What About Cedric Mullins and Trey Mancini for Chas McCormick, Jose Urquidy, Jonathan Bermudez Forrest Whitley
Way light. Mullins put up all-star production in CF last season and has 3 years of arb left. Mancini has a 130 wRC+ this year. The O's would be nuts to trade that for a 2nd division tweener OFer, a poorly performing BOR starter and more spare parts.
For as much feuding as there has been lately with the Angelos brothers, a trade like that would be the only thing they’d unite over. If their GM actually accepts that package he’d be fired on the spot and the O’s would be a bigger laughing stock than they already are. Too light.
Mancini and Mullins for McCormick, Urquidy, Leon, and Whitley is probably close. But that’s only if Elias likes McCormick as an everyday LF and Urquidy as an SP4.
Then I would do it in a heart beat. If you get Mullins he is your CF and when Brantley contracts up you push him to LF with Meyers and Siri in CF. Mancini takes over at 1B and you can have a super utility in Yuli till he leaves in FA. The Orioles are in a panic mode they are about to sell so money and youth with be the way they wanna go. Shoot call em ship em and look for a couple BP arms. Chaffin and Robertson sound good and if you wanted to push the role a C to replace Castro maybe Yainer Diaz down in double AA
This is the classic "i'm not watching the guy play everyday" situation I'm not saying I wouldn't like Mullins on the Astros, cause I would But right now his OPS is less than the boards biggest whippin boy Bregman, and also less than McCormick. Mullins currently has a .304 OBP and a .680 OPS. If he had a career of better numbers I would be more likely to blow it off as a poor couple of months, but reality is he had one big year last year and has nothing else in his career (albeit not a long career) to show he is a stud He is exactly the type of guy who should almost never get traded. Controlled for a few years, on a terrible team, has a season where he showed huge potential so the price would be high or he won't be moved, but not having the kind of year that would help a contender at the moment I would take a chance if the price was cheap, but there is zero reason for Baltimore to sell him cheaply
I would think of a situation where he is on a bad team and could just need to be out of that negative organization whom might be moved completely out of the state some time soon. They (The Baltimore Orioles) Need to save money and acquire as much cheaper young talent as they cant to make themselves more appealing to a BUYER. Sure he isn't doing Aswell as hoped but this would be the place where he can be more protected in the lineup and actually look forward to playing baseball instead of just losing every game and being in a dumps organization. The Orioles haven't been this bad since Ripken and Palmiero left back in the day and they have slowly went down hill. either by signing terrible contracts or just not being able to keep there players. Adam Jones was the last real player they had and where is he today? I would wanna see what we can do to acquire them both and be ok with losing Brantley and Yuli at the end of the year or by trade at the dead line. I've never been a fan of Yuli his age has always scared me and I feared the most that the Astros would try and save face and sign him to a long term deal. Thank god that never came to light. Same with Brantley I think he is more of a DH now a days . You could possibly get a decent Prospect for him with a team looking for a DH if you don't just want him setting there on the bench or are afraid it might hurt the chemistry in the Club house. Alot of people are afraid to sell off certain parts of this club to make it better. like Maldy he isn't going no where and i don't get it other then his repour with the Pitchers and the Def. Bregman has to be moved down in the lineup and Pena needs to be behind Altuve. Tucker behind Yordan. this would improve the production in my opinion. I also think we have a plethora of SPs and we should entertain the idea of maybe moving a couple. IE Urquidy and Odorizzi. McCormick is another name I would look into moving along with Maton . Never really liked him. we need Hunter Brown and Yainer Diaz moved up and maybe another Minor Leaguer. Siri is in the old Straw mold with his running. and Meyers needs to get back in to form. This bench is weak. Sorry but Diaz seems to start going good and boom some kind of freak accident happens. Dubon Isn't whom I thought he would be in yes he is versatile but man where's the bat? And Castro is just Trash
Astros get: C Tom Murphy Jr. Mariners get: 1B/OF Taylor Jones PTBNL Contingent on Murphy’s health, of course (assuming he recovers fine). Maldonado remains the primary catcher, but Murphy replaces Castro as the second catcher, and provides us an offense-first catcher in contrast. Jones can play LF for Seattle (he looked good there last year), helps out our logjam (and theirs at C), and brings the Seattle native back homer. I am completely aware of what Maldonado brings, and why he will not lose his job as the primary catcher. But what I do not understand is what Castro brings at this point, so it makes sense to have a better hitting catcher take over his role.
Seeing some of these trade proposals, I think a good exercise for some would be to take your first instinct on what your proposal might be, then take out two of the Astros players you are proposing and substitute them with two other players ranked at minimum 5 positions higher up the team prospect rankings. So if you are thinking Chad McCormick as first instinct, take him out and put in Barber. if you are thinking Urquidy, take him out and out in Luis Garcia or Javier. Do this until you feel a pain developing in your stomach because of how much the trade is going to sting losing these caliber prospects. Then you will have a more realistic trade proposal.
