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2019 Houston Astros Thread

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Johnny Sack

Johnny Sack 8,397

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11 minutes ago, Doug E. Fresh said:

Machete is a big upgrade defensively.  He's got a gun and teams (Yankees/Sox) are less likely to run on him.  His bat isn't significantly worse than RCs, although Chirinos has perked up the last week.

Yes.  His bat is significantly worse than RC.  It isn’t close.  And he didn’t impress me one bit behind the plate outside of throwing, which is way down the list of importance for a catcher in 2019.  Framing and blocking balls in the dirt are way more important.  From what I saw from Maldonado, Rod Babers’ Dad clearly fucked his mother because he couldn’t catch shit/had stone hands.  

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Doug E. Fresh

Doug E. Fresh 452

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4 minutes ago, Johnny Sack said:

Yes.  His bat is significantly worse than RC.  It isn’t close.  And he didn’t impress me one bit behind the plate outside of throwing, which is way down the list of importance for a catcher in 2019.  Framing and blocking balls in the dirt are way more important.  From what I saw from Maldonado, Rod Babers’ Dad clearly fucked his mother because he couldn’t catch shit/had stone hands.  

We are set with our bats.  In the playoffs last year, both the Indians and Sox came in averaging over 1 SB per game.  And we gave up none with Maldonado behind the plate.  

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Johnny Sack

Johnny Sack 8,397

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3 minutes ago, Doug E. Fresh said:

We are set with our bats.  In the playoffs last year, both the Indians and Sox came in averaging over 1 SB per game.  And we gave up none with Maldonado behind the plate.  

True.  They didn’t need to steal the games he played.  He just let the ball pass him and they could jog on down to second.  

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henrygandorf

henrygandorf 29,219

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19 minutes ago, UTexasFight said:

Did we not learn anything about Maldonado’s defense in the playoffs last year?
Even Gary Sanchez was blushing at Maldonado’s “catching” in a few of those playoff games

i have to think that was some sort of jittery outlier, right?  he's never been that bad, but that was horrid.

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Pimphand

Pimphand 6,266

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3 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

also robby seems to know how to take a walk.

i think he leads the al in walks by a catcher.  which is idiotic, to walk the one guy in the lineup who could qualify as an "easy out".

even our black holes can work a pitcher.

He is 2nd in ML trailing only Grandal.  He also has as many HR as Realmuto in 100 fewer ABs

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Pimphand

Pimphand 6,266

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2 minutes ago, TonyTexas said:

Maldonado had a horrid playoffs defensively but y’all are nuts thinking he wouldn’t be an upgrade to Stassi. He’s not going to cost much so why not?

He is an upgrade to Stassi but I also don't see it moving the needle that much either.

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Guadaloopy

Guadaloopy 11,129

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1 minute ago, Pimphand said:

He is an upgrade to Stassi but I also don't see it moving the needle that much either.

Plus you’d have to DFA Stassi, correct?  It’s not like the organization has a ton of catchers who are (barely) major league ready and under club control.  

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rvm96

rvm96 1,643

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42 minutes ago, Guadaloopy said:

Plus you’d have to DFA Stassi, correct?  It’s not like the organization has a ton of catchers who are (barely) major league ready and under club control.  

Correct, Stassi would have to go 

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Gourmand

Gourmand 7,778

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Posted (edited)
56 minutes ago, TonyTexas said:

Maldonado had a horrid playoffs defensively but y’all are nuts thinking he wouldn’t be an upgrade to Stassi. He’s not going to cost much so why not?

Incorrect, Stassi is definitely a better defensive catcher than Maldonado. His framing is far superior and more valuable than whatever supposed strength Maldonado has in throwing out runners when he's not letting passed balls hit the backstop. 

This Stassi bashing is crazy imo. He's a very good catcher who is guilty of sucking at the one thing most catchers can't do--hit.

 

https://legacy.baseballprospectus.com/sortable/index.php?cid=1899425

Edited by Gourmand
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Pimphand

Pimphand 6,266

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So the AL rookie of the year race is pretty much down to Brandon Lowe (who came 1 AB shy of losing rookie status last year) vs Air Yordan as Yordan has eclipsed Vlad G Jr. in both HR & RBI despite having less than half as many at bats.  Yordan is blowing Lowe away in terms of production per AB but will he have enough to offset the fact that Lowe has been playing all season?  In Air Yordan's next AB he will lose rookie status past 2019... Hopefully he loses it taking Bieber yard on Tuesday in Cleveland.

