Cooper/Bell, Contreras/Murphy. Looks like the Astros are stretching the buzz themselves to show they have options and play one against the other.
I totally agree as well. We have a few glaring holes in the lineup, and especially considering Brantley isn't even swinging or catching yet. Last thing we need is to go into the playoffs with two outfielders hitting poorly, and no pop at first base. The lineup would be basically Altuve, Alvarez, Bregman, Tucker, and Pena (assuming he snaps out of his slump), and that's about it. Dead weight in the bottom of the order. We can also use another shutdown reliever to at least keep Maton from pitching in high-leverage situations and also keep us from potentially overusing the same guy.
I see some here would rather hold onto prospects than give the team its best chance to win a championship. There are no Bregs, Tucker etc... in the minors. Nobody should be off limits. IMHO
We don’t need another reliever. Seriously- go look at the game logs- there are almost zero paths to winning anywhere in the playoffs they involve your 12th and 13th best pitchers being in the game and we are freaking great down through 11th. That’s enough. JV, LMJ, Framber, Garcia, Javier, Urquidy, Presley, Stanek, Neris, Montero. Those are the guys that are a part of your pathway to a win in the post season and that’s plenty good enough. If the RP market is as frothy as they say I’d prefer to sell on Maton as I would be shocked if Brown wasn’t a weapon, and if we are going into the post season with Abreu and Martinez as our 12th and 13th guy I will lose absolutely zero sleep as they 1) will be better than everyone else’s 12th and 13th guy, and 2) they aren’t part of any path to victory outside of “14 inning game” and if you go 14 in innings or something that game is being lost by the offense getting blanked a bunch of innings in a row. I’d much rather fix the offense at the deadline which will affect 100% of playoff games as opposed to worry about some freak occurrence.
Any team is only as strong as its weakest link. Click's job is to identify where the link(s) are and he's not doing his job if he doesn't do everything in his power to try and strengthen these areas for the playoffs. This team has some unknowns. Can Brantley come back and if so how effective will he be? Yuli. Seems to be picking things up a bit but the sample size in the two hole is so small and the deadline is Tuesday. Definitely think this team NEEDS another bat. I'd go after Bell but I would trade prospects and wouldn't include Urquidy (given Bell is a rental). There's no guarantee that LMJ comes back and is effective. If he does you're looking at JV, Framber, and LMJ as your top 3 in the playoffs and whoever is the most effective at that time between Javier, Garcia and Urquidy. Whoever isn't the 4th starter is in the pen and that's why I like having Urquidy. Still think the pen could use another arm as well. Click says he's going to be "aggressive". I mean what is he going to say, but at the end of the day it's just words. I guess we'll see how this plays out....
Brown is really the only guy who should be off limits and that's mostly due to the lack of impact mlb ready starting pitchers in the system I love what Leon is doing in AAA and would hate to trade him but Barber and Gilbert also project as starting CF. Other than Brown the sheer volume and small difference talent wise between multiple prospects at every position mean many of them can be moved with little negative impact to the future of the Astros.
The Dodgers felt very similarly a few years back when they wanted Josh Fields. I'm not saying don't make a trade, but to say there aren't any great players in the farm so deal whoever is more than a little silly. If they really believe in a player he should be off limits.
Maton should not even be rostered, and that’s without making a move for anyone else. Relax, he’s not in our top 10/11.
Convert Odorizzi to prospects. Only give up other starting pitchers if unlikely opportunity presents itself to get in on deals for only the elitist of trade deadline names, but last night’s Castillo trade tells me he price of this market is too high so anyone expecting a splash trade is likely setting themselves up to be disappointed
I wouldn’t hate this trade at all. Especially if their prospect is actually good. On that farm system with Clicks knowledge of it you would think he should know. I like Urquidy, a lot, but he’s surplus, this solves 1 of the 3 issues we have next year at a cheap price which allows us to throw money at the other 2 issues (JV extension and LF), and nets a really good prospect. Call it in Click.
Interesting. Lowe is like Matijevic if he could play CF and steal bases. Big left handed power but strikeout problems. Choi would be a solid 1B for the next 1.5 years. But I wouldn’t want to give up Urquidy and Siri for those 2 alone.
So many of the Astros are bunched up in position and talent level. What's the real difference ( in overall projected results, not individual skills or tools) between Jordan Brewer, Corey Julks, Matthew Barefoot, Logan Cerney, and Tyler Whitaker? Grae Kessinger, Will Wagner, Shay Whitcomb, David Hensley. Emmanuel Valdez. All of those guys should be basically interchangeable and traded without question to improve the team. I would do. Sp prospects and RP prospects too but you get my point. Keeping one over another makes such little difference it should not hold ip a deal. And depth allows for an over pay.
I've been super busy with work and family commitments. Can someone catch me up on latest rumors? Appreciate you fam!
