He should be able to stick at C. Considering both Machete and Castro are free agents after this season, he should hopefully be able to slide right in.
If it doesn't the Astros can just pick up the team option. Maldy gets a little more money if he gets to that 90 game mark. Barring a significant injury, I expect him to be back in 2023 to mentor Lee.
I think the twins…unless we added another prospect or upped it from Abreu. Idk but I bet MIN likes Kepler a lot.
I would rather keep the pitching options. Shortened season, injuries with that. We have a good enough offense. Maybe this is more of a deadline deal if we need the offense due to injuries in the OF. Interesting though.
I think Odorizzi is likely to be traded. He's going to be a problem if he isn't in the rotation and right now he's the 7th starter behind Urquidy and Javier in my opinion. His contract has massive incentives based on innings pitched. He already showed his a$$ last year when he complained about being yanked early after being rocked over and over the 3rd time through the lineup. I don't think being stuck in the pen and losing money is going to sit well with him... As far as the trade for Kepler... I'd rather trade Odorizzi for a bullpen arm or a prospect and then go and sign Conforto rather than have Kepler in CF. Let Tucker play CF this year. Then one of Tucker/Conforto replaces Brantley in LF for 2023 and the other stays in RF with Meyers/Leon/Siri/McCormick fighting it out for CF.
Same here. I wouldn't be mad at the deal, as Kepler showed in 2019 that he can be an all-star caliber player, but the rest of his career says he's just a solid regular, and if his defense declines, he's becomes a pretty mediocre player. Very real chance Jake Meyers is the better player. I'm definitely betting on one of Meyers/McCormick/Siri/Leon being better than Kepler. I do love Kepler's BB and K rates though. If Brantley went down (or next offseason), I'd definitely like Kepler as a replacement for him.
I still don't get why the Astros get all the MLB fan hatred when what they did really is small potatoes to what the Braves, Yankees, Angels, Cardinals, Dodgers, Red Sox have all been proven have done or condoned in their own little issues.
Houston is an easy target. Soft local media market without any national ties. Transplant fan base that won’t be over alienated in a way that hurts the national media. They’re that good and people still don’t like how they got there (intentionally tanking… even though we know it wasn’t just that easy). A cutthroat GM who was smart enough to find a way to optimize everything with newer thinking, but that sort of mentality had its drawbacks and he also had no other long term friends in the game or media. just keep winning. The patriots outgrew it.
https://theathletic.com/3129542/202...kout-finally-ends-and-spring-training-begins/ Spoiler Catcher 1. Martín Maldonado 2. Jason Castro 3. Michael Papierski/Korey Lee/Cesar Salazar/Scott Manea Maldonado is the clear starter and Castro is the clear No. 2. The unknown here pertains to the No. 3 position that was vacated when the Astros traded Garrett Stubbs to the Phillies in November to clear a 40-man roster spot. The Stubbs trade left Maldonado and Castro as the only two catchers on the 40-man roster. Teams usually cycle through three or four catchers in a given season, so the Astros likely will have to tap into their depth. Will it be Lee, their presumed catcher of the future, or one of the more seasoned upper-level minor-leaguers who could act as a stopgap? The answer will depend on the situations in which reinforcements are needed — are they filling in for Maldonado or for Castro, for how long, what point in the season is it, and who is performing best in Triple A at the time? First base 1. Yuli Gurriel 2. Aledmys Díaz 3. Taylor Jones 4. Joe Perez Second base 1. Jose Altuve 2. Aledmys Díaz 3. Yuli Gurriel 4. Alex De Goti Middle-infielder depth looks like an issue, to the point where a couple of injuries might force the Astros to get creative and shift Gurriel from first base to second base and to play Taylor Jones at first. If the Astros re-signed shortstop Carlos Correa, shortstop prospect Jeremy Peña could act as a valuable insurance policy at second base, shortstop and third base. Assuming they don’t and Peña gets a shot to be the starting shortstop, they will need to acquire some middle-infielder insurance after the transaction freeze is lifted. It also might be time to get outfielder/infielder prospect Pedro León some second base reps in Triple A … just in case. Third base 1. Alex Bregman 2. Aledmys Díaz 3. Yuli Gurriel 4. Joe Perez 5. Alex De Goti Shortstop 1. Jeremy Peña 2. Aledmys Díaz 3. Alex Bregman 4. Alex De Goti 5. Pedro León If the Astros turn shortstop over to Peña from the start of the season, they’ll need more depth behind him. Díaz is a good player but he’s frequently injured and is also their primary backup at every other infield spot. Bregman has played shortstop but he profiles better at third base and moving him from that spot would just create a hole at a different position. Someone who has played shortstop in the majors before and has at least one minor-league option year left would be an ideal target. Left field 1. Michael Brantley 2. Yordan Alvarez 3. Chas McCormick 4. Aledmys Díaz 5. Taylor Jones Center field 1. Jake Meyers 2. Chas McCormick 3. Jose Siri 4. Kyle Tucker 5. Pedro León Whenever spring training begins, the center-field battle will be one to watch. Meyers (shoulder surgery in November) wasn’t expected to be ready for Opening Day, but what if the start to the season is delayed? If he’s still not quite ready, will it be McCormick or Siri? Or both? There’s also this wild card: the possibility of a corner outfielder acquisition, which would presumably push Tucker to center field more often. Right field 1. Kyle Tucker 2. Chas McCormick 3. Jose Siri 4. Michael Brantley 5. Pedro León Designated hitter 1. Yordan Alvarez 2. Michael Brantley 3. Taylor Jones Starting pitchers 1. Justin Verlander 2. Lance McCullers Jr. 3. Framber Valdez 4. Luis Garcia 5. José Urquidy 6. Cristian Javier 7. Jake Odorizzi 8. Brandon Bielak 9. Peter Solomon 10. Jonathan Bermudez 11. Tyler Ivey 12. Forrest Whitley 13. Hunter Brown 14. J.P. France The Astros are loaded with starting pitchers. They also can’t count on a repeat of 2021, when seven starters accounted for 159 of their 162 regular-season starts. Then again, we don’t know for certain how long the 2022 season will be. Either way, they are in strong shape. If they were to trade from one position to improve another, starting pitcher seems like the most likely choice. Relievers 1. Ryan Pressly 2. Ryne Stanek 3. Héctor Neris 4. Phil Maton 5. Blake Taylor 6. Cristian Javier 7. Rafael Montero 8. Jake Odorizzi 9. Pedro Báez 10. Brandon Bielak 11. Peter Solomon 12. Jonathan Bermudez 13. Josh James 14. Bryan Abreu 15. Enoli Paredes 16. Shawn Dubin 17. Seth Martinez 18. Forrest Whitley 19. Tyler Ivey 20. Andre Scrubb The bullpen is the most obvious area in which the Astros could add after the lockout. Lots of free-agent relievers remain available. Javier and Odorizzi crack the reliever depth chart here because they could be excess starters, but they might be going back and forth between starting and relieving. The Astros have a lot of names behind their core bullpen arms (Pressly, Stanek, Neris, Maton and Taylor) but many of them are wild cards. Another high-leverage reliever to complement the group could go a long way, though it would also create a roster crunch for as long as everyone is healthy.
