Do we make a legit run at re-signing Neris and Maton? Stanek?

Im willing to bet Neris is the only one the organization wants back and the price tag will be to much.
Stanek and Maton can be replace with low cost minor call ups such as Mushinski.

Ag_07 said:

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I thought Lance was supposed to be ready to go for 2024?

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I don't know the typical recovery for flexor tendon surgery with a bone spur removed, but here is Skubal's timeline.

Skubal
Surgery 8/17/2022
Pitched 7/4/2023

McCullers
Surgery 6/14/2023
Target Early May

Dana did sound a little more optimistic.

Quote:

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Brown said the team did not have an exact timeline for when McCullers would return, but he could possibly start throwing again in November, and "then we will see in January where he is and how much he can get amped up."

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Garcia will likely be the 2nd of 2024. Lance is probably more of an unknown.

I think a future 1-5 of controllable guys like Framber, Javier, France, Brown and Garcia through 2025/2026 sets us up really well. Especially when you add in JV next year.

I'd use Urquidy as trade bait if we had to throw anybody out there.

But yes I agree having LMJ in the pen as a leverage guy would be ideal.

I'd hate to see Urquidy traded. Not as good stuff as the others, but mentally tougher than Framber or Garcia.

JDUB08AG said:

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Do we make a legit run at re-signing Neris and Maton? Stanek?

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If you count Maton (spotrac doesn't right now) we have the highest paid bullpen in baseball. I think Dana Brown is going to welcome some payroll relief there and find cheaper options.

If Lance moves to the bullpen he'd be the 3rd highest-paid reliever AAV and if you only took his last 3 seasons, his total contract would be 2nd to only Edwin Diaz's 102 M deal.

I will believe there is any chance he moves to the bullpen when Dana Brown and Lance McCullers say something public. Until then he's a starter.

What do you do with 7 starters? You make tandem starters. You have a 5 man rotation and 2 of them only need to go 4 innings a start.

I wouldn't trade any of our pitchers unless you are getting something very, very good in return. Like, Louis Robert type of good.

What we often forget is how valuable Urquidy, Garcia, and Javier can be as long-inning relievers. It has been an incredibly successful formula for limiting other bullpen usage.

The Astros have a different way of developing starters. Just take JP France for example. Nobody knew who he was before this year.

They strongly believe if a pitcher has moderate success in AAA, he will be successful in the big leagues. I'm not sure what exactly that means, but from what I've been told, it's a combination of their development process and their AAA league to be very hitter friendly.

They have a couple guys who they think could be ready to contribute in 2024: Colton Gordon and Spencer Arrighetti. If one of those guys is able to step in and produce, it may make one of the other guys expendable.

Time will tell.

texasaggie2015 said:

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IF/OF Joey Loperfido, the team’s No. 6 prospect, is headed to Triple-A after slashing .293/.383/.546 with 20 homers and 62 RBIs across two levels this year. He’s a left-handed bat who can play all over the field. He has a 1.091 OPS against LHP.

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) August 14, 2023

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I said this before. Gilbert was the 3rd or 4th best outfielder in Corpus.

Joey Loperfido
Zach Daniels
Kenedy Corona

We got some guys.

Luis Baez down in Fayetteville as well. His ETA is a little farther out, but he's a fun prospect. He projects as a corner outfielder or first baseman.

And Melton is now in Corpus but he wasn't when I was saying that.

I keep coming back to just keep winning and make the post season. That's all I care about at this point.

I think the Astros have the starting pitching, bullpen, and offense (now that Altuve and Yordan are playing together and Dusty has realized the order of Altuve, Bregman, Yordan, Tucker, Diaz/Chas really does work) to make a run regardless of where they are in the post season bracket. Obviously would like to make it as easy as possible.

The Astros have games against the Rangers and Seattle to directly pick up some games. Gotta take advantage of those.

Gotta play well against the NL East. I know Ranger fans are really looking forward to the Astros playing the AL East as, from what I've read, they think the Astros will run into some trouble. I think that's when the Astros step up the most, a la the Orioles series.

I think if the Astros stick within 3 games of the Rangers in August, they'll have a shot at the division in September. All you can ask for is a shot.

It'd be pretty cool if the Angels activated Trout against the Rangers. Hopefully just winning the series 2-1 in Miami will keep pace.

Thank you. This.

texasaggie2015 said:

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The Astros have a different way of developing starters. Just take JP France for example. Nobody knew who he was before this year.

