Don’t know, but I’d rather find that out than watch Alonso flail.
My opinion, maybe not shared by many others, is that this season is toast, and getting older is not the right move.
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The wild card is fool’s gold.
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I wasn’t the OP, but I’ll chime in and say no.
I think the Astros are going to have an extremely difficult time trying to acquire any player of consequence via trade. We just don’t have the ammunition in the system to pull it off. Our farm system is mediocre at best, and that is probably a generous description. When you’ve traded away what we have over the years, coupled with the draft pick penalties, your organization is going to pay a heavy price eventually, and I think the waitress/waiter has placed the check on our table. I’ve seen a lot of first basemen and pitchers mentioned the last few days that we have checked on. I have no doubt we have made those calls. We may indeed make a deal, but if any other contender wants the same player, we are getting outbid. Hope I’m wrong, but I don’t see it.
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I have felt this way for over a month.
This won’t be popular, but I say tear it down somewhat. Crane could surprise, but there has been absolutely nothing in his ownership tenure to this point, that says he’s going to give Tucker the kind of contract it will take to sign him. He hasn’t done that kind of deal with anyone. If he intends to let him walk, then trade him today. I’d trade everyone I could except for Altuve, Alvarez, Pena and Diaz. Beyond those 4, I’d be willing to trade everyone else on the roster or in AAA to get younger and better talent in this system….but that’s me.
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I agree, and it’s why I would be having the admittedly difficult discussions with Crane about trading the likes of Pressly, Bregman, and Framber for good prospects.
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No one asked me but I’ve landed on Dubon and Singleton platooning at first and Dubon playing wherever else he plays as usual. It would get Dubon at bats he otherwise wouldn’t have had, and I view that as a positive. I think I’d rather just do that than go and get a Goldschmidt or whoever for a Pedro Leon, even if I don’t really think Leon has much of a future with the organization.
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Preach
For whatever it’s worth—Pedro Leon is knocking the shit out of the ball this season, and whether it’s with another organization or with the Astros (not sure where the at-bats would come from), it’s time to get him into a major league outfield and see if he can play.
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The Astros are calling up Cooper Hummel per Rome.
If Jim Crane will not pay elite players to stay, the Astros future looks like the current Cardinals, and that’s not good. Kyle Tucker’s of the world are players you build around. If you have to give him 8-9 years to stay, there are ways to structure the contract to make it work for all parties involved. I’ll be very annoyed if Crane doesn’t open the checkbook for Tucker. The Astros have a ton of payroll flexibility in 2026, so it’s not a budget issue.
You aren’t signing elite position players in free agency to contracts of five or six years. So, you either better draft really well and get six really good years out of them while not destroying your farm while trying to compete for championships or hope you find a diamond in the rough in free agency. The latter is not easy.
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I agree that the Astros’ farm system isn’t going to enable them outbid other clubs in bidding wars for guys like Garrett Crochet or Luis Robert, for example. My main point was that if all it cost me to gamble on Pete Alonso was Pedro Leon, a 26 year old in AAA, I don’t see that as some big risk. Worst case, you get a comp pick if you don’t extend Alonso. If it costs more, obviously move on.
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I agree with your thinking. You might be right. You SHOULD be right. I hope you are right. But we all know that he’s never given out that type of contract to anyone, be it his own players or in the market. There is a first time for everything.
What is going to annoy me the most, is not signing him and letting him walk for nothing. If you aren’t gonna sign him, trade him today while he has the most value and playing time left for the acquiring team. Tucker would bring you a haul.
I’m not saying I’d rather trade him than sign him, just that I’d rather trade him than let him walk. Our system is not in the position to be letting free agents walk for nothing.
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They might be toast this season, but I still don’t think the Astros go into full blown tear down mode. I do think they could move Bregman in a deal that gets them controllable MLB talent if they have decided not to extend him.
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I wonder if he is coming up to replace Salazar – If Yainer is OK, Cooper can be the third catcher while also seeing time in LF (where he has been playing in Sugar Land) or DH, and his bat is much better than Salazar’s. He has played some 1B, but I doubt that he is the answer there.
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I completely understand. If you have no intention of giving him the kind of contract it takes, you have to get a good return for him now than get nothing later. That said, letting MVP-caliber players in their prime leave is not something the Astros should be doing. Crane built the Astros into a big market power. He needs to do what it takes to keep Tucker.
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I wonder if they keep all 3 and Yanier plays some first base here and there? Did they completely give up on that or did he play some there in spring??
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I was wondering about either Diaz or Caratini seeing some time at first.
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The question has been answered. Dana Brown says that Jon Singleton will get the majority of playing time at first base.
Dubon will get sprinkled in here and there.
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Just to touch on this, you don’t get a comp pick anymore when you trade for an impending FA unless it was before the season
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My apologies for not knowing that had changed, and thanks for the correction.