No news, good news for Astros at trade deadline?

So much for all the trade talk hoopla. Well, at least for the Astros. Maybe no news is good news though.

No Jonathan Lucroy. No Carlos Beltran. No Jay Bruce. No upgrade to the rotation. And, nope, no bullpen help.

Instead, it’s one of the quietest trade deadlines in recent memory as Scott Feldman was sent packing across tonight’s field to the Blue Jays.

The Astros’ big additions for the stretch drive will come from within.

Alex Bregman, Joe Musgrove, Yulieski Gurriel, Preston Tucker and Tyler White will be the names A.J. Hinch must count on. Carlos Gomez and Colby Rasmus will need to add their stretch run, contract-year kick too if the Astros plan to catch the new Texas Rangers and make the playoffs.

With the recent trades — some of which actually haven’t worked out for either team — it’s no surprise that Jeff Luhnow may have been a tad skiddish to pull the trigger. Seems he gets fleeced in trades, at least on paper. That said, some players traded by the Astros haven’t flourished either, so Luhnow may end up looking good on a few down the road.

Still, reading the tea leaves, it’s fair to conclude the Astros are keeping their powder dry, waiting instead for this winter and the 2017 deadline. On paper, this team isn’t that shabby. But with so many under-performing players, it’s easy to second guess management, from the field guys to the front office guys.

Is there something in the water? Is it the humidity? Are there more full moons in Houston than other parts of the league?

To be sure, the contract guys — Gomez and Rasmus — need to go on a tear! Someone must step up at first base so Marwin Gonzalez can slide back into his more traditional role. If Jon Lester can squeeze bunt, should Houston give Dallas Keuchel a shot at first base?

Vincent Velasquez would look good in an Astros’ uniform about now, no?

Hitters can get hot for a second half or last third of the season. It’s a little different for pitchers, which is one reason Houston should have sought a strong rotation guy. Was the price to high? Perhaps, but Dallas Keuchel and the rotation is pretty much what ya got for ’16. In other words, don’t expect much different from him, Mike Fiers, Collin McHugh and Doug Fister.

Mark the date though. August 1. Texas is 18 games over .500 and added serious personnel at the deadline. Houston is 6 games behind the Rangers, just six games over .500 and just 2 1/2 games back in the Wild Card chase. While sleeping through the deadline.

Quick deadline questions:

  • Houston is 55-49, 104 games into the season, with 58 games remaining. Astros would need to finish 35-23 to win 90. Do they? If not, how many wins do you predict?
  • Who’s your pick for surprise contributor (on the good side) for August/September?
  • Was Luhnow asleep at the wheel during the trade deadline process?
  • Speaking of Luhnow, has he done a poor enough job that Jim Crane would consider making a change this winter?
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298 responses to “No news, good news for Astros at trade deadline?”

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  1. I’m going to steal a thought from one of my friends. I think Uncle Jeff was a bit gun shy after the 2015 trade deadline debacle. I still believe that we are good enough in our system that we can be in the position that that team from arlington is in right now. Hopefully we won’t tank down the stretch with the kids getting a chance to prove themselves but I believe that sets us up really well going into 2017. Thanks do the great post Chip!

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  2. Luhnow should be gun shy after bringing Gomez to the Astros and trading away young assets, along with some of the other trades. I think he has been good developing our farm system even with the Mark Appel fiasco. So I’m glad he didn’t trade more of the young assets at the deadline. I think staying the course as is probably won’t catch the Rangers this Summer, but I believe that the Stros will start playing solid baseball and stay closer than it seems right now after Detroit. Bregman is not overmatched and he will become a valuable part of the meat of the order. Valbeuna (sp) will be back soon and the Cuban star will arrive in a few weeks. I don,t mind losing Feldman. I much rather give the innings to Musgrove. He’ll be better off for this opportunity next Spring with the Stos, while Feldman would be gone as a free agent. In the meantime, the Rangers just got older and traded some of their very good prospects.
    I think that there is a long winning streak left in this team. Enough at least to give the Rangers a good scare.
    I think Luhnow will be back as the team will probably win about 88 games.
    I think the Rangers will fade after this season and Seattle will be our closest rival next season.

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  3. ◾Houston is 55-49, 104 games into the season, with 58 games remaining. Astros would need to finish 35-23 to win 90. Do they? If not, how many wins do you predict? I think they will fall short of the playoffs this year with 85 wins.

