What do you think the chances are of signing 2 Free Agents if Verlander walks? Or would a free agent and an acquisition by trade be more likely?
Lol. Yeah I know it sounds horrible but I'm just being honest. I won't be blowing him kisses if he is all about the money.
He's a great hitter for a catcher, but at 1b or DH his value is severly blunted. I don't really understand why he's so loved. He strikes out a lot, he's a low average hitter but a decent OBP guy. Not worth signing him with the loss of picks and international pool money, if I was making the decisions.
My stance on JV for now is that him saying that letting the market determine his worth is a bullshit statement. Houston has done more for his legacy than himself. His WS failures have been covered up by the core of the team. Yes it’s his money at the end of the day, but don’t be disrespectful. I wouldn’t pay him more than 2 years if you are the Astros either way.
Diamondbacks appear to have a major surplus of OF. Daulton Varsho for Luis Garcia (plus maybe a pitching prospect) feels like it makes a lot of sense.
It depends on when Verlander is decided. Crane will go all the way up to what he values someone at and no more. If the market gets crazy, we may only get one but I suspect if we lose Verlander we keep Garcia and sign one bigger FA like Abreu or Contreras and then a guy like Haniger or Conforto.
Astros and a lot of teams have reached out for Varsho and Diamondbacks want to keep him. Thomas is the guy they will move but want real value for him. The Astros likes Thomas when Click was the GM, no idea if they still do… Lowe from Tampa is another one.
Diamondbacks need pitching, Strom knows our guys. Varsho would be a great get. He can play both C and OF (and well), left handed hitter with a lot of pull-side power.
I never got the infatuation with Varsho but will defer to the CF nerds on him since I have never seen him play. Stats looks pedestrian.
You may be right But I wouldn’t trade Javier and Peña for Trout and Ohtani 2 for 2 Considering how much Trout makes and Ohtani being an impending FA Teams like the Angels would trade young guys for players like that. That’s why they are who they are
It isn't Varsho the OF that is appealing - It's Varsho the OF who can also catch. It would be so nice to have, in addition the two regular catchers, a third guy who can also play behind the plate. As a hitter, he's not exactly a great contact guy, but he's a lefty with a ton of pop to the pull side. Our RF is even more favorable to him than Arizona's (much shorter wall), so he could realistically provide 35 bombs alongside plus defense in the outfield, and catch once every 5 games.
I wouldn't trade a starter unless Verlander was coming back or the Astros were bringing in another starter. I expect the Astros to run a 6 man rotation when McCullers can be Mr Glass and Hunter Brown has never thrown more than the 130ish innings he threw in 2022 including the playoffs. I would not enjoy watching Bielak or J.P France making starts when McCullers goes down like he always does.
I would view that as signing 2 big FA’s personally. Those last two should be pretty big upgrades from what we were trotting out toward the end of the year.
