He wouldn't. Anybody talking about Bellinger as a realistic possibly is just not thinking straight. He said Altuve stole the MVP away from Judge. And that was one of the nicer statements he made about our organization.
JV will most likely be gone and last time Vazquez caught he caught a no hitter. So it's not like he's chopped liver.
Things left too address. -LH hitting OF/DH. Need three LH bats in the lineup in a season where no shift means LH hitting is gold. I don’t think Nimmo or Benetendi’s contracts fit in line with wanting as much payroll as possible too spend after the 2024 season ends. If JV walks maybe that idea opens up but I think Brantley will be brought back and Conforto, Bellinger types are in the conversation. -Reserve Utility IF’er. Want Gurriel but Drury, Iglesias, Andrus, Longoria would be upgrades of Aledyms. -JV. I think Astros can afford too keep him but they would prefer 2yrs. If he walks I could see Astros further beefing up the bullpen taking a stab at one of Jansen/Rogers/Chafin/Ottavino/C. Martin. and being more willing at spending more on an outfielder like Benentendi or Nimmo. If he stays I’d say it’s more likely Astros look at signing position players on 1-2 yr deals under 10 mil per and move Urquidy for an under the radar power bullpen arm and prospects. Wouldn’t mind keeping Urquidy either. Catcher: (2) Maldonado, Lee or Diaz Infield: (6) Abreu, Altuve, Bregman, Pena, *FA, Dubon (CF) Outfield: (5) Tucker, McCormick, Alvarez, *FA, Best amongst: Leon/Meyers/Hensley/Matijevic Rotation: (5) Valdez, McCullers, Javier, Brown, Garcia or *JV Bullpen: (8) Pressly, Stanek, Montero, Abreu, Neris, Garcia or Maton/Martinez/ETC., Urquidy or Maton/Martinez/FA/Etc., Best amongst the 40 man or a FA/Trade
Seems like the Dodgers are the biggest threat for Verlander. At the end of the day, i believe Crane's relationship with Verlander will get the job done. I'm not saying Verlander won't sign somewhere else, but I think he is trying to identify what his market is. I know he is link to the Mets and Yankees, but I don't see that happening. There are a lot of holes for both of those teams. I think some are overlooking how fortunate Houston was with the injury bug when it came to their pitching. McCullers was out most of the season, but there was a enough depth to carry them through the season. You can't rely on McCullers. I love the guy, but it's facts. Verlander gives them a lot of insurance going into 2023. I expect Valdez to do great, but how does the shift effect him? If they end up landing Verlander, it wouldn't shock me to see them use Garcia or Urquidy as a trading piece for a left fielder. One last thing I wanted to point out. It does seem Crane and company want to ensure there is depth on the bench going into 2023. I love that they are trying to address that.
Benintendi is probably the best fit left on the market. I am surprised Profar hasn’t been mentioned more; he doesn’t strike out and has defensive versatility/upside. Bellinger, Conforto, and Brantley also make sense. I don’t see Houston paying 9 figures for Nimmo especially since he will likely get 5 years; Crane has shown he won’t go that long. Gallo is a dark horse; his high k rate doesn’t fit what Houston normally does but his versatility seems like he would appeal to them; they might stomach a 35% k rate at the bottom of the order if he can play all 3 OF plus 1B and maybe backup 3B while hitting 35+ HR at a cheap rate.
Im not sure when it will be addressed, but getting another catcher should be a major priority. If Maldanado was to get injured, we would have 2 catchers on the roster with a combined total of 69 career MLB innings behind the plate. There is no way we role with Lee and Yainer as our primary Cs, in the event of Maldy being sidelined.
Fans care way more about crap like that than the players do. A lot of what the players speak out about is just pandering to their fan base Thinking back to the first season after the rat squealed and we had the blow up with the Dodgers, no Astro spoke out louder than Correa and the Dodgers are in talks to bring him in And on top of all of that, there are THREE players left from the 17 team left. So most of these guys weren’t involved in all that crap anyway Amazing how good we are with basically a whole other team
I think they have to do something, but the question is what tier of move do they make: 1. Add a starting quality catcher. Contreras is really the only one available on the free agent market, but there may be options available via trade (Jansen, Murphy). Problem is, adding Abreu dramatically reduces the possibility of adding a catcher of that caliber without displacing Maldonado. I will be very surprised if they add a high level proven catcher. 2. Add a backup to the major league roster. There’s tons of options. The question here is how ready do they think Lee/Diaz will be and what are the prices like. Someone like Omar Narvaez or Tucker Barnhart seems like a good fit. Jorge Alfaro has been mentioned and doesn’t seem like a bad option. I consider this the most likely outcome. 3. Add a backup on a minor league deal. This allows them to roll with Lee or Diaz while having some insurance in case they falter. This would be someone like Robinson Chirinos or Sandy Leon.
