The Verlander and Correa trades were mostly made by Crane. The Kikuchi trade and the Tucker trade are Brown’s signature GM moves to date and both of those look pretty good to me so far. The Walker (bad) and Caratini (good) deals are his free agent moves; the Hader signing was driven by Crane. And the Javier extension (bad) is his only internal signing. For better or worse, Brown is working under a very meddling owner and with a lot of resource limitations (aging expensive roster, very limited draft resources). That owner has greenlit a high payroll, but also dictated a lot of the spending. Outside of big sell-side trades (Tucker and likely Brown and Pena in the future), Browns real work is in the draft and there hasn’t been nearly enough time to judge that yet.
We looked like geniuses after that Kikuchi trade. I’m still puzzled as to why we couldn’t resign him. The way he pitched for us after our coaching got ahold of him made it feel like a no-brainer, but I don’t even recall us making him an offer, do you?
I’m sure they made him at least an informal offer although I never saw any substantial rumors/news that Houston tried very hard to resign him. The deal Kikuchi got from LA wasn’t unreasonable but I’m ok with Houston not matching/beating it.
People might say it’s nepotism but Biggio has been a league average hitter as a LH bat that can passably play 1B, 2B, 3B, RF, and LF. Hes at least as likely to help the Astros as Riley Unroe, Jax Biggers, and Edwin Diaz.
I mean, it is nepotism, but in this instance it's fine. He's going to be 31 and he hasn't managed even a .700 OPS since 2023 which was also the last time he was at or above league average OPS even for a second baseman..... the lowest average OPS for any infield position. Now there's some tiny hope that he turns things around, but realistically he's not a major league talent. Still I'm glad he got an invite to spring training
You never know . it's baseball, crazy things can happen any given year . Cavan was legit good just first 2 years and has been relative ass since 2020. I haven't followed him. The book coming out on him and him failing to adjust is likely . Maybe he makes an adjustment this year . He might've realized he's got 1 chance left in the league and worked his ass off this off-season. On a similar note , I wonder how much talk about a backup C has been in effort to push Salazar. I really like what I've seen from him in limited action. His approach looks good . If he had more power his batting could take a leap . I've liked what Ive seen as a backstop in his limited playing time In curious what the FO and coaching staff think he's missing . God if you could merge him and diaz then the result would be one of the best Catchers in the league .
His age 30 season. But yes, his poor performance over the last 2 seasons is why he is on a minor league deal that represents zero downside to the Astros. Biggio has very poor bat speed and that is a nearly fatal flaw given he is not an elite defender and doesn’t boast big power. But he has some defensive and baserunning value and walks a lot. He is not going to be an everyday player but he can be a decent bench player.
Kikuchi never was going to sustain his great pitching for us. He regressed right back to the type of pitcher he's always been with a higher WHIP since 2022 and 3.99 ERA. No way we were paying him $63 mil/3 yrs.
What if…. Alvarez 90g LF 60g DH Altuve 20g LF 120g 2B 10g DH Paredes 90g DH 10g 3B 40g 2B 10g 1B Walker 150g 1B Pena 150g SS Correa 150g 3B Meyers 120g CF Cam Smith 130g RF Loperfido 30g RF 10g CF 20g LF Diaz 110g C Salazar 50g C Allen 10g SS Cole 30g CF 30g LF All it really takes is for Espada to play Alvarez where he wants to play most games. Everything else works itself out, without a single injury.
If the Astros are willing to play Yordan and Altuve in LF most of the season, the infield jam has never been a problem. The issue is the Astros don't think that's a good idea. That's also not an Espada decision.
If Paredes is on the roster OD, it is absolutely an Espada decision. With a Paredes trade unlikely due to decreased demand, they will have to pivot.
Unless a trade happens, the Astros are gonna have to play Paredes at 2B the majority of the time, at least until an injury inevitably happens. Altuve could get, say 45 starts at DH,2B,LF. Yordan DH's mostly and plays LF 25% or so. Paredes also gets 25% or so of the 1B starts. I'm in the camp with others that Altuve should not be starting 150 games at his age even if he stays healthy. I've said it a few times, quality players missing out on a start here or there isn't a huge problem, a potentially thin lineup wholly unprepared to absorb any injuries or give off days is. If we end up with "too many" quality players in July that's a good problem easily rectified.
If the front office doesn't want Altuve or Yordan playing in the outfield, they aren't going to allow it. They hired Espada to do what they want - Baker had too many opinions and strategies that weren't aligned with them and he did his own thing, so they let him go. They hired a rookie instead of a veteran manager so they'd have someone compliant.
