The only ones on that list that would bring back a huge haul are Bregman, Tucker and Valdez The injury certainly crushes Valdez value right now Bregman and Tucker would still bring back a huge haul. MLB GMs are not like fans and don't gauge value over a two week sample size.
The best thing that can happen to the Astros longterm is for this season to go south quickly. Bregman, Verlander, Framber, Pressly, and Tucker need to be traded for prospects. A team built around Altuve, Alvarez, Diaz, Pena, Chas, Javier, Hader, Abreu can be competitive in a season with the right move to surround them with real MLB players. Anything less and Crane will have overseen the full cricle of the Astros, building the team he bought from McLane.
But these players don't need to be re-taught how to play or prepare for the game... they're not kids.
Oh well. It has been a nice run fellas. Hopefully we can turn this around but if not by summer, time for Crane to be a hands-off owner and let Dana Brown do his job. And get rid of Bagwell while letting the real baseball people you hired to do their jobs.
Unfortunately, history shows us that when owners become hands on and things don't go well, they just become MORE hands on And if he does become hands off, his first moves probably needs to be to fire Dana Brown and hire someone else to do the job. I know Crane has been the one behind the Verlander/Hader type of moves, but the roster build is terrible. Outside of those big splashes, there are just too many players on here that other teams wouldn't put on their 26 man if we released them today
They were never taught how to play the right way, where productive outs make winning easier. The Royals put the bat on the ball and run their asses off, they are built with some old-school basics that often get overlooked by the Statcast era guys.
But we do know why Crane was forced to become more hands on... and it pre-dated the 2021 pennant and 2022 WS championship, so lets not get too much recency bias in the way of making a point. He was relatively hands off from 2011 through 2019. Then something happened...
Whatever it is, this team doesn't play for Espada. When it is time to make a key pitch, hold a lead, or break through in an inning, they have not come through. It's a results oriented business. If the Astros continue to be the worst team in the league much longer, Espada is gone.
