I have to think Lee is the bench catcher For the remainder of the season With Castro as the third catcher in case Maldy goes down. Lee's bat is an upgrade over Castro's How much of an upgrade is uncertain. With four starters in the play offs there is room for a bench IF (Dubon), bench OF (Siri or McCormick), bench C (Lee), and the versatile bat are could be any of Y Diaz, Matijevic, or Brantly
I think looking at a 1B for the future is a good idea. A Relief guy and maybe an OF who can start if need be
Thoughts on Jorge Lopez from the O's for bullpen help if the Astros are targeting that? He has done solid work as a closer going from a starter. He has a nice 63% ground ball rate and would fit nicely with our infield defense.
You guys were talking about 1b, how about cj Cron? how good is his defence? Heard he was running hot and he is not a rental. As for bullpen help, maybe a guy like Joe Mantiply from the diamondbacks, lefty with control that just knows how to pitch. No electric stuff like our bullpen, a little bit of a different look compared to what we have, with great numbers this year.
Cron is textbook Coors Field inflation, he's not an impact hitter, not even sure he's an upgrade over Yuli.
Fully agree on the LH reliever. We don't need a LH reliever, we need relievers who get out LH batters, and we have them. In close and tight situations I want Stanek, Neris, Montero and Pressly in the game. If we trade for a LH reliever, even if he is a bad one, Dusty will use him against LH batters late in games instead of using his best relievers. He still thinks it's 1985
There was a lot going on in 1980 after the season, but reasons for not paying $2M/yr included the fear his performance would fall off because he was a fastball pitcher. They had Koufax and his early "retirement" in the front of their mind. There really weren't any cases of successful 40 year old FB pitchers at the time and precious few even now. Those with a history as a fastball pitcher did like Greinke and changed styles as they aged. This WAS going on, but it wasn't ALL that was going on.
Not an impact bat, but a decent bat, but of course Yuli's been giving you that over the last month anyway. Josh Bell is the only definite offensive upgrade to Yuli that should definitely be on the market. There are a handful of decent guys that would be improvements over what Yuli has done up to this point this season, but so might Yuli himself.
Astros get: Josh Bell Nats get: Shawn Dubin, Chayce McDermott, Jake Odorizzi Jake offsets some of the salary coming back with Bell, and also gives the Nats another piece they could potentially move at the deadline. Two decent prospect arms is a pretty good return for Bell, who is having an awesome year, but is a rental Astros get: Luis Castillo Reds get: Jose Urquidy, Alex Santos, Shay Whitcomb Reds get two more years control from Urquidy than Castillo and two prospects with obvious holes, but also with high upside JV Castillo Framber Javier Garcia When LMJ is back, he could go to the pen for the rest of the year giving us unquestionably the best pen in the game
What? Part of the reason the Astros didn't resign Nolan Ryan was because Sandy Koufax retired at 30 years old in 1966? Also, did you meant to type 1988 because Ryan was still pitching at 41 years old for Houston in 1988. Ryan's original contract was 4 years for 4.5 million (first million dollar contract in MLB) prior to the 1980 season.
I mentioned McCullers going to the bullpen awhile back in not rushing him back letting him ease his way to the Rotation . I dont really know if I would go after Castillo but I like him as a SP.. However he is a great pitcher. I wonder if we could add in a Nick Senzel or a Joe Boyle Combo that would make that trade even more Appealing.
Castillo trade way too light. No way the Reds do that. Swap Leon for Whitcomb and maybe it’s in range if the Reds really like Urquidy which I would think unlikely. Zero chance Nats want Odorizzi. If money is a problem they could just eat Bell’s remaining salary. That trade is also probably light considering both Dubin and McDermott are in the middle of disappointming seasons.
Im also all over the Josh Bell connection. He would be a perfect addition to this club letting Yuli spot start all over the field. Bells Bat is his bread and butter. And again if we could add Cole Henry and Mason Thompson that would make that trade all the better.
Oops. Yes I meant the year he signed with Texas rather than the Astros. There were some who thought pitchers who threw heat were doomed to fall apart by 40 and would have to change their pitching style. Nolan broke that scenario, though many hang it up or change styles. It appears Verlander is taking the Ryan Path. I remember discussions, but my time stamp leave much to be desired.