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Posted
4 hours ago, Ojo Rojo said:

I don't really get it.  Where are all of these infielders going to play?

1B Walker

SS Pena

3B Correa

Altuve will continue to play 2B and LF based on what type of SP Houston is running out.  When Altuve is in LF, Urias will be the 2B.  When Altuve is at 2B, Sanchez will be in LF.  Dubon goes back to a utility/bench role.  Paredes is going to have surgery on his hamstring and is out for the season.  Matthews likely goes back to the minors to try to work on reducing his swing and miss.  Short gets DFA.

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Posted

Lulz, I'm listening to the Baseball America podcast on the trade deadline and one guy asks what a good trade looks like for teams selling non-elite relievers at the deadline.

J.J. Cooper says the dream is Yordan Alvarez for Josh Fields but normally you're going to get a fringy prospect with a <10% chance of putting up 3 career WAR.

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Posted (edited)
48 minutes ago, runthebone said:

I know Crane isn't perfect, but he has once again said "fuck it" and is trying to win.

Spoiler

HOUSTON — Jim Crane crashed a trade deadline the Seattle Mariners threatened to steal and solidified himself as one of Major League Baseball’s most aggressive operators. General managers or presidents of baseball operations are often hailed as deadline darlings, but the Houston Astros’ 71-year-old owner is operating in a league of his own.

Few other explanations exist for the Astros’ actions across the past nine trade deadlines, overseen by three general managers who share almost nothing in common. The one thing they do: a boss obsessed with blockbusters and building a baseball team full of players he prefers.

Crane has his critics, some still displeased with his answers during a sign-stealing news conference five years ago, others confused by his cold treatment of James Click following the 2022 World Series and a faction of Houston’s fan base that wonders why he’s so averse to long-term deals for departing superstars.

All, however, must acknowledge what a transformative Thursday afternoon laid bare: Crane’s commitment to win is never in question. He reacquired one of those homegrown superstars he once allowed to walk and, with it, may have escalated Houston’s payroll to a point it has never reached.

Carlos Correa joined Crane’s trade deadline lore on Thursday. His company includes Justin Verlander in both 2017 and 2023, Zack Greinke in 2019 and would’ve included Bryce Harper if not for Washington Nationals ownership nixing an agreed-upon deal during the 2018 deadline.

Crane’s influence in all of these deals can’t be overstated. Team sources who initially downplayed the possibility of a reunion with Correa did so with an inherent understanding that Crane coveted Correa, the effervescent infielder who left an indelible impact in Houston during the first seven years of his major-league career.

GettyImages-1730568148-scaled.jpg
Carlos Correa will play third base in the absence of Isaac Paredes. (David Berding / Getty Images)

In almost every case, Crane gets what he desires. Thursday turned out no different. Other players perhaps made more logical sense for their roster. Others would’ve kept Crane below a luxury tax threshold he doesn’t love crossing.

But, when the Astros are legitimate contenders for a championship, Crane can change his stance. He awoke on Thursday morning with a team that had 5.6 percent odds to win the World Series, according to FanGraphs. Adding Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez surged Seattle’s odds past Houston’s, even though the Astros have a five-game division lead.

Crane crafted the sort of response only he can.

Failing to land a pitcher

General manager Dana Brown stuck to his pre-deadline insistence that the team was “prioritizing the bats.” Outfielder Jesús Sánchez brings balance to a lineup that needs it and an .814 OPS against right-handed pitching. Only the A’s have taken more plate appearances against righties than the Astros.

Correa is not the hitter he was while he was in Houston, but still has a low strikeout rate and will raise the floor of a lineup that, in the face of substantial injuries, had grown top-heavy.

Still, Houston ended the deadline without addressing a pitching staff running on fumes. The Astros had serious discussions with the San Diego Padres about starter Dylan Cease and, at times, had momentum toward a deal.

The Padres never traded Cease, nor did the Miami Marlins move Sandy Alcantara, in whom the Astros also had serious interest. Houston scoured the relief market in the deadline’s final minutes, but did not have near enough high-end prospect capital to meet the crazy asking prices in the relief market.

All-Star right-hander Hunter Brown and workhorse Framber Valdez will still head the Astros’ rotation. Set-up man Bryan Abreu builds a nice bridge to All-Star closer Josh Hader, but concerns about depth must be present.

The impending returns of Spencer Arrighetti, Cristian Javier, Luis Garcia and J.P. France can offset it, but their efficacy after such long layoffs is a mystery.

What happens after 2025?

