http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/history-suggests-we-curb-our-enthusiasm-at-trade-deadline/ Interesting read. In case it's not clear, my opinion is that 1 WAR the rest of the way isn't that useful for this team...only an impactful playoff player is. Unclear if anyone available was a significant upgrade over Morton/Fiers. And those will be the 2/3 starters in the playoffs if LMJ isn't healthy. If he is, LMJ will be LMJ
Us too but don't worry the sunshine pumpers will tell us it will be ok we have 2021 to look forward too
Haha ... part of being a fan Just means we want to win it all and this would have been the best year to do it. Even Luhnow is disappointed.
I'm guessing had to do with Gray and Darvish. Both ended up going for neither trading teams' top 3 prospects.
Reading that Luhnow interview makes me want to vomit. Dude got schooled today by GMs who have been doing it for a lot longer, and under more pressure than him.
He did imply that when he said teams have different markets and payroll that they can afford. I think he said Astros are mid- to small- market. Cannot compare with Yankees or Dodgers.
This isn't free agency, size of market shouldnt matter. We had comparable prospects just a lesser GM that couldnt get it done. Nothing had to do with money and being big market.
Billy Beane has dealt with Luhnow quite a bit... moreso than any other GM thus far. My guess is he wouldn't accept less than one of Whitley, Tucker, or Perez... in addition to Fisher. Luhnow probably pushed Alvarez hard, along with some of the AAA guys who will never have a spot here.
Well considering Gray instantly becomes their 2nd best pitcher, he has two more years of control, and they didn't have to give up their major talent... I would say they definitely hit the jackpot. Meanwhile, the best thing we can say about our trade is "well, at least he is good against lefties." I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm glad we got a replacement for Sipp, but we were in on Gray, Quintana, Britton, Wilson, and Verlander... we got none of them.
I suppose I've been further down on Gray than most. Until this year, his FIP/xFIP increased every year since '13. I think his arm is going to break again based on people that have evaluated his mechanics. He's a risk. Don't get me wrong--I would have taken him. But I'm just not sold on him being a stud and that his 2 years matters as much as it seems on the surface. He's a plus for them, but if he reverts this year or next to his previous trendline, or if he gets significantly injured...I don't know that prospects will have been worth it.
You do realize I'm talking about the difference between being disappointed and devastated, right? It's stuff like this: "Reading that Luhnow interview makes me want to vomit." "We are a joke." "All I can do is laugh to hide the pain." (Now, I do understand the frustration. And since I'm kinda being a bit of a pompous ass in lecturing to people who may not feel like being lectured to at this particular moment, please feel free to respond with "**** you, dandorotik!" I will gladly take one- or more- for the team).
Obviously I'm in the minority, but I just never viewed Sonny Gray as that top flight starter the Astros needed. I really don't see him as being much better than our other 2-3 starter options we already have, and if the Astros felt the same way, it absolutely was not worth giving up anything significant. Honestly, I would have been much more excited about getting Britton or Hand, but since those guys didn't get dealt, they were obviously asking too much. We'll see how it works out, but I just don't see that Gray would have been that great of an addition.
With Gray, I assume Oakland was asking for different (i.e. better) prospects from the Astros since he is under club control and the Astros are in the division.
Great Luhnow. I'm super glad to hear "you tried" this isn't your attempt to run the mile in elementary school. "I tried" isn't good enough. You are paid a lot of money to get it done. Three trade deadlines and three shittings of the bed. How many do you get?
