The Astros are finally done trading on a day when it seemed like it would take a shorter list to show which players stayed with their teams around the league. A week or so after James Click acted like starting pitching might be a bigger need than relief pitching, he pulled the trigger three times in sending two marginal relievers, a non-permanent solution in centerfield and a backup infielder away and brought in four relievers and a young prospect of a catcher.
TRADE 1 – IF Abraham Toro and RP Joe Smith to the Mariners for RP Kendall Graveman and RP Rafael Montero
Pluses for the Astros – The Astros badly (like a thirsty man in the desert) needed a reliable late-inning option besides Ryan Pressly on this roster. Graveman is that guy, 4-0 with 10 saves, and microscopic 0.82 ERA and 0.697 WHIP and a solid 9.3 Ks/ 9 IPs and only 2.2 walks/ 9 IPs. Montero may or may not end up being a good piece for the Astros, though he was solid in 2019 (2-0, 2.48 ERA) and 2020 (8 saves, 4.08 ERA) for the Rangers, before this season where his 5-3 record and 7 saves are balanced out by a 7.37 ERA. Also, on the plus side, the Astros gave up Joe Smith, who was no longer trusted in high leverage situations and Toro, who, with Aledmys Diaz coming back and Alex Bregman following close behind, was basically going to be blocked as long as Bregman and Jose Altuve stick around.
Minuses for the Astros – In losing Toro, the Astros gave up one of the few players who have contributed off the bench for them lately and someone who they had developed and had been a top bat in their minors. They also lost a really good guy in Joe Smith, who did a ton off the field for people with Huntington’s Disease and was one of their best relievers in 2019. Graveman may end up being only a two-month rental, though if he helps them get through a third month successfully, no one may care.
Pluses for the Mariners – They pick up a good young bat with many years of control in Toro, who came in and cranked out a couple home runs in his first two games with the M’s. Toro also gives them a future hedge in case Kyle Seager moves on after the season. They unload Montero, who they had just DFA’d. And perhaps they traded Graveman at the top of his value.
Minuses for the Mariners – For a team that had ridden their bullpen to big success in close games (55-48 despite being outscored by 58 runs), they did not seem to value their bullpen much in a headscratcher of a trade deadline move.
TRADE 2 – RP Austin Pruitt and Prospect OF Bryan De La Cruz to Miami for RP Yimi Garcia
Pluses for the Astros – If getting one late-inning relief option is a positive, picking up Yimi Garcia is even better. Garcia has been a good late-inning option for the Marlins in 2021 with 15 saves. He has pitched in 39 games and given up 14 runs overall and 1/2 those runs in two bad outings. His ERA in the other 37 games is an excellent 1.80. Pruitt was designated for assignment before he was dealt, so that was not a true loss.
Minuses for the Astros – Bryan De La Cruz was hitting as well as anyone in the minors….unless you want to count OF Jake Meyers, who was just called up from Sugar Land. Yimi Garcia is again a potential 2 (or 3) month rental, though the Astros will have money coming off the books to chase Garcia and Graveman in the offseason.
Pluses for the Marlins – With Starling Marte heading to Oakland and Adam Duvall and Corey Dickerson having so-so seasons, the Marlins could use a good young (cheap) bat in the outfield.
Minuses for the Marlins – Nothing too much. They are not going anywhere this year, so why not send a 30 year old, soon to be free agent closer away for a young, potentially long term outfield bat?
TRADE 3 – OF Myles Straw to Cleveland for RP Phil Maton and Prospect C Yainer Diaz
Pluses for the Astros – This one may have been a bit more of a stretch as Maton has a 4.57 ERA in both 2019 and 2020 and is currently walking a bad 4.4 hitters / 9 IP. But he is supposedly a spin master and he does strike out 13.3 hitters per 9 IP and he has been much improved in June and especially July. An opportunity to pick up a young catcher who seems to be a good hitter is a plus, even if he has never played above A ball.
