As far as the sign stealing stuff, A. It’s been long enough I’m sure they’re all basically over it, and B. He actually reversed course the very next month (Feb 2020 he blasted the Astros; Mar 2020 he said “everyone did it”) and said that the Astros were not the only ones doing it. (Before Bassitt, Votto, Sale, and several other notable guys spoke out).
Starting the season may be a little tenuous but, by the time we get to the play-offs it will no longer close. When you add improvement based on big league experience to what Lee brings he is clearly going to be the best option then. In the winter of 23 this will not be an issue, catching will be another position of strength for the Astros in the form of a pre-arbitration young catcher. There will be room for an older, more experienced catcher to catch one game a week, an easy job to fill.
Interesting. I really like his fit. 1st, 3rd, LF, RF…maybe even CF. Doesn’t just extend your lineup…adds an ELITE bat that can hit RHP and LHP. My opinion, but this is a no-brainer at the right price. An MVP level bat that you can transition down to 1B/LF/DH as he ages.
Also don’t think there’s anything to worry about with his foot injury. It was plantar fasciitis. I’ve had it….extremely painful but not an indication of any other problems.
But this is wrong according to Chandler Rome who said from everything he heard within the org if they were successful in signing Contreras they were going to look at shipping Maldy. IOW, they really don’t think Maldy deserves to be the starter. If that’s the case and we already struck out on Contreras, signing Vazquez should be a priority. He may not be great but we don’t need great, we just need a significant improvement from Maldy which he would be.
I do not think it would be unreasonable to expect 3.0 or maybe a little better from him in his next season of development.
Last year yes, #5 starter at best. But has he moved up to #4 with JV gone? You could just as easily argue Urquidy as they are roughly the same quality pitcher. And then there is Brown but I don't think anyone should pencil him into any slot until he pitches an entire season. We will see what happens when hitters see him enough times.
Bingo. Vazquez had an OPS+ of 98 from the start of 2019 until the time he was traded to the Astros. That's a rather large sample space of being a pretty decent productive hitter for a catcher. In contrast Maldonado is a career 72 OPS+ and even worse the past 2 seasons a 63. He looked so worn out taking off the catching gear as we celebrated the World Series victory. I'm not convinced be can survive another year starting for this team of roughly 120 games (essentially his average the past 2 seasons). I feel like we are really screwing the pooch on this one.
You want to fill them both and you want to try first at least with money. I’d love Conforto but that’s as a full time guy. Straight platoon probably sign gallo if it’s under 10M and a left handed catcher for also 8 or 10. That leaves you 20M at the trade deadline. If you are just looking for a solution to those playoffs you are talking about trading a couple 40 or 45 level prospects for a lefty who only hits right handed pitching for a couple months. I’d also be fine with Peralta.
Counterpoint: The Astros are so good that there is no such thing as a “key situation” during the regular season, and in the post season you don’t expect the 7/8/9 to string together hits so a guy that can change the score board once or twice by himself in the 8 (or 9 hole if you upgrade the catcher) is just fine. I don’t love Gallo but it’s workable for this Astros team and there’s even a slight chance he could get hot and run into 3 balls in a short series and help win you a game or 2, which isn’t a skill most 8th place hitters have. Right now you are talking about a bunch of dudes with flaws. Gallo also has some strengths (can play all OF positons well, thump, ability to draw walks). The strikeouts are gross. You can fade that in a couple spots in the order if there is some upside along with them.
Hunter Brown didn’t pitch, Garcia threw 1 inning I think and Stanek threw 2/3 of an inning. Smith also didn’t pitch. Those 3 innings didn’t matter and we didn’t need Urquidy to eat then so it was pretty inconsequential, but yes, that’s the only situation the 11/12/13 guy on your post season roster should pitch in.
I think the Astros are likely to go bargain shopping for the OF, and they may very well wait until March when they can evaluate Brantley, or pivot at that time and sign whomever is left of some value. OF may become a bigger priority depending on how we address C.
It’s not a done deal or anything. It sure feels like that’s high on their list of things to do if he’s medically cleared.
Where I’m leaning right now: Trade Bryant $38 million for Whitley Lee 2 lower level prospects Sign Narváez or Barnhart to platoon with Maldy 2B Altuve SS Peña DH/LF Alvarez 3B Bregman RF Tucker 1B Abreu LF/DH/CF Bryant CF McCormick C Maldy vs LHP, Narváez/Barnhart vs RHP If McCormick doesn’t improve against RHP by the trade deadline, then trade for a platoon lefty center fielder.
Tell Yainer he can play in the Major Leagues at C, or he can have fun trolling for ass at the Sugar Land Town Center Baker Street.
It’s almost like I noted that, said they were gross, said “only if he signs for cheap money on a short deal” etc. he does some stuff well. The astros could afford those strike outs at the bottom of the lineup. Nobody that’s left on the market is without some MAJOR warts.
None of those other guys can pitch multiple innings (save Garcia). Plus he’s won a WS game or two before.
