Pitching is on the Astros’ mind as the AL West leaders approach the trade deadline, and both starters or relievers could be on the menu, GM Jeff Luhnow told The Athletic’s Jake Kaplan (subscription required). “It all depends on whether or not we’re able to acquire a starter and what that means for the rest of the rotation and maybe when [Brad] Peacock’s going to come back and be healthy and all of that,” Luhnow said. “So, there are a lot of variables. But we’ve never ruled out looking at relievers. In fact, several of the pitchers that we have on our wish list are relievers.”
As Luhnow mentioned, Peacock’s injury status adds another question mark to a rotation that was already in need of at least one more starter. While Houston has been linked to any number of big-name starters on the rumor mill, acquiring a reliever would add pen depth, and also perhaps allow the Astros to experiment with using an opener and bulk pitcher for one of the rotation spots, rather than a full-time starter. For the short term, Luhnow figured his team will have to get though something of a pitching crunch over the next few days, though “we talked to a couple clubs about some players who might fit in.”
More from around the division…
- The trade that brought Homer Bailey from the Royals to the Athletics “came together kind of quickly this morning,” Oakland GM David Forst told MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos and other media, as Forst initially contacted the Royals about Bailey only “a few days ago.” Bailey was actually scheduled to start today for Kansas City, and was only told of the deal while he was doing his pregame warmup pitches in the bullpen. Bailey adds at least one veteran arm to Oakland’s pitching mix, and while the A’s hope to get some of their injured younger hurlers back soon, the club hasn’t closed the door on more trades. “We’ll keep an eye on starters, but we have a lot of conversations going on for relievers right now,” Forst said.
- Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times answered several Mariners-related questions as part of a reader mailbag, and in regards to a question about Domingo Santana, Divish opines that the M’s should be open to trade offers at the deadline or in the offseason. After a rough 2018, Santana has regained his 2017 hitting form in Seattle, and he is also controlled through 2021 via arbitration. With this in mind, Divish feels the Mariners should explore selling high on Santana, since he may not fit into the club’s long-term rebuild plans and doesn’t offer any defensive help.
- Rangers prospect Anderson Tejeda will miss the rest of the season due to a shoulder injury, according to The Athletic’s Levi Weaver (Twitter link). Tejeda was ranked as the 93rd-best minor league in the sport by Baseball Prospectus prior to the season, though Tejeda’s year at high-A ball was halted on May 29 after he hurt his shoulder while sliding into a base. An international signing in 2014, the Dominican middle infielder has a .265/.332/.452 slash line and 45 home runs over 1672 professional plate appearances. MLB.com ranks Tejeda as the third-best prospect in the Rangers’ system, citing his good glovework at shortstop and a “plus-plus” throwing arm.
Royals must really like Merrell to make the deal so quickly. Not sure what there is to like.
Young and cheap
His speed and versatility alone give him a decent ceiling. Oakland was willing to part with him due to depth in the outfield and middle infield, especially Nick Allen. KC sells high on a guy they fished out of the trash, for someone who fits their prototype quite nicely.
I think it’s a great trade for both teams. KC got more than I expected for Bailey. The A’s get someone to help eat up innings.
He sucks, it pisses me off checking his boxscores. Because jwas a fairly high pick. 80 grade speed but doesnt walk, doeant steal bases, or have power. He does have good athleticism and capable of playing shortstop and probably centerfield but what a terrible hitter so far, maybe royals coaching can fix him
Santana is really bad defensively. He has no range and I know errors mean nothing… he has 12 of them. 12!!! as a corner outfielder? 12? That is beyond terrible. I don’t remember him being that bad in Milwaukee… in fact he played some center. 12 errors? How is that possible?
9 of those errors were in LF where he was terrible. He has looked much better in RF since moving where he had always played before. He has three errors there but two were on the same play. Think of but this way, he has worth -1.5 dWAR but is still positive overall on the year as his bat is legit.
He just seems to check out on a few plays per game.
Sounds like a guy you don’t want on a contender. Santana’s a guy who you’d think could do much better out there but he goes and plays garbage defense year after year. He’s not slow and has a plus arm. I expect garbage outfield defense from a guy like Trey Mancini who cannot run and doesn’t have much of an arm but when a guy has those two tools and sucks you have to wonder if it’s a work ethic thing.
