13-8 on the road, 8-11 at home and you can make a pretty good argument that their road competition so far has been superior to their home competition. Very similar pattern to what we saw from the club last year. Wonder why? Complacency? Different focus with the home life? Perhaps all of your power coming from the left side of the plate?
So the Astros right now have the #2 pitching staff is baseball at the quarter mark of the season. After the Rays had a blistering start to the season, the Astros have almost caught them for the #1 pitching staff in baseball. The negative is that the Astros have the 22nd ranked offense in baseball at this point. Jose Altuve will be coming back, and he is an elite offensive player if he plays like hoped. Chas McCormick has come back but he is more of a #7 type hitter. Obviously Jose Abreu is the biggest disappointment, as he has been one of the worst offensive players in baseball. The hope is he bounces back but there are no guarantees. Alex Bregman has likewise been awful. The Astros are limited in the areas they can improve offensively, because they are not going to bench Bregman or Jose Abreu after only 40 games. Jeremy Pena is staying as SS, and he is competent with the bat but not really a middle of the line up hitter. Tucker and Alvarez are going no where and CF is likely to be manned by a combo of Meyers and McCormick (one of the only things that have gone well for the Astros offensively). I don't think ANYONE should count on Brantley. With all that in mind, what would you give up to get Salvador Perez? He is widely respected by Maldonado and is considered a good game called and strong (but not as strong as in the past) behind the plate. He can DH and catch, and would likely play 4 out of 5 games. He extends the line up and has power. Altuve Pena Bregman Alvarez Tucker Abreu Perez McCormick Meyers How good is this line up? The reality is that it is VERY likely that at least one of Bregman and Abreu turn it around. The defense is overall better as well, as the defensive outfield of Tucker, McCormick and Meyers is arguably the best in baseball. All three are capable of playing centerfield. In addition, catcher is better defensively with Perez behind the plate. Altuve at second is a downgrade defensively from Dubon, but Altuve is a vastly better player overall. Would you give up 3 of the top 10 players in the Astros system for Perez and Barlowe? That adds an arm to the pen, and Perez can catch and DH.
I think his strikeouts will get better. He's played only 320 games total since he was in highschool. He will start recognizing pitches better and I think his approach will be better hanging out with Alvarez and Tucker. That being said, I think he will always be a Joey Galloway type of player. Lots of K's but lots of extra bases when he gets a hold of the ball. For his career, about half of his hits are for extra bases.
Good stuff. I'd put my money on Bregman turning it around. Until further notice, I consider Abreu to be a corpse. Maybe he can do better if pitchers start throwing underhand to him?
Perez is the perfect addition to the team. But it depends in part on what the Astros think of Diaz. Adding Perez means Diaz won't be catching. He could still split time at DH and backup 1B, but that means Yordan basically is 100% left field, which I don't think the Astros want. And you can't really have 3 guys splitting DH time, so it really means sending Diaz back to AAA. If they think his bat isn't ready, it's fine; but if they think it's getting close, he should be able to work himself into the DH role 2 out of 5 games and C 2 out of 5 games and help the lineup. Obviously way cheaper and doesn't require trading a bunch of prospects.
As for Perez. He has a contract for two years after this one - and then a cheap player option for a third season. So, yeah he would likely be the catcher through at least 2025 and possibly 2026. Perez is currently 33 years old. Adding Perez means that Diaz wouldn't be catching this year - if Maldonado retires, that would probably give him about 54 games to catch the next two seasons, and in theory he could catch after that. However, I agree that essentially Diaz would be stuck with only getting at bats at DH and 1st this season and then next season would be fighting for at bats at C/1st/DH. Now, I know Perez can play some first base as well. The Astros would be rotation......... Alvarez, Tucker, McCormick, Meyers in the outfield .............. Alvarez, Diaz and Perez at DH and Abreu, Diaz and Perez at first. As for the cost of Perez? It well could be the trade cost of Perez is something like Diaz and Meyers..... so it could work out. I just look at the Astros, and they are going to need another bat most likely, and short of a trade for a star - catcher is going to be the area they can improve.
