Just a snap poll concerning what we should spend our FA money on . Make two choices. If you wonder what the "#2" is about, some might think we need to spend on two starters for instance. This poll is NOT about needs we might address in house. Ive heard numbers like 30-35M is what we have available to spend.
Catcher and big bat. Bat can be pretty much any position, although 1B would be ideal. If we do add a proper slugger, we can pretty much just add an OK catcher and be good. Not gonna say starter yet until the pictures on LMJ and Morton are clearer. If we lose both of them and DK, then adding a starter becomes a priority. I would be fine with a Verlander, Cole, Morton, Peacock, James rotation to start the season.
SP#2 was only meant for those that also voted starting pitcher. In other words, our two biggest priorities are getting two starting pitchers.
Yeah...... a genuine 850-950 OPS bat added to the line up would make a massive difference in the Astros line up. If we lose 3 starters (DK, CM, LM) we have to get someone outside the organization and can roll with two inside the organization for the #4 and #5. At some point soon Whitley is joining the rotation if he can avoid being a drug addict.
Assuming McCullers is out, rotation is of equal importance to catcher. And those 2 are easily the most important areas to address from outside. Adding another bat, replacing/resigning Marwin, and further deepening the rotation and bullpen are all luxuries if they happen. Wilson Ramos or JT Realmuto are the most obvious answers at catcher. There are myriad potential answers for starting pitcher but Madison Bumgarner, Jacob deGrom, and Jonathan Gray seem like the biggest impact options.
With C being an almost automatic, I was torn between Big Bat and SP. Like already pointed out, much depends on what DK & Morton do. But my fear is that if we do nothing for the offense, it may be worse than 2018. A bat at C would help though. Enough if we lose Marwin and Yuli/Reddick decline more? Healthy Correa next year? Looks like this forum has the same split tendencies. I made the poll open till late March. As that time approaches, things ought to come into focus. Three choices would have been very easy. Hard to imagine we would sign 3 higher tier FA's in the same winter though.
I picked catcher and big bat. Preferably a catcher that hits closer to .250 than .200. The team doesn't seem to have a clear answer for that position. By big bat, I just mean consistent bat. Batting inconsistency was out of control this year. I'll take a decent likelihood of an RBI single over a low likelihood of a big home run if I have to choose.
If they go with Realmuto, Ramos, Suzuki, Wieters, Lucroy, Mesoraco, McCann, or Perez at catcher, they may not have an everyday hitter in their entire lineup who k’s >20%. Would likely make for an incredibly consistent offense. 2018 mlb k%: Springer 19.7 Bregman 12.1 Altuve 13.2 Correa 23.7 (20.6 career) Gurriel 11.0 Kemp 14.9 Reddick 15.8 Tucker 18.1 White 20.7
I chose SP and catcher. Another bat is needed but if they can get Realmuto, he could be the big bat. He had 21 hrs and 74 Rbi's.
I’d say it’s less than 50/50 that he comes back at this point. I think Luhnow places an extremely high value on draft picks, and so weighing giving $40M to a league average hitter who has declining defensive versatility against letting him walk and getting an extra draft pick (which Luhnow has a pretty good track record with - McCullers, Fisher, Cameron, Corbin Martin), probably an easy decision. But Marwins history with the club and impact in the clubhouse does make it a bit harder.
