[Official] Astros Offseason

Early in his career there were questions about whether his approach would translate well enough and his body got low grades.

I wouldn’t hold Detroit trading him against him. He then went to Tampa and did well and they attempted to extend him. They moved him to Chicago only because they highly coveted Morrel. He struggled in Chicago and made it clear he did not like the exposure. The Astros like him, but they worry about the glove.

I remember years ago in the low minors he had some issues with conditioning and listening to coaches - but he adapted and is a workout nut now. He has long been considered a smart and professional player. He supposedly likes to do his own training and has his group of guys, but never have heard complaints or that he is a big partier.

 

We aren’t trading Paredes.
Espada eats paint chips so it will be really irritating to see how he deploys lineups until;
Someone gets hurt and everyone plays every day.

 

What makes you think they are moving Yordan to LF?

 

If we don’t trade Paredes and we get off to a slow start record wise and offensively due to the OF being bad, I’ll bet anything Espada will start changing his tune about Yordan playing LF.

 

I think Yordan’s voice, coupled with the inability of the FO to get what they wanted for Paredes, will pivot the team to him playing a lot of LF.

And he was playing LF today…

 

Of course a trade has to be equal value. I'm not suggesting taking a lesser player unless it also includes additional value in prospects, depth players, or salary.

However I firmly believe that a legitimate MLB level player who is marginally less than Paredes could be an improvement for the team as a whole.

This team would be better with Lars Nootbar, Matt Wallner, or any number of LH hitting OF than with Paredes, despite them projecting to have worse numbers.

But that doesn't mean a 1 for 1 trade would be a good trade.

 

Alright that’s fair. Sounded like you were saying we should just cave and take less value.

Personally disagree about being better with Nootbaar (.686 OPS last season) and Wallner (bad defender and a K machine) but totally dependent on what else is included in the trade.

 

Thats fair as well.

I just see a future cancer that is now just a small, easy to ignore, bunch of mutated cells.

Couple that with, possibly, the weakest group of outfielders in MLB and its a recipe for an 85 win season and missing the post season again.

Take away the distraction, add a stronger outfielder and this is a 90-92 win team that challenges for the ALW title.

Of course, just commit to using LF as a way to get everyone in the lineup 75% of the time and it also goes away.

 

The Astros won 87 games last season with the never present Alvarez, an inconsistent Altuve, a first half no-show Walker, an absent Hader and Paredes for a large chunk of the season, and a OF that is the same as it was last year.
adding five wins has nothing to do with subtracting Paredes and acquiring the elusive LH OF
we’re not getting a five WAR LF in a trade.

this team wins or loses, based on its health of its best players.

 

That is discounting club chemistry/attitudes which absolutely affects a team.

I desperately hope I'm wrong or the Astros fix it before we see who is right.

 

Honestly, I feel that social media is spinning a lot more drama than we know exists in the clubhouse. Yes, if Espada sticks to his plan of action that he is made public to this point, paredes is gonna have a tough time fitting in the group. But I believe our clubhouse has been the strength of our team for the last decade. These guys work really well together and will figure it out.

 

I don't share your optimism but hope you are right.

 

Where I think Paredes’ games will come from if nobody gets hurt:

50 games at 1B, 2B, 3B, and DH to give Walker/Altuve/Correa/Alvarez normal rest
50 more games at DH from Alvarez playing LF
20 more games at 2B to give Altuve extra rest
10 more games at 1B from sitting Walker against tough RHP
10 more games at 2B from Altuve playing LF
10 more games as a pinch hitter

Result is Paredes, Correa, and Alvarez playing 150 games, Walker playing 140 games, and Altuve playing 130 games (although both Walker and Altuve could get into a few games as a pinch hitter). Peña’s time would not be affected.

 

If you are worried about injuries then you should trade those players. Holy cow, 5 everyday IFs is never going to work and no Paredes cannot play passable defense at 2B, he barely played it at 3B. Correa is also not playing games at 2B, what the **** are you people talking about. Lastly, there isn't a starting level IF on this roster that is going to accept sitting his ass on the bench 25+ games, nor would I want that player on this team.

 

I would worry about Altuve in this scenario.

He is trying to get 3000 hits.

When he signed his extension at the press conference, Scott Boras specifically mentioned this as a motivation and reason for wanting a long term deal to guarantee Altuve that opportunity.

Every game he sits takes away a chance to add to that total and father time is on his heels.

Especially with the prospect of losing games in 2027 he needs to play nearly every game he is healthy.

If the team sits him more than absolutely necessary, it will cause friction somewhere.

The truth is unless Yordan is named the starting LF there will be friction somewhere as long as these 5 players are all on the team and healthy.

I know I keep harping on the off field issues but I believe they are real and not considered nearly often enough.

 

Yordan recently said what he has said every year -- he wants to play the field.

The issue is that Brown made it clear that he did not want Yordan on the field a lot, just enough so that he could play the field in the playoffs if necessary.

Espada then a few months ago that he did not want to play Yordan a lot in the field, and would do everything possible to keep him at DH.

So that is where we are.

I haven't heard anything about the Astros in about two weeks - but my guess is that Espada will try to play Yordan more than Brown likes and at some point, Espada is told to cool it. I don't think it will be a blow up, as Espada has always worked well with management and other coaches and Brown isn't an insane meddler.

I will just say this - if Brown really wanted Yordan to play 100 games in LF, then the Astros would not have been trying to trade Paredes for a LF as aggressively as they have been.

 

This is very consistent with what I was told a month ago.

The Astros believe that a lot of the slumps that Altuve has had are because he wears down and gets nagging injuries. So they wanted to limit his positionality and the number of games mentioned was 130.

 

3,000 hits is great - but winning and being more productive are more important to Altuve's HOF chances. Also, they are not going to keep playing him 150 games a season. The last two seasons has seen him play more than he has in almost 10 years.

 

Why do people keep prefacing their posts with "assuming no injuries"? When is the last time the Astros (or any other team) went without injuries? If that happened, then who cares - it likely means the Astros are amazing anyway. The Astros have two old dudes (Altuve, Walker) and two very-injury-prone dudes (Correa, Alvarez) in the mix. If they are all healthy, the Astros should be thrilled. If they aren't healthy, the Astros should be thrilled to not lose a beat by being able to move people around. The only scenario where this is a "problem" is if all 6 guys are healthy and playing awesome and that means the Astros are doing really well.

Everyone that is insisting on a trade is going to be despondent and complaining about the bottom of the lineup as soon as someone gets hurt - or even needs a rest day - and the Astros are playing a 0.600 OPS scrub in the #9 spot.

 

Trade Espada … keep Paredes. I don’t get why they kept Espada after this past year . He’s a doofus . We could’ve sprung for an experienced game manager with analytical prowess … but we opted for another year of this dope.