How would the typical Astros fan, respond to the Astros just selling Appel, Moran, and Phillips for cash? How would the typical Astros fan respond to the Astros respond to the Astros trading Appel, Moran, and Phillips for Strasburg?
I read that as him asking how much more we would have to add to the package of Folty, Ruiz, Thurman in order to get Strasburg. I don't think it matters. The trade is done, so meh. Can't do much about it anymore.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>"Between his size and his stuff, he's a guy who has a lot of upside," Luhnow said of Bostick, whose cousin is a WR for the Packers.</p>— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) <a href="https://twitter.com/OrtizKicks/status/557996735600283648">January 21, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>"He's definitely a starting pitcher-type guy," Luhnow said of RHP Akeem Bostick, the 19-year-old the Astros got for Corporan.</p>— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) <a href="https://twitter.com/OrtizKicks/status/557996413796515840">January 21, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Isn't Bostick the guy for the Packers who let the onside kick go through his hands and off his face mask, giving that last drive to the Seahawks?
I'm not sure the comparison - I imagine they would hate the former and love the latter because it makes the team better today. I'm trying to figure out why the Nationals signed Scherzer only to try to trade Strasburg. Why not just keep Strasburg in the first place? He's younger, cheaper, just as good, and enormously popular. They could use all that money to boost their offense, which is much more of a problem than their already-best-in-the-game pitching staff. They just lost a playoff series where they gave up 9 runs and scored 9 runs in 4 games (one that went 18 innings). It's like the Astros 10 years ago trading Oswalt or Berkman while signing an older, far more expensive version of the same guy. The prospects might be nice, but Strasburg and Harper are the faces of their franchise and are the symbol of them becoming relevant.
By signing Scherzer and trading Strasburg, the Nationals would essentially be buying prospects. Strasburg is younger, but it sounds like there is bad blood between him and the organization so he is likely doen with them after two years. Over the next two years, Scherzer's age shouldn't matter too much and he should have about the same value as Strasburg. Keeping Strasburg would mean they have nothing after two years. Going the Scherzer route, the Nats pay Scherzer a ton of money, but they have a Strasburg worth of prospects and all it took was cash. To the Nats, it doesn't matter if cash goes to other team or Scherzer. I still don't think Strasburg gets traded, but if he does, it is going to be a huge haul. Nats have a very good roster so there really hasn't been anything in free agency worth spending money on for them. Worst case scenario for them is they get stuck with Strasburg for two years. Not a bad option. I wish the Astros threw money like that around.
Luhnow suggested pretty strongly that Gattis in LF is a bit of a last resort, if that is the case the puzzle pieces aren't fitting right now. If Singleton bombs in ST then it makes sense, but if he plays well there is no reason to have Gattis Carter or Singleton sitting, even if Gattis is really bad in LF. His offensive upside to too good. As for CF, Luhnow never said Rasmus was playing CF, just that he was guaranteed to be a starter. If they do in fact have him in CF while Marisnick lingers in LF I will have a problem with that. Rasmus isn't as bad as Fowler, but he's nowhere near as good as Marisnick. I think to a large degree Luhnow is simply trying to acquire potentially valuable MLB players, and he will sort them later, which I'm OK with.
Astros are operating under expectations for what they think will happen. When Astros first got Gattis, my first thought was he's going to be ugly in left quickly followed by a thought that Carter was on the block. I have hopes that Singleton turns it around. As I step back and look at what he's done the last two years, I see a guy that has had a 240 or so game stretch in AAA where he struck out less than 30%. I don't think Astros are counting on Singleton. If he does well, he's a puzzle piece the Astros didn't realize they had.
Agreed - they seem to be setting themselves up so that if any of their pieces don't live up to expectations, they have the flexibility to adapt instead of just having to accept a big hole somewhere in the lineup. That suggests a real desire to compete this year - otherwise, a hole would be OK and you'd just let guys work through it (as they did last year).
Good. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Sources: Vogelsong shifts course. No deal with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Astros?src=hash">#Astros</a>. In serious discussions with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SFGiants?src=hash">#SFGiants</a>.</p>— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/558104350355374080">January 22, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
You didn't get pumped at the thought of a Feldman/Vogelsong double header in July with dollar dogs???
Astros got their payroll to 70 million after the Rasmus signing. Lunhow said they would increase the budget by 20 million from last year which was 50 million. I think Astros are done dealing from a position of need.
