It's not really a direct win/loss idea. And it's certainly not looking back and regretting trades. It's all part of a much larger puzzle. Right or wrong, the team has been hemorrhaging talent year-after-year to the point it was eventually going to catch up to them, especially with them losing four premium draft picks. They just don't have the resources they once did to course-correct.
More and more convinced that we need to get something for Bregman. Which sucks, cause he can't seem to play up his value right now.
It's like people have never heard baseball players talk to the media before. Hell, Crash Davis gave a lesson on it: "That's boring" "Of course it's boring, that's the point."
I'm not sure trading him *right now* is the best choice - 1) if the team has any chance of salvaging the season, he'll play a key role; 2) his trade value has never been lower. They pretty much have until the deadline to see what they have. But if it's a lost season, yeah, they should deal Bregman and probably Verlander, too. I'd think about Framber, too - he's 30 now.
If only Dana had done what the fans wanted and signed Montgomery and his 5+ ERA or, even better, Snell and his 11+ ERA plus being injured. I'm sure fans would have been thrilled because "Dana did something!". Kind of like how fans love the Astros for signing Abreu like people were clamoring for to fix 1B after Yuli's bad season. Or how they love the Hader signing.
I wanted Montgomery after he was all that was left. Didn't want Hader really. Montgomery would certainly be better than the Henley, Arrighetti, France three headed monster. More than both I wanted the lefty Japanese pitcher the cubs got after figuring that Yamamoto was out of reach. Four years $53 million. I am not a GM nor is anyone on this site..it's up to a good GM to figure out which one of these guys to get. Hader was just a baffling signing. I am sure he will turn it around but we needed starters. Lugo and Wacha. Guys like that would have been easy to scoop up.
Montgomery has had 3 starts, 2 of them really good. That’s the problem with just looking at era early on, it don’t tell the whole story The Hader signing will still likely turn out well Where Dana failed is filling in the edges of the roster. Roster construction is so much more than putting studs on the field
It's easy to look at the pitchers doing well now and say "well they should have picked up Lugo!". But he easily could have an ERA of 5 like many other free agent pitchers, and he'd have replaced Blanco in that scenario. The Astros have plenty of guys at that mid-tier level - Urquidy, Brown, etc. No team plans for 6 SPs being injured. If they added Lugo and Wacha, they'd have: JV Framber Javier Lugo Wacha France Urquidy Brown Blanco Arrighetti Garcia (2nd half) McCullers (hopefully 2nd half) No team is going to spend that much on starters when they have that many young/cheap guys to fill the back end of the rotation. The problem is that guys like Brown and France are performing way worse than any reasonable expectation.
I wanted them back then though for cheap. Lugo and Wacha. Wachas not even doing great so I'm not just mentioning the good ones. I wanted to trade Framber. I wanted to sign the guy the Cubs got. There's a lot of things I would have preferred over Hader. I still think Hader is going to be fine, but you had to know France sucked. His peripherals told you that. Arrighetti wasn't ready. They needed someone to eat innings and by the end it was just Jordan Montgomery left and I still think he's going to be fine as well. Luckily Ronel Blanco is a leading cy you g candidate. Every off-season. They need to sign a starting pitcher reclamation project for cheap. It's just like drafting a QB until You have one in the NFL. You need 7 starters though so just do it every year. This upcoming off-season. Sign another one. Kikuchi, Paxton, Montas.Desclafani...doesnt matter. Get whichever one is best. We used to do this pretty regularly with your Charlie Mortons and your Wade Mileys.