Minuses for the Astros – Losing Myles Straw may or may not hurt. GM Jim Click before Friday night’s game basically said that he thought that both Chas McCormick and Jake Meyers deserve to get some playing time. Though Straw was improving as a hitter, the Astros obviously are looking for more pop. Could this hurt them – sure – Meyers has never played at the MLB level and McCormick has not shown much pop lately like he did early.
Pluses for the (Fill in any name you want here) – They get a young OF in Straw who has speed, who has gotten to be a better clutch hitter and who is controllable for a while.
Minuses for the (This space for rent) – If Brent Strom turns Maton into the next Ryan Pressly and/or Diaz becomes a force down the line this may have been a mistake.
The other consideration here that the Astros never admitted, but must have been on their minds was to make sure they did not go over the luxury tax line. After giving up some salary and taking on some salary they ended up about $560K under that line. Going over that line for a second year in a row would have cost some money in penalties, but more importantly would have affected what pick compensation they would get from losing free agents (that were offered qualifying offers) and would affect how large their pool for signing international free agents.
So….what grade would you give James Click after his first real trade deadline with the Astros?
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
70 responses to “Three Trades Analysis”
Altuve is going nuts tonight – single and 2 homers including a grand slam!!!!
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Question:
With all these wonderful new arms who stays and who goes?
Yes Dan Altuve was on FIRE tonight, and thank goodness….by the 8th and bottom of the 9th they needed those runs by Altuve. I was never so happy to “see” Graveman come in to replace Stanek! All I could think of was here we go again and blow that lead that the fellas just gave them. Anyway I just thought you guys could take a stab about who you think will stick in that lame bullpen. Note to Dusty….let’s not have anymore experiments with the outfield ok😠!
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Trade 1: The Giants bats were starting to come to life, but Graveman stopped them dead and buried them :-p
Trade 2: Not sure why the Marlins wanted Pruitt. They must really like De La Cruz. I thought it would have cost more to get him but hey, gimmie Yimi!
Trade 3: Straw might be the next Gerald Young or Willy Taveras; whose careers both started well and then faded. I don’t think he is the next Kenny Lofton, but hopefully Maton and Yainer do better than Willie Blair and Ed Taubensee.
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If you have four cars and there’s only you, your wife and your teenage daughter in the house – to trade one car for a blender is a good move. For the Astros to find a replacement for Straw, they can take a look at ChasMc, Meyers, Siri, and maybe Costes. Surely one can make up for that loss. Toro was blocked unless Bregman moves to short next year. With millions coming off the books, finding someone similar or better should not be difficult. This year, give me Diaz instead. And the possibility of huge gains in the pen have to make this a double plus. And if Pedro León continues to improve he will be in the mix someplace.
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We might not have won last nights game without new help in the pen. Click got that help. We’ll see how it works out with Garcia and Maton. I don’t really have any expectations for Montero. And I don’t see where he fits on the roster.
I sure liked Abraham. He still might be the guy that has hit .200 with a .658 OPS since late July 2020. But maybe he’s finally giving an indication that he’s figuring out MLB pitching. If so, M’s fans will be pleased. Right now though, we need Graveman much more than we need Toro.
I’m hoping Garcia finds this new atmosphere stimulating. He’s not been very good against lefties this year, but we’ve picked up a solid ML arm that is sometimes an excellent ML arm for a solid prospect. I’m looking forward to seeing Yimi pitch today.
I’m happy that Myles still has a job. I’m pleased that Chas did not get traded. I have to assume the brass thinks they can help Maton be more effective as he continues to strike guys out. We sure need a guy like him. Myles, in spite of his improvements, still gave us a .665 OPS. As good as Jake was out in the field, we never really accepted his similar lack of production. Straw got a very fair shot at owning the job. And not sure if this Diaz guy was a throw in, but hopefully we’ll find him a place to play above low A ball and see what happens.
