Never really done one of these before but here goes nothing: 1. sign verlander 2. Trade Chas, Spencer, Melton --> Pablo Lopez 3. Trade Yainer and Jake (and a AA prospect) to Marlins --> Cabrera and Bender [might not want Yainer with Ramirez, but go with it] 4. Sign Victor C 5. Sign Cease SP1 Brown SP2 Lopez SP3 Cease SP4 Verlander SP5 Cabrera SP6 Javier SP7/Pen McCullers/France Pen Hader, Abreu, Bender, Okert, King C Caratini/Salazar 1B Walker/Paredes 2B Matthews/Paredes SS Pena 3B Correa/Paredes LF Yordan/Altuve CF Cole RF Cam DH Altuve/Yordan/Correa/Paredes/Walker Bench: Urias, Dubon, Resting from above I'm sure it blows the salaries up . . . but they are going into a lock out. Do it now, pick up the pieces later. That's my MLBtheSHOW move.
I said i haven't done this before (LOL). I'd probably would slot into AAA/Long Relief. He should have a chance to prove he can be a starter, but I like him long relieve midseason. Sousa should be there. I'm clearly interested in amassing pitching with the assumption a handful are down. Probably assuming that either you trade for lopez or sign cease . . . both seem very unlikely. So that opens up the staff a bit.
Love it if Cole and Smith pan out. Otherwise there’s significant risk in the lineup. But that pitching staff is money. The salaries aren’t unmanageable. The marlins trade is not very realistic.
Which teams might be interested in Houston’s potential trade chips: Pena: Yankees, Blue Jays, Brewers, Tigers, Braves Diaz: Phillies, Padres Walker: Yankees, Red Sox, Diamondbacks Paredes: Red Sox, Blue Jays, Tigers, Diamondbacks, Braves Meyers: Yankees, Phillies, Mets Sanchez: Giants, Phillies, Royals Dubon/Urias: Braves, Tigers, Angels
Astros get: SP Freddy Peralta IF Cooper Pratt Brewers get: SS Jeremy Pena $3M https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/10/brewers-expected-to-consider-trading-freddy-peralta.html
Latest hypothetical offseason: 40 man Out: Diaz, Walker, Pena, Meyers, McCormick, Sanchez, Dubon, Trammell, Garcia, Ort, Rooney, DeLosSantos, VanWey, France 40 man In: Victor Caratini, James McCann, Cedric Mullins, Luis Arraez, Merrill Kelly, Drew Rasmussen, Miguel Ullola, Alimber Santa, Jose Fleury Added to farm: 2 MLB Top 100 prospects, 2 Org Top 10 prospects, 3 Org Top 30 prospects CF Mullins* 3B Paredes DH Alvarez SS Correa 2B Altuve 1B Arraez* RF Smith LF Cole C Caratini* Bench: Urias, McCann*, Dezenzo, Whitcomb SP: Brown, Rasmussen*, Kelly*, Javier, Arrighetti, Alexander, Pearson, McCullers RP: Hader, Abreu, Okert, King, Sousa Optioned: Blubaugh, Gordon, Murray, Ullola, Santa, Fleury, Salazar, Melton, Corona, Leon, Matthews 60-day IL: Blanco, Walter, Wesneski That gets the payroll ~$10M under the CBT, with a deep rotation, a more balanced higher ceiling offense, and a drastically improved farm system. The risks are they trade away 3 high ceiling veterans in Pena, Meyers, and Diaz, and the infield defense gets downgraded. But overall I think an offseason like this would make Dana Brown look genius.
Just don’t see Correa moving back to short. I don’t think they move Pena and Paredes goes to first. Nook said they are willing to move on from Diaz which I think is a mistake, but if that is what it takes to upgrade the pitching staff or minor leagues I guess it has merit. I trust Dana big time.
Because there would presumably be 5 SP ahead of him on the depth chart (Brown, Rasmussen, Kelly, Javier, and Arrighetti), and the bullpen would be filled out with deserving players without options, and Blubaugh is more valuable as an optioned SP than as a low leverage/multi-inning RP in the majors. Of course, more likely there would be a ST injury that opened a spot for him in the rotation.
On the one hand you are almost certainly correct about Pena/Correa/SS. However, I don’t think we should read anything into what happened after Correa was traded; his comments were just what any player would say as they want to look like a good teammate and embrace change they can’t control. Correa was a solid defensive SS before he was traded and can almost certainly handle the position for another year. If a team overwhelms the Astros for Pena, they should do it, especially considering they have a ready replacement for Correa at 3B in Paredes.
He looked way too good to be sent back down to the minors. IMO Arrighetti hasn’t even earned a spot in the rotation over him the way they both pitched. Regardless, I see them going with a 6 man rotation if they really add multiple SPs.
I love how every off season we get hyped up on acquiring a stud 1B, but end up extending Christian Walker or something....
Cease will never be an Astro. I think he actually has a hatred for our team and would refuse any offer. I actually feel our team needs players that help intimidate the pitcher throughout the lineup. No matter how good or bad Yordan does, with him in the lineup he can put stress on the pitcher to make pitches or just walk him. Nobody is scared of Walker batting behind him or Yainer and pitchers are less afraid of Altuve beating them now than ever before. I liked Pena leading off but I'm thinking him being behind Yordan in the lineup would be beneficial mentally. I also would like the Astros to go after free agents and spend some money (Even on a short contract deal) to add more of a veteran presence on this team. I like Bellinger for this but he will also not come to the Astros unless we throw an absurd amount of money his way which isn't happening. But he's the type of player we need to solidify our lineup. If we could get him for a 2 year deal at a high AAV then do it. Hell, if Tucker is willing to take a 2-3 year deal with opt outs to show he can stay healthy I'd say do it as well. Assuming we are keeping Yainer and Pena (as I doubt management has the balls to trade either one this off season), then we should be good with 2 really good OFers this off season. If we can nab Ranger Suarez it would be icing on the cake. Again this is unfeasible as I know management will not overspend even for a year or two window, but if they can I want our lineup to be: 2b Altuve 3b Correa dh Yordan rf Tucker/Bellinger ss Pena 1b Paredes c Yainer cf Meyers lf Cole/Cam sp Brown sp Suarez sp Merrill Kelly sp Blubaugh sp Javier Of all the free agents available nobody else makes sense. Alonso would be nice behind Yordan but then we'd have to trade Walker and Paredes, and we need a solid outfield so that's where we should spend the money. This team above can win a pennant againand have a few shots at a World Series.
@Snake Diggit Any idea what it would take to get Geraldo Perdomo from Arizona? He’s coming off a 7 WAR season posting an .850 OPS and 94 BB/ 83 SO ratio. Plays 2B and OF, which is exactly what we need. He is however, kind of in the Pena situation where this past season was likely his peak, so maybe AZ would sell high for the right price. But I’m willing to gamble on him replicating his 2025 production.
