Sorry for any errors, tried to do a quick photoshop of Christian Vazquez in Astros jersey at a championship parade.
Thanks for the breakdown! I got a few thoughts: That would be very interesting if Dana traded both Walker and Meyers before opening day. I'm with you on Meyers being dealt to open up more opportunity for Matthews and Cole. I think Loperfido makes it over Trammell although it will be close. Trammell was signed to a split contract as he is not on the 40-man roster, correct? I think he starts the season in Sugar Land since he is essentially a way to maintain solid LH OF depth without having to burn a 40-man roster spot and he can quickly be activated in case of one or several injuries. Should be plenty of ABs to go around as Espada tinkers with some platoon options based on matchups. Both Unroe and Allen on the bench for utility? Spaghetti optioned to AAA? I see him as part of the 6-man rotation to start the season. He alluded yesterday that he came back about a week too early from the thumb fracture as he would've liked another rehab start to fine tune things. Should be back to full form by now and ready to go. That leaves one less roster spot in the bullpen so I expect Teng to make the team over Lambert. Maybe De Los Santos starts the season on the IL too. Bullpen should be fine with 2 long relief options in Weiss and Blubaugh.
I also think Arrighetti makes it as the 6th SP Biggio also makes it over either Unroe or Allen Allen has probably hit some minor league pitchers well enough this spring to solidify his spot, but it should be obvious to most that he is awful at the plate
I like Allen and Unroe as a potential platoon bench piece. Allen is merely very bad against LHP (career wRC+ 82) whereas he has been unplayable against RHP (career wRC+ 41). As a LHB Unroe should be better against RHP. But also Unroe should be able to play 1B and in the OF corners if needed. I think Trammell fits better as a 4th OF who won’t need to play as much. Loperfido has enough upside to warrant sticking in the minors if he isn’t claiming a spot with his spring performance. Trammell’s split contract basically serves as an option year as long as he isn’t playing really well in the majors (in which case they wouldn’t want to option him anyway). The rotation is hard to predict. It won’t surprise me if you’re right and Spaghetti is the 6th SP. But I could see them sticking with 5 and just having Blubaugh ready for a spot start to keep Imai fresh and otherwise having Blubaugh ready fo multi-inning relief to keep McCullers and Javier inning count down. Those last 3-4 spots in the bullpen are really impossible to predict.
Agreed on the bullpen being hard to predict and also the pitching staff as a whole. As we saw the last 2 years, there would be some unfortunate injuries. The difference is that the depth might be a little more capable of sustaining a couple losses. Hopefully the staff won't have to experience the extremes we saw last season. Having multiple guys with options will be key to keep arms fresh during the first month since there aren't many off days. Blubaugh and Weiss will cover a lot of innings in the beginning with guys like Alexander, Pearson, Gordon, Lambert, Ullola, France, Pecko likely factoring into the innings equation throughout the season.
Personally, I'd take winning the World Series. But if keeping Vasquez is your top priority, well, I never in a millon years would have guessed we had CVOFs here.
Aside from that, traded for Paredes and Cam. Signed Okert and claimed Sousa. Brandon Walter was looking very promising too last season.
We have no idea yet. We all hope so. So far, imo the best move was letting Framber walk. I couldn’t imagine the Astros paying him what he got. Even if he pitches well for ?, I think his time was up here. Sorry I momentarily forgot who signed him.
I don't regret trading for him since we did win but I would have felt better if Wyler didn't turn into a stud.
Yes, and? Chas caught a WS-winning flyball too. Doesn't mean these are players that anyone should prioritize. Dusty made decisions that led to a World Series win. It involved playing one mediocre player over another one. You seem to have a problem with that. It's super weird that your priority is that Dusty should have played the other mediocre guy more.
