Can't depend on Verlander being the number one or two starter if he stays. Pitchers aren't really themselves until the second season after TJ surgery. I don't know what the Astros will do. But I hope they do something significant.
I think a package of Garcia, salary filler, and B level prospects would be enough given the cash savings for Anaheim. I would rather owe Rendon 37 x 5 than Correa 34 x 8. That being said, eating some of the cash depends on the evaluation each team has on Rendon. How desperate is Anaheim to lock up Ohtani before he gets to market and how bad do they need to get pitching?
Garcia has vastly more value right now than Rendon. Garcia is under team control for years at little cost and Rendon makes a lot of money. If the Astros want to pay someone 37 million a year, they can just sign Freeman or a couple players on offense for that much money. Honestly, the only way that the Angels more Rendon is if they pay a large chunk of his contract.
Bregman can no longer play SS long term according to the Astros. He is a candidate to move over to 1st after Gurriel is no longer there.... Altuve and Bregman both are concerns positionally speaking.
Love Rendon, especially as a hometown kid and a Rice product, but... he's been hurt since college. I want Anaheim to pick up some of that money on that contract...
Last time that we had a legendary second baseman with diminishing defense, we stuck him in centerfield with a hill...
Sell the one that can't contribute in 2 years to maximize return with the ceilings unknown for the others.
I think Bregman and Altuve will be able to field their current positions thru their existing contracts, but if either is extended to be “Astros-for-life” it would need to be with the understanding that they’d need mostly DH time, although I suppose Bregs could move to 1B (but I don’t expect him to be very good there or for his bat to be good enough to justify him as a 1B on a contender with a big contract).
The last thing you want to do with a player that battled hamstring and quad issues the last two years is shift him from third base to shortstop. That’s a great way to have more lower-body problems.
I was thinking this as well, but maybe with the potential universal DH, we won't have to worry about him on the field anywhere.
It was a sarcastic response to someone wanting to kick the tires on known-hater Trevor Bauer but, yes, I agree with your statement.
I want other guys to get days off in the field where they just DH, particularly Brantley. Then if Yuli isn't back in 2023, Yordan would take over 1B duties every day.
Embrace and fan the flames of being hated...get rid of Baker and bring in Beltran...make the baseball world lose their minds...
I don't think it is what they WANT to do, but it is something they are aware they may have to do. They ideally want a rotating DH spot and positional flexibility. I think some of their concerns with Altuve are diminished now with his play this last season, but they did discuss it. As for Bregman, they are concerned about his body holding up. Alvarez wants to play the field and originally was a first baseman coming out of Cuba. His scouting report as a first baseman was that he had very soft hands and good instincts. With the lower body problems Alvarez has had, they have limited him to spot duty in the outfield mostly so I am curious to see if they will try to move him back to first. Alvarez has the reputation of being a very hard and smart worker during the off season so I don't discount him doing a good enough job if his knees can take it.