Who is the next call up? Loperfido should eventually slide over to first base and stay there for at least the remainder of the season and possibly for the remainder of his career. My initial hope for him was to make him the versatile bench bat and I think that is still a possible outcome for him. Bringing Joey up was a good decision but it will take more than that to get this train moving. I fully expect Bregman to come back to himself as the season progresses. The infield with Loperfido at first will be as good as we can hope for this season. The decision to extend or replace Bregman will be a tough one and I am glad I do not have to make it. Tucker is a star in the outfield and the only position player I believe needs to be extended before next season. He is just coming into his own and should have a long and productive career. Center field by committee has left our outfield rudderless. Leadership is perhaps the most important thing a center fielder can bring to the table. He can not lead if he is just trying to show he can handle the job. The best center fielder in the organization is in Corpus Christi and Melton needs to be pushed to AAA like yesterday. He is our next center fielder and he can not get to Houston too soon. Loperfido at first base and an injury to Chas leaves left field open but it is possibly the easiest position to fill. Alvarez wants to play there and he is the best offensive left fielder you could ever hope for. He is only limited by his defense and his knees, but they are very real limitations. For now if Chas gets healthy playing him every day in left is probably a better option than going with another rookie in thee outfield. Having said that I have to say another rookie is probably the right thing to do to fill the 4th outfielder position. I think the obvious choice for the job is Pedro Leon. Backing up or giving days off to a young and talented outfield should not require that he plays a lot but he is a legitimate option to play all three outfield positions. That leaves Meyers as the third wheel that will have to be discarded to put our best team on the field. That leaves pitchers and catchers where the bullpen is the glaring weakness. Starters Valdez, and Verlander are both all stars and are potential injury risks but there is no more reason for concern than with any pitcher. Blanco has been sensational filling in and probably has earned a rotation spot. The rest of the rotation is patched together today but should be led back by Javier next week and Urquidy a week or two later. Arrighetti is clearly not ready at this point but may be able to help the team as a long reliever. Another trip to the well may be necessary if Brown or France can not be rehabilitated soon. Likely options include Gusto Kouba Gorden and Bluebaugh none of whom are ready at this time. Ran out of time will discuss relievers when I can.
If the team starts winning I don’t really see an opening unless someone gets hurt. Singleton so being given an opportunity to win the everyday 1B job. If he succeeds, Loperfido will shift into a super utility role once McCormick comes back. If Singleton doesnt hit, Loperfido will be transitioned to 1B and Cabbage will serve as the bench bat. Salazar is bound to be needed at C at some point. Leon looks like he might be ready but for now I don’t see an opening unless an OF gets hurt, and even then he’d only be brought up if Singleton is off the roster. On the pitching side, I am very high on AJ Blubaugh and if he has another dominant month he will be breaking down the door. Due to the SP returning to health, he may be only given an opportunity in the pen, but he’s probably the one top prospect I can see coming up and making an impact this season who hasn’t already. The reality is that Houston has probably already called up their 2 impact prospects for this season in Loperfido and Arrighetti. Now if they keep losing like this then all bets are off; they may end up trading a bunch of guys in which case we will see a bunch of younger players get their shot.
The Astros have seemingly lost their Midas touch. Talk about the ball consistently taking the bad hop for them. The team is very talented, but nothing is coming together for them. This is baseball where synergy is what builds momentum, and it seems everyone is getting theirs when they are on their own island. I think that Bregman, Tucker, Framber, etc sniffing out their next 100-250 million dollar contract, behaving like hired mercenaries may have affected the teams mojo. Especially after Hader cashed in his chips for his insane 5 year deal with the Astros. The Astros have 3 of their core guys coming up for paydays, and they are playing the world’s smallest violin instead of playing baseball. Kudos to Altuve and Alvarez for putting team and their own happiness first. Bregman, Tucker, and Alvarez don’t have to take discounts; all they had to say was they will let the market dictate their next contract.
Total B.S. First of all how do you know anything about what they are thinking? And your drivel is contrary to anything anyone ever says about them And secondly, Crane refuses to pay what the market dictates so if they want to remain Astros they need to accept less than market value.
Yeah, this is a ridiculous quote. If you give this team a passing grade in basically any area, you're not seeing things clearly. This season has been a miserable failure in just about every way so far with few exceptions. I have no confidence in Dana Brown.
I really don’t either I know the big deals like Hader are very likely made above his head But the other stuff is on him and I can’t think of a single guy he has brought in that has made a positive impact
These are Dana Brown’s moves currently on the 40 man roster: Victor Caratini: 105 wRC+, 0.2 fwar in 49 pa Jon Singleton: 113 wRC+, 0.0 fwar in 78 pa Trey Cabbage Jacob Amaya Tayler Scott: 2.76 era, 0.0 fwar in 16.1 ip Dylan Coleman Brown also deserves a lot of credit for Ronel Blanco as it was his idea to convert him to a starter. Hader and Abreu were Crane Crony moves. All the other guys were Luhnow or Click acquisitions. Given the restrictions Dana Brown inherited (very little payroll flexibility, an established deep winning roster, no authority to make any moves over ~$20M), it is very hard to fairly judge him. His legacy will be defined by his drafts, which I do think he has been given full authority over, and we won’t know how good those are for another 3-4 years at least.
