Astros Trade for Ryan Pressly

Exactly right. I have zero concern about either of the guys we lost on this deal being lamented as “the ones that got away” in the sense that their absence prevents us from achieving our goals during this competitive window.
Wish them well, hopefully they have long and successful careers.
Lunow has shown he isn’t afraid to ID and target a guy he likes regardless of “name brand”

 

Wow that’s sick

 

I’m ok with the trade. Hate losing position players, wish all the trades would be only depth pitching guys like Alcala. Hate to see a Celestino go. But all in all I think it’s a fair value trade and hopefully the Astros can elevate Pressly from good MR or setup guy to elite late inning weapon.

 

Alcala I was not high on at all as we had plenty of other good pitchers ahead on prospect lists and he had big control issues. Celestino is quite far from the big leagues, so only time will tell with him. Plus we are fine with OF depth, too. But I feel like Luhnow really likes this guy, and he has good stuff, so give him a chance. I'm happy with this.

 

Right, not because it's the same last name as on the title of this page, and the other 2 ads are for Astros stuff. But hey, full frontal J.P. shooting a bow and arrow, not bad.

 

Looking up pressly stats and it’s better than devo. Jesus Christ has devo **** the bed recently. He gotta be injured or something

 

Astros have plenty of depth in pen despite having bad game every now and then. This seems more of the same and not adding a top end guy though I haven't seen him this year.

Ks have been nice. Hope this season isn't a fluke and that he has turned into something more than he was.

 

I’ve never heard of either of the guys we gave up and we got someone that makes our team better now. Win.

 

Not worried about this deal.
However one can worry about trading prospects and understand that most low level prospects fail. Trading away prospects puts more pressure on obtaining MLB players from the remaining prospects in system that aren't guaranteed to pan out.

Not an issue right now for Astros as they have a ton of low level prospects that appear desirable by other teams. I'm not sure this will be the case in a couple/few years as I expect Astros will be competitive for a while and will be making trades often (Though not with the highly rated prospects in AA/AAA that dominate most speculation here and by media).

 

I like it. Should be a good fit for what we need. If we don't get another reliever I heard on the radio that It could make some sense to make McCullers be the closer/late inning bullpen option assuming Verlander, Keuchel, Cole and Morton are the 4 starters in the playoffs. I think that makes some sense since McCullers was able to close the door on some teams in relief appearances and was able to throw a ton of unhittable curveballs since he wasn't starting. Just know that we do have options if all else fails.

 

FWIW I was told the Astros are still looking to add another reliever. Not as big of a sense of urgency but want another reliever, preferably someone that can close.

 

Most of us around here are perfectly aware of the low success rate of prospects.

Prospects are basically like a stock, it may balloon, and it may become worthless, but regardless of what it becomes trading a prospect is trading a stock that has value. Ultimately our farm is still in great shape, so it's not a big deal, trades like this are why you build a deep farm, but even if they become nothing, we did give away something of value.

As for Pressly, the Astros have to see something they think they can build on with that spin rate. He's had a great year so far, but his current performance level isn't late inning high leverage dominant, which is where the concern comes from. Does he really address our biggest issue.

 

Iglesias, Herrera, Rodney, Greene, Romo, Barraclough, Ziegler, Osuna are the options in that case. None of those move the needle all that much although I’d put Iglesias a level above all the others.

 

Also, just noticed he has pitched much, much better in places not named Target Field (104 PA against each):

Hm: .323 .379 .462 .841
Rd: .176 .269 .286 .555

 

That’s impressive company. The Astros had to really like what they saw in him to give up 2 pretty good prospects and add him to an already (nearly) stacked bullpen.

This move also makes it pretty unlikely that Will Harris is around next season.

 

Both this trade and the Maldonaldo are strictly depth moves. They dont move the needle on our ceiling. But they do help protect us vs potential injury and give us more fodder.

I wonder when it comes to a new bat whether this will be the case once again?

 

Gold glove caliber catchers with a historically good staff move needles

 

I was thinking in terms of Maldonado instead of McCann. Offensively, no upgrade there. Overall defense about the same. Better at throwing out runners though.