At 1.6 fWAR in 44 games so far this season, White has been as valuable to the Astros as Josh Reddick, Yuli Gurriel, Evan Gattis, and Brian McCann...COMBINED.
I'm not sure thats an indication of how good Whitey has been or an indictment on how bad the other 4 have been.
.2 fWAR for Yuli. wRC+ of 96 and he plays primarily first base. He has been pretty bad, its not opinion but fact.
Yuli has not been bad, I'd just say average. He did have a hot first half, but then his average has dropped like 20 points or so since the All Star Break. Nothing against him, but I support trading him to cut some salary and resigning Marwin instead. Marwin is more versatile, better defensively, a switch hitter, and has meant far more to the franchise over the years.
Yuli is a good hitter having a rough year. He can still make up for it by staying fairly hot all September and doing some damage in the playoffs. I still prefer Yuli over marwin, as the starting 1st baseman. I don’t think Yuli hurts us offensively and he’s above average defensively. Bat him 7th next year, behind White (dh) and Tucker (of) and play him at first 4 out of 5 games. My new favorite lineup for next year... 1. Altuve 2b 2. Bregman 3b 3. Correa ss 4. Springer CF 5. White dh 6. Tucker lf 7. Gurriel 1b 8. Maldonado/ backup c 9. Reddick rf
Just to be clear, "...trading him to cut some salary and resigning Marwin instead" is not really accurate. With your "instead", you're acknowledging it's a choice between the 2 of them. Yuli costs 10.4 in 2019 and 8.4 in 2020. Marwin will likely cost double that in each year, plus more years. Choosing Marwin is decidedly the opposite of cutting salary. I don't think anyone's arguing that Yuli is more versatile, better defensively, a switch hitter, or has been with the franchise longer. The only argument would be that we don't need the 1st bench option to be paid 20M and can win without that...along with Marwin's comp pick being more valuable than anything Yuli could bring back in a trade.
Marwin is not going to be extended a QO and will not bring back a comp pick. Keuchel is the only QO candidate although Morton has a shot. Marwin is looking at $40M/3yrs if he’s lucky.
From a fan/nonstat perspective he is bad because it seems like he hits into a lot of double plays. From a stat perspective I agree with you, he’s a 1B who doesn’t hit for power and rarely walks. Nook mentioned he had an injury that might’ve temporarily sapped his power so hopefully he bounces back but I still prefer him in a bench role rotating between 1B/3B/2B/DH/PH.
The more legit White seems, the more I like the idea of moving Gurriel into Marwin's role next season. With Bregman able to play SS and White able to play 1B, it would still give us pretty solid infield depth. It also frees up some AB's for the DH with White not tethered to it.
Sorry 20M was a miss by me for sure late in the night.. But I think Snake's 3/40M is close, and and my point stands that there's no cost savings--and a likely cost increase to make the Marwin over Yuli choice. @Snake Diggit no chance at a QO? Why not? I think it's at least worth thinking through. Marwin is at an age (30 next season) where I think he would want to lock in a 3/40M type of longer term deal now, because anything could change (skill, injury, playing time, etc.). He's not so elite that he's guaranteed to get money next year, nor has he made a ton of money so far in his career. Just seems like he's likely to turn it down and seek a bigger deal, so might as well get compensated?
There is no guarantee he gets a 3/40M offer. For a guy like Marwin, if there is a QO on the table, you take it as it is too much money to let go. It is the safe play and the play with the most upside.
I would think he (and the Astros) could get feelers--both for whether that type of offer will be out there, and whether he's like to consider them. I agree that what you're saying is how I would approach it, and really what makes sense for a lot of guys. I just think there's a confluence of factors that make the other option a lot more possible for Marwin. Current age, lack of previous large contract, recent spike in production, current value of utility players. If I'm an agent, I would be telling him this might be his best chance at a longer/larger deal, and if that's important to him, he should consider it. I've definitely ignored the fact that he likes the guys on the team, and they like him. If that comes into play (and they probably know if it will or won't by knowing him)...he's a lot more likely to take a QO
Luhnow is not going to offer $20M/1yr to a 30 year old average hitting utility player whose SS defense is likely in decline and whose benefit over the likely internal replacement is marginal at best. As a rule, teams never offer a QO unless they hope the player accepts. I think Marwin loves the Astros so there’s a small chance he comes back. But I think it would be on something like $33M/3yrs and even that I have a hard time seeing working for either side. Sometimes a player just plays his way out of an organization (in a good way). But Mike Moustakas got $6.5M/1yr last season. Maybe Marwin doesn’t find what he’s looking for and has to come back to Houston for a deal like that.
I think there will be too much uncertainty for a guy like Marwin to get a good read of what he will get. Edited as not sure tone would be read correctly.
In this case, I do think it's worth it. Also, I can't be the only one who thinks our lineup is WAY too right handed heavy? Sorry, I do think Gurriel is good, and he's been important, just feel like he's less important than many of our other players. And he's about 4 years older than Gonzalez.
I mean, you can say that it's too right handed heavy but is it really? Next year, even after Marwin moves on, you will have 3 lefty bats in the OF in Tucker, Reddick and Kemp (if Kemp makes the 25 which I think he will, but I could also see him not making the 25) along with likely a left handed catcher and maybe an AJ Reed at DH if Marwin moves on. That's 5 left handed hitters out of 12 or 13 position players. No great left handed sticks unless Tucker becomes great, but that's also not killer B era Astros (before Berkman) either.
