung Hoo Lee OF Jarren Duran OF JJ Bleday OF Trevor Larnach OF Luis Robert Jr. OF Kerry Carpenter IF/OF Brett Baty IF/OF Mark Vientos IF/OF Kody Clemens 1B/OF Josh Bell 1B/OF Nathanial Lowe C Victor Caratini SP Robbie Ray SP Sonny Gray SP Trevor Rogers SP Freddy Peralta SP Kodai Senga SP Yusei Kikuchi SP Seth Lugo SP Kris Bubic SP Brady Singer SP Jack Flaherty SP Tarik Skubal SP Casey Mize SP Joe Ryan SP Bailey Ober SP Dean Kremer RP Antonio Senzatela RP Luke Weaver RP Devin Williams RP Matt Strahm RP Kyle Finnegan RP Kenley Jansen RP Burch Smith RP Ryan Helsley RP Tejay Antone RP Caleb Ferguson RP Tyler Wells RP Andrew Kittredge RP Yennier Cano RP Anthony Banda RP Taylor Rogers
Unless something changes, it looks like there is going to be a greater amount of quality SPs than OF bats on the market. That’s actually a pretty great list of rental starters. The Yankees, Rays, Mariners, Brewers, Dodgers, and Phillies don’t really have a huge need for SP either so the cost could actually be somewhat reasonable. A lefty starter would be ideal just to balance out the looks we are giving a team during a playoff series. Bubic, Rogers or Ray would be a great addition. Rogers seems to finally be figuring it out this season after being absolutely dominant last season.
Maybe if we tell them that they don't have to eat their portion of Correa's salary, they would do it. I know they want to cut payroll.
Yes the market might play to Houston’s favor. It might be a buyer’s market for non-elite SP. I also don’t think the market will be too pricey for a guy like Moniak. The likely buyers needs are generally pretty narrow: Yankees: none, they may add to their bullpen Rays: CF, SS, 2B, RP, TOR Jays: SS, TOR White Sox: RP, TOR Guardians: CF Mariners: 3B Braves: DH Phillies: RF, CF, 3B, BOR, RP Brewers: 3B, BOR Cardinals: TOR, 3B, C, CF, RP Cubs: TOR, DH, BOR Dodgers: none, they may add to their bullpen Padres: C, DH, TOR, 2B It’s a shame Correa isn’t healthy, they could probably get a haul for Paredes or Pena.
A couple of more realistic hypotheticals: Astros get: SP Trevor Rogers $2M Orioles get: P Cole Hertzler C Will Bush P Jagger Beck Astros get: OF Mickey Moniak Rockies get: OF Lucas Spence P Jackson Nezuh P Brandon McPherson Resulting roster: SS Pena DH Alvarez 3B Paredes CF Moniak 1B Walker 2B Altuve LF Wade RF Smith C Diaz Bench: Allen, Meyers, Vazquez, Dezenzo SP: Brown, Rogers, Imai, Lambert, Arrighetti, Javier RP: Hader, King, Teng, Okert, De Los Santos, Abreu, Blanco