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Let’s start with trade #1:
Toro was not a SS, but was by himself on the left side of the infield in the shift against LH batters. The Astros did not want to be in a position to have that happen. They want Bregman there as a 3B and to be SS when they shift the infield. That is a reason their infield defense is so good. They actually have two SSs in the game at the same time.
The trade gives Toro a chance to play in the majors.
Smith’s fastball velocity has dropped by a full mph this year and it was slow before that. His 87 mph fastball made his changeup ineffective. His slider was getting sat on by batters and it’s velocity had dropped. Both off his main pitches, FB and SL were getting hit much more than in the past. His remaining salary, which the Mariners will pay, offset both Graveman’s and Montero’s, which allowed the Astros to get a good reliever for their stretch run. They needed bullpen help and they needed the deal to work for the cap and they get a chance to see if they can fix Montero for next year, because he broke this year in Seattle.
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Trade #2.
De La Cruz and Meyers were both Rule 5 eligible this fall and both had great years in AAA playing near sea level. Houston did not have 40-man room for both.
Marlins wanted to trade Duvall and his contract and get a good prospect in return. They did that, getting C Alex Jackson, but needed a young outfielder to replace Duvall and maybe with a future. De La Cruz fit the bill.
The Astros wanted a reliever. Garcia fit the bill. Pruitt did not.
The trade was De La Cruz for Garcia. Pruitt’s 40-man spot was used for Garcia and Pruitt’s remaining salary taken on by Miami made the cap room to afford Garcia’s salary
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Let me get to the Myles straw trade.
Fact: In Straw’s career he has only 4 extra base hits on the road against our divisional opponents, including 0 home runs. We visit each of them 9 or 10 times a year and they have him figured out.
Fact: Straw has slashed 60 points higher on the road than at home for 2021 and for his entire career. In MMP’s small dimensions, he just can’t get the ball to the wall and the outfielders don’t have area to cover, so his singles don’t drop in between them in the park that he plays half of his games.
Fact: Straw’s majority of batting success has been against teams who we don’t regularly play road games against. That will further diminish as teams find out they can play shallower and shifted to RF the more times they see him.
So, we traded Straw to the Guardians, who have a history of CFers with speed and no power. In return, we got a reliever who pitched against us four times in July without giving up a run and has two more years of control after this season. We also get a catching prospect in the deal.
Trading Straw gives Chas and Meyers a shot to play for the club this season in order to give us more info on who plays CF next year and beyond.
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They used to say hitters like Straw had “Warning Track Power.”
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Good facts. 1OP, do you stay up too late?
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Usually go to bed between 11:00 and midnight. I only need 7 hrs. sleep because of my past work life. My wife needs 10 hrs. sleep so I do my research in the morning.
I was stunned when I saw Straw’s home/road splits for 2021, so I went to his home/road splits for his career and they are identical. He does not fare well
in MMP. Career-wise he has equal PA’s home and road.
Career at home: .224/.301/.274/.575
Career on road: .287/.367/.375/.742
But! He has been terrible in Seattle, in Arlington and in Oakland. Has a good slash line in Angel’s ballpark with 8 singles and 2 doubles and 1 RBI in 33 plate appearances.
Hitting poorly in Houston and three other divisional parks we visit many games per year will not cut it.
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Diaz is one of 4 catchers on the Woodpecker active roster. With Berryhill just promoted to Ashville last week and C.J. Stubbs there, no room at A+. I hope he gets playing time.
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Becky – here is what I’m thinking the bullpen may look like after Baez returns – I’m thinking they may go with 9 relievers at that point
Pressly
Graveman
Garcia
Baez
Maton
Javier
Abreu
Taylor
Stanek
This means they probably have to release Montero. It leaves Bielak, Raley, Scrubb and Paredes (when well) in the minors – I think they all have options.
I don’t know what happens when Urquidy returns – but I sense a lot of IL trips for minor items along the way.
Am I missing anyone here?
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Pressly due for a vacation?
