Soto prollie 60 and Judge 60+ homers too. See if they can keep the opponent from outscoring em or not is the big question, eh?
FB velo of Astros middle relief options: Coleman 99 Whitley 99 Montero 97 Graveman 97 Ortega 97 Kuhnel 96 Dubin 96 Blanco 96 Garcia 95 McCullers 95 Sousa 95 Gage 94 Bielak 94 Mushinski 93 Martinez 92 Seems like they should be fine finding guys to dominate the 6th and 7th innings bridging to Abreu and Pressly. SP Velo: Brown 97 Valdez 96 Verlander 95 Javier 94 Urquidy 94 France 93 Would not surprise me at all if Bielak and Mushinski were DFA’ed or traded to swap out for 2 more guys who fit the Coleman/Ortega/Kuhnel mold. I expect Urquidy to be traded and it wouldn’t surprise me if France is stashed in AAA.
The Yankees got much better on paper, and I don't think it's wrong to admit it. Their two biggest issues moving forward is going to be health and pitching. I don't recall the stat but when Stanton and Judge play together, they have some ridiculous winning percentage. Soto now gives them additional length in the lineup that can mask if either of the two get hurt. As for pitching, they did hurt themselves was trading their pitching depth that they had. @Nook laid that out pretty well. If they can land Yamamoto and sign/trade for another pitcher, they will be more than fine with pitching. I believe they will switch their attention to Glasnow while they wait for Yamamoto. Them being able to land Soto was huge because it now allows them to spend money rather than trying to trade for players. They will have strong competition for Glasnow...
Abreu throws 98 and Pressly 96. Astros bullpen could feature 7 guys throwing 96 or better with more than half those guys having either nasty 2nd/3rd pitches or elite spin/movement on their FB to go with the velo.
The Yankees didn't make the playoffs last year. Of course they're going to do everything possible not to have that happen. When they signed Judge/Cole long-term, they were committed to this core whether it sinks or swims... so yes, they have to add win-now pieces and they have to go all out to improve their deficiencies. All that being said, their fan base is still not thrilled with "rolling it back" with Cashman/Boone and keeping guys like Stanton. They're very much aware that despite re-loading with some new acquisitions, a lot still has to go right to make the playoffs... let alone advance far in the playoffs.
The Astros should talk to the Reds about a LH bat. They now have about 12 guys for 8 if/of/DH spots and need pitching. It's a good matchup. Friedl (CF/LF emergency RF) - 116 wRC+ (107 vs RHP) Benson (LF/RF- 3g @1B in AAA) -128 wRC+ (147 vs RHP) Fraley (RF/LF emergency CF) - 107 wRC+ ( 115 vs RHP) Martini (LF/1B/RF) -136 wRC+ (145 vs RHP) Friedl probably isn't available, as they have many more corner players than true CF options. The other 3 all project to be 1-2 WAR players so mot too terribly expensive, and would fit the Astros very nicely. Benson and Martini have 5 yrs of control, Fraley has 3.
To be fair, if you look at his Baseball Savant page, he only would've hit 29 last year if he played all his games in Yankee stadium. He hits surprisingly few HRs to the pull side. He'll probably hit a few more in NY than he would've hit in SD but I don't think it'll magically turn him into a 40+ HR guy
The two best players the Padres got are King and Thorpe. If King pitches well to start this season and the Padres are out of it, they can move him for quite a bit. Supposedly the Padres are going to try and extend him, which I think is really smart.... if King pitches like he did last season, he would be in line for a 9 figure contract. Thorpe is probably closer to a top 25 prospect, but is listed lower because he isn't likely to be a #1 starter but has a real chance to be a high inning #2 or #3 starter. He is a big and strong starting pitcher that will throw a lot of quality innings. The other two guys are interesting and at least one should be a big leaguer for awhile. The Padres potentially filled two of their 5 rotation spots over the next handful of years and that is very valuable. I would not be surprised if the Padres in 2025 are better than they have been with the group they had the last few years.
He hit 23 on the road last year. Petco Park greatly limited his overall numbers. Double his away numbers and you get 46 homers and a 1.026 OPS.
I will be very surprised if the Astros end up with Jordan Hicks at this point. I know they were interested in him very early, but now there is supposedly over a dozen teams, that are actively talking to his agent. There are other options out there for the Astros that potentially will be as effective. The Astros are also looking at the trade market targeting relievers that their scouting department is high on. There is Matt Moore, David Robertson, Aroldis Chapman, etc.
What's your opinion on Jakob Junis? A writer on climbingtalshill.com mentioned him and Robertson as pitchers who Astros should go after. Lucky charm Will Smith is still available as well lol. Maybe he can win 4 straight and get his 2nd with Houston.
Junis is interesting, I personally would understand why they would sign him (stuff) but I think that he is hittable personally. I would personally look at some starters and look at converting them if they have the right stuff........ for example, Vincent Vasquez I think could be a really good reliever because another 2-3 MPH on his fastball makes a huge difference.
I hope we land two of Y. Rodriguez, Hicks, Stephenson, Neris, M. Moore. Wouldn’t mind giving Stanek another shot, last year feels like a fluke. Would not mind dealing Urquidy for a quality prospect or two.
