Get Contreras in here and let him catch 3-4 days a week and play 1st a couple of days a week. If the Stros are going to win a championship then Click needs to lengthen the lineup and hope Meyers/Dubon can hit in the.250-.260 range. Anything more is gravy. I would start wta with a package of Leon/Dubin/Santos for Contreras. But Lee wouldn't be untraceable either. Tomorrow I would cut Castro and bring up Diaz to see what he's got
Leon alone might be enough- right? A high ceiling quasi top 100 prospect should be all they get. They might like someone else’s high ceiling top 100 (barely) prospect better but have to think that’s general price point.
If you go for Contraras It would probably just cost Lee. again I would try and expand that trade. maybe Ian Happ and David Robertson. A CF and a BP arm
Though he's only hitting .208, you can't deny his pop. Christian Walker will be routinely hitting to the Crawford boxes, and as a bonus he has terrorized Dodger pitching this year. Though I love Yuli, we need some more pop from the 1B position.
He's under team control for 2 more seasons. I'd rather not pay a premium for him and get Bell or Mancini as a rental.
Castro is non negotiable replaced. The backup catcher has to at least be a functional MLB player, it's not a high standard. Yuli got some hits in the last few games, but even most of those were very poorly struck and they were in between some extremely ugly strikeouts that Yuli traditionally doesn't have. I still see a 1B bat as being by far the biggest need.
The fact that they chose to send Chas down and keep Matijevic tells me that they understand 1B needs improved. They are not sticking their collective heads in the sand and we should expect a 1B bat brought in by the deadline. That is unless Yuli starts hitting like pre2022 Yuli and/or J.J. just starts hitting like 1991 Jeff Bagwell.
I'm decided. Presley isn't Presley of old. We need a nails closer first and foremost. Maybe that's Stanek. Maybe we do what we did last year and pick up a few gems . . . but the last inning an a half need help. More so than 1st base or center.
I agree but I really hate the catcher market for the Astros. First, I don't believe they go for Contreras because they want Maldy as the starter pretty much no matter what he does with the bat. Are the Astros going to spend the prospects for Contreras to be the backup? I don't see it. Also, I still think the plan is for Korey Lee to split time with Maldonado next year. No, Lee hasn't hit great but his OPS is just under 700 and he has 10 HRs on the season. I think they stick with the plan and have him on the opening day roster next season. To me that cuts out the Astros trying to trade for a catcher with multiple years of control. The problem is the rental market for catchers outside of Contreras is absolute garbage. Yes, ANY regular starter or backup catcher is a better hitter than Castro. However, the guys that will likely be available are pretty trash as well. Castro has a -0.7 WAR. Barnhart who is possibly the best rental not named Contreras has a -0.5 WAR. His OPS is .513. Yes, an improvement over Castro, but is Click going to make that move for a guy that isn't going to be a difference maker? Especially considering the Astros have a large lead in the division and how often is the backup catcher going to actually see the field in the playoffs? Castro was hitting some last year and had only 9 plate appearances during the entire playoffs. I'm starting to wonder if Click makes a move like he did last year in CF.... I mean dumps Castro and brings up Korey Lee. Here is the list of catchers that will be free agents. The guys you would actually want except for Contreras are on contending teams for the most part. Lots of negative WAR in this list... Austin Barnes (33) Tucker Barnhart (32) Curt Casali (34) Jason Castro (36) Robinson Chirinos (38) Willson Contreras (31) Austin Hedges (30) Andrew Knapp (31) Sandy Leon (34) Martin Maldonado (36) – $5MM vesting option Omar Narvaez (31) Roberto Perez (34) Kevin Plawecki (32) Austin Romine (34) Gary Sanchez (30) Kurt Suzuki (39) Christian Vazquez (32) Stephen Vogt (38) Mike Zunino (32)
I'm not concerned about Pressly, he's been fine overall since his injury issue save for the one dud and they just gave him a ton of money. But for discussion's sake, who would you trade for that you can confidently say will be better? Closers are volatile, highly volatile. All fans agree you want a nails closer, but who qualifies as a shut down closer changes from month to month save for a few guys. And with the expanded playoffs, there are less teams than ever willing to trade. Can you seriously say with confidence somebody with no big game closing experience will be better than Pressly come October? Fans are really frustrated because the team blew 2 games, but one was with our B relievers and overall this pen has been beyond great.
point taken. but even with the over hall last year and this off season and the money paid . . . i want more. I'm greedy. And I think the back end of the pen is the biggest liability we've got.
