I wonder if Bo would be indignant if Gose the pitcher showed up to shag balls as Gose the outfielder on the MAJOR LEAGUE OUTFIELD AT MINUTE MAID PARK!!
Keuchel Verlander LMJ Morton McHugh Peacock Musgrove Martes Armenteros Starting pitching really isn't a need unless its an extremely good deal imo.
With half of these guys with health concerns? You can always look to make a deal for a starter especially with Dallas looking to get a huge deal come 2019.
You never pass up a guy like greinke for the right price. Only Verlander and keuchel can be talked about in the same conversation.
Greinke could be a good chance for Houston to extend their window and lower Keuchel’s leverage. Arizona would need to eat quite a bit of money.
It would be hard to say no to any proven quality pitcher with just a 3-4 year deal, and no current arm trouble. Why would Arizona look to get rid of him with them coming off a great season? (other than for salary relief). If Arizona truly can't afford him, and we've just seen what happened with the Marlins who couldn't afford Stanton's deal... it makes me just the slightest bit leery about what happens after we extend just one of the core guys (if not more than one). The Astros finances are tied directly to a mid-tier TV deal and attendance. Attendance is projected to be solid for the next several years, while the TV deal will stay very fixed for a very long time. The hope is that they spread the money over the years in a responsible enough way. Maybe even having to defer some of the money for many many years to continue to field a competitive team. Established MLB role players still cost money... you can't fill every role-player hole through the minors (as the 2016 Astros learned). Mid-market teams who sign their guys to huge deals are basically creating their own "opt-out" clause by exploring these trades well before the deal is close to being done.... not sure whether this trend will impact agents advice to players on signing (at the very least, no-trade clauses are going to be vital to players so that they can at least dictate some of where they want to go when the mid-market team can't afford them anymore).
It would eliminate Keuchel's leverage...but it would cost in top prospects to get it done and have them eat some of the money. I saw your idea in the trade thread and there's no chance in hell they're getting it by only returning Colin McHugh.
Basically how the Yankees got Stanton (giving up a decent player in Castro) and a couple of mediocre prospects.
Even though I agree with you, Luhnow does not. Luhnow has publicly stated that he is looking for top of the rotation help.
Of course it comes down to valuing Greinke against his contract (and in my hypothetical, valuing McHugh). If he were a FA seeking a 4 yr deal I don’t think he’d get more than $120M. So imho his contract is about $20M underwater, eating $30-40M gets them to the point of being able to get something useful back. I value McHugh quite highly but also understand why someone might not agree.
Top of the rotation help if it can be had for pennies on the dollar. I just don't see them spending significant $$$ or prospects on another SP.
That move would destroy the future both with the top prospects needed to fetch him and the salary hit that would probably cost 1-2 of the core (proven winners)
I really think Luhnow will not give up Whitley and/or Tucker if he can avoid it to get a starting pitcher. Now if it's a salary dump, I'm sure he'd consider.
Greinke is a head case. Talented, obviously, but would rather allot that money elsewhere. He’s on the downside of his career...do you REALLY want him from ages 34-38? For that much? Meh.
Houston is not Miami and Arizona. Luhnow is not Jeter and La Russa. Houston likely settles in some place in the 150-180 million dollar budget range. Not the Yankees or Dodgers, but not close to the small markets. They'll keep some guys. Lose some guys. Add some guys. On 2016 team, veterans having a down year was much more costly than the 1B/DH rookie guys falling flat on their face that year.
Forrest Whitley will be under team control for 7+ years at the league minimum with gradual arbitration increases and is on a developing pace of being an ace on this team.
It's great to be excited about Whitley. He hasn't yet pitched a game above AA. Chad Billingsley had a similar trajectory, and settled in as a #4 starter. I hope both Tucker and Whitley are stars, but there are probably better odds that they're just OK major leaguers.
