Tuesday – December 5 – Astros – Off-Season – Would You Rather

With Dan P and his family on a well-deserved vacation – I have thrown together a few quick posts that ask you, my friends, to carry the load.

We will begin with an oldie but goody called Would You Rather.

 

Would You Rather …..

  • The Astros extend Kyle Tucker or Jose Altuve?  Not that it is one or the other, but if they are lucky enough to extend one of them – which one?
  • The Astros used Alex Bregman or Framber Valdez as a trading chip? They would save more money with Bregman. They would lose a second season of control on Valdez. What do you think?
  • Have Lance McCullers return at the beginning of 2024 or a couple months into the season? Considering Lance rarely can stay healthy for a whole season, it is a reasonable question.
  • That Yordan Alvarez or Kyle Tucker be the no doubt best position player on the team?  They both have MVP capability, but does it make a difference to you that Tucker is going to become a free agent before Alvarez will.
  • That Ryan Pressly or Bryan Abreu end the 2024 season as the unquestioned closer? Pressly can become a free agent at the end of 2024 (he does have a mutual option with the club, which rarely happens), while Abreu is under club control until 2027.
  • See Framber Valdez or Cristian Javier return to their top-notch starting pitching of 2022? Yes, I know the answer you want to give is both. Me, too. But if you have to choose…..
  • Have Jeremy Pena or Yainer Diaz named to the All-Star team? Frankly, if Pena makes the All-Star team, he is probably also in the running for Comeback Player of the Year. It’s easy to project that if Diaz does what he did in 2022 with a bunch more games played, he could easily do this. But like Pena had in 2023, he could have a sophomore slump.
  • That Justin Verlander has the best season a 41-year-old pitcher has put up or Jose Abreu the best season a 37-year-old 1B has put up?  This is the old – is it better to have the daily production of a regular or the great pitching production every 5 or 6 days?
  • Hunter Brown or J.P. France earn a position in the starting rotation?  It’s probably critical that at least one of them pitches well enough to earn that spot with the uncertainties of McCullers and Garcia.

There you have it – what choices would you make?

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24 responses to “Tuesday – December 5 – Astros – Off-Season – Would You Rather”

  1. 1. Altuve because it’s not looking too good to extend Tucker at this point.
    2. Valdez because I think we’d get more for him than Bregman
    3. A couple of months into the season but I don’t think it makes a difference
    4. Tucker because he’ll want that MVP to enhance his potential price on the market
    5. Probably Abreu if he’s ready. Pressley has a mutual 14MM option with a 2mm buy out so I’d think that they’d prefer Abreu
    6. Javier because I think he’s a bigger piece in the whole rotation
    7. Definitely Diaz, but why not both?
    8. Abreu since I think JV will be JV regardless. He’s motivated to get to that 300 wins
    9. Hunter Brown since he’s younger and more upside
    10. Tough call but I’d take Maton over Brantley because we need a better BP this year and he’s probably cheaper.

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  3. I think that’s great news on Victor Caratini. He’s a mature guy to have behind the plate who might well make Verlander a bit more comfortable. And I’m sure he’s got a bit of wisdom to share with Diaz too. He’s also a pitch framer we haven’t had. (We’ll see how long pitch framing remains relevant).

    As a switch hitter Caratini is not an automatic out. And in a real pinch, he can go to first base. Does this make Singleton’s roster spot unnecessary?

    But most important, we’ve moved on from both Baker and Maldy. That’s better for Diaz and Espada and I think for a whole team of guys that want to see our best line up on the field as often as possible. Based on the fact Dana Brown was willing to spend 6 million a year on a new back up, I don’t think he wanted Maldy’s influence around in 2024.

    I’m also pleased by the news that Chas will be an everyday guy, playing left when Yordan is the DH and center when Yordan takes left.

    But I’m also happy that Jake has a defined role to start the season. Pretty simple. When Chas is in left, Jake will be in center. Players sure do like to know what their roles are.

    Tough to lose Phil, although the price of groceries keeps going up!

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  4. Dan, glad you got that vacation! See you on Friday!