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Dan, Baez needs time because his velocity is down, from what I hear. He went on rehab on the 23rd of July and is allowed 30 days to rehab.
They may want him to take his time and that gives them time to look at Montero and see if he can be fixed. Montero has no options left.
I’m thinking Raley might get a DFA and somebody may pick him up on waivers because he is a LHRP All these teams who dumped their players at the deadline could mean he gets a shot somewhere else.
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No one is giving Click a grade – but considering he stayed under the luxury tax – I have to give him an A. He adds two guys with quite a bit of late inning experience, including one who has been great this year, plus a guy with a big arm and spin rate who they might help improve, plus a guy who was terrible this year but good previously and a prospect at a premium position by giving up … a couple relievers who they don’t trust, a young infielder who wi be blocked very soon and a 4th OF type who will likely never be more than that plus one good OF prospect who is already 25.
Good job GM!
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What Click did was take a family of 4 on a nice vacation and stayed under the budget of $200.
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Nivaldo Rodriguez was DFA to make room on the 40 man for Jake Meyers – so someone might take a chance on him in waivers. If not the Astros can send him back to the minors.
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A. You always hate to give up on a 24 year old. B. He was decent in Houston. C. Someone has to be moved. D. At Sugar Land this year, he posted 27.1 innings, 33 hits, 16 walks, 5 home runs and WHIP 1.79. Someone will take a chance on him. But he played himself off the roster.
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Bregman sat out yesterday’s double header. But he is 0 for 12 with 3 walk in his rehab. OBP of .200
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It’s nice to have Diaz around. No rush.
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Saturday, the Astros promoted Jake Meyers to the majors and activated him and Phil Maton.
The Astros put Nivaldo Rodriguez on waivers to make a place on the 40 man for Meyers and sent Abreu and Bielak down to AAA to make room on the 26-man roster.
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How about a 4th trade. It would appear that presently there is a good shortstop prospect not named Nova playing in Asheville. So we might move Nova out and bring Correa in as a top Infield prospect. He is hitting .316 with an OPS of .876 for the year. So would the chance to play on the field with his brother impact any decision by Carlos??? If Carlos is the Prima Donna that we see people talk about, probably not.
(Since his promotion to Asheville, JC is hitting .387 and OPS .922 in only 31 ABs.)
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Ryan Pressly out on paternity leave. Bryan Abreu back from the taxi squad.
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GS#3, Hunter Brown debuts in Sugar Land tonight!
Could he actually get a call up in Sept?!
Pressly made it to the hospital just in time–it’s a boy.
2040 ETA (smile)
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Congratulations to Presley and his wife…new baby boy named Wyatt!
Montero first one out of the bullpen…he’s been warming up, we’ll get to see how that trade worked out with the Marlins, by the way Straw hit a homerun for the O’S this afternoon, and I couldn’t be happier!!
Brantley out of the game with an ankle “strain”….which means he won’t be playing again until they get back home. Watched some of the baseball Olympics and the USA goes for the medal round against Japan. I thought the American manager looked familiar it is Mike Scioscia! David Robinson closed the game out! Pretty cool to see!
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Inconsistent umpiring again today. Garcia loses command and gives up three runs. Definitely need more runs. Starting pitching starting to be an issue now. On this trip our starting pitchers have gone 4.2, 6, 5.1, 5, and 4 IP and have given up 6, 4, 3, 2, 6. Maybe not an issue but then again. Thank goodness we’re scoring runs.
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Score now after Garcia gave up ANOTHER homerun…Giants 5…Astros 2.
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Zanuda I’ve been thinking the Umps are starting to call bad games against us maybe to send a message from *IT*..just my thoughts. If that is the case I’m gonna be a VERY angry fan.
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Got to score when we get the chance. Garcia pitched ok but Giants scored all their runs against him after two outs. He needs a “put away” pitch.
