I said McGriff earlier as his ceiling, and I’m standing by it. Would you guys be content if his floor was Paul O’Neill? Career .288 Avg 22HR 100 RBI Rarely struck out 100 times in a season.
That ceiling is too low. It’s like you don’t know how this game works. Seriously, his ceiling is obviously David Ortiz (but less fat). Paul O’Neil is probably like a 25th percentile outcome for him so his floor is probably lower.
He's a DH. If game one of the World Series is in Dodger Stadium Alvarez is on the bench. If he can be anything close to Ortiz that would be great. Hopefully he can play enough 1B to play in National League parks in the future.
The MLB is in great hands with the number of stars they have age 25 and under. This last wave that’s comes up the last 4 years has been pretty astounding. Pete Alonso Yordan Alvarez Ronald Acuña Jr Vlad Guerrero Jr Fernando Tatis Jr Shohei Ohtani Ozzie Albies Rafael Devers Eloy Jimenez Carlos Correa Francisco Lindor The list goes on and on. If only Major League Baseball knew how to market their product...
MLB has been proven to be a local-market/regional driven league, not a star league. I think every MLB team does connect very well to their own city and to the surrounding region.
This makes me wonder if his great start hasn't moved him to the top of Luhnow's trade chips in search for a new #3 SP (and future Cole replacement as #2 next yr) If you believe (as I do) a trade for a 3rd Ace now makes us heavy OCT favs, how can he NOT be in play? The plan beyond Brantley / Reddick / Yuli is clear to me: Ted in RF Beer at 1B Maybe Yordan becomes a full-time LF ... But can he do that daily anywhere but MMP or Fenway? Unless Hinch wants to completely abandon his rotating DH philosophy (to rest the core and keep bench sharp) to hand full-time gig to Yordan ... If that is the DH plan going forward, Yordan HAS to become Papi 2.0 to justify all the other current & futures adjustments the club must make to accommodate his lack of leather
He’s not going anywhere. He will play left field and DH just like he is now. Unless he all of a sudden forgets how to hit, he will be an Astro in the middle of the lineup.
If the Astros aren't willing to trade Tucker for Verlander, we aren't going to trade Alvarez who is now a known quantity for a starting pitcher. Alvarez at this point is untouchable because anyone we would want to trade him for would never be traded.
At what point does he go from “Pitchers haven’t adjusted” to “This is who he is.” He destroyed minor league pitching. He Can hit lefties. Let’s say he plays 81 regular season games with the MLB squad. He’s on pace for something crazy like 28 HRs and 100 RBI. Pleeeeease learn how to play first base.
Berkman is a switch hitter. Berkman actually had the athletic ability to play center field. Swings and style are different.