you can acquire good/great pieces without filling all of the necessary holes. trading for today's version of chase utley to play first base is desperation. i'm not sure how anybody could sensibly argue otherwise. and it would also be an admission that they should have acquired a real 1B at the non-waiver deadline.
I wouldn't say the Astros botched it. Kazmir has been exceptional and is arguably the most underrated pitcher in baseball. Gomez hasn't especially played well but it is a small sample size. Still the Astros had a huge festering wound at first base and they didn't address it. I know they felt they would get Alonso in a bigger deal with the Padres, but it didn't happen. Regardless first base is a huge hole.
The question still hasn't been answered as to what first baseman was available at the trade deadline. How many first baseman even got moved?
Marwin Gonzalez has played very well, certainly well enough to be a deserving ML starter at 1B. He won't develop into a superstar but hitting eighth around all that talent, he's beyond average. Still don't know what Singleton could become and certainly need to keep the corner infield spots available (Correa & Altuve have the Middle infield spots for the next decade) with vets on shorter contracts like Lowrie, Valbuena, Gonzalez, etc. Bregman, Reed could be superstars and Kemp is looking like a very good player.
Aren't you the one who suggested to quit speculating? Aren't you speculating that they didn't try to acquire other help at the trade deadline? Aren't you speculating that they are even trying hard to trade for Utley? Aren't you speculating that if they do acquire Utley he would not be helpful?
Is somebody arguing the 1B situation isn't a concern? With all the various pieces they have, I don't know that it's desperate - but yeah, it's definitely a concern moving forward; are you under the impression that the Astros don't think it is? That seems like a pretty giant leap. Fans seem to forget that it takes two to tango; it's possible they went really hard after a 1B but couldn't find a willing partner or finalize a deal. I don't believe a single 1B was dealt at the deadline: very possible they asked and no one was offering. That's *their* fault?
Not that he was ever coming here... <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">GM Ruben Amaro this morning <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsRadioWIP">@SportsRadioWIP</a> "Chase Utley likely to be w <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Phillies?src=hash">#Phillies</a> rest of year." Definition, Utley will not approve trade.</p>— Howard Eskin (@howardeskin) <a href="https://twitter.com/howardeskin/status/633634158364000256">August 18, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> "1B" moved: Kelly Johnson Mike Morse Brandon Moss Mike Napoli Nick Swisher Chris Johnson Spoiler
