Here is the OPS for Astros OFs: .794 LaMonte Wade Jr. (32 ABs) .669 Cam Smith .664 Taylor Trammell .652 Zach Dezenzo .647 Joey Loperfido .582 Brice Matthews .580 Jake Meyers .542 Zach Cole Assuming that LaMonte (32 years old) can post his career average OPS (.733) for the remainder of the season, the Astros desperately need 2 starting OFs. The Astros starting pitching rotation has as many question marks. We have an ace, Hunter Brown. The next best starter is Peter Lambert, who is pitching way above expectations. Lambert is now 3 innings away from the most he has ever pitched in a season. And who is #3, #4 and #5? Imai, Javier, Arrighetti? None of which are inspiring. Blanco and Wesneski are on rehab assignments, a year removed from TJ. Who knows if they can make it back to the MLB this season and how well they will pitch if they do. Astros do have a top prospect in AAA, Pecko. He will have the tough duty to make his MLB debut, in what the Astros hope is their playoff stretch. Rumors are that the Astros are looking for a ToR starter with controllable years. This trade would require a boatload of top prospects, if they can find a willing trading partner. And they would still need 1 if not 2 OF bats.
Yeah - I assumed (ignorantly) that everyone had concluded Gordon was a AAA depth guy. I was able to see a lot of him and didn’t see the stuff to consistently get enough hitters out. Maybe I will be proven wrong, the Brewers know what they are doing - but I think they just want him for fill in depth.
Haven't read through the thread but my interpretation was "this is another Alvarez trade in the making!". LOL. I'm probably not the only one who thought that. Even the Brewers thought that I bet before making the trade. It's just this guy is a year or two away maybe. But, expectations are sky high he will be like his family members who played and did it at an all-star level. I wish Lance well. Thank you for your contributions to the WS run. I admire your competitive spirit and your battle through a list of injuries. But, you really needed a fresh start to try to prove yourself somewhere else. You want to go out on your terms...not injuries' terms. That's admirable. You believe you still got something in the tank. Good luck!
Nats still had Scherzer and Strasburg as their starting pitches. Regardless of how bad of a stretch they may have had at times they had the pitching to be dominant in a series. Astros have none of that.
I'm not sure Crane looks at this like you do. Ir appears to me that he's operating like there's going to be the same cap after this season.
Rome said in his podcast today that LMJ was going to be part of the deal for Arrenado until Arrenado killed the deal.
Wade/I hope Cam can improve to the Wade OPS/Traded for OF that has .750 + OPS. I'm hoping for Lee. Pitching Hunter/Say Gausman/Lambert/Imai who I think will become more consistent/one of the other guys you listed.
I think the main piece is mccullers from the Brewers perspective. Veteran who has pitched in the WS gets to help a team with a lot of young pitching . Good on the Astros and lance . If Lance pitches well , or even if he doesn't he can always come back to spring training with us next year
Chandler Rome said after clearing the facts about money that Gordon was the main piece here. 5 years of control and lefty depth. About Nationals and their 2019 comeback and surge to WS. They had second best OBP of .342 after us in regular season and leading the rotation future HOF in prime and WS MVP for the year. That does't sound like 2026 Astros with 60something games to play. Im having hard time deciding is it good or bad that Dana has to stay under tax. For good says that he will buy anyway so he can't cause too much damage taking stupid money on. For bad says he will be making salary dumps Dubon style with useful players but getting nothing back. Let's see how chips fall. I do agree that makes the season more interesting to see Dana cause all kinda raucus just wheeling and dealing. Have to just not think about how fkd we are for coming seasons .
You mean the Nolan Arenado contract that had 3 years and 63MM left on it when he vetoed the deal? The Arenado contract that got dealt to Az a year later with the cardinals having to eat $31MM of the 42MM left on the deal? You are proving my point. LMJs contract was so far under water it could only be used to partially offset a worse/longer contract that we would have taken on.
In 2019 the Astros had the best post All Star winning percentage at .633. Who was second? The Washington Nationals at .630. As great as the 2019 Astros were, the Nationals record wise were right there as well after the All Star break. I don’t see this same outcome for the 2026 Astros. Hope I’m wrong
I wish Lance well, but lest be honest, it was this or DFA. It's sad when a pillar of the dynasty loses his luster, but hey, the Brewers get someone with playoff experience and maybe he is more of a mentor to Miz and the squad. Good luck Lance, you can still get buried in the H my dude
I've thought Lance has been cooked for awhile, but for a team that is seriously lacking competent SPs, to deal one of your arms to save a paltry $2M makes no sense to me. If you keep Lance and he still sucks, so what? If he has a few productive starts left in him, great, we need that. Still paying most of his salary this year just puzzles me.
We'll see what the next move will be for a starter or outfielder. If I remember correctly, we were barely over the CBT last season. If we $2.5M of more space, that compensatory pick would've been a 2nd rounder last week instead of a 4th. Every bit of space counts
The quotes from Lance make it sounds like he knows he’s cooked and isn’t expecting to pitch meaningfully for any team. The Brewers wanted Gordon for depth and the Astros wanted to shed some salary. Thats why Lance is part of this. If this is only a cost savings with no other lives then not much of a point. If they actually use that 2.5M to do something we can judge the trade on that. Neither Gordon or Lance was going to contribute and seems like Fielder is a real long shot at this point. The only meaningful impact will be what they do with the salary.
Yeah it sounds like they told Lance it was trade or DFA. It’ll be interesting to see if he actually pitches for Milwaukee. It also sounds like Crane might’ve already worked out a job for Lance once he retires (assuming after this season).
