AustinCountyAg said:

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Marvin said:

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Nobody except the Astros will run away with the division so do t panic just yet.

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that is a very ignorant statement to make. especially when we are talking about baseball

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Is it though?

Rangers don't stand a chance. Mariners have sold off their talent and don't stand a chance. What have the angels done to get better?

iBrad said:

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Kyle Tucker is a very similar athlete to Christian Yelich, but has displayed more power earlier in his career. I'm not saying Tucker will be an MVP one day, but he has that type of ceiling.

I realize that trading him could add an immediate boost to the lineup or rotation, but if you're trying to remain competitive for ten years, Tucker is the type of prospect you keep.

We'll never be spenders like NYY, Boston, and LA, so having affordable all-star caliber players is key to maintaining this level of success.

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just to play devils advocate here for arguments sake....

I disagree that trading tucker eliminates being able to compete for 10 years. If anything it could* make them more competitive for the next 10 years depending who they get. Tucker has proven NOTHING at the MLB level. Does he have the potential to be great? Sure, but so does a lot of other prospects in the MiLB.

You are right, we will never spend the NYY, BoSOX, etc. With that being said you have to take advantage of the opprotunites you get, when you get them. As mentioned before our pitching staff has even more ??? after this season. We have PROVEN winners in JV and Cole right now.

Could Forrest and Josh James be the next all stars in 5 years? yes....or they could be busts or super injury prone as well and we all know you must have pitching to compete. Doesn't matter if TED is in the outfield hitting home runs if he has no support on the team.

Nuke LaLoosh said:

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AustinCountyAg said:

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Marvin said:

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Nobody except the Astros will run away with the division so do t panic just yet.

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that is a very ignorant statement to make. especially when we are talking about baseball

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Is it though?

Rangers don't stand a chance. Mariners have sold off their talent and don't stand a chance. What have the angels done to get better?

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ummm the A's....Angels haven't done much but they are loaded with talent.

Like I said we are talking about baseball. It is a crazy game and anything could happen. One or two injuries could have HUGE affect on the team/season

Ag_07 said:

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Cruz is a free agent. We'd be really dumb to trade anyone for him.

The question is trade Tucker for Realmuto or a #3 starter

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Yes, my mistake.

good points.


keep in mind though Chirnos is on back end of career, Realmuto is not

I wouldn't say it's giving up on Tucker. I don't think anyone is ready to do that (at least I don't think so), but more or less using him to make the team better.

Think of it as 'Hey we have this piece that people want and he's not up here helping us. Why not use him to improve a need?'.

Remember when we refused to budge on guys AJ Reed and Derek Fisher?

I agree. I just want him to be average.

JT shows some signs that he should keep improving. His hard contact has gone up, he's hitting fewer balls on the ground and more line drives and fly balls. If he keeps that trend up he'll be an awesome addition, but how long ago was Gary Sanchez the best hitting catcher with his with a 1000+ OPS at 23. Last year he wasn't even serviceable. How mad at Jeff were we when we let the Rangers take Lucroy. He had a 5 year period of averaging .291 avg and .818 OPS. He was avg then below average the following 2 years.

I just don't think he's the sure thing a lot are making him out to be.

Ag_07 said:

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I wouldn't say it's giving up on Tucker. I don't think anyone is ready to do that (at least I don't think so), but more or less using him to make the team better.

Think of it as 'Hey we have this piece that people want and he's not up here helping us. Why not use him to improve a need?'.

Remember when we refused to budge on guys AJ Reed and Derek Fisher?

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Prospects hit and miss all the time. I will say I don't think either was nearly as highly thought of as Tucker, especially Fisher. I never understood all the love some had for him.

Him and Lance are going to dual livestream their fortnite match??

Let's hope not!!!

McGibblets said:

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Let's start the speculation

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I think it's the release of the umpiring pranks that he's been working on with his buddies...

iBrad said:

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I realize some of the MLB scouts that post on this thread have given up on Tucker, but there's a reason every team asks for him in a trade. He's too promising of a prospect to ship off for two years of control for someone. We got two years of Cole without losing one of our top two prospects. That's how it should be. If we trade Tucker, it better damn be for more than two years of control.

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Disclaimer: I'm not a major league scout...

No one really knows how these guys are going to pan out. Even the stud prospects like Tucker. Guys can mash all the way through the minors and not amount to much in the bigs. Obviously experts see a lot in Tucker. Experts saw a lot in Jon Singleton too...and in a ton of other guys that didn't pan out.

