Oh I'm all about a minor league swap...I just hope the relief pitcher is good. Like I said earlier, Chas vs Straw is not that much of a difference with glove or bat. Meyers vs Chas as a backup (late inning defensive replacement) may be a difference. Meyers' glove is allegedly all-world so we'll see...Chas's bat has been very timely so far. I just hate the idea of playing people out of position on defense just to get a little bump in offense that you don't even need. But that's just me.
I just can't understand this move. We went into the last off-season losing springer and not having an established center fielder. So let's give straw a chance to see what he can do. What did they really expect of him? I'm not upset they traded straw. It's that they replaced an unproven center fielder with even more unproven center fielders. Why not address it in the last off season? Do we really want rookies taking crucial at bats in the post season? Remember tucker swinging at fastballs over his head in the 2019 post season? I'm just worried someone will misplay a ball or not get the right jump in a crucial moment. I'll gladly eat crow if we win the world series though.
This is why trading a player while their stock is high is so tough. We are collectively upset that we traded away Myles Straw, a guy that most of us wanted benched/demoted/cut a month into the season. I was actually a bigger believer in him, and wanted to give him more time. I am happy that he got a little more comfortable, and played better. At the same time, I am glad that he increased his trade value, and the front office was able to make a trade that they were happy with. We had ZERO pressure to do this trade, in fact, they had reasons NOT to do it. But the fact that they pulled the trigger, tells me they had the leverage, and they happily did this trade. Doesn't mean it will work out, but it is a move they wanted to make, so they made it. Let's hope for the best. I thought Austin Pruitt was going to be a sleepy-good pick. Let's hope Maton turns out to be more Pressly than Pruitt!
Click just said lots of good things about the trades, and especially about Chas/Straw/New Guy. Look it up and post it if yall can find it.
McCormick has fantastic production for a guy with only 154 AB’s. I’m fine in believing Astros upgraded the starting lineup internally. Meyers is having a great year and I’m fine seeing what he does. Astros got a promising 22 year old catcher who’s looking good and maybe someone for Strom as a reclamation process. If not someone else to get the Astros to the playoffs.
Maton can get strikeouts and has really good peripherals along with elite spin rates. They probably think he can be a legit weapon.
They must feel that all his issues are things Strom can easily solve. That is why Strom is the real untouchable.
Outside of the shItty defense, sure. However, Baker said Friday’s alignment, which had Yordan Alvarez in left and Michael Brantley out of position in right, was designed only to keep both Alvarez and Brantley’s bats in the lineup in a game played with NL rules. Baker said he planned to do it even before Straw was traded. It’s not expected to be a regular configuration. “Tucker’s such a good right fielder that I don’t think that we want to mess with a good thing,” Click said. “I think this falls under ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.'” https://bbs.clutchfans.net/threads/...r-rhp-phil-maton.312486/page-10#post-13652088
Great. It’s an NL matchup, this isn’t going to be the norm but it’s a necessary move to get Yordan in LF… don’t want to bench Brantley as well…
Tucker would probably be fine in CF with enough reps. But he is a tremendous RF. If they're fortunate enough to get to the WS, they may have to consider going to this again to ensure all 3 get as many AB's as possible.
I know Straw doesn’t strike out a lot, but he’s still a career .260 singles hitter. He’s not bad, but he’s not exactly the next Ichiro. Best case he’s a league average centerfielder and wasn’t the long term plan at centerfield. I think this trade is more about the next few years, but the Astros are really no worse off at centerfield this season and improved the bullpen further. Maton isn’t a rental and they got a prospect at a position they’ve had a lot of trouble developing. It’s not an amazing trade, but I like the approach of always looking to improve.
Exactly. The only way the Astros somehow lose is if at 26 years old, Straw figures out how to become Kenny Lofton+ Ichiro and ends up batting leadoff for the next 10 years. Its a low risk-high reward move. I was perturbed by the timing and fully expected there to be another trade. Maybe it fell through and the plan b was at least Dusty won't be able to bat him as much.
