Amazing. This just made my freaking day! Hometown guy too who has a good chance of staying and we really gave up nothing noteworthy. Love it!!!
Solid trade. Glad we kept Phillips and reed. I suspect there may be another trade or two coming. So the consensus seems to be that Feldman is out of the rotation? Feel like they invested too much money in him for that to happen but I would prefer to see that. Also have there been any actual reports or indications that kazmir would stay or is it all just speculation?
This is true.... the Astros have developed young players well and the A's were smart to sign Kazmir to a good deal and both teams are getting the fruits of their smart moves. I never had a problem with the Beltran trade... There were a lot of people that would bring his name up because he and Guillen became very good players for a long time. Depends, I consider Nottingham an elite prospect..... not terribly happy they dealt him for a rental, although Kazmir is an extremely good rental. I don't think they are done making moves, I think they will make a move for a bat or two and they will try to get a reliever. I agree with you on this point. He is an excellent fit, and it is likely he wants to resign with the Astros. Kazmir is also known as a good guy, he didn't give up on his career when everyone said he was toast, he couldn't even get a minors deal... and now he is one of the 6-7 best pitchers in the AL.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Scott Kazmir on joining the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Astros?src=hash">#Astros</a>: "Hard to believe Houston is actually competitive enough to be a trade deadline buyer, this is bizarre."</p>— NOT Baseball Tonight (@NOTMLBTonight) <a href="https://twitter.com/NOTMLBTonight/status/624273071889883136">July 23, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I don't see them moving Feldman to the pen unless he's hurt or just grossly ineffective. If he's not able to be an innings-eating starter, he's pretty much useless to this team... like Fausto is. Meanwhile, VV and/or LMJ could transition to be a "lights-out" flame throwing bullpen pitcher once they get close to the "innings limit" or whatever criteria they end up using to try and save them from throwing too much.
This is a good move. Losing Nottingham isn't ideal, but necessary move if we plan on really going for it this season.
I see what you did there...Also, why do we still have Qualls? He's like the Joey Dorsey of our team. Where's Octavio Dotel when you need him?
He very well could go on to have a productive MLB career... but with all teams having access to a plethora of data now, you're not going to "get away" with any prospect trades anymore. Meaning, expect to give up at least something of value to get value. The A's are a great trading partner because when Beane sells, he usually looks for low A/AA guys with more room for potential growth (rather than the guys on the cusp of being MLB ready). Also, pretty sure that "any" prospect being traded right now will be considered "elite" by somebody out there... just the nature of most trades as there's always somebody who will say that "this could backfire!"
Is it possible to limit their innings like the Astros want to do that McCullers and Velasquez split start and pitch 4-5 innings every fifth day? Keuchel Kazmir McHugh McCullers/Velasquez Feldman
Feldman will stay in the rotation. They will likely send Velasquez back down, or move him to the bullpen for now. And they may alter V's starts with McCullers or somethign so they don't pitch too many innings etc. But I don't see them demoting Felman to the bullpen unless he just keeps pitching terrible, but let's hope he picks it up. On a separate note, I like that Kazmir gets to be the #2, and we're not putting too much pressure on McCullers. That would've been a lot to ask for from McCullers, especially in the post season.