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Folks, I give you 22 year old, Hunter Brown. If he is not called up in September, and he is equally as *lights out* next Spring, you can bet they will Super 2 him for June ’22. That would be a shame if he’s ready before then!
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That was the best he has looked this year. The home plate umpire didn’t cheat him or the El Paso pitchers. If it hit the strike zone, it was a strike. 97 pitches with 60 strikes. The run he gave up was caused by a “phantom” balk call. The call was so bad, the manager, Mickey Storey ended up getting tossed over it. So the run should be charged to the first base umpire. He has had streaks of wildness this year but not at all this game. Pitches that missed, missed by the width of the baseball.
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They also announced that Nick Martinez went to Sugar Land from Corpus today. He is a reliever that has had a quiet but decent season at Corpus. 33 2/3 innings in relief. 21 hits and 15 walks. WHIP of 1.07. His big drawback is he is a Cougar.
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That is a real nice write up I did on Martinez, but his actual name is Nick Hernandez. Pitched two innings tonight for the Skeeters with no hits, 3 walks, and 1K. 37 pitches with 20 strikes.
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I have dozens of comments on Nick Hernandez going back to 2018. A guy whose been in our system for 6 yrs from U of H. On the other blog, I’ve been asking for his promotion for months. He had TJ 4/19 so there was a whole year I hadn’t realized that, and when I asked the AA Dodgers catcher about him (both were Coogs), he said he hadn’t seen him–that was why, rehabbing.
Another one I’ve been talking about as long is Felipe Tejada. He’s been tearing up AA since promotion too. Has a 6 pitch repertoire.
Glad you’re getting a chance to see this stuff, AC. Worth every dime to tune in.
By the way, on draft day I wrote that we wouldn’t sign Ulloa, even though they claimed to have a verbal agreement. He did not sign in fact; the only player who didn’t. And the worst of it, besides not drafting Mason Auer instead, is that being the 4th round we lose the money $400K, plus we do not get the pick back next year. What a HUGE gaffe that was! I reasoned at the time that his timeline is with Lorenzo, and Pena will be entrenched at SS–how did this escape the Astros?!
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Ulloa will be a second baseman. By going to college he may be able to remain at SS for a couple years.
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Almost all the kids we draft at SS will be used all over the dirt in the minors; Yohander Martinez, Nova, Enmanuel Valdez, Kessinger, Pena, Dauri Lorenzo, and so on. Was trying to understand what relevance you were conveying, if he could explore any position he wishes in our system?
I can only guess because I’ve asked our scouts and local coaches, what happened was both Whitaker and Ulloa were told they could possibly go overslot. Once Whitaker went way over, and all we had was an extra 200K for Ulloa, someone probably got in his ear and said you can make more next yr by going to JUCO & getting drafted for $1.5m range in ’22. On his twitter acct, someone said he erased his Astros AND Okla State stuff. Curious!
Also, as I argued on draft day, his timeline coordinates with many middle infielders in our syatem, and trying to breakthrough this farm–Astros have a history of blocking players–Ulloa probably holding out for a clearer path to the majors.
Heck, we took a flyer like with Barber. One bit and the other bit the dust.
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For about $14 a month, I can watch hundreds of minor league games on MILB TV.com. The video is from the home park and the announcers are mostly the local radio guys. So it is not Blummer , nor TK, nor Julia. But I watch just parts of games. I will make one prediction. And don’t forget I still say Brett Wallace can hit. From what I have seen to date, I think Korey Lee could be superior to Rutschman. Rutschman is good and deserves all the accolades. Switch hitter, good plate recognition, good power. But Korey, in what I have seen so far, is a better catcher, smarter player, and could possibly turn out to be a better major leaguer. (Right now Lee has thrown out 44% of base runners.)
My fear is I have given him the “Wallace” kiss of death.
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We both will kiss him then, because Korey Lee is my #1 prospect.