The backup catcher is one injury away from seeing the field every day in the playoffs. It's a specialized job so you cant just slide somebody over like the other positions. Trading for a backup catcher who can post a .600 OPS is like bending over to pickup a penny. All it will cost is a super fringe prospect, if that. Even the potential of Castro having to play regularly in big game isn't something that can be allowed. It's not outside the realm of possibility they go with Lee, but he too could be a non hitting wildcard as a rookie. I suspect Click will want something he can count on to at least give better than a pitcher production by the deadline because you are mostly stuck with what you got afterward
I hope they do something. It's just hard for me to put a finger on who. The only guy on that list not named Contreras that has an OPS north of .600 and is on a team that isn't a sure fire contender is Suzuki....
I hate it. Both players had such great years last year. Jason Castro is retiring. It sucks so much that he really does need to be DFA'd because he's been awful. Yuli might still be viable, but he is the easiest starter to find an improvement on the market.
Riley Adams from the nationals Eric Haase from the Tigers Christian Bethancourt from Oakland I haven't done a deep dive on this, but I'd imagine some other contending teams would be willing to trade their meh backups because they like one of their guys in AAA. Or maybe we like one of their guys in AAA. We're not looking for Johnny Bench, and it's a low importance position. But you have to have something at least moderately competitive.
I would completely disagree with you on the bullpen. They had a rough series and have had a couple of very memorable bad outings. But overall they have been very good. Pressly has converted 83% of his save chances. He has given up 1 or fewer baserunners in 15 of 22 games and not given up a run or inherited runner to score in 16 of those 22. Neris has pitched 34 times and only allowed a run or inherited runner to score in 8 of them. He has been perfect in 20 of them and allowed only 1 base runner in 5 more. Only 2 HR. Montero has pitched 31 times and only allowed a run or inherited runner to score in 4 of them. 1 or fewer baserunners in 22 of them. And only 1 HR. Stanek has pitched 28 times and allowed a run or inherited runner to score in only 6 of them. He has allowed 1 or fewer baserunners in 21 of them. Only allowed 1 HR. Maton has been less effective, allowing a run or inherited runner to score in 12 of 31 outings. He has allowed 1 or fewer base runners in 19 of them. He has given up 6 HR. Abreu got off to a rough start: allowing a run or inherited runner to score and 2+ baserunners in 5 of his first 7 appearances. Since then he has only allowed a run in 3 and 1 or fewer baserunners in 11 of 15 games. He gave ip 1 HR in April. More. Considering an all star pitcher averages giving up over a baserunner per inning and a run about every 3 innings I think the bullpen has been good. Definitely good enough considering the rotation. To me it still comes down to run production and the bats. Since May the team has scored less than 5 runs in 30 of 51 games. Thursday they did not score after the 3rd inning and lost in the 9th. Sunday they did not score after the 4th inning, including a bases loaded 1 out situation in the 10th with Tucker and Yuli up. They lost in the 10th. Even the great wins Friday and Saturday they only scored 3 in each. And how did they win those games? By the bullpen pitching 2 scoreless innings each game to close it out. Bats are the problem much more than the bullpen.
It’s not worth trading for a “meh” backup to upgrade Castro. He is still good defensively and already has familiarity with the Astros pitchers, so any move needs to be meaningful. That whittles down the realistic options pretty far: Willson Contreras Sean Murphy Jonah Heim Daulton Varsho And Heim and Varsho will likely be unavailable or require an overpay. If Houston is going to trade for a catcher, it’s probably Contreras or nothing.