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henrygandorf

henrygandorf 29,219

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27 minutes ago, Pimphand said:

So the AL rookie of the year race is pretty much down to Brandon Lowe (who came 1 AB shy of losing rookie status last year) vs Air Yordan as Yordan has eclipsed Vlad G Jr. in both HR & RBI despite having less than half as many at bats.  Yordan is blowing Lowe away in terms of production per AB but will he have enough to offset the fact that Lowe has been playing all season?  In Air Yordan's next AB he will lose rookie status past 2019... Hopefully he loses it taking Bieber yard on Tuesday in Cleveland.

is vogelbach still considered a rookie?  i know he's like 26.

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formermav43

formermav43 4,607

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Stassi’s framing is more valuable than literally anything Maldonado does. He was the 4th most valuable catcher in all of baseball by fWAR last year, mostly due to his framing. Yeah, he’s not hitting at all this year, but he’s also playing like once a week. He might break out of it a bit if he played more, and that rest would be beneficial for Chirinos too.

Maldonado is pretty worthless with the bat himself, he doesn’t frame as well, you’d have to give up something to acquire him, and Stassi is out of options. And my most lasting anecdotal memory is of him not even catching the ball. Which is pretty important for a catcher. It’s right there in the name.

I think it’s actually a downgrade. At best, it’s a lateral move...until you factor in the cost, which makes it an organizational downgrade. For a backup catcher who, if recent playoff history is any indication, won’t see the field in October.

Completely pointless.

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runthebone

runthebone 8,322

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1 hour ago, Gourmand said:

Incorrect, Stassi is definitely a better defensive catcher than Maldonado. His framing is far superior and more valuable than whatever supposed strength Maldonado has in throwing out runners when he's not letting passed balls hit the backstop. 

This Stassi bashing is crazy imo. He's a very good catcher who is guilty of sucking at the one thing most catchers can't do--hit.

 

https://legacy.baseballprospectus.com/sortable/index.php?cid=1899425

He wouldn't get bashed if he were hitting .225.  His OPS+ is 28.  That's not catcher bad, that is horrible.

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Scraps

Scraps 13,745

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Commence some of "funnest" few days of sports 

Love the trade deadline.  

Go get a starter who will lay the fucking smack down on bitches in Game 3 of a 7 game series and a RP who won't fucking get bombed on and I will see yall Friday Nov 1st at the parade 

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Hank Chinaski

Hank Chinaski 6,345

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7 hours ago, runthebone said:

He wouldn't get bashed if he were hitting .225.  His OPS+ is 28.  That's not catcher bad, that is horrible.

Obviously it's bad, but it's also less than 100 PAs. Stassi was a league-average hitter in 250 PAs last year. And he rates as a good defensive catcher. He's fine as a backup catcher. 

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UTexasFight

UTexasFight 9,788

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Absolutely nothing new here but in case you’re looking to waste a few minutes on trade talk

Kaplan:



In the four years since they transitioned from long-term rebuilders to perennial contenders, the Astros have traded plenty of prospects.

Just usually not their best ones.

Houston general manager Jeff Luhnow has developed a reputation for being stingy with his top prospects in trade negotiations. That reluctance to mortgage the team’s potential future for shorter-term upgrades served him extraordinarily well in the case of Alex Bregman. It backfired in the cases of Francis Martes and AJ Reed.

And it is being tested once again in the days leading to Wednesday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline, where probably the only way for the Astros to have a legitimate chance at the top prize — Mets starter Noah Syndergaard — would be to part with touted left-handed hitting corner outfield prospect Kyle Tucker.

According to the latest from The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, the Astros have backed off their pursuit of Syndergaard out of reluctance to part with Tucker. The Astros have refused many asks for Tucker in the past. But if they take him off the table now, they likely lack another prospect who can headline a deal for a pitcher as costly as Syndergaard is right now in a sellers’ market.

The only other prospect they might be able to center a Syndergaard package around would be Forrest Whitley, but that is far from certain given Whitley’s struggles this season and the volatility of pitching prospects in general. It’s also difficult to envision the Astros selling low on the 21-year-old right-hander who came into the season as the industry’s consensus top pitching prospect.

The Astros’ next-best minor leaguer is Corbin Martin, a very good prospect they have similarly clung to in past negotiations, but he is recovering from Tommy John surgery. Their second tier of Double-A right-hander J.B. Bukauskas, Double-A first baseman Seth Beer and low Single-A infielder Freudis Nova might be enough to bring back another starter or a controllable high-leverage reliever but not Syndergaard.

