Just curious what people think about: Mike Clevinger Patrick Corbin Obviously these would be cheap options.. Was thinking Clevinger's injury hurts his trade value. He should get dumped for next to nothing. He hasn't been good in the post season but maybe as long relief he could have success in the right matchup... Corbin would have to involve Nats eating most of the salary. He still gets lefties out and can eat innings probably no much better or worse than Blanco or Bielak. Would be similar to Will Smith... pick him up and see how he does in the pen... maybe finds new life like Colin McHugh.. Could come in handy if we have a clean inning with 2 lefties coming up... Not sure it's worth the roster spot... I feel lile we could do better... Just trying to think small move as they tend to be more realistic...
Here's the thing, who says Bellinger would have to play in the outfield or Chas couldn't play DH. If we can get Bellinger for one of our surplus outfielders, we should do it. We keep dancing around the fact that Diaz needs to play catcher, and Maldy needs to come from the bench. If Diaz is DH, then we would lose the DH spot if we need to pinch hit for Maldy or he gets hurt. I know Dusty has lots of say now, but we all know the lineup during the playoffs are not Dusty's decision. We would be stupid to have Maldy starting all the games in the playoffs and I trust Crane and Brown won't let that happen. Altuve 2B Chas LF Alvarez DH Abreu 1B Tucker RF Bellinger CF Bregman 3B Diaz C Pena SS I don't care who is the DH out of Chas, Alvarez, and Bellinger as long as all are playing and it's not Diaz because we need him at catcher. All that being said, we need a SP and a high leverage reliever like Gravemen or Hader more than anything.
Hard pass... too much injury risk for ohtani... He goes out you get hit double.... you have a top pitcher constantly running the bases it's asking for it...
Simplest moves to me... Make Diaz primary catcher Shift Yordan to DH Play Julks everyday in left Play McCormick everyday in CF Dubon off the bench in Marwin role. If you can do better than Julks with a rental that's fine. They can move Yordan to left and pick up bat regardless of position for DH. I think 2 quality long relievers to spare the pen and backup shorter outings by starters has more value. For the cost of one mediocre starter we could get a couple good middle relievers. Then ask Javier, Brown, and France to give you 5 innings tops.
A team 13 position players and The biggest thing to me, regarding those, is that the team has no room for error. In the past, they could get a Will Smith and try to fix him. This year, whoever they get must be good from day 1 to help the team catch the Rangers, and to be able to pitch leverage innings and give the bullpen some rest.
Don't want Bellinger... not just the attitude but he fell apart for 3 years and now suddenly hits again? Makes me think something is going on either PED or other help...
I agree, they aren't guaranteed to help... thinking more like fallback due to them likely being a very cheap pickup... A lefty who gets lefties out would help. Will smith wasn't doing that last year.
Just had a thought.... Montero for Patrick Corbin Money is about a wash and Corbin gets lefties out. Can use him as a 1 inning guy... can't be worse than Montero and give a different look... If Nats fix Montero they can use him as closer and then flip him a year from now for value.
would make a few adjustments if I was manager *I still think the best option is for this team to add a run producing bat that hits RHP well. 83% of the starting pitchers among AL Playoff contenders are RH and neither Julks, nor Meyers is good vs them. But if no moves are made this is what I would do: 1) Diaz catches vs RHP, Maldy catches vs LHP 2) Make Chas an everyday starter 2/3 in CF and 1/3 in LF. 3) start Julks in LF 2/3 of the time and Meyers in CF 1/3 of the time. Divide up starts by defense - Meyers' starts come when fly ball pitchers like Javier and Blanco start. 4) Abreu, Altuve, Pena, Chas, Yordan, and Tucker get very few days off until the division is won. The Braves stars have played everyday so far this season, hopefully the days off they already had are enough. 5) Bregman starts everyday vs RHP but only every other day vs LHP and start Dubon at 3B. He struggles badly vs LHP and Dubon is very good and needs starts with Pena and Altuve playing everyday.
Fangraphs trade value columns are coming out. Hunter Brown is #40 and Jeremy Pena is #37. Yainer Diaz was on their Honorable Mention list and Luis Garcia was on their list of players not on the list who were on it last year. I suspect Kyle Tucker, Framber Valdez, and Yordan Alvarez will be on the top 30. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2023-trade-value-nos-31-40/ I find it interesting they think Pena is worth more than Brown, Spencer Steer, Josh Jung, Hunter Greene and others.
Well - yes, Crane has wanted action at the deadline in the past. If you remember, the Astros early on with Luhnow got a little ribbing from Crane that they failed to get the Orioles old closer, and also didn't get an impact player. However, the situation with Click last year is a little more complicated. Crane wanted to spend money in free agency. They had a disagreement over how much to offer Verlander. Then Click wasn't happy that Click wasn't more aggressive during the off season and free agency. Click told Crane he WOULD be aggressive at the deadline, would fill holes and that is why he did not spend more money or make trades........ leading up to the trade deadline he promised he would be able to address 1st base and sure up the holes........ and then the deadline came, the 1st baseman was included in the Soto trade - the Cubs tried to bait and switch and Click looked like a pumpkin when the deals he discussed never happened..... then on top of that, Click relied on Brantley coming back. So, unless Dana Brown has made a lot of promises, he likely doesn't have to trade the farm to just make a deal - Brown and Crane and even Baker meet and discuss the market, players/positions needed etc. Also, I wouldn't at all be surprised if Brown trades Meyers so that McCormick has to play CF every game - but he will frame it in the idea of helping other positions of need for the Astros - as opposed to Click who just dealt Straw without notice to Baker. A lot of this with the Astros is having people that can have healthy relationships and communications - which Click struggled with at times.
I haven't seen this mentioned, and that may be because it's a stupid question. Since our farm is seemingly so thin on depth, do any of our newly drafted, over-slot HS players (Ochoa/Hueza/Jaworsky) hold enough value to other organizations to include them as a meaningful piece as PTBNL in a deal for an established player? Or do they hold minimal value since they have yet to prove themselves at any level of professional baseball?
They cannot be included in a trade until after the World Series is concluded Others may disagree, but I do not think depth is the problem with our farm system. I think it is poorly rated because there is no high end talent. The team consistently pumps out quality players, but not all star caliber. Diaz may be the only young player with the ability to be a multiple time all star.
Yep PTBNL must be eligible to be traded at the time the trade is agreed upon. Those rules changed a few years ago. Teams had 6 months to finalize a PTBNL trade, and draft picks had to be under contract for 1 year to be trade eligible. When they changed that to eligible after the WS it created a loophole for PTBNL to include draft picks. MLB closed that by making the eligible at time of agreement rule.
