I guess I can get on board with this roster: SS Pena DH Paredes LF Alvarez 3B Correa 2B Altuve 1B Walker RF Sanchez C Diaz CF Meyers Bench: Matthews, Caratini, Allen, Cole SP: Brown, Verlander, Javier, Burrows, Weiss, Arrighetti RP: Hader, Abreu, King, Pearson, Sousa, Okert, Munoz Optioned: Blubaugh, Gordon, Ullola, France, Alexander, Murray, Salazar, Dezenzo, Smith, Whitcomb, TBD DFA: Ort, McCullers, De Los Santos IL: Wesneski, Blanco, Walter I still think they’ll make 1-2 other meaningful moves. But this roster will be a winning team, if not a legit contender.
I think the roster ends up looking something like this. I think Javier and Burrows have a chance at becoming a SP2, less so with Arrighetti but he has flashed. If one of them hits SP2, then we need a Cole/Smith/Mathews breakout to hit contender status.
“Right-hander Hunter Dobbins is the headliner in the package going back to St. Louis for Willson Contreras, sources tell ESPN. The Cardinals additionally will be receiving minor league arms in the deal.”
I am pretty sure Walker isn't going anywhere. Paredes is the guy all the teams want. And now there is one fewer team in the market for him.
A man can dream can't he? Lol When the time comes I'll get myself excited about whoever we have. Wilson's numbers the three years prior to are similar to walkers before he came here.
Contreras is making ~$44M/2yrs, Sox are only taking on $40M/2yrs. There’s surplus value there because they’re also giving up prospects. Contreras was worth 2.8 fwar and hit for a wRC+ 124. He projects to a116 wRC+ for 2.0 fwar. Walker is owed roughly the same amount, but he is coming off a 1.0 fwar/99wRC+ season, and projects for 104 wRC+/1.4 fwar in 2026. The main problem is that there’s only a few teams that could reasonably be interested in him, and Boston was one of them. But just on paper, Houston should be able to find a taker for most of his contract and might even be able to dump all of it if they attach a decent prospect to him.
I think JV will be signed if there is money for it, but if it happens its the last deal of the offseason. This may even be an agreement between Crane and JV and that could allow them to trade a starting pitcher for a LH bat, b-u C, or RH RP. I think Sanchez supplies a floor (.757 projected by fangraphs, career .774 vs RHP/ .520 vs LHP) for that LH bat. Anyone brought in needs to be much better than that. Catcher options are very limited. If they are serious about adding a leverage RH to the bullpen, maybe they should consider trading King, Sousa, or Okert? Only so many roster spots.
I like it but Alvarez playing LF everyday makes me nervous about his availability throughout the season
I think the Astros have choices: 1) Trade Walker or Paredes (with Walker being the preference but having little interest or value) 2) Make Yordan the primary LF 3) Renew the Altuve LF experiment and hope Paredes can be the primary 2B. You can't win without depth of talent. This team is better with Paredes than without - period. Walker is much better than the Cooper Hummel's of the world. And his glove is a big benefit with Altuve and/or Paredes playing 2B. I would choose option #2 but the Astros reportedly like option #1.
Number one would be such a mistake. There is an extremely high likelihood that Altuve, Yordan and/or Correa are going to miss some games. Hell, even Walker at his age is a risk. We no longer have Dubon, Urias, or anyone else worth a **** for that matter to come in and back these guys up.
Agreed But by all accounts that is what we are hearing. Listening to Chandler Rome each of Yordan, Altuve, Walker, Correa, and Paredes have played everyday (when healthy) for years and are simply unable to adjust, saying their productivity will suffer unless they play everyday. I completely disagree. Play them everyday when one of them is hurt. Until then they each get one day off per week.
The current roster can be managed, but it will drive us fans crazy if we get off to a bad start, string together games where we struggle to score, or go on a losing streak because we will want Espada to play all the big bats together every day. 1B: walker 142 games, Paredes 20 games 2B: Altuve 80 games, Paredes 80 games SS: Pena 152 games, Correa 10 games 3B: Correa 135 games, Paredes 27 games LF: Altuve 50 games, Yordan 40 games DH: Yordan 110games, Altuve 10, Paredes 15 Total: Yordan 150 Paredes 142. More DH early season to ensure health. Altuve 140. More 2B early season, more DH late season as Paredes is able to play the field and Altuve gets more DHnin second half. Peña 152 Correa 145 Walker 142 The playing time spread above assumes some pretty damn good health. Only 135 DH games is used up in the mix above, so there is room to decrease Yordan in OF, give Correa Paredes and Altuve more DH games. What this exercise shows is that we actually just need quality bats to play. It would be ideal if it were in OF or to swap out Walker for OF production. But subtracting Walker alone hurts our production. We would need to take that money and find a productive bat somewhere. Walker staying can work. I would argue that my exercise above is too optimistic regarding games played and health. It looks like a log jam. Until it’s not and we look thin as hell. (And no, having Dubon wouldn’t make the difference. I’m so tired of seeing whining about Dubon). We need hitters. Our IF has plenty of depth. We need young OF to step up, not more OF ABs going to Dubon. Our young OF can play defense. Need them to hit, period)
Does anybody know How much money is coming off the books after this season? I'm pretty sure there is a significant amount of bad contract money going away after this year. Just don't know how much. I also want to know who the bonehead is that calculated us to over the CBT by 1.7 mil. that's this season's killer. That's why I say let it ride with what we got this season and hope we can stay somewhat healthy. Next year's offseason should be pretty sweet for us. Which is good, because the AL West is no longer the little sisters of the poor as far as the competition level goes.
It's actually the opposite Lance is coming off the books. Thats it. Abreu, Okert, and De Los Santos are the only other FAs.
Actually it was over by about $5M You are think of the amount they paid in fines for being over (30%)
Don't we still owe Jose Abreau a bag?? Jabreau + Lance = prolly 35 mil if I was to guess. That's a chunk to me. I just looked and I'm happy to tell everyone that Walker is signed thru 2027. So, if you are worried about diminished returns this year. Wait till next.
Right. @Kemahkeith 2027 is the bigger offseason You'll potentially have upwards of $80M. Cristian Javier $21.4M Christian Walker $20M Jeremy Peña > $10M (Arb 3) Isaac Paredes > $10M (Arb 3) Jesús Sánchez ~ $10M (Arb 3) Jake Meyers ~ $10M (Arb 3) https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/HOU/houston-astros-salaries-and-contracts.shtml Plus, who knows how the CBA will look after negotiations.
McCullers is the only meaningful contract coming off the books after 2026 and that will get eaten up by arbitration raises for Pena, Brown, Paredes, and Yainer. After 2027 Javier and Walker come off. After 2028 they lose Yordan and maybe Correa.
Doesn't the rest of Jose Abreau's contract come off after this season? I might be wrong but I though we still owe him around 19 mil.