The Mariners have more than enough young, higher upside OF'ers to run out (Julio Rodriguez, Taylor Trammell, Kyle Lewis and even Jarred Kellenic). Why would they trade their best catcher for a lower-upside, unproven corner bat?
The reality is when it comes to the catching position, there really isn't a lot out there that could help the Astros. Murphy isn't a great bat, and while he is an improvement, I suspect that the A's value him and his gold glove more than the Astros do. Yan Gomes is available most likely but he doesn't have the best reputation. There are guys like Keibert Ruiz, and Christian Vazquez possibly being available but I don't know anything about them beyond their statistics. Wilson Contreras will likely be in hot demand and go for more than he is worth. I suspect they let Bregman stay at 3rd base even with his struggles. So that leaves 1st base and CF for the most part. There are some first basemen out there...... Trey Mancini may be the best fit for the Astros, but I don't know what his trade cost would be. He has some pop and can play some outfield. He also would fit well in the clubhouse and makes enough contact. Josh Bell is another possibility. He is slow and not good with the glove, but he is very good at putting the bat on the ball. He is a pure rental and is cost shouldn't be prohibitive. Garrett Cooper is a popular name with the Marlins. If you get him you are hoping he isn't exposed with more at bats and you are probably paying high on him. The cost is the big question mark. CJ Cron with Colorado is having a nice year. A lot of teammates really like him and he brings pop but how does he hit outside of Colorado? Does he make enough contact? Rhys Hoskins is possible if the Phillies fade. He gives you a low average but walks and has extra base power. A few years ago he looked like he was going to be an elite bat, but lack of base hits have hurt him. Eugenio Suarez can likely play all over. He makes a decent amount of money and struggles to make contact but has extreme power and can walk some. Last is Jose Abreu. If the Sox crumble and ownership decides they aren't resigning Abreu, then he may be available. Interestingly enough the Astros years ago finished second in the bidding for Jose when he came from Cuba. He has power and can walk. He is a mediocre 1st baseman but he has worked at it. His bat can be slow at times but he usually comes through. He can hit anywhere 5-7 in the line up and give quality at bats. I don't think he will be available though. Overall the deepest chance to improve is at first base. In centerfield there really isn't as much to choose from. Cedric Mullins isn't hitting and he is cost prohibitive from a prospect perspective. Ian Happ is a player that has never quite been as good as his stats and is more of a utility type than a clear cut centerfielder but he can do it well enough to stay out there. He has a good enough bat. Odubel Herrera is someone possibly available if the Phillies are out of it. He is an improvement with the bat, but I don't think the Astros want to deal with his domestic violence past coming up in a trade. Interestingly enough the Astros best move may be going after a poor positional fit and making it work. JD Martinez is the type of bat that could allow the Astros to keep Bregman at 3rd, Moldy at Catcher and possibly stay inhouse at first. IF the Red Sox fade he is a rental that may be available. All I have heard from inside the Astros is "be patient"..... but I suspect that they address one of the holes in the line up and my guess is it will be 1st base or an outfielder.
I get this, If they just have to stay with Maldy, Ihope they atleast upgrade over Castro. What I really hope is they do a Brown for Melendez swap, but we know that's unlikely to happen. I'm thinking once Meyers is back he's the CF of the future.
Among the names bandied about, none are even remotely worth Garcia or Javier. All the targets are rentals, and/or flawed players. You don't include team controlled, good major league starters for that.
Of guys on crummy teams, we know the Astros have previously expressed interest in Bell, Contreras, Abreu, and Adam Frazier. They all still make sense as targets (except maybe Frazier). I also think Happ makes sense. But I think Bell would probably top my list if I were betting on who they will get. He is complementary to the roster in a way that would allow them to avoid the talk of benching Yuli, and he won’t be too expensive. If I were GM I would overpay for Varsho if he is at all available. But otherwise a bat like Bell is a great fit. As long as they end up with a playoff lineup in which Pena is only the 7th best hitter, they will have done their job.
So are Garcia/Javier. Would you trade one of these guys plus a lower level prospect for Contreras to give yourself the best chance to win a WS? I definitely would be willing to take this chance. Teams rarely have the chance to win a WS and when they do that chance should be maximized.
No chance in hell I’d trade either one of Garcia or Javier for 3 months of Contreras. The truth is that while yes, neither Garcia or Javier are “aces”- they are both capable of shutting down elite hitting teams any given start. Despite those guys still being relatively young- they’ve been able to build quite a resume for themselves over the past couple of years. Especially in the playoffs last year. I’d need an elite level/ potential elite level player with multiple years of control to come off either one of Javier/Garcia
