The last thing We need to do is trade for bad contracts just to get prospects We already have potential money issues ahead of us if we want to retain all the young talent we have Teams that can sustain long term success are the ones who can avoid giving bad contracts out, so trading for one…sure don’t seem like a Click move. Nor would it have been a Luhnow move Now let’s talk baseball my friend, but realistic baseball
If Lee were to have success with the bat from the start, you think there is a chance we never see Castro again?
I think for now he is the back up catcher. If and when Castro comes back I think Lee replaces Matijevic. As a versatile (catcher,1st base, DH) bench player. He would then be available as the third catcher in the play-offs.
All I know is we can’t waste the seasons Verlander, Framber, and Javier are having. Need to add a couple of pieces. I’d like to see another reliever and Benintendi myself.
I mean technically Benintendi doesn’t give us anything we don’t already have. Yordan and Brantley have combined for more DRS (3 vs 2) in less innings and both have a higher OPS. I’m game for adding to the bullpen though.
Barring injury I don’t know what we trade for. Given our history in the WS I really want us to target a big time bat bc I’m just sick and tired of us not being able to hit at home but where do we add one? Idk.
I want him as our 4th OF injury insurance. Rather have him on the playoff roster than Siri or McCormick. What happens if Brantley gets hurt down the stretch or in the playoffs? Injuries to Myers and McCullers may have costs us another ring. Let’s try and mitigate that. Plus we may resign Benintendi over Brantley in the off-season and as a rental the prospect cost should be minimal.
Remember 6 weeks ago when people wanted to trade Javier and multiple other players for a $25MM/yr Zach Wheeler?
have a ton of relievers performing at a high level right now. i'd also say that at this point, there's a non-zero chance that mccullers may be a reliever this season, and if he isn't, at least one of the current other starters will be in the pen come playoff time. what role would an addition to the pen play at this point? dusty will have his hands full managing it as is with all these guys performing. the move is an OF, and meyers' performance the next few weeks will determine whether we need to upgrade him, or upgrade his backups. aside from that, we look pretty damn set, barring injury. the only other move i'd like to see is odorizzi (maybe with siri/chaz?) flipped to an NL team for some flier prospects. the risk of needing him in the playoffs is super low, and he's not coming back next year.
Flip Odo and/or Urquidy for prospects. Brown, Whitley, Solomon, Bielak, and Dubin (if he’s healthy) can serve as SP depth. Flip a couple 2nd tier prospects for a RP the FO thinks can level up under Houstons pitching system.
Jeff Lunhow is the gift that keeps giving. His championship window is going to last longer than he thought was possible. All due to the latin investment he made when nobody else was looking. Insane. Houston needs to focus on retaining bats moving forward. They still have youngins like Hunter Brown and Forest Whitley in AAA trying to make a roster spot. I wouldn't mind sending out some SP depth for hitting prospects with upside.
Jake Odorizzi and Seth Martinez to the Blue Jays for Danny Jansen: Blue Jays need a starter and reliever. Ryu is out for the season and maybe next year. Kikuchi has struggled but did have a solid outing last time out. They also signed Sergio Romo which tells you how desperate they are for a reliever. I'm hoping they miss out on a Montas or Castillo so they look at the 2nd tier guys like Odorizzi. Jansen can split time with Maldy. He's under control for 2 more seasons. That gives Lee one more year in AAA to get better. Then Jansen/Lee are the catchers in 2024. Seth Martinez has been a nice find, but he probably doesn't even make the playoff roster here. Especially if McCullers is back... Chas McCormick, Jimmy Endersby, and Emanuel Valdez to the Tigers for Gregory Soto: 3 years of control of a left handed fireballer for the back of the bullpen. Hopefully the Astros coaches can get even more out of him. Jaime Melendez, Wilyer Abreu, and Logan Cerny to the Nationals for Josh Bell: Bell is the best hitter available. Seriously, he's better at the plate than Tucker. It's a massive improvement to the lineup. He can play 1st and DH. Michael Brantley is the guy that gets the most days off and now has a bum shoulder. Yuli is old and needs days off too. Alvarez plays LF, Bell at DH or 1B when Yuli needs a day off. Plus, you also have a big bench bat every game whether it is Bell, Brantley, Yuli, or the rare off day for Alvarez. Gurriel can also play a little 3rd and MAYBE 2nd when those guys need a day off. Altuve 2B Tucker RF Bregman 3B Alvarez LF Bell DH Gurriel 1B Pena SS Maldy/Jansen C Myers CF Or Altuve 2B Brantley LF Bregman 3B Alvarez DH Bell 1B Tucker RF Pena SS Maldy/Jansen C Myers CF Bench: Maldy/Jansen, Dubon, Diaz, Gurriel/Brantley/Bell Rotation: Verlander, Framber, Javier, McCullers, Garcia Bullpen: Pressly, Soto, Stanek, Neris, Montero, Abreu, Maton, Urquidy
That’s a huge overpay for Jansen…a guy that’s basically been a replacement level backup catcher for 5 years now. He’s 27 and has some pop, but you don’t give up two major leaguers, one a pretty decent SP, for him, especially since he’s injured at the moment. I’d rather just go with who we have. Soto would be nice and that seems like a fair deal. Bell would be fantastic.
When you have a glutton of pitching, you don't have to be cheap in order to find improvements for the team. I suspect they give Corey Lee a real shot before they pull the trigger on another catcher. Houston clearly sees defensive ability as a far superior skill set than offense at the catcher position as is. I agree about Soto. I think we do the wait and see approach with Meyers before we go after someone like Bell who will have teams like the Yankees and Mets showing serious interest. I absolutely wouldn't be opposed to him, but what prospects are we willing to give up? Its going to costs an over pay for a guy who is an allstar caliber player. Emmanuel Valdez, Yanier Diaz, Alex Santos? Might be a starting point for a team looking to get young talent. How does that compare to other teams, im not particularly sure?
I had Javier, Garcia and Leon for Soto. I now think I wouldn’t do that if I were the Astros. Washington wouldn’t either as it looks like they are circling in on a massive extension for Soto. But if Javier was going out it would, for me, have to be for a guy like Soto or Trout or someone else that the other team has no real desire to trade (and I’m not being delusional saying he’d get those guys straight up, but he’s be the tent pole for what you’d be sending out.) Would you do Javier, Garcia, Meyers and Leon for Trout for example? I’m sure Anaheim would not, but maybe they should? Would we? If you knew you were going to be able to extend JV then your rotation going forward would be: JV, LMJ, Framber, Urquidy, Brown/Whitley. That’s 70 million next year in the rotation. Lineup would be: Altuve Trout Bregman Yordan Tucker Pena JJ/Jones Chaz Maldy/lee 130 in fielding. Bullpen at 40 or so. Would you spend 240 million on that team? Would it be better than what you’d have if you didn’t make that deal? I know this deal wouldn’t happen, I’m just trying to find something I would say yes to if I was the Astros looking to send out Javier. I think he’s basically untouchable in a real world situation. Only guy in the roster more valuable in a trade sense to me would be Yordan.
I don't think anyone saw the last 3 starts coming. But he's an ace-in-the-making regardless. This is what I posted in late May: At the time, Javier's ERA was actually about the same as it is now. His problem has always been a lack of opportunities and being shuffled back and forth between the bullpen. It seems like people just want to make trades for the sake of it. I think this is really, really good advice: This team is awesome. Maybe we just need to let it be awesome. One of the key philosophies over the last 5 years for the Astros is they never trade anyone of consequence from the current roster. Prospects and fringe players are fair game, but they've never traded anyone who was actually a contributor to their team mid-season.
