I'll take Brantley over an anal rapist, a $340M underperforming SS, $40M catcher hitting like Castro (more BA, but less pop), $65M OF hitting like Maldy, a CF that couldn't hit who found a way to hit even less, and an expensive reliever that got cut because he can't spin the ball like he could before June of this year.
If Castro’s knee is toast and he won’t be back next season, trading for Wilson Contreras would make a lot of sense. I don’t see how else they could meaningfully upgrade at C. No good free agents and only a handful of guys total in the league who would represent a meaningful upgrade. Maybe Hasse?
Agreed, although the Astros were never in the financial class to go after any of those players other than Brad Hand. The Nationals even salvaged the Hand signing by getting Riley Adams who will have some likely use for them over the next handful of years. The Odorizzi signing was bad, although I think the Astros will be able to move him this winter in a trade. The question is just whether they have to eat any of his deal. The Baez signing was a bad signing and Castro was mediocre. I do agree with you that it could have been WAY worse, but is that because Click lacked the finances to do that, or because he was astute in free agency and trades? I don't know yet.... I trust him and his staff on player development and he deserves credit for being patient with younger players.... but I want to see more in signings and trades that we have seen in a small sample size.
I guess you could move Altuve to LF in a pinch. I don't see why you'd move Bregman around, unless you think it helps him stay healthy - or if you think Pena and Pedro Leon both hit. Bregman could easily handle LF, or 2B (if you wanted to move Altuve to the outfield).I don't see either of them playing first. Yuli seems like he's done a tremendous job keeping his body in shape -- he still moves really well. If anything, it'd be his bat dropping off that moves him off first. I know Brantley has played a little bit of 1st in the past, but I don't see that helping his body stay healthy vs. left field.
The Rays have a couple of catchers, depending on what you think of the bat of Zunino. Contreras makes a whole lot of sense. He isn't the best worker or mature, but he has the physical skills to cover some of that, and his bat can be even better than it has been so far.
The bar isn't set very high when it comes to upgrading the catcher position. I'm thinking about a guy like Barnhart from the Reds.
The Astros are concerned about Bregman's range at third base going forward, that is why he has been mentioned. Altuve is a midget but I know they have discussed him long term getting time at 1st and DH as he ages. This would likely happen in 2023 anyway when Gurriel's deal is up. Brantley and pre surgery Alvarez were no go's for 1st and I assume that is still the case. I think Leon needs at least a quarter season in the minors next season, even if he rips the cover off the ball... although they supposedly like him at SS. Pena is someone that will do everything possible to maximize his performance. He is known as an extremely hard worker, transformed his body and has worked on his swing to generate more hard contact. The Astros really like him so I wouldn't be shocked if he gets a fair amount of playing time at some point in 2022 with the Astros. The glove at SS is good, and they think he can be able to hit a lot of doubles and 20 homers so as to make his bat possibly a positive.
I'd say the Brantley and Gurriel (not technically offseason, but for all intents and purposes was one) deals easily have the offseason as a plus by themselves so far considering how much Astros spent and the number of underperforming free agent signings. Odorizzi has looked like a starter that might excel as a high leverage reliever. Some value may be salvaged there.
Honestly, if you told me Odorizzi would provide 125 innings with an ERA in the low 4's when we signed him, I would have taken it. Thus far we've been pretty fortunate with our starters. If you told Click Garcia would perform as well as he has, Framber would be available for 2/3 of the season and only one guy would miss significant time with injury, he likely doesn't make the signing. As is we probably could have gotten away with Bielak in Odorizzi's spot, but when it comes to starters I'm OK with him playing it safe in that regard, even if Odorizzi looks superfluous right now. If things hadn't gone as well you could get a lot of bad starts, which kills a club, or you are scrambling to add from a position of weakness. The Baez and Castro signings make less sense at those price tags.
If Odorizzi pitches well in whatever innings he is given in the playoffs, I would upgrade his assessment to mediocre. If Castro is unavailable for the playoffs, I would downgrade his signing to bad.
I understand the thinking being the Odorizzi signing and I don't think Click makes it if he knows Valdez is able to go. I have not been impressed with Odorizzi, and do not think that he will get much playoff time at all - and for a team like the Astros that is crucial. I did not expect excellence, but I did expect a FIP under 4.8 and an ERA around 4. Having said that, if he can get his ERA and FIP down some I think he is moveable this off season for the Astros. Castro was signed for his splits, but I didn't like the signing at the time and didn't like Baez either.... there were already flags over the Baez velocity drop. The good news is that none of the signings or trades were catastrophic and can for the most part be remedied.
I want at least one veteran catcher on the team. I am not overly keen on a rookie backstop trying to hit well enough and how to handle the staff of a team trying to win the World Series. I would kick around the idea of Mike Zunino as my catcher or see what the real cost of Contreras is.... Contreras can change the line up.
Zunino has a team option for 4 million next season. However he also gets 1 million each for playing in 80, 90, and 100 games. He currently sits at 89 games played. He probably will hit 100 games and the option will become 7 million. That might be too pricey for the Rays.
I was a fan of the Castro signing and still like it assuming he is able to get healthy. It’s really hard to make a bad signing for $8.5M/2yrs. Obviously if he can’t play next season then it’s bad but just looking at this season the Astros got 0.2 fwar for $3.5M; not a great value but not meaningfully bad. The Baez deal was obviously bad in hindsight and if he doesn’t get healthy it’ll be Clicks first significant goof. Of course there’s still 2 years left on that deal so maybe Baez gets healthy this offseason and becomes a great setup man which would make it a meh signing. I have to agree Click’s trade and free agency track record so far are sketchy. The Pruitt deal was a bust. Toro is crushing it. Straw is crushing it. De La Cruz is crushing it. Maton hasn’t been good. Montero hasn’t been good. Y Garcia hasn’t been that good. Raley hasn’t been that good. Stanek hasn’t been good. Baez is a bust. Castro is meh. That said, none of those deals is huge and almost all of them have time to swing back to the Astros favor. And if Click keeps developing guys like Meyers, his free agent and trade prowess may not matter much.
Pruitt was a Luhnow deal. Happened right before he got fired. The Baez, Castro, Odorizzi moves mattered more because the Astros were not going over the luxury tax. Click didn't address the bullpen enough in the offseason and had to go hog wild at the deadline. As you mentioned, Straw, Toro, and De La Cruz represents a lot of value to get 1 good reliever for 2 months and a couple guys that aren't exactly lighting it up.
I would add that Click was under the gun to get relief help. That said, other teams knew it and had him over the barrel. As for these and the other trades, lets see how well Straw, De la Cruz and Toro are doing this time next year.
