Word down here in HOU was that HOU wanted Abreu, but they'd take Duran for Paredes. The sticking point was that Brez wanted more than just Duran. (I suggested one or two from King, Sousa and Janek.)
Agreed.
I was on a rant about how our second tier FA signings, like Story & Yoshida have been big letdowns. It's been over 8 years since we've struck gold on a major FA signing.
Suarez should not be added to the list, despite two bad starts.
I don't get why we didn't trade Duran or Rafaela for a 3Bman or 2Bman better than Durbin.
Sure, prospects are nice, but we had a big hole at 3B on the big club.
Even when we surprise and make a signing, it's no longer David Price level big.
Our luck with the second tier FAs is about as bad as it can be, and now Suarez is looking questionable.
Suarez
Yoshida
Story
(The last second tier good signing was JD.)
We've made some bold trades, and many have worked out well. The last one was Crochet.
If we ever hit paydirt on a FA signing, maybe we can go somewhere.
That was a nice win. Taking a series vs a team like MIL is a good sign.
Day off tomorrow and then it's a rare Early-May game in the middle of April, this Friday.
Conner Early vs Dustin May
His 1, 2 and 3 year sample sizes, ranked him as a #1-2 SP'er using some stats and metrics or a #2-3 using others. At his age, nothing was a sure bet on what to expect, this year, but he's looked pretty good, so far.
The way Suarez has looked, I'm glad we added Gray.
We've already lost Oviedo and are looking for Crawford or Sandoval to get past their rehabs, quickly. Early has done a fine job filling in, and may keep his slot indefinitely.
Exactly, and this was my whole point of suggesting we trade an OF'er for an infielder.
Sitting an OF'er was a waste of talent, plus the "drop off" from ____ to Yoshida at DH, while real, was not as great as the "gain" we could have made at 2B, 3B or even SS, if we had the ballz to move Story to 2B.
The thing about Rivera's pitch was that it was just about all he threw. Batters new what was coming and still could not hit it.
.211 BA Against
.262 OBP Against
.293 SLG against
.555 OPS Against
2.21 ERA
MLBTR's top 10 FA for next season:
Skubal
Peralta
Bichette
Chisholm
Trevor Rogers
M King
Varsho
Imai
Arozarena
Susuki
Others: Woodruff, Imanaga, Gausman, Bednar, G Torres, B Lowe, T Ward, Pivetta, Singer, Bubic, Bieber, Grisham, Mize...