2. Leon
3. Brown
4. Pena
5. Whitley
6. Santos
7. Barber
8. Dubin
9. Meyers
10. Solomon
BAL has your favorite pitcher Grayson Rodriguez, and they signed the guy I really wanted this year, John Rhodes from Kentucky. All Elias has to do is tank another couple of years, and find another Correa Altuve & Springer.
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Josh James was reinstated and optioned to Sugarland.
Bregman was pulled in the 3rd inning of his game today due to hamstring tightness. Good news about Josh James, but now there’s no where to put him! Bad news about Bregman, but thank goodness they have Diaz!
About today’s game….they had several chance to take this game but failed to act on them. That’s all.
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We’ve got all these pitchers. Now we’ve got to figure out what to do with them. Is Javier more effective being stretched out and starting? I’m pretty sure he was happier in that role.
Bregman. Does he need a new trainer? Can he become more nimble?
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I have written, multiple times, that the club needs new trainers.
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Carlos Correa was terrible in July.
Alex Bregman was worse.
The Astros made some room for next year’s roster.
Garcia’s movement on his slider is gone.
Greinke is throwing too many fat pitches.
Giants are a very good ball club.
Wonder about Hunter Brown for the playoff’s, also.
Brantley’s long step to beat throw was costly.
Astros’ pitchers need to find bottom of the zone.
Oakland won’t go away.
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Yeah, the Giants are tough to beat. Pretty even match up.
Why does Framber have a 1.485 WHIP at home? Both of his 6 walk games happened at Minute Maid. But he’s only given up 3 of his 7 homers in Houston. That WHIP is 1.747 over the past month. When did the goo rule start getting enforced?
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He lost more than 10% of his spin rates at, or around the time of enforcement. Neither have your eyes deceived you when he leaves a cement mixer 3 feet left of the plate vs RHB. however, he’s still getting an elite amount of infield weak contact at 71.3% vs last year’s off the charts 84%.
There’s a full write up on the other blog entitled, Has the Crackdown on Foreign Substances Hurt Framber (July 9), and he argues it’s the sinker that has suffered. Framber still has positive Pitch Values with CB but his fastball is not any more (Fangraphs).
Btw, guess whose curveball has been the least affected after the rule, and still has the highest curveball spin rate? Ground Chuck.
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I sure hope he figures something out. Otherwise, he can’t stay in the rotation indefinitely.
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You can tell I have too much time on my hands today.
Carlos has averaged 100 games a year. I hope he’s not tired.
Luis threw 108 innings in A and A+ ball in 2019. He’s thrown 100 higher intensity innings in 2021. I hope he’s not tired.
I don’t think we can justify paying Grienke 20 plus million next year. He is throwing quite a few meatballs. The last time he gave up so many homers per 9 he was 20 years old. The last time he had so few K’s per 9 he was 21 years old. His OPS against is .894 over the past month. And his BAbip is lower than it has been all season at .250. That’s not a good combination.
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Bregman has not looked good at the plate for his entire rehab. The smile or smirk (pick one) is gone. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has more than one injury. Until this year, his short, crisp swing has made good ball contact. Sometimes with no positive result. He is not making good contact on a regular basis. And he has been pulled from at least two games in the rehab. Again, it may be he is on an innings limit, but he is not playing every day.
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I should add that on the last rehab of Urquidy, I thought it went poorly. Then was very surprised he was called up. He then has another injury and is out again. One does not cause the other, but I would be double surprised if they called Bregman up any time soon.
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I am going to Title this as “Luhnow 2.0.” I really started to study a rebuild back with Luhnow. In the past, they were done with money and a lucky pick up someplace. Luhnow, on purpose, chose to tank and use the draft. It would make an interesting book to read if it was done honestly. So other teams always copy or steal. The Angels have decided there is magic in Joe Madden. (Winning % .433 and .495) The Tigers think there is magic in A J Hinch. (.472). So my latest project has been to watch Elias and Majdal in Baltimore. The team is .377 winning in Elias’ 3rd year. Luhnow’s team was .432 in his 3rd year.
