Maldonado had 7 ABs in the '19 World Series, and - offensively: JT Realmuto >>>>>>>>>>>> Martin Maldonado (as well as Robinson Chirinos)
Chirinos batted great in the Series as well (power, not average). Reddick did not. You can put as many >'s as you want, but having Tucker bat over Reddick that Series has a much likelier positive impact than Realmuto batting over Chirinos and MM. Short term, Realmuto would have given Astros an edge in one regular season that Astros had best record in without him already. Other than that, Tucker has been as good, costs less allowing the Astros to have other players that help win games, and wouldn't have been a free agent.
I agree on paper it makes the team better. Still have to go out and do it. There is no guarantee. The Astros had two HoF’ers not do so well in the postseason. You just never know.
If you want to win the 2019 World Series, just don’t trade Josh Hader for Carlos Gomez and ****stick Fiers.
My one and only argument here is that the initial tweet is disingenuous.: you were not trading Kyle Tucker for '20-'21 JT Realmuto at @ $30MM. You would've been trading Tucker for '19-'20 Realmuto @ $16MM. That is a far more interesting discussion, because... As good as they were in '19, the Astros would've been better with Realmuto. And in a World Series in which they scored 11 runs in 4 home games - including just 4 in the last 2 - adding a bat as good as Realmuto's may've made the difference. On no planet is any baseball fan taking Chirinos/Maldy over Realmuto. That's silly. But I never - not then, not now - advocated trading Kyle Tucker. But using '20-'21 numbers is a big swing & miss.
If, before the Series started, I offered you the opportunity to replace Chirinos and Maldonado with Realmuto, they'd have to invent a new time measurement to clock how quickly you'd accept that switch. But, again - I'm not arguing they should've done the deal - only that the initial tweet is disingenuous. The question isn't '20/'21 Tucker for '20/'21 Realmuto - it's '19/'20 Tucker for '19/'20 Realmuto, and only with 2 years hindsight can you definitely say "SEE, TWITTER MORONS!" At the time, that would've been a HUGE deal with significant short-term ROI.
I don't think you get Mullins without giving up 2 of Brown, Pena, or Lee plus some additional prospects. Brown, Lee, Perez, and Abreu might get it done just for Mullins...
You can't give a player a qualifying offer that was traded during the season. I don't think the Astros would have offered it even if they could have.
That Pedro Baez deal is really not looking good. I don’t blame Graveman getting enough money to support his immediate family for life.
It hurts, but honestly I'm not too upset about it. Graveman wasn't the same pitcher for the Astros as he was for Seattle.
No draft comp. Only for players who were tendered a QO. This sucks, I’m going to miss Graveman. Just really liked the guy. And TBH I thought he’d get more. If we re-sign Yimi Garcia I’m going to puke.
At that price I'm surpised the Astros weren't willing to go there for Graveman... It looks to me like the Astros are keeping Montero. Otherwise, why not cut him and protect someone else from the rule 5 draft last week?
Astros offered Graveman more money than the White Sox per season, but the Astros wanted a one year deal - said they may go longer later in the winter. Graveman decided to take the larger total years and number. I like Graveman but with his arm injuries I probably would have take the 3 year deal too.