Hoping San Francisco falls out of contention (DBacks and Rockies are strong, Dodgers have plenty of time to rebound) so we can bring Hunter Pence back home to be the new DH.
The craziest part is this guy was a “franchise player” for us while he was here and in reality he was never that great (his BB% rates were awful and his power didn’t offset that). Now look at our team - even in his prime with us he’s basically our Gurriel.
Well clearly our #1 need is LEFT HANDED reliever. Bullpen looks good, but it's missing that last piece, a lefty. DH may not be an issue, maybe we can call up one of the AAA guys, have him and Yuli alternate between 1B and DH, and that's that. As for Beltre, not a fan of shipping prospects to the division rival.
I don't think that left handed reliever is clearly our number one need. We need a corner outfielder that can actually hit or if that is too specific, a quality bat. If I am looking to make a move in the pen, it is just to add another high end reliever. As far as sending prospects to Texas for Beltre, it depends on the prospects that would need to be moved. We really need to maximize the next several years, without being foolishly overpaying.
I'm guessing Astros already have at least an average bat that can play corner OF in the system. Maybe, it is Tucker. Maybe, it is Alvarez. Maybe it is Marwin.
Perhaps, but Alvarez is in AA right now and Tucker has an OPS south of .750 in AAA. My guess would be that the Astros get an above average bat at the deadline and it doesn't cost them any of their better prospects.
Tucker is making good contact on the ball. I doubt Astros care that much that his OPS isn't great at the moment as they know he has power. On Alvarez, AAA is just a stop for polishing for great hitting prospects that don't have contact issues. Like Tucker, his power isn't flashing at the moment (doesn't get loft as well as Tucker), but he's making even better contact than Tucker. I'm thinking Gattis is the one that needs to be sweating regarding Astros acquiring an above-average bat. Edit: On Alvarez, Astros may want to keep him down until he starts getting more loft on the ball. Right now, he looks like a Derek Bell. Hits the ball hard, but only hits a decent amount of homers.
Depending on how well Marwin and Gattis hit between now and the deadline another bat may or may not be an issue. Right now it seems we have 2 dead spots in the order, neither at at premium defensive position. I suspect Marwin will be okay, not 2017 level, but good enough, I'm less confident in DH Gattis.You can go ahead and throw Tucker in with those 2. He will have a few months to have shown anything. There's also the possibility of injury between the deadline and the postseason. Competent offensive DH/LF's are a dime a dozen, particularly in this buyer's market. If there are still any question marks we should go ahead and add one. Gattis is feeling like a likely candidate to be shipped out, his consistently poor production as a DH is extremely hard to write off at this point.
I'd agree as Gattis, if he continues to not hit and Stassi does, is surplus to requirements. I'd expect them to eventually bring up Tucker and also trade for an improvement at DH. They can find a veteran bat before the deadline. Once the real standings start to shake out, we'll know who's going to be available. It feels like we're deeper in this season than we really are with that early start.
Good hitters on non contenders: Realmuto Bour Machado Abreu Moustakas Merrifield Beltre Choo Barnhart Votto Tigers, Giants, Pirates, and A’s could join the list and they each have several players who might make sense. There are also quite a few guys who have been good in the past who are current struggling (Chris Davis, Adam Jones, Duda, Gordon) so if they turn it around the list could grow. Abreu makes some sense to add as a DH (and can play 1B next year as Gurriel shifts to fill Marwin’s role). I also wouldn’t be opposed to adding Choo if the price was low.
Luhnow: For Machado, we will beat the Yankees in the playoffs for a third time and throw in AJ Reed and JD Davis. Angelos: Sounds good. Let me make a move to free up a 40-man roster spot. Day before deadline Angelos: Psych! I'm just going to keep him. July Fools!
this would be a pretty sick lineup for the 2nd half of 2018 and all of 2019: CF Springer 3B Bregman 2B Altuve SS Correa 1B Abreu RF Tucker LF Reddick DH Gurriel C Stassi
It's comical that people think one of the smartest, most forward-thinking front offices in baseball uses the same surface-level stats to evaluate their players as the average fan. Yeah, sure... His strikeout rate is falling, now down to 15%. Bregman and Correa were both around 10-12% when they were promoted. I know that's one of the stats they definitely use. What a crazy idea..... I posted two weeks ago..................
