Yeah I read see that as prepping him for a September call up to start to evaluate his ability to fill in for Bregman next year.

tjack16 said:

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I'd love a first basemen, and an arm. Maybe two arms if you can get them cheaper.

Guerrero Jr, Neris and Anderson would be my wish list

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My order is SP, BP, 1B.

If you really pushed me, my order is 1 or 2 SP, 1 or 2 BP, 1B I can take or leave if SP and BP are adequately addressed.

I'm going on record now, for all you guys, I am anti-Neris. He's been bad. We could trade for someone much cheaper than him if we want a guy pitching like Neris.

I don't know how to order. Entirely depends on your assessment of what we can get from the currently injured pitchers. Only the team has any idea of that. Also depends on the price. I suspect an innings eater SP on an expiring contract is the cheapest option but also the least helpful in the playoffs.

texasaggie2015 said:

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Beat40 said:

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Farmer1906 said:

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My ideal and semi-realistic deadline

1. Land a starting pitcher with over 1 year of control - Anderson or Eflin fit.
B. Clear up some room ($) by sending Montero & a prospect to someone with money (see Mets, they basically bought prospects in the JV trade)
III. Land a right-handed hitting first baseman. - Walker would be ideal, but I wouldn't mind Cooper, France, Cahna, Vaughn, etc.
BONUS. Get one of those stud RPs from TBR or OAK - Fairbanks would be my pick

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In response to you -

#1 is the one, in my opinion, has to be done this year. Gives flexibility with next year, because I am beginning to move into the camp LMJ might not throw a pitch for the Astros again. I think he will, but I'm edging over to that side of the aisle.

#2 - I think sending Montero to a team with money in order to clear up some room is the real return, so I'd just give them Montero and a prospect as long as the agree to pay the contract without asking for anything else in return. I get my return by being able to use that money to pay someone or maybe even two.

#3 - 1B is actually way down my list. 'Stros need a RH 1B, but 1B is below SP and BP for me.

Agreed on the bonus - it would be Christmas morning if the 'Stros could add a stud bullpen arm.

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FWIW- a few days ago I was told the Astros aren't taking LMJ into consideration with their plans moving forward.

That could easily just mean they don't want to count on something that isn't guaranteed and they consider his return a luxury, but I thought that was interesting.

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And they shouldn't at this point. Not after the last setback.

That makes sense to me. Obviously, the organization wants LMJ to return, but with how this rehab has gone, how could you count on it?

It certainly is nothing against Lance. I'm sure he's worked really hard. There are just some guys whose careers never live up to what they could be because their body doesn't cooperate. Unfortunately, I'm thinking it's that way with Lance.

Still holding hope for his sake though. Mr. 24 straight curves will always have hope from me to return.

Today, the #Astros announced the following player promotions. pic.twitter.com/FpBNrNoNB4

— Astros Player Development (@AstrosPlayerDev) July 23, 2024

Other promotions

Brito was moving fast. Wow.

MaxPower said:

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I don't know how to order. Entirely depends on your assessment of what we can get from the currently injured pitchers. Only the team has any idea of that. Also depends on the price. I suspect an innings eater SP on an expiring contract is the cheapest option but also the least helpful in the playoffs.

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First, I agree adding an innings eater SP is the least helpful in the playoffs, It can be helpful during the season provided it allows Blanco to skip a few starts, so long as the team still continues to win.

My thought process is a SP is the largest impact, because it's the biggest need I see. If I'm GM, I'm planning JV is not back and moving for SP accordingly. If the Astros are fortunate enough to make it the post season, a 4-man post season starting rotation of Brown, Blanco, Framber and someone like Anderson is much better than having Spencer in that spot. Obviously, if Garcia could come back and be effective, that would be fine too. Of course if JV comes back, icing on the cake.

Next is BP because Scott and Abreu need to rest their arms. I think Abreu does much better with more rest. Plus, always need to be able to have multiple options for the 5th or 6th in the post-season given the possible need to pull one of the starters earlier.

Offense - I actually think once Tucker is back, it will be a really decent offense so long as Chas and Aldemys play limitedly. I'm pretty good with rotating out Cabbage and Loperfido with the occasional Dubon appearance.

I just think 1B helps the least because if the pitching isn't improved, I don't think the Astros go far at all. 1B help would be great, but I believe this team can win without it providing pitching is there. It's often easier to win low scoring games than it is to win barnburners in the post-season.

