Replacing McHugh will certainly be an issue, the last 100 games or so once they removed him from mop up duty he was our most consistent bullpen weapon. A full season of Osuna and Pressly will mitigate most of it. Peacock on the other hand isn't a loss IMO. He's never been particularly effective with short relief work. He has much more value as a starter
Obviously replacing what McHugh did in the pen last year would be tough but I feel like the bullpen is mostly set anyway. I expect Peacock to be in the bullpen again and be the 6th starter if necessary. Osuna Pressly Rondon Smith Peacock Harris Devenski That leaves one spot for Perez/Deetz/Valdez/Guduan/James if we don't sign anyone else.
I absolutely HATE moving McHugh. You are weakening both the BP and the starting rotation. He's exceptional out of the pen, so stupid.
Half those teams are really weird fits. Barnhart, Zunino, McCann, and Hedges all seemed to be cemented as starters and I can’t see Miami wanting any of them.
I don't see those guys as starters (they will be though, except for maybe McCann). If you did, why on earth would they not want Barnhart or really any of them (besides McCann)?
Those guys are no better than (mostly worse) and cheaper than Chirinos. If it doesn't make sense for a team to upgrade from them, I'm not sure why it would from Chirinos.
With all the analytics now the catcher position is not the same. Any offensive production is a bonus. I think Strom having a chance to work with Chirinos in Japan sealed the deal. They are comfortable with him calling games and working with the pitchers. That is more important to the Astros than his offensive output, and the fact that he is likely to be better than Maldonado/McCann offensively is just a bonus. Unless the price in terms of money or prospects of one of the top catchers available (Grandal, Cervelli, Ramos) comes down I don't think they will upgrade over Chirinos. If you go by the salary projections out there, is Ramos worth a 3 year 36 million compared to the deal for Chirinos? Is that really enough increase in production for that much money considering the health concerns of Ramos? Same goes for Cervelli that would cost prospects and has concussion issues. Marlins were never going to accept a trade from the Astros that didn't include Whitley or Tucker. They got hosed in the Yellich, Ozuna, and Stanton deals and are going to hold out for every cent of value they can squeeze out of Realmuto. Two years of control for a catcher is not worth 6 years of Tucker or Whitley in my opinion. Now, you give me Kluber or Syndergaard for 3 years and I would move one of those guys.
https://www.mlb.com/astros/video/jeff-luhnow-joins-mlb-tonight/c-2520973683?tid=40172882 For those of you that are hoping that we re-sign Verlander or extend him, listen to Luhnow and what he has to say about him going into the off-season.
It makes a difference if you think we shouldn’t give out big contacts now because we will need to give them out later.
Right. But as we pontificate the “we should’s”, we ought to at least have a realistic expectation of the future.
Sure, while I pontificate I cognitate and realistically expectate that the Stros are all over that, and this, and the other. Let's worry about this season now. They've shown nothing other than the desire to be a long-term winner.
