Lol, you listen to Dana and believe what he says publicly lololol I seriously doubt he cares where the guy stands if he can mash RHP
OMG yes we would There is NO way I would trade guys like that for Lux simply because he stands in the left handed batters box. Lux is about as mid as it gets. He would be a serviceable player for us, but his hot start got people excited around here and since the end of that GREAT April, his OPS is mid 600s If we brought Lux in for Shea, or something like that it would be fine. But hell no to trading any of our few legitimate assets for him Also for those excited about Hummel, it’s been great watching him have some good at bats the past week or so, but there is no legitimate reason to think that all of the sudden he is someone who helps us win a title. Pretty much every player brought to MLB has the ability to have a great 30-40 at bat sample We need to bring in someone who has a strong history of hitting RHP that can play LF/2B
Agree with all this except your write-off of Hummel. Hummel has consistently been an elite hitter in the minors. If you don’t believe small samples have value, you can toss out his poor MLB performances in 2023 and 2024. So really you’re weighing his 200 pa sample from his rookie season in 2022 (where he posted a clearly unlucky .255 BABIP and a healthy walk rate) against his entire minor league career. He’s 50 pa into this season in the majors (where k rate tends to stabilize), and he is posting very solid bb/k #s. There is nothing in his underlying numbers that indicates his 123 wRC+ or .344 wOBA are due to luck. He posts very good plate discipline stats and solid power/exit velocity. His weakness in 2022 in MLB was bad batted ball luck and swinging and missing too much on good pitches; the first thing appears to have normalized and the second is something that wouldn’t be unheard of to improve upon. I’m not saying Hummel is an elite big leaguer all of a sudden. But there’s plenty of evidence that he can be above average and warrant an extended look in LF and in the bottom 1/3 of the lineup. It would not surprise me one bit if Hummel hits better for the remainder of the season than guys like Gavin Lux or Cedric Mullins.
I’m buying the Hummel hype! Grass isn’t always greener elsewhere. Sometimes, you just got to water your own plants !
I really hope you are right cause it would make a huge difference And MLB teams are wrong on players all the time, no doubt about that It would just be strange to have a guy that within the past year has been waived by SF, Houston, Baltimore, NYY all of the sudden be a solid regular on one of the best teams in all of MLB. All of those teams, including us, could have been wrong on him and all he needed was a chance, but it's really weird if all the underlying metrics said he would do this that everyone said na But 100% I hope he does. And if you are right, what still sucks is that while he has mashed LHP, he has been putrid against RHP (24 at bats, 4 singles, 8 Ks) which is where we really need the help. I'm guessing that if Espada were to give Chas the chance he could hit LHP as well as Hummel, but that's not gonna happen regardless of how Hummel does going forward.
To be fair, in this case you dug your plant up and put it in the trash but the trash man threw it back in your yard, and it started growing Just got to hope it ain't a weed
There’s two ways to look at his past: either it’s damning that so many teams have allowed him to pass thru waivers, or that it’s encouraging that so many teams have given him a look despite his age and lack of pedigree. Like I said, I don’t think Hummel will be a star or anything, but I believe that often the only difference between a solid average everyday corner OF and a AAAA washout is opportunity.
Astros should be rooting for 4 teams to commit to selling: Pirates: ONeil Cruz, Spencer Horwitz, Bryan Reynolds Twins: Willi Castro, Trevor Larnach, Edouard Julien, Jose Miranda Diamondbacks: Pavin Smith, Josh Naylor, Eugenio Suarez Red Sox: Wilyer Abreu, Jarren Duran, Masataka Yoshida Those 4 teams could end up having 14 guys available with very good overall track records against RHP. Boston is the only one of those teams currently sporting a winning record.
On the Boston guys, Abreu is controlled through 2030, Duran through 2029 and Yoshida through 2028 I think any of them could be had in the right deal, but I don't think Boston falling out of it makes them more likely to move any of them. I think if they move any of those guys, especially Abreu or Duran, it will be because it's a deal they feel like improves them for now AND in the future Yoshida isn't a good defender I don't think so not a great fit in my opinion. We don't want Yordan playing the field a lot because of injuries, we have done a good job of hiding Altuve where they aren't likely to hit it, but if we add another poor defender we would start to get exposed on defense which isn't good for a team that by and large wins by pitching and playing great defense The cost of Abreu and Duran would be significant but with our lack of hitting side prospects, would be worth a discussion
Left-hand bat talk aside, seems to me that an Astros team that is not planning on signing Framber needs to be considering trades for a top of rotation or near TOR SP to replace him if they’re not convinced one does not already exist currently in the organization. LH bat important too, but personally I don’t think its as important as this potential hole in the roster
Hard to say. A 2026 rotation of Brown, McCullers, Javier, Garcia, and Arrighetti, with Walter, Gordon, Gusto, Blubaugh, France, Ullola, and Fleury in AAA seems really deep and has enough upside to warrant holding off on major expenditures on bringing in a SP from outside. It really is a shame that Garcia, Javier, and Arrighetti won’t be back in time to really assess them before the deadline.