    ◾Who’s your pick for surprise contributor (on the good side) for August/September? I think Bregman is going to figure it out and be a good contributor for the rest of this year.
    ◾Was Luhnow asleep at the wheel during the trade deadline process? This is hard to evaluate as we have no idea what he offered and what were the counter-offers. We heard the rumors of who they may have been pursuing, but from all accounts the price was very high.

    ◾Speaking of Luhnow, has he done a poor enough job that Jim Crane would consider making a change this winter? No. On the contrary, he has done a very good job turning this franchise around from a horrible, rudderless organization to one that is set up to win and be successful for many, many years.

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  5. This team has so many black holes, Luhnow will be pretty dang busy over the winter.
    Personally I doubt the team in arlington will do much, until they get another front line pitcher like hamels. If our rotation can hang in there, we COULD get to 85 wins, but unless Gurriel, is the next coming of Trout I don’t see it. Yeah, I think Jim Crane was not amused when Kazmir went belly up, and Gomez swinging for the fences and striking out 9 out of 10 everytime he gets to the plate. Actually I’ve grown rather fond of Mike Fires! It’s a hoot to watch him pitch, just not as good as Hader is going to be.
    I love Preston Tucker. ….but he’s a liability in left field, and I think the next guy that gets called up will probably be Teoscar Hernandez.

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  7. It is amazing how well the Astros played for 2 months and then (at least for the last week or two) fell back to the same team they were at the beginning of the season. Same flaws:
    – Get a good start and they can’t hit
    – Get a good start and enough hitting and the bullpen implodes
    – Really really bad starts

    Oh well, hopefully they get back on a roll here.

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  8. I think Luhnow has been hamstrung by the poor contributions of Singleton, Chapman, Fontana, Aplin, JFSF, Rasmus, Gomez, Castro, Neshek, White, Moran, Reed, and Bregman. You can’t go all in for 2016 like the A’s did two years back and set your team back into a rebuilding phase. I’m glad he didn’t move prospects this July as I have little faith it would have yielded better returns than 2015.

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    • I don’t know that Tucker is AAAA, but I do know if you are not ultra talented, like Altuve/Correa type talented, you have to be “handled” correctly. I would suggest most of, if not all of, those names under the age of 27 have not been handled correctly by our management. I don’t think you are going to see the best of a Tucker until he is there from day 1, playing regularly, and rested against what is a terrible matchup for him.

      If you just keep bouncing these guys back and forth, with no regular role, and keep thrusting them into their tryout in July and August, you get Robbie Grossman – shown the door, and yet, turns out when a franchise handles the guy right, he can contribute.

      What makes an effective baseball team is when everyone understands their role and strives to be effective in it. I would challenge that Tucker has just as much confusion about his role and if/when he should be prepared to see his name in the lineup at the MLB or AAA level. Only the really talented can shine like that, the rest, will get Grossmaned.

      That’s not to say they handle them all like that. They didn’t bounce Keuchel back and forth between starting and relieving and AAA, they put his name in the rotation in 2014 and stuck with it despite no evidence that he was going to be good, and he turned out good. They did the same for McHugh when even other franchises gave up on the guy. They get it right sometimes, but they have failed Tucker and White, and I am afraid the same could happen to Reed, though I think AJ is a much better hitter than the other two.

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      • There’s definitely some merit to this. Let me just add that it’s much easier to be patient with young players when the major league team is bad with little expectations to win. Once the major league team is good, or very good, the leash with young players becomes much, much shorter.

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  9. Giles looking pretty good. Bregman should be getting some hits as he puts wood on the ball quite a lot. Just need to hold on for one more inning.

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  14. Lights out for Devo tonight. 3rd out in the 10th was a 97 MPH fastball that followed 3 straight offspeed pitches. Struck out 7 of 10 batters faced. I echo Becky…. where would this pen be without Devenski?

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  16. Watch Bregman’s last few at bats and you will see him pulling his head out, causing his front side to fly open and his back side to dip. This results in pulling off of middle- out pitches and either rolling over the top of or weakly popping up everything else. Not sure if this is a case of pressing too hard or needing more reps at the AAA level.

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  22. I can’t help but wonder if we are rushing a few hitters due to the black hole in the bottom half of the lineup. White, Tucker, Reed, and now Bregman seem to be having a hard time adjusting. Of course, other than Nregman so far, they have been victims of short stints with inconsistent laying time and shuffled back and forth between positions and AAA. It’s bound to impact concentration and confidence. Unrealistic expectations probably also plays a part. I say stick with them. And call up Kemp to add to the bench. Gomez is a potential DFA candidate to make room. Or put Marwin on the DL because of his hand and/or Rasmus for his ear. Harris is a victim of overuse – just like last season. Let Musgrove get his feet wet tomorrow night in bullpen since bullpen will be short and then put him in rotation. Same with Devenski. Hard to decide which two in rotation to replace with them. Every dang one is unpredictable right now. Just when you think they are starting to settle in, they serve up a real stinker. I don’t see this team making the playoffs. But it is baseball and there are 2 months to go. Which version will show up the most? April or June? I am ok with holding pat. Beltran might have been nice. But there are going to be some changes in the off season – for certain starting pitching, C, DH, and OF. I’m not convinced Gattis can be an everyday starter at catcher. And some veteran leadership on the bench.

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  23. Hinch said something that caught my ear tonight. He said Gregersen wasn’t available and wouldn’t be for a bit. Hmmm…maybe it’s just me, but I wonder if those two have had words. It’s a woman’s intuition.

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    • I guess I can take this one of two ways:
      – Gregerson hacked him off by campaigning for the closers role
      – Whatever family leave situation Gregerson was facing earlier in the season has returned

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      • I’m not sure what it is, but if he’s not available we need some reinforcements as the bullpen was taxed. Musgrove is available and I guess they can use Giles the guys that went 1 inning yesterday, but I would like to see LMJ give us 8 strong innings tonight and let’s hope it doesn’t go extra innings.

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      • I wonder if Gregerson voiced his displeasure over Feldman being traded. There has been no announcement of an injury so Luke being unavailable for a few days is puzzling, to say the least.

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  24. This is the time of the year when the bullpen has to give it all. They have had an extra guy in the bullpen all year so those guys have to suck it up and give more.
    As to our rookies coming up young and not being ready, that’s what you get with rookies. Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr. had some problems adjusting, as did George Springer.
    The Astros are being patient, giving rookies time to get accustomed to facing great pitching, every game, even every inning. This is the ultimate baseball league and Reed, Moran, Bregman, Kemp and White have never seen anything like it.
    Our young guys are going to get used to it and they are going to get better. Then pitchers are going to start saying things about our lineup, asking how come Houston can have nine guys in their lineup that don’t give pitchers a break.
    Hang on, we’re getting there. Last night’s win was just fantastic for this team, especially after what happened in Detroit. They could have folded their tent up, but they didn’t and their rookies gave them five scoreless inning from the tenth through the 14th.

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    • Great post, OP! It’s tough for fans to have patience and it’s even tougher when you see your rivals load up for the stretch run while our favorite team essentially stands pat. However, some times standing pat is the best option, which I think is the case with the Astros this year. It’s best to wait out the offseason when you will have 29 potential trade partners and the market will not be as much of a seller’s market as it was yesterday. It’s highly likely the Rangers will win the division this year and it will be painful dealing with Rangers fans throughout the offseason (we can only hope they lose in the playoffs) especially here in Central Texas where the majority of baseball fans are Rangers fans. However, we are set up to be legitimate contenders for several years and with how the market played out yesterday we could have derailed our success going forward with a panic move just to offset what the Rangers did. I like the Astros position going forward more than the Rangers.

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  25. As far as the Astros’ bats, Stroman is the Blue Jay’s ace and Russell Martin said that last night was the best he has ever seen Stroman throw.
    Last night, Doug Fister faced Marcus Stroman and Doug Fister’s team won and gained a full game on Stroman’s team. I have nothing bad to say about the Astros this morning. I will add that the Blue Jays used 7 pitchers last night, too. So, they are facing the same thing we are.

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  26. Great win even though I fell asleep, Devo was great. I keep waiting and waiting and waiting, all I keep seeing on a consistent bases every night is Altuve and CC . To bad the game is played with 9. Man since April Rasmus has just ben brutal.

