It’s all about value. I do think at this stage of the offseason it’s probably unlikely Houston can find a good match unless one of the teams that misses out on Bregman is desperate for a 3B upgrade and has the right pieces to improve Houston’s roster.
Best case moderately realistic hypothetical remaining offseason I can come up with for the Astros would be to sign Bregman then make this trade: Astros get: OF Wilyer Abreu IF Franklin Arias Red Sox get: IF Isaac Paredes OF Jake Meyers Astros get a premium LH OF bat with 5 years of control and a top 100 SS prospect. Red Sox get an All-Star infielder and a stellar 4th OF. Those pieces allow them to take their time figuring out where Kristian Campbell fits and backfill Abreu so they don’t have to rush Roman Anthony. Ideal Astros opening day roster: 2B Altuve 3B Bregman* DH Alvarez 1B Walker C Diaz RF Abreu* CF McCormick SS Pena LF Dezenzo Bench: Dubon, Caratini, Hummel, Trammell Rotation: Framber, Brown, Blanco, Arrighetti, Junis*, Wesneski Bullpen: Hader, Abreu, Neris*, Ort, Scott, Dubin, Whitley IL: Garcia, McCullers, Javier, France, Sousa Optioned: King, Contreras, Hernandez, Gusto, Gordon, Salazar, Whitcomb, Leon, Corona DFA: Singleton To me that organizational roster (along with having added Cam Smith, Franklin Arias, Kevin Alvarez, and Juan Bello to the farm system) would be an A+ offseason.
Parades hasn't even played a game yet and Snake's already trying to trade him ? LOL They trade for Parades for a reason. He's not going anywhere.
You’re probably right. Just hard to envision Houston playing 2 already poor defenders out of position.
Now that Bregman is out, some hypothetical February trades that keep Houston under the CBT: Houston gets: 3B Nolan Arenado $20M Cardinals get: RP Rafael Montero P AJ Blubaugh OF/IF Shay Whitcomb Astros get: OF Masataka Yoshida $17M Red Sox get: C Victor Caratini P Jose Fleury Astros get: 2B Brandon Lowe Rays get: IF Brice Matthews P Forrest Whitley
Would you believe Yoshida is due $56m for the next three seasons and had the same OPS+ as Caratini last season? And he's a bad fielder. I'd love to pick up Brandon Lowe. I don't really want to give up one of our top prospects for a 2.4 WAR guy. We're coming very close to a rebuild scenario unless things break just right. Maybe the Rays would take that Cardinals package.
I would trade Matthews for Lowe in a heartbeat and I'm a Matthews fan. Put Lowe at 2nd and Dubon in RF. Then hope one of the young guys can takeover for Dubon at some point in the season in RF. The OF defense has to get better. If not hopefully Dana makes a move for a Canha type vet OF at the deadline.
The Red Sox aren’t going to get anyone to take Yoshida’s full contract. They are going to have to pay a significant portion of his contract to move him now that every team knows they have a log jam they need to clear for guys like Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer. Also, Yoshida didn’t play the outfield last year because he had surgery for a torn labrum from the year before and the Red Sox didn’t want him throwing. This year, they are planning on playing him in the outfield again. If the Astros could trade for Yoshida with an annual AAV of 10M or so (like Brandon Lowe), they should strongly consider it. That said, I agree with you that moving Brice Matthews for two years of Brandon Lowe is too much to pay for him.
Great, he's an overpaid strong side of a LF platoon. He's certainly be an outfield upgrade, but you can't play him against lefties. He's also been much better at Fenway (.814) than on the road (.740) and bad in limited exposure at Minute Maid (.643).
Yes, which is why they would have to eat a significant amount of his salary. If they did, he would be a solid fit for us considering we currently need a LH bat that could fill that platoon role.
I agree with that. It does make me wish they'd just kept Heyward for that role. He's a good defender and a lefty bat. Signed for $1m. Had similar WAR to Yoshida last season in far fewer ABs.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/02/giants-rumors-lamonte-wade-jr-marco-luciano-outfield.html A trade that makes a lot of sense to me: Astros get: OF Lamont Wade C Tom Murphy Giants get: 1B Jon Singleton C Victor Caratini RP Rafael Montero RP Forrest Whitley $7M Astros get a rental OF that crushes righties without giving up money or prospects. They can handle Murphy’s likelihood of being hurt because Diaz plays so much and Salazar is more than capable. Giants get a 1B to platoon with Flores while they bide time for Eldridge. Singleton won’t mind playing part time and he’s about as good offensively as Wade so there’s no drop off there. They also get some certainty at their backup C position. And they get a couple of upside RP on Montero and Whitley.
There is zero chance i'd trade Matthews for a guy who has been healthy enough to reach 400 at bats in a season exactly once in his 7 year career I like the guys fit here when healthy, but health matters.
Lowe has been healthy at the end of the year for several years. How many PA does a typical hitter get in a year? No question dude can hit.
He can hit But he missed stretches of last season and the year before with injuries. Trust me, I had him in some high stakes fantasy leagues so I’ve followed him closely I have no issue with bringing him in, but no way I’d give up one of our best prospects to so it I seriously doubt they move him anyway, at least not at this point. He will likely put up BIG numbers in the minor league park they play in this year and then someone will overpay for him
2 trades to remake the lineup at the last minute: Astros get: 3B Nolan Arenado $19M Cardinals get: P Jose Fleury Astros get: OF Luis Robert White Sox get: OF Jacob Melton P James Hicks OF Jake Meyers Lineup: LF Altuve DH Alvarez 1B Walker 2B Paredes C Diaz CF Robert 3B Arenado RF Gamel/McCormick platoon SS Pena Bench: Dubon, Caratini, Guillorme Yes that means Crane going over the tax this season but idgaf, that lineup is stacked on par with 2017-2022 and possibly the best ever if Robert and Arenado rebound.