    1. I love Jose beyond any guy on the club. But in this hypothetical exercise, I have to go with the much younger guy. Tucker.

    2. Obviously I was hoping both Bregman and Framber would get moved. I think Bregman is aging faster than some guys do. I think Framber is a loose cannon. Move Framber because as Z noted above, we’d likely get more for him.

    3. I’ll be pleased if Lance comes back in August and pitches effectively.

    4. Absolutely no preference between Yordan and Tucker. But will say Yordan, because the odds on him missing time during a 162 game season seem higher. So in answering with Yordan, that pretty much means we’d be getting a healthy season from him.

    5. I go Pressly, again, because that means to me that he’ll have been healthy and effective. I’m already confident that Abreu will be solid.

    6. If Framber gets traded, I’ll take Reptil.

    7. Jeremy does not have to be an All Star to help our club. I’d kind of like Diaz to get the nod in 2024 so that all the experts in the media might finally realize what kind of talent we had sitting on the bench last post season.

    8. I think need the Ace’s using from Verlander every week.

    9. I expect Hunter Brown to take big steps in 2024 with the help of his new full time battery mate.

    0. My answer would have been Phil. If there are 3 million of so dollars around and Uncle Mike wants come back for a part time job, then yes, I’d rather have him on the bench than Singleton.

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  5. 1 – Tucker is younger. He will also be more expensive. Because I am fan and don’t have to worry about Mr. Crane’s money, I will extend both, but if you pinch me until I say a name it will be Tucker.

    2 – If you trade one, Bregman. One less year, and pitching pitching pitching.

    3 – McCullers is still on this team?

    4 – Alvarez is a generational talent in that batters box. Tucker is just an all star. Alvarez just needs to stay upright.

    5 – Every year we get out of Pressly the deeper the pen. It’s 2 for 1, any move of Abreu to the closer role just means Pressly is gone, and the 8th inning becomes the problem. With Pressly getting long in the tooth, back to backs probably won’t happen often so Abreu should be getting saves anyway.

    6 – Javier – because he is locked under contract for a minute.

    7 – Diaz – because I want Baker to squirm.

    8 – Verlander. Pitching Pitching Pitching.

    9 – I’m sure they both will be. Brown has more upside but France was a bit more consistent. I am going to take consistent in a choice.

    10 – Maton. Pitching pitching pitching.

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  6. If I have to keep only one it’s Altuve. There’s no guarantee Tucker brings us another WS. At least with Altuve we get the potential of a Bigigo-esque chase for records.

    I’d trade Framber before Bregman because I remember Dallas Keuchel as well as the 2021 and 2023 playoffs.

    I only want Lance if he can go at 100%

    I can’t answer the Tucker/Alvarez question as asked. If I get the Alvarez we’ve been seeing AND can have Tucker ascend to become the best position player on the team then I’ll take that in a heartbeat. If it means one is regressing then it’s like choosing whether to poke yourself in the eye with a finger or take a swift kick in a sensitive area.

    I don’t expect Abreu to fall off a cliff so Pressly being the unquestioned closer would be good news.

    Javier over Framber

    Pena over Diaz as an All Star because that would mean an incredible year from a SS

    Abreu. This would mean outperforming David Ortiz’s (yeah, probably a cheater) season in 2013 where he posted .309/.395/.564 30HR 103RBI in the regular season AND won a WS over the Cardinals.

    France. I like Brown in a one inning role in the pen better than France because the stuff can be electric in short settings.

    Maton. I’m not accepting any arguments that Brantley or Maldonado contributed more to our success last year than Maton. If you weigh results against salary it was no contest either.

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  7. 1. I would rather see the Astros extend Altuve because his contract expires before Tucker’s does and I still think Altuve is the best second baseman in the AL.

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  8. 2. I don’t want to trade either Bregman or Valdez. But, for the sake of following the purpose of the post, I would keep Bregman because we would not have a good replacement for him at all currently. Valdez would bring back more in a trade because of his two years of control and the fact we might have enough young pitchers in our system.

