You do realize that all star appearances are solely dependent on first half performances... I'm shocked he even has any all star appearances considering he is washed Phil Nevin the first few months of almost every season.
Are you assuming Seattle will continue to be pathetic? This team has 2 spots that need to improve if Arlington and Seattle rebound.
And yet still… not ever going to say they have too many quality starting pitchers. It’ll never happen in years that don’t end in a World Series championship.
I was only responding to the other poster’s comment. For me, I think Houston’s offseason needs are: An elite hitter who can play 3B, 1B, LF, or CF. A sturdy playoff-caliber veteran SP A AAAA NRI SP to stash in AAA The subjective things that I believe that lead to that being the list are: McCormick will be closer to his 2023 performance than 2024 and be a star level hitter against LHP. Singleton will continue to be a very good hitter against RHP (and not very good against LHP). At least 1 young hitter (Whitcomb, Dezenzo, Leon, Melton, Matthews, Corona, Hamilton, Cabbage, Kessinger, Salazar) will emerge early in 2025 as a reliable, above average everyday hitter. Altuve/Diaz/Tucker/Alvarez will all be among the top ~80 hitters in baseball. Pena and Meyers will be between below average and above average hitters. Caratini and Dubon will both be healthy next spring. Valdez and Brown are aces. Garcia will be fully healthy when Spring Training starts. Arrighetti will not be much better than he’s been and won’t be the type of pitcher you want as a playoff starter. Blanco will be more of a solid #4 than the #2 he’s been this season. France, Gusto, Blubaugh, Gordon, and Ullola will all be healthy next spring. At least 3 of Murfee, King, Contreras, Ortega, Scott, Whitley, Dubin, Hernandez, Martinez, Sousa, and Ort will be solid MR Abreu, Hader, and Pressly will all be healthy next spring McCullers is cooked. Javier will not pitch in 2025. Urquidy will be non-tendered.
You can not find another Bregman. Nor can you find another Framber or Tucker. You can not replace what they have been by re-signing them. What they where is in the past. What they may be in the future is what you must consider.
A long list of great thoughts from Snake. 1. McCormick will be closer to his 2023 performance than 2024 and be a star level hitter against LHP. A. This makes McCormick the perfect platoon partner for Singleton at first base. 2. Singleton will continue to be a very good hitter against RHP (and not very good against LHP). A. Platooning with McCormick improves us at 1st & gives Alvarez a chance to play LF when opposing LH pitching.
2022 was fun. Astros kept Luis Garcia on the postseason roster just in case a postseason game went past 13 innings. That has to be one of the most gut wrenching ways to be eliminated.
They were pretty adamant that there was no additional hardball to be played or Yusei would have ended up on another roster. This was just a very odd deadline - and all of the "smart" teams overplayed the availability of players to trade for at the deadline. The Astros choose wisely on Kikuchi - and Brown was correct when he was adamant that another rotation arm would lead to more wins. Brown also got lucky that Singleton continued to hit right handers and the lack of a bat at the deadline wasn't crippling.
The Astros are going to be aggressive looking for a starter in free agency - they have interest in Kikuchi, Pivetta, Bieber (based on past interest) and there are going to be a glut of veteran arms on the market. There is no guarantee, they keep Kikuchi because of cost - but they do want a veteran added.
SP I would expect them to have some interest in: Kikuchi Pivetta Verlander Bieber Heaney Lynn Scherzer Morton I think they are in good shape because they have the depth to not have to overpay and can offer a chance to win plus a track record of making guys more valuable when they leave.
I disagree. Pressly has one season left, and he had a FIP of around 3.10 and has a lot of experience closing. There are teams that would give value for a player like him.
I said this when the trade happened, but Dana Brown knew this wasn't gonna be well received in the fanbase, and that he was gonna catch a ton of s**t if it went south. Still he trusted his baseball people and Crane trusted him and let him make this bold move. I was thrilled to see that even if it didn't work out. Obviously the fact that it has worked out so well makes it all that much better.
Basically this... I would add Cobb and Fried to the list based on what I have heard - but at the end of the day, I believe the Astros will not want to pay what it takes for Fried and I think someone will overpay for Cobb. Verlander is the most obvious if he has reasonable financial expectations - plus the Astros basically let him do whatever he wants to prepare, so it would be a seamless signing. The bigger question is going to be on the hitting side with Bregman and adding a bat. Goldschmidt, Walker and Santana are out there. The Orioles may deal O'Hearn. In the outfield there is Conforto, Winker and a few others - but not a whole lot.
Alex Bregman is very good - he is on pace to be a Hall of Famer or very close to it. He is basically this generations Craig Nettles. In a vacuum I believe the Astros would gladly sign him, but there are a few teams with a very high degree of interest, and I am sure hitting around Judge and Soto sounds appealing to him. I believe if the Astros were to make a very strong offer that they would be able to keep him - but they have Valdez and Tucker both coming up, and the Astros likely want to spend their money on someone that has a better bat that Bregman - which isn't fair, because Bregman is so well rounded, but it is likely the reality.
I disagree. The other teams can make offers to acquire Pressly. Pressly has one season left, and he had a FIP of around 3.10 and has a lot of experience closing. I think the Astros giving the other teams the middle finger would make it hard for the other teams to acquire him. Edit: I haven't followed the entire Pressly conversation in the Kikuchi thread. I just don't see the Astros not keeping Pressly.
Yeah, the Astros are just gonna have to guess right on a bat, because they probably can’t afford any of the sure things and all the guys they can afford carry as much risk as Abreu did when they guessed wrong on him. And guessing wrong could ruin their season if things don’t go well elsewhere (Singleton, McCormick, prospects). But they have to do something because they can’t go into next season with 5 guys who all project to be average or worse hitters (Singleton, McCormick, Pena, Meyers, whoever wins the 3B job) all penciled into the everyday lineup. Looks like the Cards might rebuild which would make Arenado available. I’m also low key wondering if the Twins would be open to dealing Correa since it looks like they need to shed payroll. Correa only has like $130M/4yrs left on his deal which is right in Houston’s wheelhouse. Yandy Diaz and Jake Cronenworth are 2 other guys I wouldn’t be shocked if Houston was interested in.
Pressly has a 0.4 WAR and a $14 million salary next year. The implication is that the Astros would have to include 1.6 WAR in prospects to get out from under Pressly's contract.
Those are all good names. If they did not get burned on Abreu, I am sure they would be more aggressive with Goldschmidt on a short term deal - but it is a legitimate risk that he has just slowed down. Christian Walker is very possible if someone doesn't go crazy and offer him a huge deal. His bat is good, glove is good and at his age, he may not get the long term deal he wants. A 2-3 year deal may be possible. I think that we may see a trade for another bat - under some team control to go with a Walker type signing.
