WTF, it's baseball. Crap happens. We got to the World series without an Ace and our top guy wasn't even there for most of the playoffs.
Agree The this was the best hitting team in baseball by many metrics. Coaches have very little to no impact over a short 7-10 game span. If it was 50+ consecutive games then MAYBE you look at a coach or a philosophy not working. But this is baseball. Slumps happen. Bad timing.
I totally agree. Especially at the AA level, since we have some AA guys who will move up to AAA sometime next year (i.e. Endersby, Record, Berryhill, Hensley, one or two of the OF, etc.). Mondesi is nice but his injuries really frighten me, plus as I said if we want him we can swing another deal by giving up a AAAA guy, since KC is definitely a team that would take a chance on them. Looking at prospect lists, one guy who I'd like from KC is 1B Vinnie Pasquantino (17 on MLB.com). Wasn't on anyone's radar entering 2021, but slashed 300/394/563 with 24 deep balls between A+ and AA. Had exactly 64 K and 64 BB in 513 PA, that's the OBP and low K rates the Astros are known to love. Why might the Royals trade him? They have top 100 prospect Nick Pratto knocking on the door, leaving him clearly blocked. I'd like to get our hands on him as a possible Gurriel successor, he's a classic L/L 1B with size and pop. Of course there is a risk he fizzles out at a higher level, but I like the combo of discipline and pop. FWIW, he went to Old Dominion, Verlander's alma mater.
Id hate it, pay Correa. He’s a long term pillar. There’s about 10 teams with a need for starting pitching and Odorizzi is better than 95% of the remaining FA market on a very team friendly deal. Astros should be able to land a stud prospect(s) going back and forth with clubs on offers. And offset about a third of Correa’s annual salary for next year or two in the process.
I'd listen to offers for Odorizzi/be willing to dump his salary. But what the hell else do some of you want out of your 5th/6th starter? He's among the best in the league at the role he is in.
I agree that as a 5th or 6th starter Jake is very good and reasonably priced. The problem is that he isn't the 5th or 6th starter. He's the 7th starter now with Bielak, Solomon, Ivey, and possibly James ( unless they are giving up stretching him out)right behind him. by June he should be behind Brown. By July or August he is (HOPEFULLY) behind Whitley. And Odorizzi's salary is based on IP so if he is not among the 5 or 6 that get regular starts he COULD be a cancer in the clubhouse. The team should trade him now at max value.
I don’t know about a “stud” prospect. I think there are a couple of guys like @Snake Diggit alluded to- who maybe were once considered “stud prospects” or are a solid prospect but currently blocked or in the way of a stud prospect. The new CBA will determine a lot in the trade market when it is finally set. If teams end up having less control of their prospects for x amount of time- there will be many more trades moving forward, IMO.
Presume Jake was under contract with another team last year, and when the Astros got the Framber news they figured they’d have to trade for a starter. Which Astros prospect would you then give up to get him? I feel Jake is a slightly better, slightly higher paid Mike Fiers. A guy who can put together a good string of starts but every now and then gets hit hard enough to remind you of his ceiling. As a #5 starter, completely fine… but I also don’t see a team giving up anything of real value. Then again, the Astros did get Yordan Alvarez for Josh Fields…
The reason why I'm all for trading Jake is, in addition to having depth at the 3-5 starter positions on both the MLB and AAA rosters, is that he's clearly unhappy, and there is obviously bad blood between him and the team. Let's build a team of guys who actually want to be here and like it here. He's better than most of the #4/5 starters still available in FA and on an affordable contract. We can get a prospect or maybe two who can give us much-needed depth in AA immediately, and maybe develop into contributors.
you are making a lot of assumptions about totally unproven players. Those guys could all contribute absolutely nothing next season. And the James ship sailed a long time ago
I have no interest in trading Odo for prospect depth. I’d really only like to move him if it’s for something that addresses a need (CF, SS, C, RP), or if it’s in part a salary dump to address said need. Odo is a solid arm. He’s not a TOR guy but that’s doesn’t mean he’s void of value. The fact that he’s our 5th/6th arm is really solid and gives us a level of insurance most clubs do not have, especially in the SP front. I really like the Mondesi idea, though. What other SS’s could be available thru trade? Would be interesting to land Didi if Phi wins the CC sweepstakes. That could be a perfect pairing as I believe he has 1 year left.
Paul DeJong is on an affordable (from the acquiring team's perspective) contract. If STL trades him, from what I understand, part of the money they have to pay no matter what because it was a prorated signing bonus. He's a comparable defender to Mondesi (about 75th percentile but not Correa territory) and better than Gregorius, IMO, and has sneaky good pop. But he may have too much whiff to interest the Astros. But, a Mondesi, Gregorius, DeJong, etc. can be acquired for a AAAA player and a bag of chips. And Odorizzi is the only guy we have that we could realistically trade for a prospect. That's why I want to flip him for prospect(s) and if we want a stop gap MLB player, trade our AAAA depth (Jones, James, etc) to clear a logjam and not lose those guys for nothing.
But I'm not making assumptions about Verlander McCullers Valdez L.Garcia Urquidy and Javier All being ahead of him on the depth chart and barring injury only 5 possibly 6 will get regular starts. And as far as my assumptions about unproven players, this is about who gets the starts and the innings. The fact that those players are unproven but still on the roster is why they could get a spot start and take away innings from him. The team won't and shouldn't just give up on an unproven prospect in order to give a veteran with a #4 or #5 ceiling innings.
And clear the money to make upgrades at other positions like CF and possibly trade for another top SP or reliever.
I wouldn't mind moving Javier in a trade for a proven TOR pitcher and use Urquidy out of the bullpen.
I'd like a Javier for Chris Bassitt swap, mostly because I love Bassitt. We may need to add one AAAA guy because Bassitt is really good, but I just badly want him on our team and in the clubhouse.
Agree. A's probably make that deal straight up. If they were to trade Javier they should get more than #1 year of a solid #2 or #3 starter.
