New year new thread. Looking almost certain Houston is done making trades until July, but here’s one since the Twins look to have had their season destroyed by pitching injuries before it ever begins: Astros get: OF Matt Wallner C Joey Bart IF Mitch Jebb Pirates get: 3B Isaac Paredes Twins get: P Hunter Barco Astros get a really good controllable LH OF bat and a solid 2nd catcher, plus a decent prospect to upgrade their AA infield. Pirates get a controllable all-star 2B. Twins get the Pirates #4 prospect, who is an MLB-ready arm they can plug right into their rotation. Opening day roster: SS Pena 2B Altuve DH Alvarez 3B Correa LF Wallner 1B Walker C Diaz RF Cole CF Meyers Bench: Bart, Loperfido, Matthews, Allen SP: Brown, Imai, Burrows, Javier, Weiss, Arrighetti RP: Hader, Abreu, King, Okert, Pearson, Munoz, De Los Santos IL: Walter, Wesneski, Blanco, McCullers Optioned: Blubaugh, Gordon, Ullola, Teng, Alexander, Dezenzo, Smith, Whitcomb DFA: Salazar
Yeah. Dana Brown laid out a pretty clear picture today. Either the Astros get that ideal LH OF or they get Paredes lots of ABs via prescribed rest for Altuve, Correa, and Walker, and time at DH while Alvarez plays LF. I found it particularly interesting that he gave a range of expected time for our three older guys: 125–145 starts each is the ideal for the season. Honestly, I’m not sure how the Astros would expect to fill so many starts if Paderes was dealt. my suspicion is that they never wanted to trade him, but he may have asked to be traded.
I think the possibility was there during the arbitration process, but once it was negotiated then all bets were off. The Astros pulled him back but was willing to listen to any desperation offers from other clubs just in case.
Still trying to figure out what Houston might be able to do before the season starts: Astros get: OF Jaren Duran OF Masataka Yoshida IF Andruw Monasterio $28M ($14M 2026, $14M 2027) Red Sox get: IF Isaac Paredes OF Jake Meyers Opening day roster: CF Duran 2B Altuve DH Alvarez 3B Correa 1B Walker C Diaz RF Smith LF Yoshida SS Allen Bench: Matthews, Trammell, Salazar, Unroe SP: Brown, Imai, Burrows, McCullers, Javier RP: Abreu, Sousa, Munoz, Roa, King, Okert, Lambert, Weiss IL: Pena, Pearson, Hader, De Los Santos, Wesneski, Walter, Blanco Optioned: Cole, Dezenzo, Whitcomb, Monasterio, Arrighetti, Gordon, Alexander, Ullola, Teng, Blubaugh, Murray Yoshida would be on a short leash; Boston would be eating most of his salary. Pena should only be out a handful of games so starting Allen or Matthews or Unroe (another versatile LHB having a good spring) during that stretch is no biggie. Monasterio gives Houston an optionable high floor infielder for depth improvement. Boston gets an upgrade in their OF defense and overall offense. Including Monasterio and Yoshida means Boston would still have enough playing time for everyone, although they may have a crunch if Gonzalez, Casas, and Campbell warrant time. Both teams improve from this trade but it just depends on how the 3 main players (Duran, Paredes, Meyers) are valued.
BTW, where did Loperfido go? This trade would be OK for me because I see Duran as a difference maker on par with Paredes. Adding Yoshida creates another LF/DH issue as he is a terrible fielder who has played a total of 42 innings the past 2 seasons. He is also unplayable vs LHP. I would prefer keeping Dezenzo over Unroe and starting him or Matthews vs LHP. If the Astros did this trade it would be interesting to see where Cole and Loperfido go from here. They would be stuck between Duran and Yoshida and the young guys ( Frey/Spence/Sullivan) poised to overtake them by the time those 2 are FAs after next year.
Good catch, Loperfido would be optioned. They should have enough 60-day IL candidates to make it all work. Yoshida would be a flier to see if he hits enough to justify running him out to LF for home games. He could be subbed defensively as needed if he hits. His arm is just below average, it’s his range that makes him terrible, and Daikin would mitigate that a bit. He’s unlikely to be a big negative because even if he doesn’t hit, he still won’t strikeout much. If he didn’t hit, Houston could just cut him loose and would only be out $4M this season and next.
Astros get: 1B/OF Alec Burleson Cardinals get: 1B Christian Walker P Spencer Arrighetti P Bryce Mayer P Ethan Pecko $26M Astros solve their roster crunch and upgrade the quality and balance of their lineup by adding a player who has 3 years of control and 3 seasons of increasing wRC+; they do that without trading any position player prospects. Cardinals add 3 very high upside pitching prospects and a buy-low veteran 1B who they might be able to flip at the deadline. Astros roster: SS Pena 1B Paredes DH Alvarez 3B Correa 2B Altuve LF Burleson C Diaz RF Smith CF Meyers Bench: Matthews, Salazar, Allen, Loperfido SP: Brown, Imai, Burrows, Javier, McCullers, Weiss RP: Abreu, King, Okert, Sousa, Munoz, Lambert, Teng IL: Hader, Pearson, De Los Santos, Wesneski, Walter, Blanco Optioned: Ullola, Gordon, Alexander, Blubaugh, Murray, Dezenzo, Whitcomb, Cole
