Fine. Sign Starling Marte and Chris Taylor for CF/SS next offseason until Leon and/or Pena are ready.
Maybe they use this year to evaluate Leon and Pena in the hopes that one of them is ready to step in at SS and be an above average hitter next season (knowing they have Diaz as insurance). Then they can use the offseason to address CF. Problem is that there aren’t any good CF available in free agency unless you like Starling Marte. Trade candidates would be Gallo, Margot, Cain, and Happ. I wonder if Oakland would listen on Laureano since he will be entering arbitration or if SF would listen on Yaz since they should be rebuilding.
Maldonado's time in Houston: 2018: 0.655 OPS 2019: 0.781 OPS 2020: 0.727 OPS Brian McCann's time in Houston: 2017: 0.759 OPS 2018: 0.640 OPS During the 2017 postseason championship run, McCann had a 0.540 OPS.
The problem with losing your SS and CF in back-to-back seasons is you've got to be able to replace them both. Leon may (or may not) be a good fit at one of those two spots, but he can't play both at the same time. They're going to have to spend to replace one or both, assuming Straw continues to underwhelm. At least they should have plenty of money in the offseason.
Agreed they will have to find replacements. They have some flexibility because they can shift Bregman to SS and add a third baseman. I personally think they solve the CF problem either internally (moving players around) or through trade. I wouldn’t be shocked if they make a run at Kris Bryant if his market isn’t robust. He can play multiple spots.
I also still think Gurriel could play 3B. So bringing in a big bat for 1B is also an option. Rizzo and Freeman are the free agents, but the A’s might also be willing to listen on Olson. Gallo could also play 1B. One thing from this season is that thru almost 50 pa Straw’s bat looks unplayable. He cannot make hard enough contact to get on base enough to be a viable offensive weapon. He looks limited to defensive replacement and baserunning duties.
As awful as Maldonado has been so far, the offense hasn't been the problem. The Astros still have the second best offense in the AL. He won't post a .200 OPS all year. The pitching has been awful during this losing streak. There's still so much early season variance that a few good games can skew numbers, but before we invest any assets improving CF and C, we need to make sure the pitching stabilizes.
Catcher development is a bit of a fallacy. What organization really pumps out quality catchers? It just doesn’t really happen for anyone in the sport, not just the Astros. I think the nature of the position makes it really tough to mold/develop a 4-5 tool catcher, you really just have to luck into one, otherwise you’ll likely have to choose between defensive-oriented or offensive-oriented ones...I just don’t think it comes down to development because of how hard the position is to master.
To add, if an organization has a great all around catcher prospect, odds are the team moves him to another position to get the bat to the majors sooner and not to risk a high quality player's knees on years developing the defense in the minors.
Catcher chemistry and intangibles are underrated until you watch a season Mitch Meluskey, or have to watch a single game of Max Stassi with Justin Verlander.