Santana to me looks like a guy who knows he is going to be traded and is just going through the motions until he gets on a good team. His D has been good since moving to RF. He has made some errors but the OF can differ so much in other parks. Some take getting used to. I wouldn’t use the LF errors against him. Would have to watch the ones in RF. Besides the OFs playing different did he drop a tough catch then try to get the runner going to 2nd? So many variables.
The stat heads might not think errors count but I bet coaches and pitchers do. How many more pitches did that error put on his arm? Now you move a runner up to a stressful situation on his arm or move him from the wind up to the stretch. He might be more comfortable in the wind up. All those things matter correct? Then errors mean something.
Back to Santana. He should bring in something good not great but good. He is a solid bat and can be used part-time in the OF or DH. He hasbgood power and hits well with runners in scoring position. If we don’t move him before the nut case gets back we will have to switch the whole OF. Besides we have a bunch of depth in the OF coming up. No room for him.
I’ll never buy into the argument that errors don’t matter. It’s literally not making a play that should have been made. Errors completely change the outlook of an inning, even if it’s just a throwing error that moves a guy up a base. That matters.
Who said they didn’t matter?
Dayton Moore said they liked him a real lot leading up to the draft the year he got drafted. Maybe the think they can bring something out of him
Could see the Rays making a move for Domingo Santana
Nah, I think they could use a shortstop instead. Maybe even a catcher. They have more pressing needs. Meadows, Kiermaier, Pham, and Garcia are all playing really good.
I think Miguel Rojas would be a good fit in Tampa. Pedro Severino might be a fit at catcher. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Adeiny and Ramos from NYM make a reunion with Tampa as well.
Ramos’ deal is underwater and he’s a poor defensive catcher. I doubt any contender seriously looks at him. Sevy would be interesting because he’s cheap and controllable. Fits the Rays mold that they’re looking for. Z’s bat has been borderline unplayable this season so they could use another respectable option. Though their manager Cash probably has an affinity for a no hit all glove catcher like Zunino. I think an upgrade defensively at the hot corner would be preferable to another RF/DH.
I don’t get the Santana to TB fit at all. They need a guy w a defensive position. They have about 3 guys on the roster who should be DH’s already. I guess bat first corner players are a whole hell of a lot cheaper than SS’s but I don’t see the fit. I think better relievers and a starter would help a ton more.
Santana has no trade value with his terrible defense. Obviously the Brewers would have flipped him for more otherwise. They tried too move him for ages.
I bet you’re wrong
A bit annoyed with Luhnow, this has been an issue once we moved on from Keuchel and Morton with McCullers out a year and we’re in our title contention window.
Not sure anyone ever thought Martin and Whitley could start full time this year, so why didn’t we add sooner or at least add a possible piece in the off-season?
Now a GM who dislikes trades after getting fleeced in the Gomez trade needs to deal from a position of weakness the next three weeks with no waiver period to bail him out if he doesn’t like the prices.
Doesn’t bode well.
I wouldn’t characterize Luhnow as a GM who dislikes trades.
The Gomez trade was in 2015.
Since then Luhnow has traded for Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, and Ryan Pressly.
He also made a somewhat successful trade with the Dodgers sending Josh Fields for some guy named Yordan Alvarez, perhaps you’ve heard his name recently.
I have faith in Luhnow to get something done.
Exactly. I can’t stand stupid comments like Cold’s. He sounds like one of the people that think the Astros should trade Correa for a reliever or Kemp/Straw/White for deGrom.
And not to mention trading for Osuna and taking that PR hit.
Hamp63. Nice.
I’m sure Luhnow will get something done but I find it baffling that we’re at this point. How do you let 2 starters go without a backup plan?
If Stroman starts against Detroit and dominates, Houston might want to be front and center on him. A change of pace pitcher would fit nicely with Verlander and Cole.
What this could also do is drive the price on the Yankees side of things, perhaps even Minnesota, and thus begins a bidding war. Houston is the right team, however. They have the window and Stroman has this year and next with an excellent track record against Boston at Fenway Park. Yankees….well, take only Stroman’s starts at home and it’s not bad. Stroman’s AL East pedigree can’t be ignored.
Disappointing news on Tejada. His hitting stats didn’t look so great this season mainly because he’s trying to become a switch hitter. But the dude is a really promising prospect. Rangers farm is snakebit this year.