I like the cut of your jib, but if Soto is on the market, they will get a much better haul than this, imo. Also- Jim Crane isn't doing this. Full stop.
Pretty sure Luhnow had more to do with Hinch hiring than Click with Dusty. Here's a very prophetic quote from Luhnow on Hinch hiring:
I'm trying not to jinx things but I thought Odorizzi was done. I'm glad this is as wrong as I've ever been about baseball.
I posted “Odo will prove his worth this year” before the season and he came out and sucked it up hard. I then posted “Odo’s time is just about out” then he puts up 2 stellar starts. On balance thru 5 starts this season he has been pretty much exactly what we all hoped/expected he’d be when he was signed; an average SP. He was roughly worth his contract last year and is on pace to be well worth his contract this year. Hell, he may even play well enough to not pick up his option for next year. All the whining about him has been annoying as ****. Using him as some negative referendum on Click is stupid.
The thing is when he looks bad, he looks like he doesn't even belong in the league. When he plays well, he shuts teams down. His swings(no pun intended) between good and bad is crazy. He's a high variance player.
Yep… and this was after he had to rectify the mistake of hiring Bo Porter, which was also likely more a Luhnow choice than a Crane choice. I don’t think Dusty would still be here if Luhnow was here. Which can be extrapolated to the overall autonomy that Click has for all things baseball is likely nowhere close to the level of control that Luhnow had… but thanks to those negative circumstances, there will likely never be a GM that Crane lets run everything anymore as long as he’s the owner.
I should have prefaced that if there was a GM who had as much autonomy as Luhnow had… he probably would have made the change. Its essentially Crane having a far increased role in baseball decision making vs. being more relatively hands off 2015-2019.
At this point I'm extremely worried that Yuli may simply be done. His K rate and exit velocity are both at career worsts. We still have a few months until the deadline to see if he can come around to being at least productive again, but it certainly looks like 1B may need to be a consideration. The problem with this new playoff format is that there will be very few sellers. Maybe a guy like Josh Bell could be an affordable target. The only potential in house option seems to be a platoon with Diaz where Yuli gets a higher ratio versus lefties, and Diaz hopefully comes around. Certainly hope I'm wrong. With catcher already guaranteed to be DOA, we can't have 1B being a major weak spot as well.
Don’t write off Matijevic; he has a chance to be a good player. But I agree Josh Bell currently looks like a potential trade target and Yuli could be relegated to a 13th position player role backing up 1B/2B/3B/DH, replacing Goodrum on the roster. Trey Mancini is another guy who might be available. I’d hate to see Gurriel go out like this. Hopefully he is just in an odd slump or hiding a temporary injury. But anytime a dude in his late 30s falls off a cliff for this long it’s often not something they recover from.
Matijevic does seem to be the other potential option, and being left handed he too could be a platoon option with Yuli. If they do consider him a potential postseason option I would hope they call him up sooner rather than later.
One month in, here is the list of projected sellers and their players who might be traded: Reds: IF Mike Moustakas, OF Tommy Pham, IF/OF Nick Senzel, OF Jake Fraley, SP Luis Castillo, SP Tyler Mahle, SP Mike Minor, RP Lucas Sims Orioles: CF Cedric Mullins, OF Anthony Santander, OF Austin Hays, 1B/OF Trey Mancini Nationals: IF Cesar Hernandez, 1B Josh Bell, OF Juan Soto, CF Victor Robles, DH Nelson Cruz, SP Patrick Corbin, SP Stephen Strasburg, RP Steve Cishek, RP Sean Doolittle Tigers: C Tucker Barnhart, 2B Jonathan Schoop, OF Robbie Grossman, SP Michael Pineda, RP Joe Jimenez, RP Willy Peralta, RP Michael Fulmer, RP Andrew Chafin Royals: OF Andrew Benintendi, IF/OF Whit Merrifield, SP Zack Greinke, SP Brad Keller, RP Scott Barlow, RP Amir Garrett Rangers: OF/DH Willie Calhoun, SP Martin Perez, P Matt Moore Athletics: 2B/OF Tony Kemp, SS Elvis Andrus, OF/IF Chad Pinder, CF Ramon Laureano, IF Jed Lowrie, SP Frankie Montas Cubs: C Willson Contreras, OF Ian Happ, UT Jonathan Villar, SP Marcus Stroman, SP Kyle Hendricks, SP Wade Miley, SP Drew Smyly, RP Mychal Givens, RP David Robertson, RP Daniel Norris, RP Chris Martin Pirates: CF Bryan Reynolds, 1B/DH Dan Vogelbach, SP Jose Quintana, P Chris Stratton, RP David Bednar
I have tickets (free) to tonights game- my daughter had a presentation at school that my wife sprung on me this morning. Anyone want the tickets let me know. I said from time to time this might happen. No obligation or anything like that. Other than only to say you want them only if you are going to actually go
I mean, I guess you could trade Siri. I'd take a bucket of shag balls and a subway sandwhich to be named later for him. I think that's probably about his value right now. The main value he would have for the Astros is not actually being on the team (once Meyers comes back) so that Dusty has to play the Chaz man when he goes to a 4th OF. The OF lineup should be basically written in stone: Against LHP (from left to right) Chaz/Meyers Tucker, Yordan as the DH Brantley on the bench Against RHP Brantley or Yordan /Meyers/Tucker with the DH as Brantley or Yordan whoever isn't playing left that day. That does away with Brantley's pretty mediocre splits against same handed pitchers and makes him a terrific bench weapon to bring in when a basehit is important and you don't need any thump. Other days it leaves Chaz to be the PH. Maldonado should be an auto pinch hit with whoever between Brantley and Chaz is on the bench whenever the Astros are trailing and it's the 7th inning or later.
While I don't think Siri is great, his defense and offense is adequate enough to keep the Astros out of situation of playing OF versions of Robel Garcia and Goodrum. He's much more likely to be sent down than traded provided Leon doesn't look ready by deadline.
Ryan Pressly with a 1-2-3 4th inning in his first rehab outing... he got two groundouts and a lineout on the infield. Only threw 6 pitches.
All of a sudden I feel totally comfortable ending this season with a rotation of JV, Javier, Hunter Brown, Framber, and Garcia. Let Lance go be the most dominant closer in baseball like he’s always been destined to be and let Odo and Urquidy serve as insurance multi-inning relievers.
