As long as Hinch doesn't Dierker-Elarton the **** out of him, I'd love to see Whitley in the pen in September.
Not that I’m saying either is likely, but there are ways either guy could fit on the roster. If they add Abreu, he plays 1B and Gurriel goes to LF. If they add Realmuto, he and McCann get time at 1B and DH while Realmuto gets comfortable with the pitching staff. Both guys make a lot more sense this offseason, but if the price is right and their team is insistent on trading them now, there’s ways to make it work.
As long as the coaches don't Elarton the **** out of him, he'll be fine. Dierker had him warming up or pitching 3 out of 4 days down the stretch in '98. He ruined that kid.
Ok- so what's the salary there? And who would you imagine would be sent out to bring in Realmuto, Abreu and Hand?
Those 3 project to cost about $30M next season, with Abreu representing more than half of that amount. So without cutting anyone else it would put projected payroll in the $180M range which is probably higher than what Crane wants to spend. Marisnick, Harris, and McHugh are 3 guys who could be traded to save money, although shipping out McHugh and Harris to add Hand may not be a net positive especially considering the prospect cost. As for hypotheticals: Abreu for 1 of Davis/Reed/White and 1 3rd tier pitching prospect (like Bostick, Bielak, or Hartman) Realmuto for Alvarez, Alcala, and C Perez Hand for one of Martes/Paulino, James, and C Martin. The Astros may very well end up standing pat this year.
Why are we still throwing hypotheticals out for Realmuto? Earliest anything like this would happen would be next year and that's if McCann/Stassi/Gattis don't come back. I don't see it happening, you don't trade 2-3 good prospects for a above-average catcher when your system has a plethora of options... I'm convinced some of y'all have J.T posters through your place. You just can't quit him... But i get the fantasy.
I don't see a need to trade for pitching at this point. If Keuchel moves to the pen in the playoffs, then that gives you another option against lefties. Between him, Peacock, McHugh, Devo & Rondon, how much could we really expect to improve that group, and at what cost? Also, despite being absolutely awful against righties, Sipp has dominated lefties. Having a "closer" is irrelevant in the playoffs. The hot hand will close. I think Kemp is here to stay. If he can keep up the high OBP, he's a good option to start in LF and hit in the 9 hole before Springer comes up. I'm still nervous about the bottom of our order. It's not as strong as last year, and us beating up on these weak teams isn't comforting. After Gurriel bats, the combo of Reddick, Gattis, McCann, Stassi, Marwin and Marisnick has the potential to go ice cold against quality pitching, as it did for the most part in the playoffs last year. I don't think it's an option to take Reddick out of the lineup given his defense and left handed bat. Marwin & Stassi are ideal as options coming off the bench. Both have decent bats, Marwin gives you positional versatility and Stassi solves for backup catcher. McCann, Gattis and Marisnick are the problems. McCann is batting about .160 since the beginning of May. Marisnick is what he is...an elite defensive player, a guy that can pitch run, and a black hole at the plate....can you really afford a playoff position to him? Gattis, while on a tear right now, is still not someone I think we can trust in the playoffs. Something needs to be done with the last 3, and we have a growing "problem" in our AAA team of guys that are ready to get their shot but we don't have the roster spots for them. JD Davis, White, AJ Reed and Fisher are all ready to flip or flop in the majors. I could see us doing a Musgrove/Moran/Feliz type deal to get a quality outfielder/DH bat.
I'm wondering why so many people just casually say we can play our full-time catchers at first base? We don't even give Gattis reps there. McCann is not, nor has he ever been, a 1st baseman. He's played 124.10 innings in his career at first, and the last time it happened was 4 years ago. Same with Realmuto... he's appeared at first base only 9 times in his career (for a robust 72.1 innings). If McCann plays first this year for any reason other than some kind of marathon extra inning game (and even then I can't think of a plausible scenario for him to play first) I will be SHOCKED. Not everyone is Yan Gomes or Carlos Santana.
If hitting .300 with an OPS close to .900 is considered just above average for a catcher, then give me more above average for a package of Fisher, JD Davis and Martes.
Do we really NEED him? No. And is he not ABOVE-AVERAGE? He's good but not worth trading these guys for a position we have locked down.
We aren't trading for a catcher unless McCann goes down long term. He is too important for our pitching staff. IF you make a change you do it in the off-season so you have spring training for the pitchers to get comfortable with him. I also would not be surprised if the Astros try to resign McCann for next year since Verlander is here next season as well.
Second this. McCann is an invaluable teacher for Stassi and Manager of the pitching staff, particularly youngsters like LMJ. As long as his offense isn't a black hole they should consider resigning him at the right price.
What's with all this "we need to trade for Abreu" crap? I know this is all hypotheticals, but "1 of Davis/Reed/White and 1 3rd tier pitching prospect (like Bostick, Bielak, or Hartman)" is definitely not enough, the Sox ask for the moon and would likely only accept a package centered around Tucker. Plus, with the bats heating up, and money becoming a concern, we don't need his bat or his contract on our payroll. I'd love to give Reed/White/Davis a chance if we really do need an extra bat as an option. As for Realmuto, maybe we can trade for him next offseason, or maybe resign McCann or call up Stubbs. We'll see. But Gattis almost certainly won't come back, he provides ZERO defensive value to us (though I'm not sure why he hasn't caught more, since Hinch said he'd prefer not to just waste a spot on a pure DH-only guy back in April).
I don’t think Gattis is any worse defensively than any other DH He is better offensively than most though
Gattis is 8th among DH's in RC+ (50 PAs) or about average. Basically, he's was one of the worst hitters in the game for about 4-5 weeks, and then he has been one of the best hitters for about 4-6 weeks. On defense, he is worse than a lot of DHs in the field which is why Astros play him less in field than most DHs.
Perez, Kemp, bukauskas, Tucker, McHugh and JD for Trout. Why the angels do it? They get 3 future all stars and they can make a run when holy phenom Ohtani returns in 2020. Why the Astros do it? Trout looks great in Astros colors and gives us that extra lift in the outfield. : peyote:
