Harry Dunne said:

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Farmer1906 said:

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Good stuff! Nice touch with the group names. I think you have Steve Finley listed twice.

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Skinny CF Steve Finley and Roiding Slugger Steve Finley. Two different guys.

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K that's pretty damn funny.

First off, this is a thread bump because we shouldn't go 24 hours without talking about the Astros!

I read this from Tal's Hill, discussing closer options. Not sure Crane will give Click much money to spend on a closer with Pressly on the roster, but you never know.

Quote:

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Ryan Pressly handled the role in Osuna's absence in 2020 and pitched to a 3.43 ERA in 23 appearances. There's a chance the team could leave him in the role for 2021, but I wouldn't. This year's version of Pressly just gave me heartburn every time he took the mound in a close game. Enoli Paredes might be another internal candidate, but he needs more seasoning before he's ready to take on that responsibility.

The trade route is a possibility, but the Astros don't have the minor league depth they used to have, and picking up a pitcher who'd supplant Pressly won't come cheap. In all likelihood, if the team wants a new closer to replace Osuna, it'll have to find one in free agency. Here are five possible candidates.

• Brad Hand
I was surprised that no team claimed Hand when the Indians placed him on waivers, as his $10 million club option for 2021 seemed reasonable. But the market for relief pitching may be difficult this winter, even for someone of Hand's caliber. The southpaw has been one of the most effective relief pitchers in the game over the past five seasons, and he put up a career-best 2.05 ERA in 2020, leading the league with 16 saves.For what it's worth, MLB Trade Rumors predicted the Astros to sign Hand to a two-year, $14 million deal. That would seemingly be a great value if the team could ink the 30-year-old to that type of contract, and it would be in the team's budget. Hand would be a clear upgrade over the rest of the bullpen.
• Liam Hendriks
Hendriks may be the top reliever on the market after putting together two dominant years in Oakland, and he was effective against the Astros in the ALDS. The 31-year-old may thus come with a bigger price tag than Hand, so the team could probably find better value elsewhere.Still, it's hard to deny the boost this would bring. Hendriks was difficult to hit, posted high strikeout rates and low home run rates. If the Astros are intending to compete for another championship in 2021, this would be probably the single biggest improvement they could make to the bullpen.
• Kirby Yates
This would be an interesting buy-low possibility. Yates was dominant for the Padres in 2019, garnering an All-Star selection and cracking the Top 10 in the Cy Young Award voting. The righthander put up a 1.19 ERA and 41 saves, striking out 101 batters in 60.2 innings. His 2020 did not go as planned, as he made only six appearances before hitting the shelf with elbow issues.Yates had what appears to be a relatively minor surgery on his elbow, so if he's ready to go for next season, the 33-year-old southpaw could be a huge bargain if he can get back to anything close to his 2018-2019 form. Even if the Astros sign another closer candidate, I'd still take a flier on Yates if the medicals check out.
• Trevor Rosenthal
Rosenthal was a player I hoped to see the Astros acquire at the trade deadline, but Click stood pat. All told, the flamethrower pitched to a 1.90 ERA in 23 appearances, including making nine scoreless appearances for the Padres after being traded. The 30-year-old has a volatile injury history but finally got healthy in 2020.MLB Trade Rumors projects him to get the same contract as Hand, and I would rather give that money to Hand. But if the Astros don't get him, allocating that money to Rosenthal wouldn't be a bad idea. As long as he's healthy and his mechanics are good, he'll blow guys away.
• Blake Treinen
Treinen would be something of a reclamation project. He was flat out dominant in 2018 for the A's and had a few good years before that as well, but 2019 wasn't kind to him, and Oakland consequently non-tendered him. He caught on with the Dodgers in 2020 and was better, but not quite at the level he'd been before.The velocity is still there, and he gets groundballs at a high rate, which would fit nicely with this Houston infield with its should-have-been Gold Glove shortstop. There's a little more risk involved here than there would be with Hand or Hendriks, but there's no denying he'd be a good addition to the Astros bullpen.

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I think we'll more so go bargain bin shopping and not commit 14 M to a reliever.

The Rays were able to do it so cheaply

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We did too, but that was more due to guys being out (Peacock, Devo, Smith, Osuna) not by design.

Remember also we have Mr Frisbee, Peacock and Devo back. The pen is in much better shape than it sounds. Also the front of the rotation is in good shape. Maybe get one arm but it doesnt have to be a massive contract. To me, we spend money in the OF and nowhere else right now.