Correa is a perfect fit for Houston’s current roster. He will play third base in the absence of Isaac Paredes, who is receiving a second opinion on his “significant” right hamstring strain and isn’t likely to play again this season.

Paredes will return next season. Both he and shortstop Jeremy Peña are under club control for two more years. So is first baseman Christian Walker, eliminating any possibility of playing Paredes there.

Evaluators both inside and outside of the Astros’ organization do not believe Paredes can handle second base on an everyday basis. Perhaps a winter’s worth of work there could remedy that, but given the significant nature of his hamstring injury, it’s worth wondering how normal of an offseason Paredes will have.

Making Paredes serviceable at second base is the most straightforward way to make Correa fit on the Astros’ 2026 and 2027 rosters, but another option must be considered: making Peña available in trade talks.

Peña will be due for a substantial raise in his second year of arbitration eligibility. He hired agent Scott Boras to represent him earlier this season after deep extension talks with the Astros with his previous representation. Boras generally prefers his clients to eschew pre-arbitration extensions in favor of free agency.

Trading Kyle Tucker this winter strayed from the Astros’ standard operating procedure, but did set the precedent that the Astros will at least explore deals for players they aren’t likely to extend in order to supplement a barren farm system. Might Peña be the next domino?

 

Edited by The Dog
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Posted
25 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

I will say that having team leadership and ownership willing and always looking to do SOMETHING is way more enjoyable as a fan than teams that just sit around and hope their current roster "plays better" down the stretch. Yeah we all sit around and analyze comparative value and long-term impact and blah, blah, blah but in the end this is entertainment and I appreciate the fact that we are always trying something.

Winning is contagious, even from an owner’s standpoint.

Unless, well…. Jerrah.

Posted (edited)

I will also say that the front office is in a weird situation this year. If you're Dana Brown you are dealing with a medical staff that was already here (I think?) and you might not trust. What the hell do you do? We have a AAAA team that is 62-47 somehow and you have to think that IF Peña comes back healthy and Alvarez comes back at 90% of himself, etc., that you have a team that can win a title.

You can't sell when you're in first place, the fanbase would riot. So you either sit on your hands and limp to a close division win with a team that needs small sample size luck to win a title or you try to go for it. I'm not going to get too upset about anything that we did today, we were in an usual spot. Obviously just like every year it might not work out but I'm not going to second guess anything we did. We tried to improve and we brought back a hero with his former team covering 30% of his cost.

Edited by Huckleberry
Posted
6 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

I will also say that the front office is in a weird situation this year. If you're Dana Brown you are dealing with a medical staff that was already here (I think?) and you might not trust. What the hell do you do? We have a AAAA team that is 62-47 somehow and you have to think that IF Peña comes back healthy and Alvarez comes back at 90% of himself, etc., that you have a team that can win a title.

You can't sell when you're in first place, the fanbase would riot. So you either sit on your hands and limp to a close division win with a team that needs small sample size luck to win a title or you try to go for it. I'm not going to get too upset about anything that we did today, we were in an usual spot. Obviously just like every year it might not work out but I'm not going to second guess anything we did. We tried to improve and we brought back a hero with his former team covering 30% of his cost.

totally legit take and I agree with it.  I'm hopeful Carlos can play with the edge he used to have, which he seemed to have lost as a Twin

Posted

Also we didn’t give up shit besides money for 3 guys that immediately raise the floor with one that could be the biggest asset we’ve traded for since Verlander in 2017. Verlander had 3.86 era in Detroit and came here and had a 1.06 era. I’m hoping for the same thing with Carlos.

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Posted

It’s a shame we only have 3 more with the Mariners.

at least it’s games 154-156 when we should have our rotation back and ramped up. Some combination of Brown/Framber/Arrighetti/Javier vs J.P. Crawford, Julio Rodríguez, Cal Raleigh, Randy Arozarena, Josh Naylor and Suárez. 

yes please 

Posted

Arrighetti got knocked around tonight

79 pitches though, 50 strikes

4.2, 5 ER, 4 BBs, 5 Ks, 2 HRs

9.64 ERA during his rehab.


Hopefully we get him back in the mix for the last game in Miami, not sometime at Yankee stadium 

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Posted
5 hours ago, Iceman said:

That's an awful lot of benefit of the doubt for a crew who is shitty at communication/ transparency if nothing else. I get the hockey piece of misidentifying an injury publicly, but bottom line is Astros players miss a fuckton of time for a lot of 'second cuts' at injuries/ solutions. 
 

The time missed is the measure, and going by that, they either suck ass or are repeatedly unlucky. 

