Even if we don't go after Price this is good news, as theoretically it should reduce the asking price for Cueto, etc.
Is there any evidence to suggest that trading for a player gives you a small leg up on re-signing him? (David Price situation). Obviously I'd love to deal for Price and "open up the checkbook" in the offseason as David and Dallas have talked about. My natural thought is that his familiarity with the town, fans and players would help in his offseason decision. But -- all evidence that I can remember seems to point to rental players always bolting to the highest bidder. Basketball this is not.
Yeah, it's not exactly a great sellers market for pitchers. Hamels, Kazmir, Cueto. Possibly Tyson Ross, Samardzija, and James Shields. Throw in a true ace like David Price, and it gets to the point where the sellers are competing against each other and not the buyers.
You could be right. Price should give you 3 WAR for the last half season. Appel before he reaches FA should given you somewhere between 0 and 10 WAR.
http://houston.cbslocal.com/2015/07...es-dog-astro-might-be-sign-of-things-to-come/ <iframe id="cbsembed" width="560" height="315" src="http://cbsloc.al/1ee3E48" frameborder="0" /></iframe> Coming into this season, we hope we would have a team above .500 and relevant late in the summer. We're there. Looks like a 2 team race in the AL West. 9 games left with the Angels. We need to put ourselves in position to win the division. 1 extra game for the wild card and best-of-5 if you win the division. We're gonna go for it. That may mean some moves here in the next 10 days. Teams that are young are affordable the first 3 years. Year four, they are expensive. Our payroll goes up holding our same players in place. Someone like Keuchel will go from the minimum to something significantly above that. We'll have to increase our payroll just to keep our own guys. That's the nature of being a young team. If we were to trade for an expiring player, we'd have to assume they weren't going to return. It's a bonus if they want to stay. Some guys we're talking about will get $100+M contracts next year. We may not be the best team for those players but might be the best team for a playoff run this year. Everything is a gamble. Short-term guys, you'll have to give up future potential. We saw Oakland last year give up a lot and ended up getting booted in the Wild Card game. That's not so great for us and want to avoid that if possible. (Why would $100M player not be a great fit?) It depends. We have some interesting young pitchers who have arrived and more are coming. It may not be the best to use our resources to sign a $100M+ pitcher. It may be important to fill other needs. (George Springer update?) Springer is frustrated because he wants to be out there. We won't have an update for another 3 weeks. To be realistic, September 1st is a good time frame. Anything before that is a bonus. (Correa) Hard to say a 20 year old and will have a positive impact but he has done that. ASB was a good rest for him. Correa is one of the best players in baseball. He's developing nicely into an impact player for a long time to come. (Biggest need?) Pitcher in the rotation. We really like Keuchel. McHugh and Feldman are good veteran pitchers(Feldman obviously the veteran there). We have some young guys but to get one established guy with playoff experience, a true number one or two, it's hard to do and I'm not sure we can do it but we'll give it a good go. (Managing of innings?) It's impossible to say. There's the Stephen Strasburg approach where you put a number on it, get to it, then shut them down. We did not want to do that. We want to preserve their arms and innings. Any inning we can preserve right now, we can deposit in September or October. That's a worthwhile trade-off. That's why we gave McCullers and Velasquez extended rest right here in July and why they'll get more rest as the season goes on. (How closely are you following FBI investigation?) I can't comment on that. It's an ongoing investigation. (Sunday's game?) I was hoping the way they would respond is dominate on Sunday and they did. That was a statement game. The next statement games is when the Angels come to town. We got 9 games left with them, 2 apart in the standings, they're who we need to focus on. Each game counts for really 2 normal games. I hope our fans show up and that's the next time we have a chance to make a statement. (Scuffle--young team saying to baseball we're here and won't get pushed around?) That's part of it. As a young team with not a lot of experience, other clubs might feel they can push you around. Our guys said that won't happen. That's a bold statement to make. We do have guys who have been to the playoffs but by in large, young and inexperienced but we believe in what this team is capable of. They won't be pushed around. (Jed Lowrie?) He'll start his rehab any day now, today or tomorrow. He'll get some at-bats, play 3B. We hope by the end of the month he'll be back in uniform. We need his bat in our lineup. (Mark Appel or anyone untouchable?) My approach is no one is untouchable. Right now, if someone wanted to trade for McCullers, that'd be pretty tough. He'd be the only one I'd include in that category. Obviously Keuchel, Altuve, Springer & Correa aren't going anywhere. As far as minor leaguers, I gotta listen. We have a robust minor league system. Different teams like different guys. (Did you know David Price's dog is named Astro?) I did know that. We got some Vanderbilt guys in our system. I follow the Vanderbilt chatter. Maybe that's a sign of things to come.
Yeah, Price will be an Astro. Whether we keep him beyond this season is up to management. But I have a good feeling about this.
Wouldn't mind seeing what the Marlins would want for Prado He would be a great platoon partner for Valbuena as Prado has hit LHP extremely well for several years now Wouldn't think the cost would be extremely high either That is the kind of hitter i'd like to see us go after, and make the big deal going after an Ace
Can't remember the last in-season acquisition I was this excited for. Beltran was like Christmas. I was pretty stoked when we picked up Aubrey Huff, too.