Mathguy64 said:

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Remember also we have Mr Frisbee, Peacock and Devo back. The pen is in much better shape than it sounds. Also the front of the rotation is in good shape. Maybe get one arm but it doesnt have to be a massive contract. To me, we spend money in the OF and nowhere else right now.

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Ummm...

Devo & Peacock are gone.

Deve was released and Peacock is a UFA.

Farmer1906 said:

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Mathguy64 said:

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Remember also we have Mr Frisbee, Peacock and Devo back. The pen is in much better shape than it sounds. Also the front of the rotation is in good shape. Maybe get one arm but it doesnt have to be a massive contract. To me, we spend money in the OF and nowhere else right now.

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Ummm...

Devo & Peacock are gone.

Deve was released and Peacock is a UFA.

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Shows how much I have been paying attention.

I will let myself out the door and turn the porch light off as I leave.

As it currently stands, if the team goes with the typical 5 starter/7 BP staff, the Astros pitching looks like:

IL: JV (sad face), James, and maybe Pruitt at the start of the season.

SP: ZG, Valdez, LMJ, Urquidy, Javier, with Bielak as your spot start, up from the minors guy.

Bullpen: Pressly, Smith, Raley, Parades, Taylor and probably Scrubb seem like the locks.

Then you have a handful of guys -- Sneed, Garcia, Perez, Castallenos, Abreau, Pruitt (when ready) fighting for the last spot.

It will interesting to see if the Astros stick with these guys or look to add one of the BP/closer types mentioned above. I like Pressly, but never felt comfortable with him has the 9th inning guy. He was lights out the prior year as the set up man, but didn't seem to do as well as the closer.

Wouldn't surprise me for Click to spend money elsewhere and go with the closer by committee that the Rays implemented pretty well this season.

If Forrest Whitley doesn't make the MLB roster next year with those guys out for injury ... he should be a trade deadline piece to get a big name

We're going to have to put Whitley on the 40 before the Rule 5 draft, so I'm guessing he'll be up early next year unless he gets off to a rough start.

Good point.

As for trading, his value is as low as its ever been. We're not going to get much back for him. Probably less than what we got back for Appel.

BMX Bandit said:

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tjack16 said:

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If Forrest Whitley doesn't make the MLB roster next year with those guys out for injury ... he should be a trade deadline piece to get a big name

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If Forrest Whitley doesn't make the MLB roster next year, no one is going to give us a big name for him.

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True. Hopefully our front office gets a good gauge on him if he won't make the roster before opening day while his trade stock is still high

Ah, yes, I overlooked Whitley. Hopefully he can turn it on this year. Time for him to put up or shut up.

May have missed this being mentioned, but saw that Cristian Javier is a AL ROY finalist, along with Luis Robert (CF, White Sox) and Kyle Lewis (CF, Mariners).

Weird rant from me but unless I'm missing something, Whitley's stagnation is starting to wear pretty thin. I get that he had some growing up to do, but so do all minor leaguers straight out of high school. Take care of your damn business and be a professional since you're being paid as a professional.

So, immaturity was the first setback. Then we heard about him reverting back to old mechanical habits that the organization had worked to fix. Do your job!

I get injury, and I also understand that your ceiling might not rise to your projection (Appel). I haven't heard any of that with Whitley, only that he himself is the reason for the lack of progression. Step the hell up, dude.

Is that Marwin's wife? Who is she talking to?

Whats the context of the text string? Them bagging on Bregman?

I still can't believe we traded Teoscar Hernandez for a couple of crappy innings of Liriano.

Liriano, Biagini and Sanchez all came via the Jays.

Farmer1906 said:

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Is that Marwin's wife? Who is she talking to?

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Yes, my buddy slid into her DMs

Apparently she posted some ProTrump stuff and people started talking **** to her for betraying her race

Mathguy64 said:

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Liriano, Biagini and Sanchez all came via the Jays.

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Two of them did manage to throw a no-no so we got that going for us.

Seriously though, Sanchez got non tendered a year ago, partly because of his TJ surgery. I wonder if we may bring him back.

*pretends to be shocked*

Perfect timing for a news dump by the Red Sox.

I wonder if all those people who were/are outraged at the Astros "cheating" are equally outraged with the Presidential election?

Sports is a sacred institution of honor and wholesome competition not to be tainted by cheating and the like. U. S. elections, though...not a big deal.


/sarcasm