I was supposed to get there on Friday and be at Saturdays game.
Btw, 2 tickets available for face if anyone can take them.
My “friends” take
Verlander is about Verlander. Unless something changes, he leads by example but isn’t going to spend a lot of time working with others.
He is a professional, sets an example with his hard work and consistency on and off the field. That’s why so many players and the manager went to bat for him and protected him in the playoffs last year.
However he is like Nolan Ryan - he doesn’t hold class.
couple of things - first, the Mets ask isn’t “expected to be high”, the Astros already know what and who the Mets want from them. There is no mystery. Which tells me he doesn’t know what the Mets are asking for from the Astros.
Second, the Dodgers do have better prospects at the higher levels to complete the trade, but they do have budgetary issues. It’s possible they ownership group makes an exception but not guaranteed and not much different than Astros interest group.
Third, the Mets don’t care much about the money - it’s the players they get back.
Fourth, I agree the Dodgers are the favorites but the Astros can make it work if they want to - if it happens for the Astros, I think the Mets get the prospects they want from Houston but pay down the contract more than usual.
I don’t believe Drew Gilbert is untouchable with Chas taking the CF job, and Yordan in LF and Tucker in RF for 2.5 years. The Astros have time for Melton, Baez, Barber and Brice to develop.
Now - will the Mets get Hunter Brown like they initially wanted? No, I don’t think so but they have other choices.
The Astros would give up Gilbert and Arrighetti for a half price Verlander- they want Brown/Gilbert.
Maybe Verlander doesn’t okay a deal to LA and the Mets take what they can get, but from what I have heard, Gilbert and Arrighetti combined isn’t enough…
A question about what else the Astros would need to include besides Gilbert/ Arrighetti.
What do you think Brown would have to add to a deal centered around Gilbert/Arrighetti?
Maybe something like Gilbert/Loperfido/Arrighetti/Gusto for JV? Do they need piching worse? Infield? OF?
It would mean trading players off the big league team or more likely a three team trade.
The Mets don’t want any of those guys to highlight a trade.
It’s why someone like Chas may be dealt or Brown or a trade with a third team.
At some point the Mets will try to talk Verlander into going to LA - if they offer enough.
Based on history I think he waives his no trade for the Dodgers. I say this because in 2017 he didn’t want to go to the Astros - his choice was the Cubs. At the last minute the Tigers informed the Cubs were not serious and the Astros were - he agreed to change his mind and go to Houston - so if the Astros aren’t close, the Mets will go with the Dodgers and give JV the choice of NYM of LAD.
So it seems to me that the Astros don’t have to beat LA’s offer, they just have to get close.
Hasn’t Rosenthal said Houston is JV’s choice? Maybe Jim’s “friend” does not have everything right.
The Mets are deluding themselves if they think they are getting Hunter Brown with 5.5 years of control in exchange for 40-year-old Justin Verlander on a very expensive contract through his age-42 season.
Him and Drew Gilbert? No chance in hell. Chas McCormick shouldn’t be traded, either.
The Astros need Verlander to tell Cohen that he wants out and he only wants to play for the Astros.
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I take annual leave on this day every year. Started it about 7 years ago. Didn’t get much done at work so I might as well stay home.
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My understanding is that the best option now is a 3 team deal
Identify a top 100 prospect that the Mets like and trade for him then flip him and Glbert for JV w/ Mets paying a significant portion of his salary.
Theoretically it should be doable
I think identify a team that likes/wants/needs Julks, Meyers, Arrighetti, or another young MLB player or prospects and has a high ceiing top 100 prospect, probably a pitcher.
I want JV for prospects not named Gilbert and Price and with the Mets taking on a significant part of JV’s salary. Just putting that out there.
And I will put out there that I would be made ecstatic by the addition of Flaherty. ERod too, but Flaherty more so. Would love to see what the Astros could do with him. He’s young still. Has had a problem this year with an Oswalt-inning from time to time but is better now than he was in April.
I don’t want to see them trade Gilbert either, but he will almost certainly be gone in a JV trade.
Besides, eventhough he’s the best the Astros have, he is still a step down from Tucker, Alvarez, etc.
He’s not projected to become a perennial all star
I will not mind losing Gilbert in a JV trade, but trading Hunter Brown for JV makes no sense to me. JV can make this happen, and I hope he does.
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Trading Brown in a JV trade doesn’t accomplish what the Astros need.
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So there are reports now that the Orioles are jumping into the running for JV. That could be worrisome. Orioles have plenty to offer prospect wise and if I’m JV, or any pitcher, that’s a good park to throw in the way they have moved the left field fence, not to mention, they are a good young team.
I think it’s a huge risk to trade for him at this age and giving up one or more of our top prospects for him makes me extremely nervous. Age catches up eventually and his velocity is down from last season, strikeouts are down, walks are up, he’s getting hit more, and getting hit harder.
He’s still good. I don’t want to be a wet blanket here. I’d be excited to have him back. I just think we need to have realistic expectations about what version of Verlander we’d be getting.
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A three-team deal where the Mets get a second top-100 prospect the Mets want along with Gilbert makes sense.
Doesn’t mean he’ll end up in Houston, but Bowden says JV’s first choice is the Astros, FWIW.
Bowden says his best guess is that JV is either an Astro or a Met at 6pm.
Expecting Verlander to carry a team is asking too much, but with a solid defense behind him and an organization that knows how to play to his strengths, he can still be very successful. The Astros fit the bill perfectly.
Makes perfect sense. He has a family now, and why would he want to uproot his young daughter for the second time in less than a year? Plus, he knows and likes the Astros’ organization. There’s a comfort level here.
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Of course, he also said on Jayson Stark’s podcast that there was no chance Houston would take on his money because Crane never offered him a contract. I don’t take Bowden very seriously.
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