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  9. I think I’m going kind of nuts, but you guys are too polite to tell me. I thought I saw that Maton got signed by the Cardinals. Must have been something I read on X Twitter.

    Again, I’m really pleased to have Caratini. One area our pitchers and catchers have to get better at this winter is holding runners and not allowing such a high percentage of stolen bases. We’ve got a couple of guys on the mound that are flat out terrible at helping their catcher help them. Maldy threw out just 14% of his baserunners. Caratini also threw out just 14%. Diaz nailed 30%, probably only because his arm is so strong and accurate. Maybe little details of the game were forgotten over the last year or more. Our new manager has already made mention of working on things like base running where we lost 39 runners on the bases in 2023. And then we have all the unearned runs we gave up. The big one of course is the poor offensive production at home. We have to get back to owning our home park.

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  10. 1. Altuve – He’s produced in the postseason and fans would cause a riot if he went anywhere else.
    2. Valdez – Higher trade value.
    3. Lance at the end of the year means he will more likely be available for the postseason.
    4. I’d want both Yordan and KTuck to be healthy all year and if that happens, Yordan should be the best player.
    5. B Abreu would only be the #1 closer if Pressly is hurt or performance falls off badly, so the answer is Pressly.
    6. Javier – He’s getting paid big bucks to perform.
    7. Yainer to prove he is a “big boy” now.
    8. J Abreu producing daily will lead to more wins than what JV will give us.
    9. Brown – Has better tools than France; just needs to hit his spots (could say the same for Whitley).
    10. Maton – We’ll need a somewhat reliable bullpen arm more than a LF of questionable health.

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  12. The Astros lost a trio of players in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft and gained a couple.
    The recognizable names heading out are Ty(ler) Brown and Marty Costes. The Astros had no room in AAA for Costes, as they have a bunch of outfielders crowding their upper minors.
    The Astros drafted two RHP in the Rule 5 minor league portion.
    In case you missed it, Jake Meyers is Brown’s choice as center fielder and Chas in LF.

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    • Jake’s trade value would be pretty low if Brown said he wasn’t in the plans for the outfield. But seriously, Chas can only play LF when Alvarez plays DH. The easy solution for Brown would be Meyers playing 50% of the games in CF or more…but he has to perform well enough to make us not regret that.

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    • 1oldpro, the Jake comment by Brown came on the heels of Brown saying that Chas will be a full time guy in 2024, playing left and center. So I found it a bit contradictory. Thing is, Jake really does not play left or right. So there is no where else to put him. And he does seem to have the most range in the middle. But I’m also hoping Yordan spends less time in left, giving Chas 100 plus starts out there and maybe 40 to 50 more in center. That might be realistic. Gosh, if Jake figures out how to hit, that’s a good problem for us to have. If he remains consistent and does not hit, I sure hope someone shows up from Sugar Land before long.

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    • So NYY just traded for a guy who looks way older than me despite being listed as about two decades younger. He’ll also be a free agent after this year. He got off to a slow start, then was pretty good the rest of the year and really lit the world on fire after the Padres were out of it in September. It could be interesting to see what happens in NYY. I hope they put his locker next to Gerrit Cole.

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  14. The Yankees will hit. That’s pretty apparent. They might even feel a need to let Stanton go before long, eating some significant salary. But they sure did give up some pitching. Drew Thorpe, the minor leaguer in the deal had a stunning year between A+ and AA. Four pitchers, all for one year of Soto. And then I guess a 500 million deal to keep Soto!

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  15. I’ve been seeing some of the comments on social media about the Astros signing Caratini and saying bye bye to Maldy. By the looks of some of these comments you’d think that we just DFA Babe Ruth. They talk about what a great contributor he was to the team (defense, offense, and just an all around great teammate). How could the organization do such a stupid thing (paraphrase). And it wasn’t Maldy’s fault that he played almost every game not giving Yanier his shot at catcher but not really pointing the finger at Dusty for not playing Diaz. Unreal! Obviously these posts must be from an alternate universe.

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    • Now you know why so many people honestly believe social media is a creation of Satan and a step on the road to the destruction of western civilization. A rather large step, I’d say…..

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