Time will tell what is in your basket.
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AC45,
Dan did a review of Ben Reiter’s, Astroball, which covers some of your question. I wouldn’t read anything of Drellich but he wrote, “Winning Fixes Everything: The Rise and Fall”.
Jayne Hansen did 6 interviews with Luhnow from ’12-’14, and here’s a direct quote that sure doesn’t sound like he planned to intentionally lose games. I know Miami’s former President Samson said the league believed they were tanking, but if you look at 2015 as arriving a year earlier than planned, you can draw some perspective on the team (Altuve Correa Springer) having plans of their own:
“Luhnow went on to say, “When I see comments like ‘They don’t care,’ that’s probably the most hard to deal with. We watch every pitch. How could we not care? Nobody likes to lose. We do care a lot. It’s frustrating because no matter how much you plan, they’re going to play the game on the field and things are going to happen and you can never control the outcome.
“Would I prefer to get out of the gate fast and have everything clicking? Yeah, I would. I think this team is much better than their record has been so far.”
https://whattheheckbobby.blogspot.com/2014/05/blogger-night-at-minute-maid-park-part-1.html
One thing I find very interesting looking back at old posts on TCB during the rebuild is those fans KNEW what was up, and kept their level of expectation at bay. Being a younger crowd, I suppose time was on their side, and being an older fan myself, I’m not interested in spending much time following a team that isn’t giving 100%.
In a recent interview with Evan Gattis, he flat out said, there are only a few teams *trying* to win. That was a real kick in the pants!
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Here’s a link to the article GS refers to on Astroball…..
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When a team trades its “stars” or at least the better players on the team in order to get prospects or improvement in future drafts, is that “tanking” or “rebuilding” or what? When the Astros traded Lee, Berkman, Oswalt, etc, they were not trying to lose. They were trying to get better – later. If you take the quote from Gattis and add “now” at the end, he is probably correct.
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The Astros have starters Jonathan Bermudez (WHIP 1.143 ), Hunter Brown (1.41) as probably the pitchers with the best season this year. The Orioles have Grayson Rodriguez (0.840), Mike Bauman (1.11), Kyle Brnovich (from the Angels/Dylan Bundy) (0.845), Cody Sedlock (1.20), DL Hall (injured) (1.011), Blaine Knight (1.128). Elias has employed a lot of tandem starters this year similar to Luhnow. That has held down the pitch count on the above numbers. How will it turn out, no one knows except the O’s #1 took Rutschman (catcher), then Heston Kjerstad (Outfielder from Arkansas who has a heart issue and has not played this year), and Colton Cowser (OF) this year from Sam Houston who was way down on most draft boards. Again………
Time will tell what is in your basket.
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Dan’s spidey sense (and that has nothing to do with the spider grip crap) says that we may see Cristian Javier and Luis Garcia flip spots somewhere along the line – so neither will have had as big of an increase in innings for the season.
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Like.
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Just a note concerning promoting Jake Meyers. Well he was hitting .343 with an OPS of 1.006. What about Siri (.304 and .869)? What about Costes (.332 and .845)? The defensive stats are interesting. Meyers in 151 chances had 147 outs, 4 assists, -0- errors and 2 double plays. Siri had 118 with 112 outs, 2 assists, 4 errors and no DP. Costes had 106 with 103 outs, 1 assist, 2 errors and no DP. Then you look at RF/9 which is outs and assists per 9. Meyers 2.72, Siri 2.05, and Costes 2.04. Siri had a couple more innings in CF than Meyers and Costes less than half as many innings in CF. So for this season, he was the best bat and best glove in the high minors for the Astros.
