I do expect him to flip a pitcher this off season for a bat with a few years of team control. Unless they think Yanier and one of the outfield prospects can get the job done, long term.
You would think so. This is a pretty huge offseason for Click and the Organization. I have no idea what financial constraints Crane has on the FO, not does anyone else. It'll be interesting.
Where Click is failing is roster construction. A lot of his moves look good overall, but we are left with a roster that makes it hard to maximize the talent. The CF situation was butchered. Mancini has been great hitting for power but we don't like him in the field so playing time is an issue. In a vacuum most of his deals look good. I certainly worry about roster construction moving into October
The OF plan was good, but injuries to Meyers, McCormick and Leon have reeked havoc to the plan. We've been playing most games with 2 or 3 inferior players when superior players ride the bench. Rest? Some of it maybe.
They will have to add at least one good hitter this offseason. It may end up being another 3rd tier free agent deal similar to the Brantley deal but there’s a chance it could be something bigger which could be Clicks defining move so far. What they do with Verlander will also be pretty impactful.
He's the sacrificial Lamb to MLB. They need the attention off their boys cheating which they refuse to acknowledge or punish.
If the offense goes dark in the postseason, Click is most certainly gonna hear about it. There were a lot of injury/age red flags with the offense we were fielding at the deadline. Pena is dealing with rookie s**t he may or may not come out of, Brantley was likely done, Yordan has this hand issue, Meyers was unproven and possibly hurt, Yuli is old and seemingly done and we're content with Maldy being the primary catcher. Now it isn't realistic for him to forsee Yordan playing quite this poorly, and he still may come out of it, but even still there were a lot of problems to only add one everyday bat. If Yordan can't pull out of this, there's a very real chance Altuve/Bregs/Tucker/Mancini will be our only good hitters against RHP. I personally tend to agree that the small sample randomness usually makes trading too much value away not worth it, but nonetheless when there is seemingly a clear red flag and you only slightly address it, it leaves you open for the hate.
There is no problem with the Mancini deal, he is the best option at 1B and LF. Dusty has made it a bigger problem than it actually is. Mancini being a hapless butcher in LF has been grossly overstated.
He acquired TWO everyday bats, though not at one position. Vasquez is a 2+ WAR player who should split time with Maldy evenly at C and relieve 1B and DH some and Mancini (also 2+ WAR) who should get starts at 1B/LF and DH. NONE of those positions is secured with better players except Yordan who splits time at LF/DH. The biggest hindrance is refusal to recognize after 4 months that Yuli isn't in a slump. This is Yuli at 38. It was also Yuli at 36. 37 Yuli was the aberration. He's actually hit poorly in every even year of his career.
Fun Vazquez stats: Astros pitching has given up 3+ runs in 8 of Vazquez's 9 starts since being acquired (they didn't only in his first start). Astros pitching has given up 3+ runs in 7 of Maldanado's 14 starts over the same time period. (and before people ask, Verlander is 2 out of 4 in this - same ratio as all the other pitchers) I suspect a big part of the reason they are not splitting starts evenly is that Maldy has so much more experience managing this set of pitchers and knowing how to call pitches for this specific group. That's not a knock on Vazquez, but it's likely why the pitchers prefer Maldy.
I don't disagree with that, I like the Mancini deal With all of the assets we have as a team/organization, and with us being a without a doubt World Series contender, there is no excuse for our CF situation to be what it is. And to some extent, and I know it isn't as easy as some would like to think it is, he needs to have a much better working relationship with the manager. I do understand that very likely it's mostly the fault of the manager on this one
Those stats you pointed out are a bit unfair as Vazquez hasn't caught JV or Framber or LMJ at all. He's mostly been tasked with the younger guys, Urquidy, Javier and Garcia who are a bit more inconsistent. Let's wait till Vazquez has an opportunity to catch the other 3 before doing comparisons.
Cedric Mullins. He should have been part of the Martini trade. Bautista and Perez also to shore up the bullpen. Stupid Click.
After the reports that Luhnow blew away his phone before giving it to investigators and then lied about it, I'm convinced that the unofficial blackballing of Luhnow is a permanent ban in response to him doing just that. I think the league knew he was more involved than he let on but couldn't prove it. I'm pretty sure Luhnow never works in MLB ever again.
