Comments in there from Click about Whitley’s health, offseason workout regimen and his showing in Corpus.
Maybe there’s not a lot of tough decisions at the 40 man margins, or maybe I just underestimate the likelihood of a teams willing to carry relatively unknown qualities coming off TJ, but I find it surprising that they added those two.
As to Whitley, it will be a shame if he never achieves even a fraction of what he could be. I think it was three years ago when I saw him at CC, with a truly dominant repertoire. Three years ago, no major surgeries and he still hasn’t thrown a pitch in the majors.
He needed major surgery on his attitude.
2 Likes
Rosenthal sez the Astros:
-
Are listening to offers on Correa
-
Won’t entertain signing any free agents that have a QO attached
-
Despite the QO thingy, Kenny speculates they might go after LeMahieu if they are able to trade Correa
(Also says Blue Jays continue to covet Springer and have also contacted Brantley)
The prospect of losing Springer, Correa, and Brantley in the same off-season makes me ill. I thought Brantley might be re-signed by now after reading the recent reports, but that issue has gone silent. Cole and Harris already gone over a year. Springer signs with another team? Brantley too? Trade Correa? JV lost forever because of TJ? Damn.
Of course, this dismantling of the historically good 2019 team makes losing Game Seven to karma and the Nats even worse for me. Fuck you, Taubman.
6 Likes
“Listening to offers” on Correa could simply mean “if you want Correa, I’m gonna need an All-Star caliber OF and 2-3 MLB-ready pitchers all of which have at least 2 years of club control left, plus a top-ranked SS prospect and 1-2 other prospects, and fuck you if you think that’s unreasonable”. I don’t think it means they’re actively looking to deal him. In the current climate I think they’d listen to offers on Altuve and Bregman if they thought they were tradeable.
1 Like
I agree that they should ask for the moon, but no one would pay that when you look at the free agent class for next year.
Which is why I won’t lose any sleep about Correa being traded.
FWIW, here’s how Rosenthal described it:
The Astros, according to sources, are again floating Correa in trade discussions, knowing it is unlikely they will sign him before he reaches free agency at the end of the season.
Listening to offers on Correa makes sense even if I don’t like it on a personal level. He’s a valuable player and there’s a good chance he plays somewhere else in 2022. Click might as well see if he can get something worth more to the Astros than 1 year of excellent shortstopping + the 75th overall pick in the 2022 draft.
The LeMahieu thing doesn’t make sense to me. His bat is great, but where do you play him? He’s a 2B and hasn’t played SS in over a decade, so even if you moved Correa, he doesn’t slot in there.
You have a chance to sign LeMahieu, you sign him, then figure out where to put him. You can move Bregman to SS if you have to.
2 Likes
Of all the options, I don’t see LeMahiue picking Houston. But if so, then he can play third and Bregman can play short (assuming a corresponding Correa move).
If you can sign LeMahieu you happily put him at 1B and sit Gurriel, and have multiple ways to give your infielders rest days.
2 Likes
Exactly. You find a spot for him. I don’t think they can realistically sign him either, but good grief, you don’t pass on him because you think someone is blocking him defensively.
1 Like
If the Astros lose all three of Springer, Correa and Brantley this offseason, I’ll be pissed.
Next season would be tough on Crane, but the team has only $50 million in payroll obligations for the 2022 season if they accept Yuli’s team option. If they decline it, they only have $42 million in payroll obligations, with Framber being the only noteworthy player that would be arbitration eligible (his first year). 2023 is tougher because Bregman and Altuve will make a $59 million between them, and a lot of the Astros’ young talent enters their first year of arbitration (Alvarez, Tucker, Javier and Urquidy).
Rosenthal updated the column to say that the Astros are not shopping him but may listen to offers
2 Likes
Bregman to SS, LeMahieu to 3B per Rosenthal in that column he now seems to be running away from.
Yeah, that’s a pretty dramatic shift by Rosenthal. He now says:
Houston, however, is not engaged in any active conversations on Correa, according to a source with knowledge of the team’s thinking. … But while the Astros, like most teams, will entertain all trade possibilities, the source said the characterization of the club “floating” Correa’s name, cited in the initial version of this story, was inaccurate.
Speaking of…ICYMI yesterday Feinsand said the Astros (among others) are supposedly interested in the FA who did not play in 2020.
You shut your whore mouth.
3 Likes