Liriano is going to be a left-handed relief specialist in Houston. He's using Liriano's complete statistics vs. lefties, while you're using batting average alone and ERA (largely due to his numbers vs. righties, and all as a starter), and somehow, he's the biased one here?!? P.S. As far as the "journeyman" talk, Liriano had ERAs of 3.02, 3.38, and 3.38 in three consecutive full seasons (160+ IP in each) from 2013-2015, and then posted a 2.92 ERA (1.18 WHIP) in 49.1 innings after moving to Toronto in 2016. He's a good pitcher historically — enough that he earned a three-year, $39M deal before 2015. And at 33, he's not excessively old, either. He does have his weaknesses in the form of righties and control, and as a result, he's being placed in a role that does not expose him to those issues nearly as much. Liriano has been good all season long at getting lefties out, and assuming he continues to do so, he'll be a valuable weapon in Houston because that's the role he'll be placed in.
Verlander seems to be rounding into shape and progressing towards the mean these last couple starts. The last 5 or 6 starts have been promising. He is likely the only semi impactful pitcher available and I hope we can get him just for the "shot I'm the arm" and added depth.
Ok I'm not familiar with MLB transaction habits. I know he cleared revocable waivers, so does that mean he's eligible to be traded even after the deadline has passed? If so, is Verlander to Astros a realistic thing?
He is eligible to be traded to any team since he cleared waivers. It's as realistic as any other trade.
Give Verlander a go. In his last seven starts he's faced CLE (2), TOR, KC (2), HOU, and BAL...all teams with pretty decent hitting lineups (depending on night), and only one was a stinker. He also strikes me as the kind of guy who would be rejuvenated by going to a potential WS contender.
If we don't end up with Verlander, I'm going to be pissed. Along with pretty much every player in the locker room, I imagine
Hopefully we get Melo and Verlander this month. Melo before the Bahamas, and Verlander before the playoff eligibility deadline of August 31
Odds are very low but greater than zero. Houston has the prospects. Detroit has the ability to eat money. Verlander would probably waive his no-trade. But it will be very difficult for the 2 teams to agree on the combo of prospects and money. I will be very excited if it happens because like others I think Verlander would be very good in Houston.
I think in order for Detroit to get a prospect(s) they are willing to accept and we would be willing to part with, Detroit would have to throw in 30m. If they throw in 30m, I think we would potentially be able to part with Perez and a middling prospect or two.
Including Sipp may be able to help bridge the gap a little. He's owed $6M and Detroit could rationalize that if he bounces back next season he would be a good trade chip. You could also throw in Singleton who is owed $4M. At that point if Detroit ate $20M it'd be good enough for me to give up a guy like Perez as the headliner.
Eating Sipp and Singleton, plus paying the rest of Verlanders 2017 salary would be enough to justify sending out one of our top pitching prospects. Verlander basically becomes a 2 year $56 million contract after this season, which fits in well with the timing of paying our other players.
I thought his game with us was a fluke considering the way he was pitching earlier in the year. I'm very surprised to see he is on a very nice run his last 5-6 games.
He's being discussed as a salary dump to offset some of Verlanders contract; everyone knows he has no trade value otherwise.
