Teams also don’t trade the truly special prospects… even though the Astros don’t have any of those guys officially right now, I doubt people would give up K. Alvarez if the roles were reversed and the Astros were 3 games above .500 (but 7.5 back from a division lead) like the Red Sox are. Arias actually being “available” has me questioning plenty in that regard.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/49454719/sources-athletics-shea-langeliers-torn-meniscus Shea Langeliers off the mkt
I think it is, but i'm not worried about it enough to do any kind of study on it lol In any case, I can't see Crane approving a sell off at this point, regardless of how this week goes
I credit the Pads owners/front office for trying every team-building/contending strategy simultaneously, all at once, sometimes pivoting 3-4 times in the same half-season before a deadline.... they go from being sellers to buyers to sellers to buyers faster than Morgan Ensberg changed batting stances. And at the end of the day, its a fun baseball market. Somewhat 'tortured' given no titles, and no WS since 98, but they draw well and know they have to do whatever it takes when their biggest rival and direct competition is just running roughshod in all things. But the gaslamp district, the weather, the ballpark itself... SD is a great city to follow a baseball team in. (now considering making next weekend's series out there, easy flights).
Boston is coming off a big streak and in the minddat to go for it. They would trade a bplayer g time prospect who is 20 for Peña because he is in his prime snd having a great year. They would pay thd longtefm contract to keep Peña and therefore eong need a prospect at SS for years. The Stros however wont’t pay to keep Peña. Question is do they get more at this deadline or after the season or next year deadline. Pens is having a career year and has shown an injury waiting to happen. Who honestly believes the Stros are a contender either way this starring OF. Also Walker probably has his highest value right now as does Paredes. Sell them , get value and use your money on Brown and Valdez. Build with them and Cam and Arias and other haul from trades would also leave money to add a select vouple of FA’s better off there starting next seadon.
Despite all that, Boston really isn't in that much of a better "playoff" position than the Astros right now. They still have SP questions and play in a much tougher division. The winning streak definitely has them now considering all options (Chapman was basically already traded to the white sox), but there's still a **** ton of season left and the same questions for that team exist now as before the improbable winning streak. Also, Pena will be 30 when he's a FA. He's not going to be getting 10 year offers. These are his best years now both in performance and health regardless of which team retains or tries to get him (and everybody knows this, not just Astros fans). If they think their top 10 prospect who is 20 has a limited ceiling (not sure how one can make that call now on anybody), then them trading him is more optimizing HIS value and getting what they can now... but I still have raised eyebrows if a player like that is truly available now.
Gray Tolle Suarez Bennett Only a few teams can run out 4 starters who have been better than those guys
Injury concerns (with 36 yo Gray starting to have some minor stuff too), and none of them as good as Brown when he's on... but they did just trade Early so they obviously have some confidence in the rest of their staff (it just seems misguided given how much season is left). The Red Sox run does remind me of when the Astros peaked last year at 20 games above .500 and swept the Dodgers in LA. They were actually in a position to cash in on Gray (and Chapman), but now they're going to buy, as they should... but we shall see if like the 2025 Astros there's a peak-too-early regression coming.
If you thought Correa, LMJ (and Pena this season) get injured often… Buxton has done it longer/better than anybody. The Twins have to trade him if he has a semblance of a market (even though they technically have a better playoff chance than the Astros right now).
Pena absolutely on fire . Bos out of the market for him ? Wouldn't sell unless you got a huge offer .
I saw someone mentioned JJ bleday , i do like him , but thats just from looking at stats. I still like thinking about this deadline strategically . If we buy ,what do we really need? Well, that depends on what we have .. Yordan, Pena, Paredes are studs. Walker is good enough. Vasquez, smith, and Matthews are bad offensive players but very good defenders. Altuve is having a very bad year and we all have to ask ourselves can/will he bounce back or is this the decline. Pitching wise, inconsistency has been our trademark. Personally , Ive been down on Brown, but he can be a top pitcher if he is on. Peter Lambert is awesome. Outside of those two its been flashes of great and flashes of garbage... from everyone. Hader has been good, believing in relievers is always scary. What kind of team can we cobble together? what do we need to beat our competition? Outside of our studs, everyone on the roster is a bit of a gamble. I like some of the gambles that Dana Brown has taken , unfortunately they just havent worked out as well as you'd like. Lamont Wade I thought showed promise , but he got hurt and its clear his athleticism is not very good. Rey delgado has actually been working out ok . Nick Allen is having a good batting average year but still doesn't bring much to the table . Are any of these guys contenders for our playoff roster ? The skinny of our offensive situation is this imo .. We are ok at SS , 3B , and wherever yordan plays ( DH or LF ) . We could get better literally everywhere else ... with Walker at 1B probably the toughest to upgrade . Diaz / Vasquez at C is an average platoon. The OF in general is filled with capable defenders but streaky / bad offensive players. You know who Meyers , Loperfido , Trammell are at this point. Maybe you say say