They strongly believe if a pitcher has moderate success in AAA, he will be successful in the big leagues. I'm not sure what exactly that means, but from what I've been told, it's a combination of their development process and their AAA league to be very hitter friendly.

They have a couple guys who they think could be ready to contribute in 2024: Colton Gordon and Spencer Arrighetti. If one of those guys is able to step in and produce, it may make one of the other guys expendable.

Time will tell.

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In the minors, we grade our pitchers on how well they execute pitches. There's much less detail and customization that goes into each matchup and AB. So results as measured by common pitching statistics are less relevant.

If we have a guy at AAA who proves he can execute the pitches we call for him, we can bring him to the show, where our full pitching braintrust is put behind what they should throw to any given batter in any given situation.

It's a totally different rubric and it's one of our biggest advantages relative to organizations who don't operate that way. We don't groom pitchers in the minors to be crafty and get outs. We groom the them to throw nasty stuff and let the experts like Maldy do the thinking for them when they get called up.

txags11 said:

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I've said it for years, and I still truly believe it. I think if you made LMJ a setup guy, he could be one of the best in the league. Let him ramp it up for 1 inning and with that nasty offspeed, I truly think he could be nearly unhittable.

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I think the best game he ever pitched was game was against the Yankees in the 2017 ALCS. And it was in relief. Remember he got in such a groove with his curve that McCann wasn't even bothering to put down a signal, he would just nod his head.

And for anyone who doesn't think we need Brantley back, are you assuming that Yordon will stay healthy the rest of the year? Why would anyone think that?

ESPN hates the Astros pic.twitter.com/eX5B7xD0zA

— Jeremy Branham (@JeremyBranham) August 14, 2023

Ironic that the crop cuts out the LOL

good data

looking back...the series that really hurt was losing 3 of 4 to the Mariners at MMP just before the all-star break

because the Rangers also lost 3 of 4 that weekend

I don't see us as "losing ground"

We have been hovering around 5.5 back for the league lead, and 2.5 back for the division, and 4 ahead for the wildcard cutoff for the last month.

We just aren't taking over the gap yet either

the Rangers were 14-13 in June and 11-13 in July

they were vulnerable

The biggest deal on the schedule is the last 10 games.

We have 3 against Seattle sandwiched between 3 each with KC and Arizona.

Seattle has those three with us between 7 with Texas. Texas puts the Angels between those 7 with Seattle.

IMHO that's where it happens. One way or the other that's where it happens. There won't be any resting of players the last week and no messing around with starters to set up a playoff rotation. Not for anyone.

W said:

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the Rangers were 14-13 in June and 11-13 in July

they were vulnerable

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We sucked in June too and made up ground in July.

Farmer1906 said:

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texasaggie2015 said:

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IF/OF Joey Loperfido, the team’s No. 6 prospect, is headed to Triple-A after slashing .293/.383/.546 with 20 homers and 62 RBIs across two levels this year. He’s a left-handed bat who can play all over the field. He has a 1.091 OPS against LHP.

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) August 14, 2023

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I said this before. Gilbert was the 3rd or 4th best outfielder in Corpus.

Joey Loperfido
Zach Daniels
Kenedy Corona

We got some guys.

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Joey Loperfido to Triple-A.

Loperfido is incredibly underrated and doesn't get as much love as he should. He's already over 20/20 this season and has the power/speed to flirt with or exceed those thresholds annually moving forward.

He's in the top-50 discussion.#Ready2Reign https://t.co/8gY10zucW0

— Eric Cross (@EricCross04) August 14, 2023

Could he be our future 1B?

bearkatag15 said:

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Farmer1906 said:

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texasaggie2015 said:

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IF/OF Joey Loperfido, the team’s No. 6 prospect, is headed to Triple-A after slashing .293/.383/.546 with 20 homers and 62 RBIs across two levels this year. He’s a left-handed bat who can play all over the field. He has a 1.091 OPS against LHP.

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) August 14, 2023

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I said this before. Gilbert was the 3rd or 4th best outfielder in Corpus.

Joey Loperfido
Zach Daniels
Kenedy Corona

We got some guys.

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Joey Loperfido to Triple-A.

Loperfido is incredibly underrated and doesn't get as much love as he should. He's already over 20/20 this season and has the power/speed to flirt with or exceed those thresholds annually moving forward.

He's in the top-50 discussion.#Ready2Reign https://t.co/8gY10zucW0

— Eric Cross (@EricCross04) August 14, 2023

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Over the last two seasons (Low A thru AA)

863 PA
32 HR
55 SB
134 R
131 RBI
.914 OPS
144 wRC+