Ok so what available bat should we go after? And when he made the no trade list we were the biggest joke in pro sports
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Additional confirmation tonight that <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Astros?src=hash">#Astros</a> are making a strong effort for Hamels. How open he is to approving a deal to HOU is not known.</p>— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/626176123592904705">July 28, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
People get so enamored with prospects but prospect lists don't win championships. I would think Luhnow understands the failure rate of prospects even when you feel you're great at unearthing them. If it's good value wrt Hamels and his contract in future years then I hope he pulls the trigger. Hamels certainly has all the things you'd look for in an ace to lead an inexperienced team.
As much as I'd prefer a bat to an arm, Im sure Luhnow is covering all of his bases. If it takes 3 solid prospects to land a bat, but 2 prospects for Hamels, then he may choose the arm route. Unfortunately, we don't know what teams want, who they value, etc… All I know is that another arm or bat will give us a big edge. If we are able to trade for Hamels, then it allows us to go with Keuchel in the one game playoff…without missing a beat in the 5 game series to follow. Basically, we'll be in a great position come playoff time.
Do you care about winning a championship? Or just following the progress of minor leaguers? This city has won 2 major sports championships in it's history. If you told me we could win a world series this year at the expense of sucking for the next 15 years, i'd take that deal in a heartbeat. But that is hardly the case. We don't know who is being dealt, and regardless of who goes, this team is built to be (borderline unarguably) the premiere team in baseball for the next several years. Also, remember that the people who are handling the trading away of these prospects are the same ones who were smart enough to acquire them in the first place. Not singling you out in this post, but anybody who is freaking out about who is going to be moved.
I agree to a certain extent. I guess my hesitation is we have been burned before by the lack of a system. Fortunately now we are under different management that definitely seems to have built a foundation in place to be able to withhold trading a large volume of prospects.
Think I'm with msn I cringe at the thought of three ace* pitchers with no offense**! *Good, great, ace, however you want to define them **Feast or famine, hit or miss, home run or nothing offense An additional bat would be nice but apparently not much smoke there. Yes, Lowrie is coming back soon but Springer is still another month away [at best]. Not that they need my advice but whatever they do, don't go Padres! They're regretting that big time.
He gets it even more-so... he sees and is aware of the failures far more than the fewer success' that result from home-grown players. Hell, the last 3 years of "experimentation" featured several ex-first round picks, players he scouted with the Cardinals, or guys being given a second chance where a possible change of scenery was thought to help... and mostly all of them failed to work out. Like I said before... the Astros are bound to miss out on a future "star" at some point with the sheer volume of talent in the system (Abreu vs. other 40-men people they could have jettisoned)... and sometimes they will trade their junk for a key contributor (Alou trade).
If we are able to retain Kazmir, the rotation looks absolutely stacked for the next 2 seasons. Keuchel, Kazmir, Hamels, McCullers as a top 4. Then you have McHugh who looks to be regaining form, Velasquez, Appel, Feliz, Hader, Musgrove, there won't be enough innings for these guys anyhow. There is really no pressing need to keep all of them aside from wanting to horde prospects. Turn them into major league awesomeness right now. Luhnow has proven he doesn't need high picks to keep talent coming in.
Less Carter/Singleton/Castro can also do nothing but help right now as well. I think odds are they get some sort of bat as well.
Bottom line is that the Astros have too many prospects…majority of them will never find the field if we never trade anyone. Therefore, don't get sad when we lose a Kemp or a Hader. Some must go.
I think McCullers and Velasquez having an innings limit has a lot to do with any interest in Hamels. Both could be unavailable down the stretch and you never know if another starter could come up injured. We don't want Roberto Hernandez starting games in September.
We have Keuchel and Kazmir. Do we really need to give up top quality prospects for ANOTHER lefty starter, who has already said he doesn't want to be here? I'd rather get Justin Upton or Carlos Gonzalez with the relative prospects it would take to get Hamels.
The only ones I will really be sad about if traded are VV, Phillips, Reed, Martes (assuming 2015 guys can't be moved).
Agree. Try like hell to keep the blue chippers and start trading those better than depth guys that we'll never have any room to play.
As been said, A trade is only happening if he wants to be here. If he doesn't want to be here, he won't be here.
