I don’t think you guys realize how good erzeg is. He’s got elite set up potential and possible closer potential with many years of control remaining. Throw Rooker and sears in there… I think that’s a realistic package. Oakland might even say no or the Astros could be outbid for those guys
By wRC+ Rooker has been 13th in all of baseball since last season. He is on a league minimum salary this year and has 3 more years of control remaining. Erceg has been as good as Bryan Abreu the last 2 seasons. He is controlled thru 2029. Sears is admittedly not a great pitcher, but he’s been moderately effective, and he’s currently healthy. He threw 170 innings last year and he’s averaged >5 innings per start with Oakland this year. He’s controlled thru 2028. Whitley and Gordon have minimal value, so my thinking is they are roughly worth Sears. Melton and Loperfido are high upside flawed prospects that are on par with the average back end Top 100 prospect. That’s not worth an Adam Dunn level hitter with 3.5 years of control and an elite setup man with 6 years of control?
Astros get: SP Patrick Corbin RP Robert Garcia $9M Nats get: P AJ Blubaugh P Forrest Whitley P Parker Mushinski Corbin eats some innings. His velo is not what has degraded so maybe Houston can squeeze more out of him. Garcia has been an elite RP since he reached the majors and he has 5 years of control left after this season.
Haven’t seen this name mentioned but what about Isaac Paredes? He’s played 1B so he could fill in there the rest of the season, and if we end up letting Bregman walk, he could move over to 3B next year. Defensively he’s solid.
I like Paredes quite a bit as an offensive upgrade who can play either 1b or 3b and is under control for 3 more seasons. He isn't a butcher at either position but will never compete for a gold glove either. He also is very slow and has a weak arm. Offensively He has an excellent eye and bat control rather than raw power. His K rate, BB rate, Whiff %, and "sweet spot" % are all very good while things like bat speed and exit velocity are very bad. He is on pace for a 2nd consecutive 4 WAR and wRC+/OPS+ of >135 season. He would lengthen the lineup and potentially prevent the Astros from having holes at both 1b and 3b next season. He plays for TB though so he won't be cheap. They will likely want under the radar prospects that the Astros want to keep rather than the top guys according to national websites.
Absolutely built for MMP https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/isaac-paredes-670623?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlb
So if the Rays wanting McCormick has any validity to it, I would love to trade him for Yandy Diaz. He's signed through 2025 with a team option for 2026 at only $8 million a year.
Loperfido/melton/blubaugh/whitley/Leon for Rooker Chas/Montero/Mathews for Vlad Jr. Areighetti/Ullolo/Baez/Gordon for Crochet astros new roster: crochet/brown/framber/blanco/bloss (JV) Diaz/vlad/altuve/Pena/Bregman/Rooker/meyers/cabbage/ Alvarez (Tucker) Hader/presley/abreu/scott/martinez/king/Dubin Dezenzo to replace Bregman next year- roll it back out for 2025 a little worse. Not a single joke on the big club. Not a single shred of high end prospects in the farm. Better hope Dana can develop. My gosh that lineup would be sexy, the bullpen really good at the top end and 3 guys you can squint and think of as an ace.
Erceg is having a great year, but he is also 29 and didn't make it to the majors until last year, when he had an era approaching 5 and gave up over 1.5 baserunners per inning Now he may truly be coming into his own and be dominant for many years to come. It's also possible that he is one of many many relievers who have a great year and never repeat it. One of CF's biggest target's on the Astros thread is a guy who had one great year too I'm not saying I wouldn't want him on the team, but counting on him to be an elite set up and potential closer for years to come might not be the price I would want to pay Sears is a back end starter who will give you some innings, which we need badly. But again, not the kind of guy i'm giving up a ton for when we could get similar guys for less Rooker is another guy having a great year that has never shown this type of ability before. The power, for sure that's for real. But he is another high K guy who may or may not continue to hit for a decent average. If we were not already playing Singleton, Cabbage, Loper, etc a lot then adding that type of hitter wouldn't be bad. But a lineup with a lot of high K guys doesn't usually play out well in the playoffs vs great pitching One of the big reasons we have had even more success in the playoffs than the regular season is we have had lineups up and down who don't K a lot, they have been the kind that gets in and battles pitchers to the end. All three of these guys have some merit to be on our team, but personally, it's not the type I would target if i'm giving up our best prospect talent
Honestly, I just want to try Leon because it would be great to see what it’s like to have batters not advance on every routine fly ball to anyone but Tucker.. watching a guy on first tag up and go to second on a fly out to Chaz and Meyers is so gut-wrenching.
Astros get: RP Gregory Soto IF Robert Moore C Kehden Hettiger Phillies get: OF Chas McCormick RP Kaleb Ort I think teams are going to have to get creative to upgrade, especially outside of bullpen arms. Teams looking for bats are going to find the market absolutely brutal. Houston can take advantage of that if other teams like McCormick.
I’m not joking when I say I legit have a better chance at winning the lottery than the Astros do at getting all three of those guys. This isn’t MLB the Show.