Which puts Tucker at the center of any Syndergaard discussion. Of the starters reported to be available this week, Syndergaard is the easiest to make a case for the Astros to eschew their usual strategy. They would be acquiring him for three postseason runs, and with a plan in mind to help him subtly improve his pitch mix and usage. The 26-year-old Dallas-area native is a power righty with Cy Young potential whose performance hasn’t matched the quality of his stuff.

In that respect, Syndergaard’s trajectory could be reminiscent of current AL Cy Young contender Gerrit Cole, who will be a free agent at season’s end. By acquiring Syndergaard, the Astros would have an in-house Cole replacement and set themselves up for a 1-2-3 of Justin Verlander-Syndergaard-Lance McCullers Jr. in 2020 and 2021.

But there is no precedent for Luhnow trading a prospect the caliber of Tucker or Whitley. Tucker, 22, has been stuck all season in Triple A, where he has performed well (.902 OPS entering Sunday) but not incredibly. Whitley’s stalled development has dimmed his star some, but he is still only 21 and features a tantalizing five-pitch mix.

Tucker is ranked 12th by Baseball America while Whitley is still ranked eighth. (MLB Pipeline dropped Whitley to 17th in its midseason rankings, four spots below Tucker.) Luhnow has never traded a prospect ranked in the top 20 by Baseball America at the time of the deal, and only twice has he moved a prospect in the top 40.

Outfielder Brett Phillips ranked 21st when the Astros sent him to the Brewers in their much-maligned 2015 deal for Carlos Gomez and Mike Fiers that also included left-hander Josh Hader, who then blossomed into one of the best relievers in baseball. Right-hander Franklin Perez was Baseball America’s 32nd-best prospect when he headlined the three-player package that brought Verlander to Houston seconds before the Aug. 31 waiver trade deadline in 2017.

To the Astros, Tucker represents the future in their outfield. All three of their current starters, George Springer, Michael Brantley and Josh Reddick, and their top reserve, Jake Marisnick, are in line to become free agents after the 2020 season, and rookie slugger Yordan Alvarez is so limited defensively he might not play the field more than once or twice a week.

But Tucker is also blocked until 2021, unless the Astros trade Reddick and his $13 million salary next offseason. Tucker recently started playing some first base in Triple A, but the Astros also have first baseman Yuli Gurriel under contract for the 2020 season at a bargain $8.4 million salary. They don’t seem interested in carrying Tucker as a bench player.

If the Astros are intent on holding on to both Tucker and Whitley beyond Wednesday, Zack Wheeler of the Mets, Tanner Roark of the Reds and the Diamondbacks’ Robbie Ray are much more viable targets than Syndergaard. Wheeler and Roark are rentals, while Ray is under team control through 2020. Maybe there’s a package to be compiled between their next tier of prospects and Tony Kemp or Derek Fisher.

The Astros could opt for a rental starter and then allocate more prospect capital to bolster their bullpen, as the market is deeper in relievers than starters. A controllable option like the Tigers’ Shane Greene or Raisel Iglesias of the Reds might be particularly attractive to them, as Will Harris, Héctor Rondón, Collin McHugh and Joe Smith are each set to be free agents at season’s end.

 

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Dondrysdale1

Dondrysdale1 375

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29 minutes ago, runthebone said:

This has some interesting tidbits--Astros prefer Wheeler to Thor because of the latter's 2 seamer (hard to imagine, they just made Cole give up his 2 seamer); Astros are the worst team in baseball v. 95+ FB.

 

https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/07/29/baseball-trade-deadline-new-york-yankees-cc-sabathia

I think it is saying we like Wheeler because he is a 4 seam guy. For his stuff Thor and his 2 seam get knocked around a bit.

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pepper brooks

pepper brooks 580

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pretty stunning the astros are the worst 95+ hitting team.  2 years ago they were the best fastball hitting team in all of baseball.  amazing the turn around on that.  I am not sure ho wi feel about trading tucker for thor.  probably fine.  thor has an injury history, but obviously success at this level.  Tucker is young and still developing, but what we have seen of him at the MLB level did not indicate a budding future all-star.  Doesn't mean he isn't going to end up being one, but he's far from a sure thing. 

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Scraps

Scraps 13,745

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42 minutes ago, UTexasFight said:

Man, T-47 hours and other than the Stroman deal, we’re still only talking about spare parts being moved around.

 

The next 2 days are gonna be good.

 

What are you talking about?? Jordan Lyles was traded to the Brewers.

 

#GAMECHANGER

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