No way no how they are signing Soto he is hell bent on being the highest paid player ever and he will probably get that deal from the Yankees or Mets.
My read: The Astros are a negotiating chip from Soto’s team to up the price with The Yankees and nothing more. Would happily be wrong….I guess…..though the price of Soto would likely show the exit door to other Astros free agents and trade pieces this offseason and next so the question would be whether adding a Soto is greater than the sum of all those exits
Interesting calculus: Soto + prospects from trading Tucker > Tucker + Bregman; the 2025 money is probably a wash. Same could be said for signing Kikuchi and trading Framber. The Astros won’t do it but it’s something I would explore if I were GM. Soto, Kikuchi, and 4 Top 100 prospects would leave the Astros with one of the best teams in the league and a well above average farm system.
Has there been a confirmed report of the Astros even being one of the teams scheduled to meet with Soto? I haven’t seen it yet
Sure, but do the exits stop there? Almost certainly Framber would be gone too while we’re almost certainly minus Verlander as well, and we’re already speculating on trading bullpen depth. I’m not really informed enough to have an opinion either way at this early stage of the offseason, but that “calculus” is the question. And I don’t know that you can count on much in the way of prospects obtained from trading anyone other than Tucker (certainly not from Pressly…..MAYBE from Hader though Hader’s contract would likely require eating salary to obtain prospects). It’s certainly a strategy, the question is whether it’s the right one
No. Just some idiot posting Soto likes the culture and made them a finalist. I'm sure that was news to Dana Brown as well.
- Trade Framber & Pressly & Tucker & Hader - Hate to say it: Let Bregman get paid - Gentleman’s agreement with JV … allow him to rest/recover/time w family until June/July (or ASB). If Astros are showing promise and new team is gelling— sign him, activate him, slow burn escalate workload/pitch count. If Astros are showing “lol wtf is this” let him sign to potential NL suitor. - Sign 3/5 of: Burnes, Kikuchi, Snell, Flaherty, Morton -AND/OR- Trade for 1-2: Crochett, Gray, Nola *preference / contracts Astros need to get back to being THE dominating pitching brickhouse that took us to all 3 WS to begin with. Still have Brown, Arrighetti, Blanco, Garcia, Javier (doubt he be stud-level 100%), & possibly LMJ. Astros need to acquire a few (not 1 or 2, but 3+) workhorse starters who light it up. Because recent surgeries (Garcia, Javier, McCullers), and workload (Blanco), move these guys to the BP as long relievers when your starter is getting rocked early. Burnes Brown Snell Kikuchi JV/Flaherty/Morton (not all but any one of) Arrighetti/Blanco/Garcia/LMJ/Javier/Crochett Hands down best 6-man rotation in baseball. Also… this is a pipedream.
There's no reason to think that the Astros would gut the entire team to sign Soto. Like Snake Diggit said, it's salary neutral in the scenario he's given. And lots of expiring salaries like Abreu and Montero by the time Framber is due for free agency. So no, far from "almost certain Framber would be gone too." Again this is all pipe dreaming based on nothing but rampant speculation. That's what this part of the offseason is all about.
Gives me visions of the 87 Astros. Which one of those guys is Nolan Ryan going 8-16 and leading the league in ERA and strikeouts?
Bohm would be a good replacement for Bregman if the price was right and Houston was able to add a really good platoon bat for Singleton and an OF who crushes RHP.
Bohm is a middle of the order hitter against lefties but he’s playable against righties. Problem for Houston is that they already have a great lineup against lefties because Pena, McCormick, and Meyers are all legit good to great against them. Adding Bohm would make 1B a solid middle of the order bat against both sides, but that would mean they’d have 8 good hitters against lefties, but still only 5 good hitters against righties. I think Trammell will be roughly average against RHP, so that takes care of one bottom of the order spot. And Pena isn’t getting platooned, so that is another. But the top priority for Houston if they want to contend is to add 2 bats that hit righties really well who can play some combo of 3B, LF, or CF. I’d be ok with these “everyday” lineups: RHP: 2B Altuve RF Tucker DH Alvarez LF TBD OF C Diaz 1B Singleton 3B Bohm CF Trammell SS Pena LHP: 2B Altuve SS Pena DH Alvarez RF Tucker 1B Bohm C Diaz LF McCormick CF Meyers 3B Whitcomb
There’s a universe where everything you can imagine is happening. But the odds of signing Soto by itself is closer to 0% than 1%, so the odds of signing both Bregman and Soto may as well be zero.