I would try to trade for Salvy + either Pratto or Pasquantino in a package deal. I would offer Luis Garcia and Yainer Diaz as the headliners. We get an elite hitting and game-calling catcher, who is also someone who'd fit well in the clubhouse due to his friendship with Altuve. The lefty 1B we acquire can also DH (or if it's Pratto, play OF as well). KC has good hitters, but the lineups can be difficult to get everyone in with both Melendez and Perez, as well as both Pratto and Pasquantino. We can help clear out that logjam, give them one pitcher to build the staff around, and also add in a Leon/Perez/Kessinger/Barber as a third piece. My reasoning is, KC needs pitching. Garcia can't help us this year, and the Royals are looking to the future. As far as Diaz, well, Salvy would render him moot for this year and the next two year. As far as age goes, once his deal ends, Perez will be younger than Abreu was when we signed him. Hopefully, Salvy is a person who Maldy respects enough to "allow" him to catch half (or more) of the games without throwing a hissy fit.
Altuve extends the line up for sure - but if Abreu and Bregman don't hit - it won't be enough. I think that likely both start to hit, but the struggle is real if they don't. Perez is the one catcher that the Astros could add that would likely not cause huge issues within the team.
Pratto is interesting because he can play OF and 1st base. I remember him in the draft a handful of years, he was a pretty good prospect. Pasquantino is more of a known commodity because he hit well last year as well. I would be curious to see what the cost prospect wise would be for Pratto or Pasquantino and Salvador Perez. The Astros would possibly struggle to find at bats for Pasquantino if Abreu starts hitting - Pratto would likely get at bats in LF and could DH sometimes.
Most of the team is underperforming. They will average to their mean. If not, we have a glutton of OF'ers in our farm that we can trade for a potential upgrade. There is opportunity there.
We really should give a Yanier a shot before we pull off this move. I'm all about winning now, so even though it would hurt, I wouldn't be against trading Yanier/Korey Lee and another prospect for Perez. The guy is a legit all-star catcher and he would totally hold down the fort until the end of his contract which pretty much aligns with our window with Altuve and Alvarez.
Any team that has 2 big contracts/former MVP types hitting like minor leagues is going to be in a world full of hurt. Bregman and Abreu need to play like their above average selves or this season is lost. Even if we had the bats in the minor leagues to replace their production, Dusty would never let the young guys play while those 2 are healthy.
I would really like to see Diaz catch 40 games and get 200 pa before resigning to upgrading at catcher. There’s a decent chance that Diaz could be better on both sides than somebody like Perez or Elias Diaz or Yasmani Grandal. But if Diaz shows he is not the guy then C is the obvious weak link. For me I would anoint Diaz and actually play him consistently between now and the deadline and hope he pans out, at which point I look at somebody who is a big bat with versatility. Kris Bryant I have mentioned elsewhere but he has a full no-trade clause so he may not be an option even though I think he’d be a great fit for the roster. Jonathan India and Mikey Yaz are 2 other guys I would check on. To answer your question I would trade 3 decent prospects for Perez and Barlow but not if they demanded Gilbert or Loperfido to be one of them. Something like Barber, Whitley, and Leon would be costly but fair, especially if KC ate some of Perez’s contract.
Now that Chas is back i'd go with him, would have been going with Pena...actually I would have been going Tucker, Pena, Yordan top 3 but we know that ain't happening
Now that Chas is back i'd go with him, would have been going with Pena...actually I would have been going Tucker, Pena, Yordan top 3 but we know that ain't happening No doubt...but he refuses to take any pitches too. The guy has been MUCH better this year, and will be an ideal utility guy when Altuve gets back To me though, he is just the anti-leadoff guy.
The team really is in a bad spot offensively. I would not say Bregman haa been awful but he has surely disappointed. I would say he has been bad. There is hope though. He has the best K rate and BB rate of his career. All his quality of contact stats are very slightly down but his BABIP is way down. This has rebound to the norm written all over it. Abreu just needs to keep working because, just like Yuli last year, he will start 75%+ of the games at 1B unless he's hurt. That means that 6 players are locked into 75%+ starts. LD/DH, CF, and C are the potential areas of improvement. Meyers and McCormick have been good enough that any replacement in CF would only be a marginal upgrade at best. A LF/DH to rotate with Yordan makes sense, as Julks is regressing to a AAAA player quickly, but that is supposed to be Brantley 's role and when will they know whether he can play or give up on him? Catcher makes a lot of sense but how much will they really sit Maldy regardless and how much of an improvement over Diaz would any catcher be? Even Perez might not out perform Diaz in equal opportunity.
