Astros re-acquire Justin Verlander

Diaz is going to take Verlander to another level...

 

And had the bullpen held up in game 7, Cole would have been largely instrumental in bringing us a WS title in 2019. That will always remain an excellent trade.

 

The World Champions don't need to convince anyone.

 

To the 41 people who voted no they don't like the trade. First off given the state of the rotation (and the pen) I think it goes without saying if they wanted to compete for a WS this year they had to do something.

When you look at the SP that was traded is there someone else you preferred? Someone that gave them a better chance to win it all? Look what the Angels and Rangers had to give up? Giolito is also a rental and Scherzer has been up and down and both of these guys required very high prospects.

With the $$ coming back from the Mets this also made sense from a financial perspective. Given that Crane hasn't wanted to give big multi year deals there's a good chance that Tuck and Framber are gone after '25 and Bregman after next season. I think there's no doubt they extend Altuve. So while you have this core doesn't it make sense to push their chips in and go for it this yr, next yr, and in '25?

Also with the $$ that came back it keeps them under the luxury tax and gives them some flexibility to address some needs. They weren't going to pay big $$ this off-season to sign FA like Nola or Giolito or Ohtani. Garcia and LMJ will also be coming off major injuries. So without JV how are you thinking that they get stronger (this yr and next yr)?

They also are pushing their chips in and trying not just to win a WS this yr and possibly in '24 and '25 and by doing so going down as one of the greatest teams EVER!!

So was Lorenzen, or Lynn, Civale, Scherzer, Rodriguez, Stroman, or any other pitcher better suited to help them win WS?

Just curious as to why anyone wouldn't love this trade.

 

Hated giving up Clifford, it does make extending Tucker a must. Bregman is most likely not going to resign after 2024.. if they do happen to win the WS this year, and they want to keep the window open, they could trade bregman this offseason to help restock the farm, and sign a FA for a couple years. It would suck to lose his personality, but production wise, they could replace.

I think Altuve will be extended as he’s most likely to do a team friendly deal or something that doesn’t hamstring them

 

Between Cole dominating and it taking Musgrove years to pay off, of course not. We could have just as easily reacquired him when the party's traded him to San Diego. The pirates on the other hand look terrible watching both improve dramatically once on other teams.

 

This trade involves more than just Verlander, Gilbert and Clifford...

1. The Astros essentially sold Gilbert and Clifford to the Mets for $54M in payroll tax allowance, which is directly subtracted from the payroll. Sportrac lists Verlander's 2024 salary as $22M instead of $43M because of this.
2. They would have signed Verlander at $36M and given up no prospects if that were an option, which gives them about $14M/year ($36M minus $22M) in payroll tax allowance
3. That $14M/year can be the difference in pre-tax payroll to prevent losing Tucker, Valdez and/or Bregman.

 

Errant duplicate post

 

AJ, not bringing in Cole, cost us that WS.

Just. brutal.

 

50 wins in 2.5 seasons would be quite the feat. He's going to have to stick around for an additional year or two to hit that milestone with the H on his hat.

 

But but but there was nobody else @Trader_Jorge

 

Pitch like he has in am Astros uniform and he'll make it damn close. That's asking for a lot though.

 

I'm sure it was between the Astros and Oakland.... and JV was like, I don't really want to go to Vegas

 

Has this scenario happened in baseball before? It's got to be rare right? Lose a #1 SP in free agency and then trade for him mid-season.

 

According to Framber.... he's still the #1

 

People need to realize that, it doesnt matter how many discussions the Mets had, Justin said trade me to Houston, so all of those discussions were null.

 

That's a little high given his length of time and dominance with the Tigers.