Agreed. Brantley and Gurriel are extremely productive in the middle of a title run and 99% certainty they won't be moved at all, but this thread is about "what if" scenarios. That's why I said they should be "candidates for a trade" and I never gave an actual trade scenario because I know how unlikely it will be. However, Brantley and Reddick make $29 million combined. As an armchair GM, I would definitely consider trading them if it could open up the possibility of keeping Cole. Astros are going to need more pitching If Cole leaves and the bullpen needs upgrades as well. That's all I'm suggesting -- the possibility, not the likelihood.
Ok. That’s fair. I’ve already mentally traded Reddick this offseason and I think Cole is affordable at 7/210, but I think he’s going north of that and I don’t think the Astros are the winning bid. I’d hate to move Brantley as he’s pretty damn good for a 1 year- 16 million dollar deal going into 2010 but if Yordan can play LF or Tucker is ready then sure, Bradley is less mission critical than Cole would be.
I think it’ll come down to just how close they are to the luxury tax and how much financial clout Crane has. They certainly won’t want to trade Gurriel or Brantley; both guys are having excellent years and represent pretty much ideal complementary players to the core 5. But if they simply have to shed salary in order to avoid catastrophic penalties or debt, then Gurriel and Brantley are the only reasonable options (after Reddick, who I think is extremely likely to be traded regardless of the financial situation). Sanchez’s emergence and Devenski’s 2nd half improvement have lessened the need to spend money on pitching this offseason. A rotation of Verlander, Greinke, McCullers, Sanchez, and either a rookie (Urquidy, Bielak, Whitley, Abreu, Javier, Armenteros, etc.) or an extremely cheap reclamation project will be fine. And a bullpen made up of Osuna, Pressly, Biagini, Devenski, James, and 3 rookies/cheap vets will also be fine. But they will want to keep $10-15M in space open for the deadline. Should be another fascinating offseason. The chance to be the first team ever to win 100 games 4 seasons in a row will be a great story to follow, as will the financial management and farm.
Assume Sanchez continues to show the stuff of a number three starter. They can point to their continued success wth him, Morton, Miley, McHugh, Peacock, Cole and sell the team as a great stopping point for pitchers wanting a one or two year 'prove it' deal. Cole is in for a huge deal and Miley should be headed for some good money.
I would be shocked if LMJ is a major contributor during the first half of next season. He always misses part of the season the begin with, when you add TJ recovery to it, I fully expect he will be limited or outright sidelined to start the year. Having him healthy and back in form for October is the important part.
He had his TJ right after the season, so he should be ready to go for spring training. They're not going to shut him down for the beginning of the season in hopes that he'll be healthy for the 2nd half. They can skip starts every now and again if they need to lighten his workload. I do expect they would like to add another low cost starter, preferably with more than 1 year of control, who can battle with Peacock/James/AAA guys for the 5th starter spot.
Trade Reddick. Stick Tucker out there. If he doesnt work out, then bring up Straw as the starting CF and move George back to RF.
The only way Marisnick isn’t on next year’s team is if another team values him as a star level everyday CF and offers Houston a prospect they can’t refuse.
Reddick always strongs off strong (at least it seems that way every year). I say we keep him and mid season trade him when he is hitting 300 plus
At 6.7 fWAR over 655g/1774pa, he is what he is: an amazing defensive player who will carry borderline everyday value based solely on his defense, but whose value will vary between fringe regular and star depending on how hot his bat is. He’s the perfect 4th outfielder on a championship contender, and most playoff teams would be fine with him playing CF everyday and batting 8th or 9th. It will be very interesting to see how he fares in free agency after next season. I could imagine a team dreaming on him and giving him a pretty strong multiyear deal (something like $20M/3yr).
How much longer will you be able to say that about his glove though? Serious question, I don't know, but that kind of thing is a young mans skill set...
Long enough to be good for at least one more year....the last of his club control years. After that, he can go hang out with Brady Rodgers and What's his name Guduan in the don't really care department.
OH I wasn't worried about that. That was just in response to Snake talking about a 3/20 deal for him in FA.
It’s not a prediction. Just a possibility, and more of a best case for him. More likely he will have to play year to year like most guys with his profile.
For free agency, he's probably going to go to a team that can't afford a good OF, but need to take chances on hoping a player like Marisnick can give them a couple of years of good OF play.
I’d sign him if I was Colorado. That’s a tough OF defensively and maybe the lack of break on slow stuff combined with his power would play up.
