Quite possibly the worst third baseman I've ever seen, with multiple 3 error games. But I guess he'll fit right in SS -Snake Diggit the fan
Like I said, show me an example of a trade involving a star rental bat where the team got a much better deal. Otherwise you’re just playing fantasy to denigrate the GM without reason.
*Watches a player for 2 games…draws permanent conclusion.* LOL @ you. In 220 minor league games at SS, Whitcomb committed 27 errors total. Thats a lower E/9 at SS than Jeremy Pena had in the minors. Whitcomb is not a great defender at SS but he’s plenty good enough to play 30-40 games per year there.
To be fair to Whitcomb that was a day game after a night game the day after we clinched the division and had nothing to play for. I’m half convinced those 4 errors happened because he was still drunk or probably at a minimum massively hung over.
I guess what's weird to me about Altuve moving to the outfield is that I always considered second base to be one of the easiest positions to play.... but that might just be personal experience, 1st and 2nd is where I moved to playing in my final years of baseball after shredding my shoulder. 2nd base always seemed by far the easiest position i ever played.... but i was never an outfielder.
He did, but first, Dana Brown talks out of his ass, and second, he can be a primary OF and still play some infield in a backup capacity. I do think if he’s going to be an everyday player it will be as an OF or 2B.
Dana talks out of his ass when it comes to contracts. When it comes to talent and skills, he's as good as it gets.
I think he’s a great scout but when he talks to the media about anything it’s mostly random words without much meaning.
vs LHP he is right around .350 for his career. I think batting him 2nd vs LHP is absolutely fine, against RHP he needs to be 7-9
Fair enough. I still think he chases too much for the 2 spot but I could live with it against lefties only. Of course once a RHP comes in, our 2 hole sucks.
Which is why I wouldn't have traded away Tucker. There are no success stories we have of this type of move being successful. There were all these pie in the sky kind of ideas about the giant haul we'd get for trading away a star in his prime. Chicago gave us a guy who was a bad fit in Wrigley Field, a pitcher who was at the bottom of their rotation, and their 4th best prospect. The 2025 Astros would look a lot better with Tucker back. I get it, they don't want to pay the going rate for what he will command going forward. He's not going to re-sign. But for $14m or whatever his salary was this season, he'd be much more likely to contribute than the parts they got back. We may have given away a season if these three parts they got back don't produce this year.
The Astros got a very good return for a season of Kyle Tucker - it is the only reason they dealt him. They had intended to let him leave through free agency.
I think it's best to break this down in the simplest way possible. If the Astros kept Tucker and he inevitably left... there would be no Isaac Parades, Hayden Wesneski and Cam Smith (all controllable pieces). A comp pick would've been the return for Tucker. We all hate losing Tucker, but someone will pay him what he wants because he's one of the best players in the MLB. This was a no-brainer.
I understand your thoughts, but there simply must be some give and take if a team is trying to continuously win rather than win for 2-3 years and then rebuild. The chances are probably 75% that the 2025 Astros are better with Tucker. There is a universe where Paredes and Wesneski combined out perform him. And a small distant one where Cam Smith has a positive impact this year. The chances are probably 95% or more that the Astros are better 2026-2031 because of this deal. And the fact that the lack of impact talent in the system and an owner who is not going to give out a $200M+ deal to a star FA means it was very likely that 2026 was going to look very bleak without this deal. Maybe it does anyway but I would rather take a chance and ask the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th prettiest girls to dance than lean against the wall and watch the prettiest.
It all really depends. Kyle Tucker gets 16.5 million this season. How healthy is Tucker going to be? How healthy is Paredes going to be? Who would the Astros have gotten to replace Bregman? How good a prospect is Cam Smith? How good is Paredes? The Astros have wanted Paredes for awhile now. He is roughly a 3-4 WAR a season player that the Astros have for 3 full seasons at this point. He is an average starting third baseman defensively, and he can play well at 2nd or 1st base as well. So they can move him around if they get another third baseman down the line. There is a lot of value there with Paredes - he isn't a star but he is very good in the modern game. Would they have been better just keeping Tucker and trading for 3 years of Arenado? As for Cam Smith being the Cubs fourth best prospect - I don't think the Astros viewed him as the Cubs fourth best prospect, and I am not sure the Cubs did either. Shaw was the only prospect that was clearly better. I like Owen Cassie a lot with the Cubs, but not sure he is better than Smith. The Astros targeted Smith. Those are the two pieces I care about from the perspective of the Astros end of the trade. Just a lot of unknowns but the Astros got an excellent return, and a lot of it rests on Smith - if he can be a middle of the order hitter like Brown believes, then it is an exceptional trade.