loperfido still has some runway. Smith and Matthews are too raw and maybe just not gonna be good. Smith had been trending up. Still not an above average offensive player. Power does funny things tho , so if he can elevate and get balls to leave parks maybe he can better utilize his plate discipline. Finally, there's the Altuve at 2B situation. Do you just leave it alone and hope it gets better? Utility has extra value for us IMO. Who is our backup 1B btw ? It looks like we dont really have one . Its been paredes and lamont wade who have gotten extra starts. You need to bring in players who can handle 1B and OF and 2B and OF . This is one of the reasons i like Bleday. Ok since this is the trade thread , here are a couple more names. Ernie Clement from TOR Michael Massey from KCR Luis Arraez would be sweet but lets be real .. and ofc Bleday . Its a tough market to get better in your lineup , pitching is ALWAYS expensive. Good luck Dana
What about Mike Trout ? Angels in purgatory again. Trout is awesome. He can play CF while having Cam in RF and have matthews/ trammell as a reliable backup. What do the Astros need to give up to get him . Hes on a huge contract. Objectively , hes not super-duper valuable. Realistically, the angels may never trade him . The other problem is even if we can meet the price , the instant trout goes on the market I think we can get outbid for him. Dodgers can trade from one of the better farms , same with the other contenders. Our advantage may be if trout wants to come to us , or if crane is willing to be crazy and eat $ . Whats the penalty for being over the tax ? surely we will be . We could trade Walker and javier for him , but if you trade for trout you probably dont want to trade walker ( in a contending sense ) unless you also fix 1b . Plus the angles have a 24 year old 1b that is having a good season. So again our "advantage" would be that we are willing to go into the tax ? But crane loves a legend Since this is clutchfans Mike trout + 10 million to the astros for christian Javier ethan pecko and ethan frey . Thats probably more than a fair deal for trout . But organizationally we could afford the hit. Try and lean on trout's veteran wisdom and lean on the young guys. Then Brown should try to flip a few of Meyers , Dezenzo , Fido , Spence , trammel for Bullpen help or a utility player he likes better. Somehow get Massey from KCR Go to war with Trout (CF) Yordan (DH) Pena (SS) Paredes (3B) Walker (1B) Massey (LF) Smith (RF) Diaz (C ) Altuve (2B) Massey can play 2b also. Have ; Delgado , Matthews , Vasquez, and Cole off the bench . You can havea defensive lineup with Matthews / Trout/ Smith. Insane, even if trout has lost a step , his arm is still strong and those 2 can cover for him. Pitchers 1/2/3/ Brown, Lambert , Imai we have a 4/5 problem for the regular season . Ronel and Spencer are OK . but Spaghetti just went on the DL . Hader , abreu , king , blubaugh , and teng and okert are probably locks. Lets see if we can catch some lightning in a bottle. Santa is OK . I wonder if we are purposefully managing him to be available down the stretch ? I dont know good relievers available. Again , trout is a pipedream , but kinda a nice pipedream. You HAVE to unload someone in the offseason tho . Correa/ Walker/ Paredes. Obv walker is your top fan preference. Correa financially , Paredes in terms of value. Oh or altuve, but that wont happen. So ideally Cam takes over CF , trout can move to RF or LF . Paredes to 1B , walker traded. Correa healthy and plays 3B Can the new CBA allow players to renegotiate and take a pay cut ? FWIW i do think trout doesnt need to be in a big market and hed enjoy playing with Correa, Altuve , and Yordan. edit . One final edit , Somehow trading trout In-division may be more palatable than away to the NL . He will always be loved as an angel, and the fans will get to see him more often the trade for trout is actually pretty fair imo . Yes Javier is a bad contract , but its tiny compared to trout's remaining $ , plus the two prospects are good. Honestly , just one would be fair , but for Trout you have to give up more than 1 injured pitcher and one good prospect. Anyways not gonna happen .. so
If we are selling , Pena to NYY seems obvious. Could we make george lombard the centerpiece of a pena trade. You could do pena for lombard and 1 other player on their prospect list and they can protect their top 15 guys If they wont trade Lombard, their number 2 prospect is a pitcher . You do him and then 2 players after they protect their top 10. Hunter Brown is easier to find fits for, everyone wants pitching. It would be up to brown to find the best combination of prospects. Hypothetically , the dodgers have one of the strongest farm systems . Their number 4 and 5 prospect being fangraphs 35 and 36th best in mlb. In terms of Hunter Browns value that would be somewhat fair. Maybe throw in one more player after they protect the top 40. Its much easier to think of names for Players you want on your MLB team. All of these prospects are guys you can only look at stats or watch highlights of .... if you even invest that much. Normally you just get scouting information secondhand. If you trade Pena and Brown you should get 3 top 100 guys . Ideally 3 top 60 ish prospects. What makes that difficult is finding a system that has multiple top 50/60 guys that will trade 2 of them . Teams that normally have 6/7 top 100 guys usually arent big buyers. Its so much more efficient to let them get to MLB cost controlled than trade for a player making big money...even with the bust rate. The dodgers may not feel a pressing need for Brown , but MIL and CHC definitely need starting pitching. Both teams have strong systems . I saw an earlier post here link to fangraphs top 50 trade values. Hunter Brown made the list over pena . Pena probably isnt worth Franklin Arias a consensus top 10 prospect. The NY ss Lombard is more of a top 25. Is Hunter Brown worth Jesus Made , Brewers SS prospect ? Probably not . Would they trade us Luis Lara and another prospect ?