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Yes, of course Meyers was the cream of the crop. He is the only position player from 2019 Woodpeckers to get a call up. This is where I really started to respect his ability and if you go back to that season, Julks and Chandler Taylor were the other two of the best in each OF position. Ahead of, ahem! Costes, who has put together a fine season. Marty is more of a slappy hitter, and frankly I like Julks better. My friend coaches him up in the offseason and mentioned before, he dead lifts almost 600 lbs. U of H, Corey Julks often gets overlooked. Neither will be a Houston Astro, I predict, however. Btw, marty’s brother, Maxwell from Univ. of Maryland is one of the better college hitters; I don’t think he got drafted though. It’s a Husker eat Terrapin world out there.
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Just for comparison, ChasMc in his last year in the minors had 193 chances and 187 outs with 6 assists, -0- errors, and 3 DPs. Straw in his last year in the minors had 85 chances with 81 outs and 2 assists, 2 errors and -0- DPs. ChasMc range factor was 2.09 with Straw at 2.59. So on paper, Meyers is a better hitter and a better outfielder per these stats.
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Norel Gonzalez and Marty Costes are in the lineup for Sugar Land tonight. So both must have been promoted.
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Congrats to Marty Costes, well-deserved this is where he meets his match methinks.
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I heard Bregman had been in the lineup for tonight’s game and then pulled.
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I am currently awaiting a trainer who would know about the Bregman situation, and will get back to you on his repsonse. Meantime, fun with numbers. This really surprised me, because my recollection says Astros are terrible in the 1st inning.
Best/worst team ERAs by inning:
1st: HOU 2.97, TEX 6.69
2nd: ATL 2.12, PIT 6.26
3rd: MIL 2.04, BAL 7.10
4th: OAK 2.44, CLE 6.53
5th: MIL 2.04, MIN 7.13
6th: MIA 2.68, PIT 6.86
7th: SDP 2.52, ARI 6.96
8th: CLE 2.20, ARI 6.23
9th: SDP 1.73, MIN 5.88
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I got an answer and some was off the record. This is about half his response:
Hey thanks for reaching out. So a couple of things.
1. I can’t fully comment on Breg’s health issues specifically as I haven’t worked with him since 2018-2019 offseason. I will say that hammys have been an issue in 2020-this year, but I know a quad injury was what put him on the extended IL. I understand the hammy tightened up a little last night. Maybe a cramp? Idk. I’d imagine they wouldn’t put him back in there if there was a significant issue. Haven’t looked at any of it today….
2. Hammys can be tricky. But the quicker you can get moving, the better but it’s important to do it intelligently. I start with low grade Plyos like light skips and core stanbility while progressively building up their running as tolerated. Just resting could help heal an issue but it could also leave them less structurally sound when they do try to return.
It does seem Bregman’s legs are kind of like DeGroms arm. Just keep throwing him right back in instead of fixing the issue…
Breg has had several hammy issues on both sides in the past two seasons. I know he had a tear his rookie year. In 2018, 2019, We focused on stressing the hammys as much as we possibly could to provide strength and remove hesitancy. Probably some videos on it. Also important to move in different planes of motion. I know Breg did a lot of track work this year, but have no clue what else his work looked like.
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Astros claim Jacob Wilson from the A’s and lose Nivaldo Rodriguez to the Tigers:
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/houston-astros
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Ah, yes, Hinch knows Nivaldo is valuable.
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CAN WE CALL UP TWO LOW-A PITCHERS TO START THE NEXT TWO GAMES?
At this point all I really want from the upcoming series with the Dodgers is for our team to come out of it without any more injuries to our guys. To be honest, I wouldn’t give a rip if we forfeited the meaningless games in the smelly, poisonous LA haze and flew home right now. I sure see no reason to waste an outing by McCullers, Odorizzi, or anybody else we could be counting on in the post-season.
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Could LA be any worse than OAK, or SF? What a cesspool it’s turned into.
Oh, but at least the fans are classy.
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It is the 6th inning in Sugar Land game and no Bregman so far in the line up.
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Skeeters in extra innings. 7 to 7. No Bregman yet. Four hours plus is my limit. Someone else needs to take over.
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