Here’s the latest from Houston…
- It doesn’t appear as if the Astros will make a push for Japanese left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, The Athletic’s Jake Kaplan reports (subscription required). Such teams as the Phillies, Yankees, Giants, Dodgers, Rangers, Mariners, and Padres have been linked to Kikuchi’s services, though there has been speculation that the teams on the west coast may have a bit of an advantage due to geography.
- Also from Kaplan’s piece, he details the Astros’ most notable needs heading into the Winter Meetings, namely another starting pitcher and another bat, preferably a left-handed hitter for lineup-balance purposes. (Though GM Jeff Luhnow has said of his hitter search, “We’re not going to be wed to it having to be a lefty or a righty or having it be a specific position.“) Listing a few speculative names who could be potential fits for the Astros, Kaplan opines that Robbie Ray, Michael Brantley, Jose Martinez, Daniel Murphy, or Nelson Cruz could all be possible trade or free agent targets.
- The Astros have been in touch with the White Sox about Jose Abreu, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reports. Abreu has been on Houston’s radar before, including at last year’s trade deadline. Latest reports suggest that the Sox may not part with Abreu in the offseason (if at all) since they’d be selling low in the wake of a somewhat disappointing season for the first baseman. Abreu hit .265/.325/.473 with 22 homers over 553 PA for Chicago in 2018, a marked dropoff from the .883 OPS he posted over his first four Major League seasons.
- Speaking of first base targets, Fancred Sports’ Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link) that the Astros included pitching prospects Cionel Perez and J.B. Bukauskas in talks with the Diamondbacks about Paul Goldschmidt, before Arizona sent Goldschmidt to the Cardinals. MLB.com ranks Perez and Bukauskas 5th and 8th, respectively, in their list of the top 30 prospects in Houston’s farm system, though it could be argued that neither were in the Astros’ true upper tier of young arms. Forrest Whitley, for instance, is a consensus top-10 prospect in baseball, while MLB.com also had Josh James ahead of Perez and Bukauskas in their ranking. Bukauskas cracked the preseason top-100 prospect lists from MLB.com and Baseball America, though an injury-shortened 2018 season dimmed his ranking and recent reports suggested that the Astros may be using Bukauskas as a trade chip. Perez, a 22-year-old southpaw from Cuba, made his MLB debut last season, though between he and Bukauskas, they didn’t have the Major League readiness that St. Louis offered the D’Backs (namely Luke Weaver and Carson Kelly) for Goldschmidt. Still, the Astros’ apparent willingness to give up two controllable young arms for premium talent is an interesting hint about how far they’ll go to make a significant hitting upgrade.
Are the Angels in on no pitching this offseason? Curious about what the hell they are doing.
Angels have a chance, Ohtani could be their in. Could also be the opposite, guess we’ll see.
Why? Padres have ohtani baseball hero on their front office and that wasn’t enough
Yusei Kikuchi is only 27. Youngest FA starter available.
“Multiple MLB scouts believe Kikuchi’s ceiling is as a No. 2, with fastball averaging between 92-94 mph, reaching 96, an uncommonly high velocity among left-handers in NPB.”
Note: His curveball, slider and splitter all rate as average or slightly better.
I’m sold!
I think that’s a half ass attempt to get Goldy. He would have been a nice addition to the lineup.
Wonder if the Astros talked Greinke with the DBacks.
As a DBacks fan who lives in Texas, seeing Goldy get traded to the Astros would’ve been the only palatable option for me. He was born and raised an Astros fan so it would’ve been cool to see him play for his hometown team, not to mention that I would actually be able to go see him play. Seeing Goldy in Cardinals red just looked wrong. That trade is gonna hurt for a while
I wanted it so bad, but maybe in 2020!
As a Cardinals fan, he did look weird in a birds on the bat Jersey.
As opposed to dark grey and neon letters? Kidding arizona fans, relax.
So I wonder what the offer for Abreu will look like? White Sox will not take a lowball offer so Astros will have to offer something substantial if they truly want to get this done.
Goldy was born in Delaware. The more you know
yes but grew up in the Houston area, which is what the commentator might of meant. Besides thre is no baseball in Delaware, so the story isn’t a good. :)
He grew up in Alvin the more you know
If the Astros want another pitcher and a first baseman, as a Blue Jays fan I wonder if they’d be interested in Marcus Stroman and Justin Smoak. Obviously I don’t know high Houston values either of those guys, but I wonder if the Jays could get a package of Cionel Perez, J.B. Bukauskas, and Ronnie Dawson. It’s fun to think about possible trades, but I honestly don’t know how close I am on this one. Am I way off? Too much? Too little?
Probably too much from the Astros side. We have a couple in-house options (McHugh and Peacock) who are as good or better than Stroman. One of Bukauskas or Perez sure, but not both, with Dawson for Smoak. That’s a more fair trade, but again, we have an in-house 1B (Gurriel) who is arguably better than Smoak.
That package may be a bit on the high side considering Smoak only has 1 year and Stroman only has 2 years left of control. Stroman’s production is also a bit of a question mark. Between his injury plagued 2018 season and his superb 2017 season, you don’t really no how he will perform over the next two years.
The Astros could defiantly use a DH/1B like Smoak, and try to gamble on Stroman, but I don’t think they would give away J.B. for them.
I feel like one guy the Astros should definitely pursue is Jose Martinez. He absolutely rakes but sucks at defense so it seems like he would definitely solve our DH problem. Maybe try to get Carlos Martinez as well? Doesn’t seem unreasonable
Cardinals are trying to compete in 2019 and likely in 2020. No way they get rid of CMart this year, or likely at all during his contract. JMart is yours for a top 50 Astros prospect and a tub of big league chew (grape flavor only).
We would trade carlos in a second, given the right opportunity, don’t get it twisted. Yes competing, but given the years of control, haul might be nice(but would be selling low on a down year which makes more unlikely).
I’ll have to say that the Cardinals trade for Goldschmidt was the best trad they have made since they acquired Bergman for the 2011 season. It didn’t hurt the Cards because Weaver wasn’t going to be in the initial starting lineup and Carson Kelley was stymied behind Molina with a minor league catcher, Kinzner who is a ready major league hitter.
Dbacks R 1st base needy as Walker is broken jaw merch… Abreu for Grienke or Ray
I’m super bullish on Abreu if he can go to a legit contender. He put up great numbers for a guy who had to come to the stadium everyday and play in the depths of the kind of depression that surrounds a rebuilding franchise.
White Sox should just keep Abreu a palehose for his career. They’ll never get offered a fair deal for him, especially now that he’s over 30. Creating a hole at first base wouldn’t be good for the young guys in the lineup either.