Agree with this. I don't like him and don't want to see him on the team, but I doubt the players give a whit if he can contribute. Who knows, maybe he has matured a bit since he has been given a big fat slice of humble pie since his juiced ball season.
My thoughts on the position roster. If one of your starters gets hurt and misses a chunk of games, who fills in and how does that effect the teams chances of winning. Now: At catcher, if Maldy gets hurt then Lee and Y. Diaz are the catchers. That tells me this team needs a veteran that can either back up Maldy or get stashed in AAA 1B would be Matijevic, Y.Diaz, or Hensley 2B Hensley or Dubon 3B Hensley SS Dubon or Hensley. OF has much more versatility with Chas being able to play all 3 positions and 5 total guys who have started extensively. I don't think the Astros would be comfortable with Matijevic, Diaz, or Hensley starting every day in the infield for 2+ weeks straight. At least not until they get more time to progress and develop. I'm sure Dusty would be fine with Dubon at 2B, SS. or CF but we would all go nuts. This is why I feel Yuli returning on a $5-6M deal makes sense. Abreu gets hurt? Yuli at 1B Altuve gets hurt? Yuli at 2B or Alex at 2B and Yuli at 3B if that's better over several games. Alex gets hurt? Yuli at 3B Pena gets hurt? Alex at SS and Yuli at 3B. I think thecteam would feel much better over a period of several consecutive games doing this rather throwing one of the kids into the fire.
I really don't want to see the starting pitching go down to 5 starters with LMC injury history (pitched 47 innings after career high 162 in 2021 when he broke down), Brown's inexperience (last seasons combined innings of 126 was 40 more than this college years), Framber just pitched 201 innings (70 more than ever in the majors), Urquidy pitched 164 IP (57 more). Garcia just pitched back to back seasons 155 IP & 157 IP after pitching only 216 innings from 2017 thru 2020. Javier, who I believe is the future ace, had 148 IP with 25 starts (in minors 2019 he logged 113 IP & 18 starts his second highest total). Many have mentioned how injury free the staff was last year. We don't need JV however I am clearly in camp damn the luxury tax and sign JV to a 3 year deal and get elite pitching. You can not have enough quality pitching, that is what won us the World Series. If JV walks. I don't want any of the other six traded
I agree and I think as a fan that I could indeed get over it. *If* he fully rebounds, it’s like adding ANOTHER Tucker to our already potent line-up and a gold glover to play next to him to close out games. He may be a D-Head, but I like him if he is my (Astros) D-head; mainly because I like my D-head. I land on: I would be excited to buy a Bellinger Astros 23 WS jersey.
Love the Abreu signing so much. It’s expensive but he projects to be a very good hitter with us, hits great pitching, and I’m not worried about the dip in home runs.
I always remember Jeff Bagwell talking about Mitch Meluskey as a rookie catcher at the start of 2020 and he said "No team has ever won the World Series with a rookie catcher" The Astros finished 4th 72-90. Mitch actually had a pretty good season. However I'm sure Jeff still feels the same way.
Nimmo, Benintendi, Contreras... even Conforto... any of these dudes would fit and be an amazing addition, but might cost too much. Hell... it ain't my money and if Crane wants throw down six years at 23 mil for Nimmo... Cool! But, if management wants to look at things from more of a budget first/bang for your buck outlook in order to maybe hang on to JV or just to stay in a good fiscal place going forward... an interesting player, in my opinion, is Dominic Smith. Yes... he had a miserable 2022, but dude is only 27 and when right has a good eye and good pop from the left hand side. He has split time between LF and 1B over the years playing almost exclusively in the outfield in 21 and mostly at 1B in 22. It would give the Stros, if you sign Smith and bring back Yuli, an interesting mix at 1B/DH/LF. Those 3 spots, depending on pitching, would be covered by Alvarez, Abreu, Smith, or Yuli... That gives us some nice flexibility and allows Dusty to do his load management he likes to do... Someone else mentioned him, but I think Profar is another interesting more budget friendly option worth looking into... A switch hitter would be a nice addition.
I mean, if we were sure Verlander is gonna be a top Cy Young candidate for the next 3 years, then get him signed cap be damned. But like all of the other pitchers he has a question mark too at his age.