On that subject though, sometimes I wonder, at least on the pitching side of things, whether some of that player development will take a hit the further we get from Brent Strom’s departure from the franchise.
Agree, AND Framber/Javier/Garcia were never considered to be elite pitching prospects, and when fully healthy they make as good of a top 3 as any in baseball
But what if we traded Tucker for prospects. Imagine the haul with this sellers market. Yes its not going to happen, but dang we would be accepting blank checks for him.
1000% We need warm bodies that give the offense a chance and can provide some rest for the current starting crew.
Just a cursory overview of the last few off-seasons illustrate how valuable competent CF play is. It’s staggering how many teams are in need. HOU is thankfully in a position where if has several intriguing OF prospects—arguably too many (bye bye Tucker?), but maybe we can sell high on Gilbert (and hopefully not regret it) with surplus of OF’ers and the emergence of Chas. We should not be wily-nily throwing in Gilbert for meh upgrades.
The orgnanization would have to assess which is more profitable. 2 years of Tucker compared to 3-5 years of any prospect we get that we didn't draft. If the Astros FO felt the haul they would get in return heavily outweighs those remaining years for Tucker (and a possible WS) then perhaps they look at it, but the risk/reward may only be worth it if they plan to go into rebuild mode anyhow. I'm sure the FO is hoping Tucker would stay and will keep that mindset until he leaves (just like Correa and Springer). All the while have guys like Gilbert waiting in the wings just in case.
This is the third report linking the Astros to Josh Hader. I have heard very little about this - a few weeks ago I heard that the Astros checked in on both Hader and Snell, but that was it. I don't see how this logistically works unless the Padres have privately decided to sell rentals. I don't know why they would do that with their run differential and talent, they are only 3 out of the WC, and just kicked the **** out of the Rangers. Even as a rental, Hader would be expensive because he would be wanted by at least a dozen teams - he is arguably the best reliever in baseball this season and can go multiple innings. The only real I can think of would be in the Padres covert someone specifically in the Astros system. It would still likely cost Gilbert to add Josh Hader. Maybe it is worth it - it would allow the Astros to only get 4 innings out of the starters before going to Neris/Graveman/Abreu/Pressly/Harder in the playoffs... couple that with strong defense and a potentially explosive offense, and that is a recipe to win the AL and match up against the Braves or Dodgers. I will ask about Hader, but I am skeptical of these reports.
I agree. Most great teams that win the world series have 3 position players and maybe 2 pitchers from their own farm system in the span of their golden era. Just using a couple of the teams I watched through the 2000s. But the Astros, they just keep going to their farm and finding players who perform in the world series for them or for other teams. That type of stuff doesn't happen. It should have stopped with Altuve, J.D, Correa , Alejandro, Tucker, LanceMc, Musgrove and Teoscar. That's almost 2 golden eras worth of talent in one. What? I forgot Springer! But Instead it continued with Yordan/ Diaz/ Framber/ Jeremy/ McCormick /Siri, Brother Brown. All within the same time span of our golden Era. (A couple were acquired via trade but if you have to wear that ridiculous Whataburger uni, you were one of us all along.) And I think there are 4 more in our farm system right now that can be major players soon, here or elsewhere.But these other teams would rather go on some created hype list of prospects from teams that have been mid. Whitley was once the 7th top prospect across the league in 2018 and that didn't work out TLDR; MLB teams, don't trade with anyone else but the Stros! We got winners! Aiming for the top prospects isn't a guarantee either. Send us Snell. Send us Verlander Right NOW!
Is the Montero contract not bad? He has 23 million left after this year. Corbin has 35. You can have Washington eat the difference. Corbin may be better in the bullpen than as a starter similar to McHugh. He's still getting lefties out this year (sub .600 ops). Trash for trash.... gives us a left neutralizer... the Rays, Guardians, and Orioles are 50% or better lefties top 7 in lineup. I could see him be useful depending on matchup. I don't trust Montero against righties or lefties. So if money is equal, give me Corbin...
I would think the Astros FO is sticking to "We'll pay JVs contract and throw in a low level prospect or two" but not overpay in prospects for a guy they could have had without a trade. This way, the Astros would feel like they got JV at a discount (not having to pay for his injury and first two-thirds of the season) and call it a wash. They may be banking that the market on his salary dries up and the Mets see the Astros as the only team that is willing to pay his salary that JV would waive his no-trade clause to
Rodriguez is a weird contract. If he pitches well, he will opt out. If he doesn't, then you're stuck with a bad pitcher with 49 million over 3 years... Seems too risky to take on a potential dead contract....
Only way the Astros overpay for Hader in prospects is if they were willing to offer him a lucrative contract for him to stay. Which would mean they would also overpay in salary. High price for him, but he could be the guy worth it.
I predict the Astros will acquire the best pitcher a team is willing to trade for Jake Meyers. I'm hoping it's someone like Carlos Hernandez, but prepared for it to be someone like Michael Lorenzen, the way the deadline has gone.
