Pre-July, I was firmly in the "no moves" camp - Lance was playing great, Fiers & Peacock were looking serviceable, and we were getting Dallas back at some point. Since then, we've seen Lance & the bullpen take a complete nose dive. At the very least I was hoping for a true bullpen boost from Wilson, Hand or Britton. Hell, I had even mentioned Watson as an option at 1 point. However, what I'm really ticked about is the fact that we gave up a guy who now slots in as the #5 prospect for Toronto for a pure lefty specialist. Liriano has been garbage the past 2 seasons, and while he's an improvement over Sipp, how many opportunities does Sipp typically get over the course of a year as a lefty specialist? Teoscar could have been a part of a package for a much better player, but we've decided he was worth half a season of a freaking lefty specialist.
my guess is that our deal with britton fell through at the last second because the O's chickened out. so be it. we're 16 games out front. we have holes. but we're still well set up for the playoffs and the future. no one on this market was THAT overwhelming or game-changing.
Spoiler CBS: Biggest Loser: Houston Astros Astros: They are in line to win the AL West with ease and end up with the best record in the AL. Apparently that was enough for general manager Jeff Luhnow and his front office to nearly sit on their hands -- or at least not offer up enough to win the bidding for a game-changer. The Astros acquired lefty Francisco Liriano (5.88 ERA this season) and will use him out of the bullpen. There should be zero concerns about the position players, so long as Carlos Correa and George Springer are full strength come October. But what about the playoff rotation? Dallas Keuchel is a clear-cut postseason ace. He's also been on the disabled list twice this year. Lance McCullers had a 9.64 ERA in four July starts and is now on the disabled list for the second time this year. Behind them, the options to start playoff games are Charlie Morton, Brad Peacock, Collin McHugh and Mike Fiers. Meantime, the Astros failed to secure deals for the likes of Quintana, Darvish and Gray. Look, the Astros could still win the World Series. It's possible Keuchel comes through like an ace every time out and even goes on short rest a few times a la Corey Kluber last year. McCullers could return to form while Peacock and Fiers could get hot. It's all possible. As noted above in the Dodgers portion, the postseason is a crapshoot anyway. Teams in a position like the Astros and Dodgers should leave as little as possible to chance and stock up on as much top-echelon talent as possible, hoping this is the year. The Astros have never won the World Series. Who is to say this might not be their best chance with this group? If it is, go for it. What a let down. Again, though, they could still win it all. I never would suggest otherwise. USA Today: Loser: Astros Houston Astros – They're running away with the AL West, but failed to strengthen their rotation which has been riddled by injuries. Houston's starters do have the best ERA in the American League, but Lance McCullers was placed on the disabled list Monday and Dallas Keuchel lasted just three innings in his first start in almost two months. The Astros' only move was dealing for lefty Francisco Liriano, who is having a very rough year and will likely be used out of the bullpen. ESPN: Loser: Houston Astros They did pick up Francisco Liriano, and his ability to get lefties out should be a nice addition to the bullpen. But you have to wonder if the Astros should have made at least one more move -- either to get a starting pitcher or to get more bullpen depth. The collapse of Lance McCullers in July (9.64 ERA in four starts) resulted in his landing on the DL on Monday, and the slow return of Dallas Keuchel from his neck injury leaves a lot of uncertainty in the rotation. The bullpen owns a 5.42 ERA the past two months, and Liriano isn’t going to fix that by himself. It has been a great regular season for the Astros, but the failure to land more pitching help is discouraging. SN: You sure about that, Astros? Astros: You sure about that? The Astros have an outstanding lineup, arguably the best in baseball. It’s a lineup capable of winning a World Series, no doubt. And the top of the rotation — Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers — is brilliant, when healthy. But Keuchel has spent time on the DL this year, and McCullers landed on the DL on Monday. Yikes, right? They were rumored to be in the market for all the top-notch starers (rentals and club-controlled guys), but didn’t land anyone to help the rotation. And they did trade for Francisco Liriano to help the bullpen, but he has a 5.88 ERA as a starter for the Blue Jays this year, and he hasn’t pitched regularly out of the 'pen since his rookie season, way back in 2006. This is a great team that could have used an infusion of talent, and that didn’t happen on Monday. Chron The Astros have obvious holes in the bullpen and possible holes in the starting rotation, especially with Lance McCullers going on the disabled list again. However, they only added a struggling Liriano, who will be moved to the bullpen. Having a lefty in the pen certainly will help, but there were plenty bigger fish out there to be had.
Why does that tick you of all things? Teoscar had no chance of breaking in with Fisher succeeding. They can't keep everyone for an eventual package deal. If the package deal didn't work out, at least they cleared out a 40 man slot with this move. Def will need them come offseason.
On the broadcast tonight, they are interviewing Jim Crane. He said they felt they had deals in place and terms agreed to, and then you have Owners not approve the trade. He goes on to say how he doesn't interfere etc. This sounds like Crane saying they had a deal for Britton, but the owner said no. That sucks. I wonder if we had a deal for Darvish too but Texas didn't want to help us,
Crane basically just came out and said that an owner nixed a deal. Has to be talking about Baltimore.
Those will be motivation for the team. Everyone thinks they have basically no chance in the postseason. We will see...
Because Teoscar was a decent and valuable asset and you don't just throw away valuable assets for half a season of garbage in the name of giving Fisher playing time. Cut Aoki if that's your ultimate goal. You're right, you can't keep everybody for a package deal so put them in 1 now for a legit upgrade to the bullpen. As CLE showed last year, a dominant bullpen is a recipe for success in the Playoffs. I have no faith in this crew for high risk situations.
The most painful missed trade that I can see is Swarzak going to the Brewers for Ryan Cordell. Swarzak would have been a big improvement to the pen, basically like adding another (sharp) Devenski. Cordell is a AAA outfielder with numbers similar to Teoscar's... I have to think that the Brewers would have entertained dealing Swarzak for Teoscar and maybe a throw-in. As it turns out, we dealed Teoscar anyway. But for Liriano, I don't see the point.
Same line they used when they missed out on foreign players. "We were aggressive", "we though our offer would get it done". Just lip service and damage control.
You people must lead miserable lives. My lord, the psyche of Houston sports fans is in a terrible place right now... no one can rid the end of the world attitude.
This front office has done its fair share of lip-service/half-truths (especially during the rebuilding years)... but I don't think this was one of those times. They very likely were close on Britton, and they very likely were including Fisher amongst others. It got turned down in the end, and since the Orioles didn't trade him, you can surmise that there weren't better offers out there. They don't have to make stuff up in this market... there's never going to be a Houston journalist or sportscaster that has enough pull to create any sort of local controversy that gets the teams bothered.
Definitely sucks to come away empty handed, especially when nobody seemed to give a ton up. You never know how organizations value different players, but sure seems like we should have been able to come away with more than Liriano...
