Maybe that report of Moran for Britton was true. 2 games of ABs aren't worth anything statistically, but hold value to scouts watching them.
Somehow, despite the fact that: Cosart has struggled so badly he has been given his outright release at 27 Singleton has been DFA'd Zeid hasn't appeared in the majors in 3 years Santana was traded for a guy that "hit" .221/.277/.342 It has ended up a great deal.
I started following the the Astros in the McLane era, during the mid-90's. And while he was owner, the trades the Astros made generally seemed to undervalue their own players & overvalue the players the Astros were getting. It was infuriating. Calling this trade, 'highway robbery' brings back those memories. Those who did overrate Gerrit Cole, while under-rating Musgrove, Feliz, Moran & Martin. Cole is a league average pitcher with a marquee name, who may or may not turn around under the tutelage of Brent Strom & Brian McCann. Musgrove is an excellent pitcher who lost his way a bit last year, but after a stint in AAA, regained the consistency he needed, but would have been relegated to the bullpen for the Astros. Feliz is a big arm who just needs one thing to click to become a dominant closer or two to become a TOR starter. Moran is a JD Martinez, who has rebuilt his swing to turn his superior contact skills into contact + power. And Martin has a real chance to have an MLB career. The Gerrit Cole trade looks fair to me. Both teams got value back that would have been underutilized had they stayed where they were. And it was especially fair to the players involved. Cole gets the opportunity to be on a world champion team with the right people to turn his potential into dominance. And Moran, Feliz & Musgrove get unblocked and the opportunity to play regularly at the highest level.
I think Cole entering his prime baseball years has a lot of people excited. He was a Cy Young candidate in 2015. A former #1 pick. He’s 27 years old. He pitched over 200 innings last season. He has a great fastball. And now he had some excitement to pitch for, he needed a scenery change, and he got it. There are legitimately 4 guys who could be staff aces next year with Verlander, Keutchel, Cole, and McCullers (before the injury he was mowing down hitters and looked every bit an ace).
So would Verlander, or Keuchel, or McCullers, or Morton 200 innings>70 innings A good starter has more value than a dominant closer.
You probably would have argued against the Randy Johnson trade in 1998. This regime has one very important distinction going for them... they just won a World Series, and they're primed to win at least one more over the next 3-5 years.
Yep... lets just say the Astros traded Pence for Verlander, Cole, Martes, Marisnick, and whatever money they made selling those Singleton jerseys on the day he was signed/called up.
Scouts can value anything.... they can value how a guy looks in warmups or batting practice, let alone actual games. Certainly, he was primed to be moved last year... and if that was the audition, he certainly passed with flying colors. I'm just glad the front office still stuck with the commitment of trying to get something for him, and not at all worried about "what if's" for a guy who is blocked at the MLB level by better players.
So, Cole is "league average", yet Musgrove is "excellent"? Cole is "league average", yet Feliz is one or two undefined things away from becoming a dominant closer or TOR guy? Cole is "league average", yet Moran is a .900+ OPS major leaguer?
One could also argue then, that Cole is 2 months in FL with Brent Strom away from being a 20 game winner and a Cy Young candidate. One of these scenarios is more realistic than the other.
His stats were league average, I don't know that his talent is league average though. Sometimes talented guys under perform and they need the coaching, teammates, and/or environment to perform to their talent level.
A lot of mis-remembering going on. Moran’s Power Surge May Be Long Lasting https://www.baseballamerica.com/majors/morans-power-surge-may-long-lasting/#3R6XVKbq3zOPre3c.99 The Pirates new third baseman is Colin Moran leaves Houston as one of the biggest success stories of the Astros' belief in the power of the fly ball. A year ago, Moran seemed locked into a low-impact role: He was a slow-footed third baseman with an ability to hit for average but without the power needed from a corner infield spot. Moran's career high in home runs was 10. He'd never posted an isolated power of better than .153 in any of his four pro seasons. But the player the Pirates are acquiring in the Gerrit Cole trade is coming off a year when he showed that he can hit for power. He hit a career-high 19 home runs (in just more than half a season), hitting .308/.373/.543 for Triple-A Fresno in just 71 games. He had just earned a spot in the big leagues when his season ended thanks to a freak injury when his own foul ball hit him in the face. Moran ranked ninth on the Astros Top 10 Prospects list before the trade. Much like Justin Turner, Yonder Alonso and others before him, Moran retooled his swing, learned to love the fly ball and reaped the benefits. Such an extreme makeover may not work for everyone, but it was a perfect fit for Moran. He's big (6-foot-4, and likely more than his listed 204 pounds), strong and has always had excellent hand-eye coordination that led to plenty of contact. But until 2017, Moran hit a lot of stinging ground balls, which didn't do a lot for him. If he hit it in a hole, the slow-footed Moran would have a single. If he hit it at any infielder, Moran was an easy out. Before 2017, Moran completely retooled his setup. He once stood spread out in his stance, holding the bat straight up and beginning his swing with his hands set low. The result was a pretty level, line-drive/ground ball-oriented swing. Now he begins with the bat laying back over his shoulder and his hands set much higher in his setup. That means his swing approaches the strike zone with a steeper entry path. It then comes on plane with the ball in the zone and he finishes with more of an uppercut than he did in the past. The result? Before this year, Moran averaged two ground balls for every fly ball he hit. In 2017, he hit as many fly balls as ground balls. Colin Moran’s 2017 ground/fly rates (Courtesy MLBFarm.com) Colin Moran Batted Ball Rates, 2016 (MLBFarm.com) 2015 Colin Moran Batted Ball Rates (Courtesy MLBFarm.com) Moran still makes a lot of contact (16.3 percent strikeout rate in Triple-A in 2017) but now when makes contact he's doing a lot more damage. Moran will have to work to stay at third base--Ke'Bryan Hayes’ superior glove may force him to move to a new position in a year or two--but the power surge he saw last year could be much more than a one-year bump.
I really liked moran. He was a like younger gattis and mccann when he sat next to them. good times. Maybe Moran has the same career path as Sunday Santana. "We" can't keep everyone as much as 'we' want to.
