Unless Stassi’s torn labrum is expected to keep him out at least half the season and/or diminish his ability long term, I think the Angels would be pretty foolish to commit $100M+ to Realmuto. Assuming he’s healthy Stassi is projected to be one of the 10 best catchers in baseball (by Fangraphs depth charts, only 5 catchers project for more fWAR than Stassi). They have a much more glaring need to spend money on their rotation. There’s really not a very robust market for Realmuto, considering he’s the consensus best catcher in the game. Assuming Molina goes back to the Cards, aside from the Phillies, I don’t see a contender with a glaring need at catcher. The Nats and Astros could stand to upgrade, and Id consider the Reds and Yankees sleepers for him. But if the Phillies don’t step up for him early, he may become a bargain.
man...Stassi was trash when he was here. Hard to believe that he’s projected to be a top 10 catcher. Has he really improved that much since leaving? I know he had a decent year in 2020, but I chalked that up to a small sample size (and baseball being a bit random), but it was a clear outlier from the rest of his career. Stassi being projected as a top 5-10 catcher is quite an indictment on the rest of the league.
He was pretty far from “trash” when he was in Houston. He was a league average hitter (which means he was a well above average hitter for a catcher) and put up 2.7 fWAR in 2018 (the first year he had more than 50 pa in a season). He was bad in very limited time in 2019 before being traded. Then he hit 7 HR in 105 pa (a stellar 139 wRC+) for Anaheim in 2020 (his BABIP would not indicate that was luck driven).
I'll add Blue Jays to the list as well. They were linked to him as well. Looks like they have money to spend and want to make a big move(linked to Springer, Ozuna, Lindor). They could then use their prospect catcher Kirk as trade bait as well as their starting catchers.
Angels are showing interest in Suzuki. Doesn't sound like they want Realmuto. He must be asking for the moon.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/12/latest-on-liam-hendriks.html Probably BS but would be cool. Why can’t Crane just get dementia and make Click sign Realmuto, Springer, Brantley, Bauer, and Hendriks?
Astros should be in on any great reliever. While odds of getting any specific reliever is likely low, I'm expecting Astros to enter the season with another premium reliever.
From Passan: Among the teams that have pursued the 32-year-old: the Los Angeles Dodgers, Houston Astros, New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays. Hendriks has been the best closer in baseball by a healthy margin the past two seasons, and his desire for a four-year deal at a strong annual value is understandable, especially with the next-best options -- Blake Treinen, Alex Colome, Trevor Rosenthal and Brad Hand -- not the same caliber. The Dodgers would give Hendriks the best shot at a title. The Astros are hankering to add to a young bullpen. The Mets are everywhere because they can be. And Hendriks is familiar with the Blue Jays, having begun his stellar relief career with them in 2015. One team to keep an eye on: the Philadelphia Phillies, who, if given financial leeway with the hiring of new president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, could see Hendriks as a panacea for some of their bullpen woes.
Looking at free agent projections, here is who I view as the “poor man’s alternative” to each of those guys: Realmuto: Wilson Ramos profiles to be as good a hitter as Realmuto, although he is a bad defensive C. Molina, Castro, Suzuki, Flowers, or Avila would be less versions who are adequate on both sides. Springer: Springer is in a class by himself, but Joc Peterson could be nearly as good a hitter and some think he can play CF. Enrique Hernandez looks like he could give 90% of Springers slash line for 1/5 the cost. If a team thinks Tommy La Stella or Jurickson Profar can play CF, they would be interesting options. Brantley: Kyle Schwarber is the obvious guy who could be even better than Brantley for less money. Pederson also makes sense. Depending on how you see them, Puig, Lamb, Cron, Moreland, and Martinez are guys who could get close to Brantley’s projected ~800 ops and passably play the field. The list of guys who have the ceiling to match Brantley’s overall production is very long. Bauer: Paxton, Odorizzi, Kluber, and Archer stand out as the next best alternatives to Bauer. But like LF, the list of guys who “could” be good is very long. Hendriks: Hand, Treinen, and Yates are the next tier, but just like SP and LF, the list of “interesting” RP who could be really good is very long. I think Houston can afford one of the catchers, Schwarber or Pederson, and one of the 2nd tier pitchers. A free agent haul of Schwarber ($20M/2yr), an upside pitcher like Archer ($7M/1yr), a catcher from the 2nd tier like Castro ($9M/2yr), and a 4th tier CF and a 3rd tier RP (<$5M/1yr each) would result in a pretty deep roster.
I agree with this except no way on Archer. I do not believe the Astros would gamble 7 million or even 5 million on a guy recovering from thoracic outlet surgery. I would rather see Quintana, Rodon, Richards, or Urena.
I don’t really like Hendriks due to some of his comments, I don’t really like the way he looks(very punchable face), and I definitely wouldn’t want to commit 4 years to a relief pitcher already in his 30’s.... but damn we need a solid backend bullpen arm to shut the door and I think he would be a very viable option for at least the next 2 years. Those 3rd and 4th years would worry me though
The Astros valued Verlander/Cole more. When they couldn't resolve whatever issues pitchers had with Stassi (I'm guessing this mostly started out as different opinions on game calling, but ended up being Stassi not being able to eat a peanut butter sandwich the right way to please the aces), the Astros bent over backwards for their aces which included Stassi getting the shaft. It is tough to judge how the Astros felt about Stassi except that his abilities weren't worth dealing with the drama.