I know Leon really isn't factoring into the Astros future right now -- but I think it is a mistake.

He's crushing at AAA this year. We've been waiting for awhile for his development, and it seems like he's getting there. His growth, imo, was stunted by the failed attempt for a couple seasons to train him as a SS. Now that he can focus on OF -- which is more comfortable -- he's settling in at the plate.

I've been high on him since his signing -- so maybe I'm wearing rose-colored glasses.

I think trading Leon would be a bad decision.

I'm sure Farmer and 2015 can provide better perspective -- but that's my gut.

Although, the contract scares me with what we might need to include to pay it down, ala JV

agproducer said:

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I know Leon really isn't factoring into the Astros future right now -- but I think it is a mistake.

He's crushing at AAA this year. We've been waiting for awhile for his development, and it seems like he's getting there. His growth, imo, was stunted by the failed attempt for a couple seasons to train him as a SS. Now that he can focus on OF -- which is more comfortable -- he's settling in at the plate.

I've been high on him since his signing -- so maybe I'm wearing rose-colored glasses.

I think trading Leon would be a bad decision.

I'm sure Farmer and 2015 can provide better perspective -- but that's my gut.

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I pulled every AAA with 500 pitches seen. Here is where Leon ranks.

wOBA - 46th (out of 373)
xwOBA - 95th
EV - 122nd
Whiff% - 279th
Hard Hit% - 57th
Barrel% - 37th
Bat Speed - 14th
Swing Length - 17th

All this is fine. When you compare him to guys like Loperfido or Cabbage, he trails both by quite a bit based on AAA play. If the data pulled correctly (didn't show raw #s but ranked everyone) Bat Speed / Swing Length is very intriguing. Fangraphs has him at 123 wRC+ (23% better than the league avg AAAer).

Put me in the camp who wouldn't mind moving him since we have a good amount of OFers with bright futures.

I find it fascinating that within the course of a few weeks with JV, we have gone from "he is going to skip a start because he slept wrong and has soreness in his neck" to "getting JV back this season would be icing on the cake". Not blaming JV, just amazing how snake bit our starting pitchers have been this season.

Pretty sure George has a limited no trade, so he has some control over the situation

agproducer said:

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Love George, and I wish him well. He will always be an Astro in my book, but there is no reason at all to bring him back. He didn't want to be here by the time he left. Why would he want to come back? And why at his advanced baseball age plus injury history, would we want him back?

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This. I thought he was pretty clear about not wanting to be here when he left. We certainly don't need more injury prone guys and we are certainly full up on OF. Why would it make any sense to bring him back?

George has 2-1/2 years left on his contract -- that's a dealbreaker

if he only had 1-1/2 years...would consider it

texasaggie2015 said:

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The guy who made that tweet is a moron.

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I don't think any reasonable person would think we'd trade for him based on one week of good play vs 3+ years of not good.

Jake OPS by month:

April --> .718
May --> .924
June --> .632
July --> .553

not trending in the right way at all

especially if he's going to hit 6th or 7th in the order

Ag_07 said:

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They would get an absolute haul for that guy and as volatile as relievers are he may never be this good again.

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I'd imagine a team like Philly, Baltimore or Atlanta goes all in on him

Could the @Rangers shake up the trade deadline? @Ken_Rosenthal weighs in, as it "just does not seem to be their year" pic.twitter.com/J6PUAmH1CT

— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) July 23, 2024

.@ajpierzynski12 and @Ken_Rosenthal debate a potential Garrett Crochet trade while accidentally wearing the same shirt 👕 pic.twitter.com/38xoQ5zUJf

— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) July 23, 2024

W said:

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Jake OPS by month:

April --> .718
May --> .924
June --> .632
July --> .553

not trending in the right way at all

especially if he's going to hit 6th or 7th in the order

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Jake has had an extremely unlucky month. I am actually encouraged by his July vs his June. Striking out less, walking more, hitting it harder, barreling at an exception rate.



He's had a lot of balls like these go for outs.

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=67231048-1fa4-4f58-8574-456547e3ee69

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=ca7a1ce7-2c83-41f9-b8d9-f35c4485ae27

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=74014e47-8daa-4dd1-8797-9ce464b56875