Multiple hand specialist have been involved with this so we are well beyond the Astros immediate medical staff. Also, the Astros have made it pretty damn apparent they aren't going to be direct about what is truly wrong with him and goodness knows we aren't going to get anything that makes sense from Alvarez.

Is is possible that Alvarez and his team keep asking for new doctors because each new specialist is an idiot, but I think maybe, just maybe they have been looking for an answer they prefer and based upon the saga with the knee he isn't a guy who likes the idea of surgery.

Posted
2 hours ago, WBT said:

While the Twins were dumping salary, we should have asked if they wanted to throw in Joe Ryan

I am pissed Dana couldn't convince them that Hummel for Buxton straight up was a fair deal after the Twins accepted a 26 year old reliever who is in A ball as the throw in prospect for the Carlos trade.

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Posted
1 minute ago, PGFrog said:

I am pissed Dana couldn't convince them that Hummel for Buxton straight up was a fair deal after the Twins accepted a 26 year old reliever who is in A ball as the throw in prospect for the Carlos trade.

It’s possible he did, but crane said no more salary for buxton or Ryan 

Posted
29 minutes ago, PGFrog said:

Is is possible that Alvarez and his team keep asking for new doctors because each new specialist is an idiot, but I think maybe, just maybe they have been looking for an answer they prefer and based upon the saga with the knee he isn't a guy who likes the idea of surgery.

How many did it take to figure out he had a broken bone?

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Posted
4 hours ago, Storm the Field said:

I imagine getting outscored 32-8 during that 5-game losing stretch shook things up a bit.

While also watching the Mariners obtain not one but TWO sluggers from the Dbacks to plug into a lineup with the likely AL MVP, Arroz con Pollo, and JRod. That is a stout  offense to compete against.

Posted
33 minutes ago, UTexasFight said:

Arrighetti got knocked around tonight

79 pitches though, 50 strikes

4.2, 5 ER, 4 BBs, 5 Ks, 2 HRs

9.64 ERA during his rehab.


Hopefully we get him back in the mix for the last game in Miami, not sometime at Yankee stadium 

The only thing I care about in that line is 79 pitches. 
bring him up and start him 8/6. He might suck for a couple starts as he’s always been a slow starter at every level he’s at and this is a major readjustment but he will be rocking and rolling come September. 

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Posted
5 minutes ago, Gourmand said:

While also watching the Mariners obtain not one but TWO sluggers from the Dbacks to plug into a lineup with the likely AL MVP, Arroz con Pollo, and JRod. That is a stout  offense to compete against.

Fuck em and feed them fish heads. We are better than those slapdicks and have a 5 game head start and an easier schedule coming in. 

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Posted

It’s had 5 hours to sink in and I’m happier than a 3 peckered billy goat. 
I’m telling yall this jams our window open to 2030 or beyond. 
we will be the AL favorites (or in a crowd of 2 or 3 teams anyway) at least through 2028, and I expect Dana to turn it all over by then. 
just a franchise altering deadline adding quality players with multiple years of club control, hanging onto every important prospect. 
we won’t have to go to FA until at least after 2027 for anything other then a backup catcher for a year or two. 
Outstanding. 

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Posted
7 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

It’s had 5 hours to sink in and I’m happier than a 3 peckered billy goat. 
I’m telling yall this jams our window open to 2030 or beyond. 
we will be the AL favorites (or in a crowd of 2 or 3 teams anyway) at least through 2028, and I expect Dana to turn it all over by then. 
just a franchise altering deadline adding quality players with multiple years of club control, hanging onto every important prospect. 
we won’t have to go to FA until at least after 2027 for anything other then a backup catcher for a year or two. 
Outstanding. 

Yeah, doing all of this and the most significant piece we gave up was our 13th best prospect? Yes please.

I'm really excited about Sanchez. 

contrast with:

“Also striking was the activity of the Yankees, who, all told, forked over six of their top 30 prospects in the deals for David Bednar, Jake Bird and Camilo Doval.”

 

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Posted
1 minute ago, tx 3 putt said:

won 7 games for us this season, thanks for the dubs ....

 

IMG_4800.jpeg

I look forward to the team presenting him his much deserved ring when the Marlins come to town next year. 
 

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Posted
24 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Fuck em and feed them fish heads. We are better than those slapdicks and have a 5 game head start and an easier schedule coming in. 

I never said we weren't better and can't handle them. But by any objective measure one has to tip their cap to the M's for pushing their chips in at the deadline and grabbing some impact bats.

I welcome the challenge, ending their season will only be sweeter now. 

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