Oh I totally agree. Backup catcher could have been filled internally with either Stubbs or Ritchie, and Sandoval was one of our best LHP prospects who showed true promise. And LHP is one of our farm's weaknesses.
Not nice language. I'd have liked to see Stubbs get a shot. I know some have concerns over his size, but that's no biggie if his defense is as good as I hear it is. He also hits for contact with some pop in AAA, once he gets that going in the big league level he'd be a good option for at least a platoon. I know Maldonado's arm is the best in the league, but I was skeptical of trading away Sandoval, one of our best LHP prospects (and with rising stock) to a division rival. And Maldonado is just a rental. McCann will be back soon. I'd have instead traded Alvarez or Tucker for Realmuto (a true 5-tool catcher) but the FO had different ideas.
Check out his home splits in hitter friendly Arizona. Again, he's extremely good, but he has taken advantage of hitters parks.
Minute Maid Park is also hitter friendly though, so he would still be producing MVP-like numbers if he were an Astro.
Minute Maid is hitter friendly? Since when? Its not an extreme pitchers park but over the past few years its definitely not really "hitter friendly". http://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/parkfactor
When an organization has a lot of good prospects filtering through there system AND they are trying to fill holes on the roster to compete; some productive players are going to land on other clubs and contribute. So far the Astros have been fairly lucky in not making to many major mistakes. JD Martinez slipped through, but he wouldn’t even be an Astro at this point due to service time. Folty hurts some but it took him years and we may not have won a WS without Gattis. Ramon Laureano was pushed out of our system after struggling in the minors. We could use him right now but he would likely be pushed out by Tucker by the Spring. If I have any criticism it would be that the Astros haven’t moved some of their minor leaguers for an impact bat the last few seasons. The Astros offense is not as deep as ideal and cannot withstand injuries well.
When the Rangers DFA'd Nelson Cruz in '08 or whenever it was, and no team picked him up, I still blame Luhnow.
Former Astros with 2+ fWAR this season: Martinez Lowrie Zobrist Folty Hader Velasquez Happ All of the hitters are on free agent contracts, as is Happ. So Folty, VV, and Hader are currently the only 3 guys Houston traded away that they’d still have control over. I’d love to have those 3 guys back but Gattis and Giles/Osuna were decent returns, Hader is the only one that really burns. None of the other guys (Teoscar, Laureano, etc.) have been valuable enough to qualify as even an average everyday player.
While Hader was a tough loss, Fiers two month stretch last summer added stability to the starters and kept the bullpen from being even more overworked. Although another pitcher may have supplied similar results, we don't know that.
