But seasons on the 40 count, which is why the Astros had to get a special exception to give Whitley an extra option this year.
Ullola is the only player sure to be added. Gordon is the only player I consider to be a rule 5 risk.
Again, it doesn't matter how they are ranked. Prospects are more likely to fail than succeed. The more opportunities you have, the better the odds of finding someone. Aren't you glad they picked up Yainar Diaz despite Korey Lee being their catcher of the future?
Would love to see Mccullers in the pen next year. Putting his stuff in the 6th or 7th before hitters see Hader will setup Hader for a lot more success. The contrast of the big breaking balls to a hard slider would be tough....
I'm all for picking up as many possible answers to a problem that you can. I guess for me it would come down to cost and how good Baty is, can become. What do you think that the cost of trading for Baty would be.
I think Baty would be cheap. They left him off the playoff roster and the guy who took the job is young, cheap and had a great year. Maybe Pressly or Meyers for him w/ a lottery pick type prospect going one way or the other to even out the value. Not sure which way that would be. Meyers has less potential for breakout and a year less control, but is more proven and at a more valuable defensive position. Pressly is an established above average player, but is highly paid and only has 1 year of control. Using projected WAR for pitching, especially relief pitching to determine value completely escapes me.
Everything is going to be great! I'm excited for the rebuilding this team. Losing sucks. No getting around that, but I think this season and all that was exposed will kick start the Dana Brown era. 5 years from now we will be praising him and talking about the changes made this offseason establishing the foundation for multiple new championships.
It will eventually, but its gonna suck for a bit. You'll now start seeing the Astros' downtime as they rebuild. Every team goes through it, especially if it's not a big market. Considering the Astros are top 5 cap even though they aren't a big market, they'll be cutdowns. Just pray we'll return to dominance in a few years.
Prospect guys are always looking to rebuild. With the pitching this team has and the bats of Altuve/Alvarez/Tucker/Diaz there's no reason to rebuild. Add 3 bats in FA/trade and let's keep contending for the next 3-4 years. Letting Bregs go doesn't signal a full rebuild, or at least it shouldn't. IMHO. You just cant run McCormick/Meyers/the 1B that Dana ran out there in the everyday lineup. I'm hoping Dana fixes the lineup well enough where Pena/Dezenzo or a cheap vet pickup will be the worst hitters on the team. Hope you're right about Dana and if Crane listens to Dana instead of Bagwell/Reggie/Biggio/Cabell etc... the team will be in good hands. If Crane doesn't then the dynasty will be over soon and the rebuild some want so badly will need to begin.
Just another reason to non tender Chas/Meyers and trade Dubon/Pressly etc... They can easily open up 8-10 spots on the 40 man roster.
Gordon is a guy that has more value in a trade than he does to the Stros. He's a modern day John Halama and there's a lot of value in a guy like that.
I'm not suggesting a rebuild at all, much less a full one. I am, however, talking about turning over multiple players from the current roster and bringing in some young cheaper talent.
After next year I expect we will. Going into this year I expect them to sign or trade for a solid bat for the outfield and move McCormick to first as a platoon with singletary. I also expect them to let Bregman walk and sign kikuchi.
All that improvement and he is still below replacement level. You can try and spin it anyway you want, but it will not change what level of production he has produced. Maybe he improves significantly, maybe he doesn't, but he is not the player I would trade for.
Right now, Astros are closer to the Red Sox… who are closer to the Blue Jays… as far as being amongst teams with enough big contracts that they can’t just order a complete rebuild… but still looks like a dog-fight each year for a possible playoff spot. The AL is still fairly wide open. Astros and Mariners have the best pitching. Orioles are best positioned for sustained success, but they’re already failing at this playoff thing that while being a crapshoot, it does make or break eras.