I remember when Byron Buxton was the #1 prospect in MLB and Mookie Betts was #75 (Buxton is exactly a year younger, 25 y/o today). Buxton now has a.285 MLB OBP in upward of 1000 PA.

I think Tucker looks like a newborn deer calf swinging a lead bat but I also see his MiLB stats and the scouting reports and realize I'm obviously missing something. But those thinking he's a surefire stud are just as in the dark as I am about his future. It's stupid to think you know either way. All you have to do is look at the historical MLB top prospects lists and see how many of those guys at the top either did not pan out or were nothing special at the major league level.

Maybe he will turn out to be Yelich and maybe he will be another Buxton...but I'm sure we could have gotten Yelich for him this past January. I'm not saying that's proof we should trade him, but to all those railing against trading him, it's truly coin flip either way.

Good thing there are smarter people than me making the decisions, but I would have already traded him for Realmuto. I would not have traded him for Yelich. I remember thinking at the time of the MIA-MIL trade that Yelich was going to have a Nick Markakis-like career and he wasn't worth Tucker.

Oops.

Deluxe said:

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McGibblets said:

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Let's start the speculation

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I think it's the release of the umpiring pranks that he's been working on with his buddies...

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Is this when we find out Marwin actually agreed with all the balls and strikes but it was just for the video?

AustinCountyAg said:

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good points.


keep in mind though Chirnos is on back end of career, Realmuto is not

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In my opinion, if you are a catcher, you are always on the back end of your career

I bet realmuto hits .250 this year

People need to accept that there are no Mike Piazzas playing catcher, not even one

E said:

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Him and Lance are going to dual livestream their fortnite match??

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Bregs has been working out in LA, hitting in the cages, being the guest picker on Gameday, sitting front row at the Rockets, kicking it with ARod

Dude is living his best life for sure

Correa is the one Fortniting 24/7

What if we just sign Grandal and not even trade for Realmuto? We get to keep Tucker, Whitley, Alvarez, etc. while getting a switch hitter (we could use another lefty in the lineup). Sure, Realmuto is definitely better than Grandal, but wouldn't you feel better about Grandal + Tucker than Realmuto?

Yeah but Grandal is projected to get a 4 year/$64M contract. Not sure I wanna be married to that contract with the young guys do up in that time frame.

Realmuto would be on the books for one year at $2.9M.

It's both a blessing a curse in that on one hand you're only guaranteed a year but he's cheaper and won't take up any payroll after this year.

Oof... I wasn't aware that his projected contract was that high. It's going to be really interesting to see what Luhnow decides on.

Realmuto has two more years of team control. Guessing arb will land him somewhere in the $5-7mm ballpark in 2019 and $12-14mm in 2020.

I don't think we're making a move at catcher. Chirinos is signed. We have Stassi. Stubbs is in the minors.

I think resources will be used to get a pitcher and then money spent for a DH & bullpen possibly.

PSully97 said:

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I was thinking of him

How often does he even catch

it's okay to have one dead spot in the lineup. That spot will be pinch hit for after the 6th inning anyway.

and if Chrinos and company are really bad...then Luhnow will make a deal at the deadline for catching help

We're not at a major disadvantage at catcher because there are so few of them that are any good. That is why JT is at a premium. We could get more production from Cruz (over White) than JT (over Chirinos).

regarding Reddick...he's on the books for 2 more years...2019 & 2020...at $13 MM per.

Astros would probably have to eat some of his salary in a trade

I agree.

ultimately when it comes to the offense...the Astros need two of Altuve, Correa, and Springer to get back to their 2017 form...and then everything should be okay

AustinCountyAg said:

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Marvin said:

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Nobody except the Astros will run away with the division so do t panic just yet.

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that is a very ignorant statement to make. especially when we are talking about baseball

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I disagree, but feel free to bookmark it and see what happens.

W said:

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I agree.

ultimately when it comes to the offense...the Astros need two of Altuve, Correa, and Springer to get back to their 2017 form...and then everything should be okay

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Amen, and amen. Staying healthy all season will be a great start to that. Can't have those three hurting next season and expect great things in the playoffs.

Deluxe said:

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McGibblets said:

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Let's start the speculation

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I think it's the release of the umpiring pranks that he's been working on with his buddies...

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Ha someone actually asked him that on his Instagram account and he says no.