If you want to clear some $$$ to pay Verlander, you can always trade Odo in the offseason. Keep Jake. I agree, you can't count on 100% health, EVER. Last year we had McCullers hurt his elbow in the ALDS. Greinke had the illness late in the season and didn't return to form until the WS. Urquidy also was out for extended time in the regular season. That's just last year. In 2019, Miley had his unexpected late-season collapse, McCullers (and Morton, too) in 2018, etc. You can never have too much depth.
"The farm" is not the goal here, the minors exist for the sole purpose of making the big boy team better.
I counter that the minors exist for the sole purpose of making the big boy team sustainable. That being said... we should have traded Frances Martes when we had the chance.
FIFY We've been spoiled by an absurd run of of productivity. While in general I agree with trusting your farm, at some point we're gonna need to see Click be able to pull the trigger for proven talent. A great farm should be able to parse through the guys they think will be great and the guys they don't love. Holding on to everything isn't ideal, although it's worked so far.
This. I'm usually one of the more extreme in trying to keep prospects as, in aggregate, they usually make the MLB team better even if most bust. Though, I think the 40-man and 26-man are filling up with pitchers, OFs, and corner IFs that may or may not play. I don't think the farm is strong enough for trades except the type the Astros did last year. Though, I think there are relievers that are better than Odorizzi that will be available. If the Astros need Odorizzi to start in the postseason, it is going to be a rough year regarding injuries.
If the Astros don't find veteran help at the deadline or offseason they are looking at a very young and inexperienced lineup next year Lee replaces Castro Matijevic or Taylor Jones replace Yuli Leon replaces Brantley Meyers less than 1 yr in bigs Younger guy replaces Diaz
i see no reason why brantley wouldn't re-up again. he's in a great situation here. and i can't imagine them going into the season with matijevic or jones as staring 1b.
I suspect Brantley will be back. I also think there is a good chance that Yuli is back. My guess he gets his stroke back and he shows no degradation as a great defensive 1b. Brantley will get plenty of DH starts. If you bring up, sign, or trade up for a 1b, Yuli is a fantastic Diaz replacement. Who cares if we replace Castro. Maldonado will start again next year almost certainly. Our lineup will add Myers, Leon in CF. A lineup of: Altuve 2b Brantley DH Bregman 3b Alvarez LF Pena SS Tucker RF Myers CF Yuli 1b or JJ Machete Is still WS bound. Bench: Lee or Diaz (c) McCormick Leon (OF, IF) Brantley and/or Alvarez could probably do spot duty at !b or JJ as 14th position player. Astros have tons of options on the offensive side of the ball. Brown will probably get some starts and/or relief this year.
I think it’ll be difficult to bring both of Gurriel and Brantley back. Both guys are hitting well enough to command a 3rd tier ($8-15M/yr) salary and not only can Houston probably not afford that, at some point the risk of carrying 2 guys in their late 30s in the middle of the lineup makes it hard to justify. Both guys are really key parts of the clubhouse, so it would be difficult to say which one they should try to bring back if they can only pick one. I suspect Gurriel would be more likely to give Houston a discount, and he offers more defensive value, so he’s probably who Id pick. I think between Matijevic, McCormick, Siri, and Leon they can find at least one everyday bat for 1B or LF.
He is blackballed. He is/was the best GM in baseball. Pretty much all the good players on the current team was a luhnow player.
Obviously you can't trade a FA. But you can trade a player who accepts his option. Right now we're trending towards him opting out but you never know. I hope this isn't what happens, but I can see a scenario where he pitches poorly down the stretch and opts in.
Not sure that truly exists today. Even Kapernick is getting workouts. I’m sure there’s a perennial losing team/organization that can utilize the best of his strengths… and try to reign in the toxic culture that apparently came with it. Even his most shrewd decisions (Springer STM, Aiken debacle, Osuna trade) ultimately paid off and led to team success.
Hard to try to compare Luhnow to Kap I think it’s pretty obvious no one is bringing Kap in thinking “this guy might be our starting QB” Really can’t bring in Luhnow just to “take a look”, or for the publicity. The sports world has millions on each side of the Kap situation so you at least have a significant portion of your fan base in agreement when they see Kap working out with their team Outside of Houston, Luhnow is nothing but a cheater (to the public who supports those teams)
Is he really more vilified than bonds or clemens were when there was plenty of smoke but they still were able to secure jobs into their 40’s? Luhnow’s crime is what, exactly? Toxic corporate culture creation? Can’t argue with his results from a player development standpoint. Hell, I’d overpay him just to oversee the draft/minor leagues (job he had in STL).
Bonds 100% got black balled. He had 1000 ops his last season. Based on his performance someone should have gave him a shot.