The Astros like Stubbs so much they promoted Federowicz over him twice, and traded one of their better lefty pitching prospects to reduce the chance that he may be the backup this year. They have a long history of acquiring lithe catchers like him in Gattis, Stassi, McCann, Maldonado, etc.
Isn't Stubbs supposed to be good defensively? Maybe they think he's shitty at framing? Wonder if the Astros just really loathe the idea of having two young catchers or if they really don't like Stubbs that much.
He's only 5'9 in a small frame trying to play catcher. His power hasn't shown up yet but don't get me wrong, could be a nice backup.
Not even close. The pitcher they traded in the Verlander package is the best prospect to go out, I'm blanking on his name but it was Hispanic.
Phillips was #32 overall at the end of 2015 by MLB.com, and #21 at midseason by BA. Pretty similar to where Perez was ranked.
Meh. https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=philli000bre Not close to that by anybody else, and...well...we've seen why
Midseason ESPN had him at 35. So basically every publication except BP had him in the top 40 at the time of the trade. Bregman was probably a better prospect, but to say he wasn't one of the Astros' top 2 or 3 prospects is revisionist history.
"Bregman was probably a better prospect"? You ****ing think so? That is a good one. Sorry, I don't care to care about him anymore, but here's also this: http://www.thebaseballcube.com/prospects/byTeam.asp?T=13 Quad Cities is the only non-bandbox he's ever had success in, in the minors. Everywhere else has been a launching pad.
Because he really wasn't. Could he have been a "top 2 or 3" prospect among the OFs during his time in the Astros system? Sure.
I'm not sure why you keep linking offseason rankings like they would be more representative of the Phillips at the time than the rankings that came out within a week or so of the trade. Phillips was traded at essentially peak value. He had 145 PAs of a 134 WRC+ for the hooks with an 18% K rate. For the Brewers AA team he struck out over 30% of the time, causing him to slip down lists that offseason and strikeouts have been a problem ever since. Comparing Bregman and Phillips at the time of the trade, Bregman was the #2 pick, but he was thought to probably be a 2nd baseman without any standout physical tools, and had basically no pro track record (obviously), while Phillips was a little younger, super toolsy, and had spent the last year and a half demolishing the minors. These lists would be a lot more accurate if they had 3 years of data in the future to make them like you have, but your comments are clearly biased but what has occurred since the trade.
Then why was he in the top 3 of basically every midseason list that year? Here's mlbtr blurb on phillips at the trade: "From the Brewers’ perspective, Phillips is the clear prize of the deal. A sixth-round pick by the Astros out of high school in 2012, the 21-year-old has risen to the Double-A level and shown no signs of being overmatched by the pitching he’s faced. Phillips is hitting .320/.377/.548 with 16 homers and 16 stolen bases this season while appearing primarily in center field. He entered the season as one of the Astros’ top prospects, but his excellent first half propelled him to rank 21st on Baseball America’s midseason Top 50, 35th on the midseason Top 50 of ESPN’s Keith Law and 39th on the midseason edition of MLB.com’s Top 100 prospects. Law calls him a “true five-tool” player with the potential to remain in center field, and MLB.com gives him above-average tools across the board, with his speed and arm rating as the top tools in his profile. He should immediately become the club’s No. 2 prospect behind shortstop Orlando Arcia."
I seem to remember Brett Phillips being considered among our top 3-5 prospects. Fans were very excited about him. Hader too, but Phillips had more shine.
Yeah I'm pretty sure MLB had him as our #1 prospect at the time of the trade. Granted not all #1s are created equal, but point is he was highly regarded.
So? They put out bums instead of Stassi for a couple of years, and look who has received the majority of starts this year for the club. They promoted Federowicz over Stubbs for flexibility. They don't want to add him to the 40-man roster and start using his options. If you don't see him as a major upgrade, why do it? So he can not play every day plus go through growing pains most players do?