A review of our roster would be helpful: Starting Pitchers Verlander Cole McCullers - Until I see a full-time move to the bullpen, I'm going to call him a starter. SP Options McHugh James Peacock Whitley Relief Pitchers Devenski Osuna Rondon Pressly Lineup 1B - Gurriel 2B - Altuve SS - Correa 3B - Bregman RF - Reddick CF - Springer Lineup Options DH - White LF - Kemp LF - Tucker CF - Marisnick CF - Straw C - Stassi DH/LF - Alvarez Estimated Current Total Pitchers - 11 Estimated Current Total Lineup - 11 Spots Available - 3 It looks like we need a catcher and a starter, but I think that's a little overstated. We made it to the ALCS after winning the whole thing the year before. We should seek to improve, not fill holes, though it would be best if we could do both. My top targets would be, in no particular order: C - Yasmani Grandal C - Wilson Ramos INF/LF - Marwin Gonzalez OF - Bryce Harper SP - Patrick Corbin SP - Nathan Eovaldi SP - Charlie Morton SP - Clayton Kershaw Ideally, I'd go for Ramos, Marwin and then spend big for Corbin. SP - Verlander, Corbin, Cole, James, McCullers RP - McHugh, Peakcock, Whitley, Devenski, Pressly, Rondon, Osuna Lineup CF - Springer 2B - Altuve 3B - Bregman SS - Correa 1B - Gurriel LF - Kemp C - Ramos RF - Reddick DH - White Bench - Marwin, Tucker, Marisnick, Stassi
Me voted for a big bat. Don't really care if that upgrade comes in at 1b, LF, or the DH so long as he is a cleanup type hitter. Perfectly fine with a the catcher spot being a blackhole on offense so long as the guy is a gold glove caliber or near that.
McCullers is out for all of next season as he is expected to have Tommy John surgery this month. But to follow up on your roster analysis, Houston has the following tiers of players under control for 2019: Stars (6): Contenders don’t trade stars IF Bregman 2B Altuve SS Correa OF Springer SP Verlander SP Cole Average/solid players making $8-15M (2): Too valuable to salary dump, too expensive to get value, so very unlikely to be traded OF Reddick IF Gurriel RP Smith Average/solid players making $2-8M (8): surplus value, could be traded but likely to stay OF Marisnick P McHugh RP Osuna RP Rondon RP Pressly RP Harris RP Devenski P Peacock Unproven players with high upside (7): could be core pieces or trade chips IF/DH White OF Tucker OF/1B/DH Y Alvarez SP Whitley P James SP C Martin SP Bukauskas Unproven players with moderate upside (13): secondary trade chips or bench players C Stassi C Stubbs 2B/OF Kemp OF Fisher OF Straw 3B/1B/LF/DH Davis 1B/DH Reed P C Perez P F Valdez RP Deetz P Armenteros RP R Ferrell P T Thornton Unproven players with low upside (3): dfa candidates RP Guduan RP Gustave P Rodgers Injured players (2): 60 day DL candidates P Martes P McCullers What you think of the “solid players” and “unproven high upside” groups will dictate what you think the needs are this offseason. If you believe Gurriel, White, Reddick, and Tucker will be good or even great offensive players, then the only need on the position player side is catcher. I don’t think any sane person feels comfortable entering 2019 with a Stubbs/Stassi platoon. Likewise, if you believe some combination of McHugh, Peacock, James, and Whitley will definitely make great 3-5 starting pitchers, then there likely isn’t a need to make any moves on the pitching side. Personally, I think adding a good defensive catcher who is also a legitimate middle of the order hitter should be the biggest focus of the offseason. Doing so allows Gurriel and Reddick to move down in the order, and it provides insurance against failure of Tucker and White. I don’t see a need to go out and add a middling veteran bat with guys like White, Davis, Marisnick, and Kemp as depth. If there are resources and the right available player, then I’m fine adding a bat, but it needs to be an elite bat who represents a meaningful upgrade over White/Kemp/Gurriel/Reddick. Adding a 2nd tier catcher to me is a half measure, but if they miss out on all the good hitting catchers (there will only be 3-4 available), they will have no choice, because they have to do something. While I am high on the Whitley/James/McHugh pitching options, I don’t want to enter the season counting on 2 of those 3 guys as potential playoff starters. Houston *should* have the prospect depth, analysis, and financial means to acquire a really good starting pitcher, similar to the Cole trade last offseason. Whether that’s resigning Morton, something bigger (DeGrom), or something riskier (Estrada?), remains to be seen. But I do think they will add a SP and I trust Luhnow. I don’t expect them to do much to the bullpen, but given the glut of quality relievers on the free agent market, I won’t be shocked if an elite RP is left without a big contract offer and takes less to go to Houston; I think Houston will have some money stashed for such a situation. This team should win 90+ games no matter if they make a single move. But the offseason will determine if they enter the season as expected 95 win contenders, or 105 win WS favorites.
