All I think the Astros really need is a 3rd starter in the playoffs. Miley is more of a 4th starter in the ALCS and World Series. Plus a 7th inning guy to get to Pressly and Osuna. Maybe Joe Smith or Peacock are those guys or do a rental trade for one. Rather have Harris and Rendon in the 6th inning and not the 7th.
The playoff bullpen is all good if Smith comes back healthy. The 4 starters (Verlander, Cole, TBD, Miley) will be expected to go 6, but if needed, Rondon, Harris, and/or McHugh will get the 6th. Peacock will get the 7th, Pressly 8, Osuna 9. Smith will be available for matchups. An 8th arm (Devenski, James, Valdez, Whitley, whoever) will be available for extra innings or if a starter gets knocked out early.
Landing that top of the rotation starter with multiple years of control will not be easy. Padres have been open about going after that kind of pitcher and have a better system. Everyone is also waiting for the Braves to use some of their prospects to get that kind of pitcher. I'm hoping for a Syndergaard or Stroman type but I don't expect it to happen. If the price is too steep Luhnow will look at rentals.
Bumgarner/Tallion/Syndergaard. I think Tucker/Luis Garcia/Toro/Bukauskas would be enough to get Syndergaard.
I love Taillon, but you do realize he's on the 60-day DL? No thanks (this year). I also love the Fisher/JBB/Framber package for Ray + Holland, if the DBacks will take that (I feel we may need to add one more throw in, though). Another dark horse option would be Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland. He finished 4th in Cy Young voting last year, and did great in the playoffs, but has immensely struggled this year, and was just optioned to AAA. I can see the Rockies being reluctant to trade him, though, since he has 3.5 years of control remaining, and he's from Denver and therefore a fan favorite. But perhaps a change in scenery, a move away from Coors, and no longer being so close to home is what he needs to get back on track.
You also don't have Bagwell on your Astros Mt. Rushmore so I'm not sure I can give your opinions much weight
I don’t follow the NL enough anymore (so weird to say) to know if Ray or Holland is are any good, or to know what their contract situation is. I see nothing on the leaving part of the equation that bothers me.
No. Not keuchel. I meant ace. We have guys who can pitch 3rd or 4th in the playoffs right now. I want a 3rd ace who would give us the pitching matchup advantage over everyone out there. That isn’t Dallas. There is zero reason to have him on our team. Zero.
I’m ok with whatever Luhnow does. He’s smarter than me. I’m an expert merely on what I’d like to see happen, and I’d be fine with packaging tucker or Alvarez with JBB or Martin, with kemp, white and Devo for an ace with club control. Not stroman for that package, a real ace.
Holland has an ERA around 1.50, 9/10 in saves (though he'd be a set up man for us barring injury/"rest" days), WHIP just over 1.000, K/9 just under 13. Was a great FA signing for ARZ, I kinda wanted him for us. Ray has been putting up good K numbers as always, and cut his HR/9 in half. Walks still a big issue, though. Wouldn't mind seeing if Strom can fix him, but I prefer Boyd because of more control and better K/BB numbers. Holland (or any non-rental reliever), is just a luxury and not really a need.
I thought I'd speculate about the 2020 offense in order to ponder what trade pieces could be utilized soon. C Chirnos (extended?) Stassi? Stubbs? IF Gurriel, Altuve, Bregman, Correa, Diaz OF Springer, Marisnick, Brantley, Reddick, Tucker, Straw DH Alvarez Assuming we don't trade any of the above guys, aside from Stubbs or Stassi, that leaves us with 14 Opening Day offensive players. If you take out the obvious Springer, Altuve, Bregman, Brantley, Correa and 2 catchers of your choice, that leaves 1 out of 7 remaining players off the OD roster. So, out of Reddick, Gurriel, Diaz, Marisnick, Tucker, Alvarez and Straw, which one would be our most likely trade piece? Which ones are the Front Office LEAST likely to deal? I know we have a surplus of CF guys in the pipeline now, but I really hope we don't trade Straw. I also don't see us trading Reddick or Gurriel due to cost. Diaz is too important as an IF multi-tool. Marisnick is having a career season at the plate and his elite DEF is too good to lose. That basically leaves us trading either Tucker or Alvarez, neither of which I think Luhnow will part with in a trade. So what gives? We could pay down Gurriel in a trade, which might make the most sense as he enters the last year of his deal. He's clearly fading as he ages and may be the easiest to replace out of this group. But that leaves us without a big piece to offer in a trade for deadline pitching. Of course, if we trade for someone like Bumgarner (last year of his contract), I wouldn't expect to deal one of these guys anyway. Thoughts?
