And that’s why I really don’t like Gordon at all. I’ve been calling for Blubaugh instead of him. I hope Blubaugh stays up and Gordon goes down, but I doubt that happens. The Astros pitching coaches are way smarter than me about who will succeed and why at the big league level, but I think they have this one wrong.
Yes. I would dfa Nerris or one of the other guys like Ort tomorrow for him. I wouldn’t give him leverage per se but he could pitch the 6th for me with a lead or pitch anytime any place we are down by 2 or more.
A's are middle of pack in offense, even top 5-10 in some stats. Absolute terrible pitching. They actually have a decent road record, better than Red Sox, Yankees, Mets & Padres. They play lousy at home. I guess meaning if they could pitch good at home, they'd be a tough team lol
https://www.mlb.com/astros/news/paul-skenes-tarik-skubal-lead-2025-cy-young-poll mlb.com shows Hunter Brown on track to finish top 3 in the CY, which would net Houston a first round draft pick. Cam Smith has fallen out of the ROY race. I would not be opposed to optioning him in favor of Jacob Melton. If they did it this week they would be able to secure an additional year of control over him.
He’s a platoon player with bad defense and he is a free agent in 2028. He has value but right now it’s a lot more value to Houston than Miami.
You do this and the chances you get him to sign an extension are greatly diminished. It’s also a terrible look in general that the rest of the players will talk about.
Meh. If a 22 year old who was given an opportunity very few teams would have given him wants to throw a fit because he is being sent down after posting an ops <.600 over a 6-7 week period with >100 pa, then so be it. From what I have seen from Smith, I would be shocked if that was his reaction. But I also never held out hope that Smith was going to sign a team friendly extension. He hasn’t performed. Meanwhile, there are 2 OF prospects (Melton and Whitcomb) who have clearly shown via their performance in AAA that they warrant an extended opportunity in the majors. It makes as much sense for both Smith’s development and the team’s chances of winning as it does for service time manipulation.
His defensive metrics are good. Hes been terrible in LF but played it almost not at all coming into his time in houston. I’m hoping familiarity will help as ugh.
He’s sitting at 1 OAA and 3 DRS this season so I wouldn’t say he’s bad at defense based on a few games with us. Nearly all of his time has been in RF so may need a few weeks to adjust to LF.
He has good range/speed and a good arm but his instincts are really bad so even though his savant lines are red he’s still a below average defensive player. I too am hopeful that he will get better with familiarity.
Cam Smith is a + defender, playing more games than ever at the highest level. This ditch was inevitable and the likely platoon with Sanchez will let him rest more + put him in more favorable situations down the stretch as he's actually destroyed LHP this year. Further, whatever Melton might have, no idea - but Shay Whitcomb has a sub .500 OPS in the MLB. Granted, it's only ~70 PAs - but you're wanting to demote Smith because of ~125. Bottom line: there is almost zero chance they're going to demote Smith, IMO - for any reason.
We did trade one of the few non Brown/Valdez starters for him (the one that is still expected to have upside, as opposed to the other starters they have now)… he wasn’t free.
They’re all flawed on some level… but this is organizational depth/filler. Needed to survive the grind. Now that they’re on the home stretch, they can start to be selective. And then come playoffs, none of them on the roster.
It hasn’t been 6-7 weeks. From June 26-July 4th he went 16-34. Since then, yes he has been bad. There was 5 days off for the all star game during that period so it hasn’t even been 4 weeks. He also has 3 hits the past two games so he might be coming out of it. What you’re suggesting is absolutely about service time manipulation.
Sanchez, thus far - to me - looks like a guy that is almost certainly going to do something costly in a big game. He's hit well - but he's run into an out at 3B; looked lost on two pop-ups on the wall in Fenway, and, generally, looks - what's the word?... it's not lackadaisical but... he kind of seems to following his own muse. There was a play - I think it was last night? - where he took 2B - the throw in wasn't close - but he over-slid the base and then showed no urgency getting back to the base (he was kind of celebrating); so much so the Marlin infielder hurriedly ran over to try and tag him. It wasn't, by itself, all that troubling but it felt very much on brand for him in the little I've seen. He just seems to be........ a little exuberant but also goofy? I don't know. Could be an overreaction on my part. I think he's going to hit, for sure - and I'm glad we got him. Much-needed addition and a really smart pick-up by Brown. (PS after the deal, it was a full two days before I realized he was NOT the tall Florida Marlin OF who, with the Braves, ended the 2021 WS with a titanic home run I still don't think has landed. I thought that was who we had traded for, only to be reminded: no, moron, that was Jorge Soler. the *other* tall Marlin OF.)