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    • Yes, we are going to at least need some runs scored, runs batted in, or productive outs from someone in the line-up other than Correa and Altuve. At least Springer walked twice and had a single, and Tyler White not only got a hit and twice got robbed. Otherwise, it was: Gattis, 0-5 with 4 Ks; Bregman, 0-6 with 3 Ks; Rasmus, 0-5 with 3 Ks; Tucker 0-2; and Castro 1-5 with 3 Ks. It’s a good thing the pitching was lights out. We have now scored a total of two runs in 23 innings. And in that period, neither of the SPs we faced had an ERA under 4.70.

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    • Yes, Bill, the scary part is 4 of our 9 hitters that that had 3 or more PA’s stuck out in at least half their PA’s. I think I just confused myself, but the point is, way too many Ks.

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  27. It’s really not fair to Hinch or the team to not bring someone up from Fresno to replace Marwin and Gomez. This would be a ideal time to bring up Teoscar Hernandez….because we all know Marisnick is a great defender, but hitting the ball isn’t on his agenda. I’m sitting in the chemo room hooked up with my last treatment, and that is a GOOD thing. This stuff is really kicking my “you know what” this time.
    Let’s hope the McCullers we saw last week shows up tonight!

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  28. Will Harris sealed a blown save for himself long before he threw that horrible home run pitch. He came in and immediately fell behind Martin – who came into the game batting around .230. Will broke the cardinal rule for relievers in close games – throw strikes and stay ahead in the count. He is just not sharp right now.

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  29. Spot on Mr. Bill. I was watching last night on MLB.TV and he (Harris) didn’t look sharp.When your 8th and 9th inning guys start walking batters, look out! Nothing good can come of it. Giles looked good when his slider was on last night but no so much when it was erratic which was about 50% of the time.
    Can we get anybody who can hit besides Altuve, Correa, and Springer? I still feel good about Bregman but he doesn’t seem to be driving the ball. Obviously, we still have a hitting problem Houston. Better work it out or we’ll be out of contention shortly. I sure hope not.

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    • I’m going to lend Bregman some of my ear plugs I sleep in everynight…..and tell him to stop listening to that guy. Seriously have you seen what A.J. Reed has been doing in Fresno??? Go check it out!! And he couldn’t BUY a hit up here.

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      • He wasn’t given a real chance. That’s been the MO of this FO for awhile now, young guy struggles, young guy gets shipped back.

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      • Steve I agree. If you are going to call up a highly rated propspect, give them 200 regular ABs unless you detect a deer in the headlights look (Moran) before you decide whether they should stay. I have not seen that look on Kemp, Tucker, Reed, or Bregman.

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  38. I see on Twitter that some people are advocating getting Yasiel Puig on waivers. No, no, no. If Astros do that, it could be the final straw that makes me turn in my astroholic membership and find a NL team to support. i just can’t with that kid. Ok, vent over.

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  39. musgrove, hoyt, bregman, gurriel thats four pretty good members of the calvary to ride in and help shore things up AND didnt cost us any prospects. i like it. we’ll see if these guys can deliver. also there is still the option of a trade, but players must pass through waivers first. i am glad luhnow did not trade 3 of our top 5 prospects like the rangers did. would you want to trade bregman, reed, k tucker and more for guys that would help this year but be gone in two years, be gone along with the guys traded. seems too high a price to me unless it works out perfectly and it may not.

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  40. In case anyone has forgotten, Carlos Gomez’ slash line is .216/.280/.610.
    Rasmus’ is .218/295/.659.
    Gattis’ is .221/.287/.741.
    Castro, Reed, and Bregman are all significantly worse than this [except Castro’s OBP].
    In other words, after Correa hits, the opposing pitcher is home free. for two innings.

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  45. I’d take 25 year old Puig and put him in right field tomorrow. He wouldn’t be the first ahole to become a good citizen with a change of scenery.

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  46. Excuse me, but I think we’ve just found our own Chris Archer….7 strike outs and no walks. Joe Musgrove is the real deal.

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  48. Make that 8 strike outs! Well we know who can take McCullers start if his elbow is still hurting! WOW!! Impressive debut!

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  50. At least we didn’t fall back any further. We have 2 more games with them, we need to split these to stay anywhere near treading water.
    Did the folks at the park give Mr. Musgrove a standing ovation?? If not, shame on them. They got to see a kid make Astros history with 8 strike outs for a rookie debut.

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