Depends, is it a playoff game? I'd probably trust Hunter Brown more in the playoffs than 40 year old Justin Verlander. That's why I'm not really high on trading for him in the first place. He helps during the regular season so long as you don't have to give up any starting pitchers on the big team, but will he have anything left in the playoffs? Will he be healthy for the playoffs? I can't be certain about either.
Thanks. And 2017 he was the ALCS MVP and was the best starting pitcher the Astros had in that WS. His playoff/WS struggles are overblown with some of that happening earlier in his career with the Tigers. Framber had one of the best/most dominant playoff runs of any starting pitcher last year… and in 2021 also had one of those dominant performances in the ALCS… but also had a lot of duds in 2021 that labeled him as a questionable playoff pitcher. With such a small sample size, and with every game under the scope, just one sub-par outing leads to a lot of faulty narratives.
Does it hurt them in 3-5 years if the under 21 prospects you listed are what we hope they are? Even the AA pitchers look solid. There's a deal to be made. Brown has to figure out how to acquire another top 100 prospect from another team to get a deal done. A trade with the Giants could look something like this, Meyers, Gusto, Loperfido for a Giants top 100 prospect that the Mets want.
Justin Verlander has a 2.26 ERA with a 7/1 K/BB ratio over his time with us. In 19 playoff games, not a small sample, he has a 3.87 ERA (FIP over 4) and a 3/1 K/BB ratio. He is still a solid playoff arm, and I would love to have him back, but he has been a noticeably worse pitcher in October than any point in the regular season since he's been here, and for his career. That's a fact, it's not overblown. Having said that he does have some great starts, even whole postseasons where he was good, so it's not as if he's never looked like himself in October.
The only negative I see in trading for Verlander is that Dusty will want Maldy to catch him. I don’t want to see Maldy out there more than he already is.
So considering Julks's BABIP has hit rock bottom lately, one should clearly see that he's had some bad luck in mid July followed up by a 4-5 days this past week in which he's lost his plate discipline trying to swing his way out of a slump. Julks should rebound. He's performing like a Tony Kemp quality player. Maybe he fades into nothing. Maybe he bounces to a team or two starting sometimes on bad teams and a 4th/5th OF on good teams. Maybe he figures out how to get some more power in the games to become a 2nd division starter. This should not be construed that I think he should start instead of Meyers or Chas. Meyers's defense is too good not to play. I just don't think a team should give up on a player quickly that is likely better than a replacement player because the manager plays him too much.
There are only two pitchers on our staff currently who have better numbers this season than Verlanders "down" playoff stats: a rookie and a guy who has given up 15 runs in his last 3 starts.
I wouldn't mind Maeda. Shouldn't cost much right? His ERA is yikes but it looks like he had 2 bad starts at the beginning of the season before his injury and only 1 bad start after coming back. Only issue is it seems he doesn't go deep into games. Maybe 5 to 6 innings average.
This is speculation on my part, but I believe Houston made a formal offer to the Mets letting them know it's good thru mid-day today; they will not budge from that offer (that does not include Hunter Brown) and are working other deals (for RP and SP) in case Verlander either accepts a trade elsewhere or NY decides to keep him. I believe they are hoping Houston is the only place Verlander will waive his NTC for. If lunchtime comes and NY hasn't accepted, Houston will up their pursuit of Rodriguez and/or Lorenzen.
