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Authorities said the players may have been the intended victims of criminals in Venezuela who throw rocks onto roadways to disable cars or cause crashes and then rob the vehicles' occupants. Four suspects found with Valbuena's and Castillo's personal belongings were arrested by police, state governor Julio Len Heredia wrote on Twitter.

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The Rangers remain in an uncomfortable position, buried in the AL West and attempting to transition to a new contending core without undergoing a drastic rebuild.

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irish pete ag06 said:

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bearkatag15 said:

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Jake Kaplan is doing a Q&A on the Athletic and was asked a bunch about possible FA or trade options for starting pitching and outfielders. Robbie Ray, Grienke and then Justin Bour were ones he said to keep an eye on. He didn't say anything specifically was imminent but more so that those are the type of players we could be after that are available. He also said Morton and Happ are the FA pitchers to keep an eye on (obviously). He also said he thinks catcher is done being addressed and that he thinks the staff has a pretty high level of confidence in Stassi.

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Robbie Ray would be a hell of a buy low candidate.

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Buster Olney said:

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On paper, Eovaldi seemed like the perfect fit for the Houston Astros, who have a history of taking pitchers with really good arms and making them better. But the Astros never really engaged on the right-hander, leading to one industry theory that Houston is more locked into the trade market than folks realize and looking to pluck one of the best available starters in a swap -- and right now, the best appear to include Kluber, Bauer, Zack Greinke and Noah Syndergaard.

Just as the Diamondbacks have this winter, the Pittsburgh Pirates executed tough financial decisions last winter when they traded Gerrit Cole and Andrew McCutchen. Following a year in which their attendance dropped significantly, the Pirates are not operating with much payroll flexibility for 2019. The Dodgers, Astros and Mets are all in the market for catching help, and if one of those teams makes an offer on catcher Francisco Cervelli, the Pirates will listen. Cervelli, who turns 33 in March, will make $11.5 million next season before becoming eligible for free agency.

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Deluxe said:

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I'd love to add Bauer but only if Cole is cool with it.

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• Back to the Astros, who didn't earnestly pursue righty Nathan Eovaldi in free agency, Olney relays. The two sides were a match on paper, Olney points out, as Eovaldi's a Houston native and the Astros are seeking starting help. Eovaldi re-signed with the Red Sox this week on a four-year, $68MM deal, though, and the Astros continue to need a starter. There's "one industry theory" that the Astros are more focused on upgrading via trade, which could point them to Syndergaard, Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer or Zack Greinke, Olney notes.

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titanmaster_race said:

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No on Bauer. Seems like a locker room cancer.

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The Astros have been in touch with the White Sox about Jose Abreu, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reports. Abreu has been on Houston's radar before, including at last year's trade deadline. Latest reports suggest that the Sox may not part with Abreu in the offseason (if at all) since they'd be selling low in the wake of a somewhat disappointing season for the first baseman. Abreu hit .265/.325/.473 with 22 homers over 553 PA for Chicago in 2018, a marked dropoff from the .883 OPS he posted over his first four Major League seasons.

Speaking of first base targets, Fancred Sports' Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link) that the Astros included pitching prospects Cionel Perez and J.B. Bukauskas in talks with the Diamondbacks about Paul Goldschmidt, before Arizona sent Goldschmidt to the Cardinals. MLB.com ranks Perez and Bukauskas 5th and 8th, respectively, in their list of the top 30 prospects in Houston's farm system, though it could be argued that neither were in the Astros' true upper tier of young arms. Forrest Whitley, for instance, is a consensus top-10 prospect in baseball, while MLB.com also had Josh James ahead of Perez and Bukauskas in their ranking. Bukauskas cracked the preseason top-100 prospect lists from MLB.com and Baseball America, though an injury-shortened 2018 season dimmed his ranking and recent reports suggested that the Astros may be using Bukauskas as a trade chip. Perez, a 22-year-old southpaw from Cuba, made his MLB debut last season, though between he and Bukauskas, they didn't have the Major League readiness that St. Louis offered the D'Backs (namely Luke Weaver and Carson Kelly) for Goldschmidt. Still, the Astros' apparent willingness to give up two controllable young arms for premium talent is an interesting hint about how far they'll go to make a significant hitting upgrade.

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