moonslav59

What I'm hearing here in HOU is that HOU is demanding Duran or Abreu for Paredes and maybe one other piece- probably a prospect, as HOU is trying to keep their window open for 1-2 more years. They do not want to give up a 26 roster guy. I suggested King or Sousa (LH'd RP'er) and maybe Janek (a promising C prospect.) At this point, since we have Durbin, I wouldn't do it. Paredes may or may not be an upgrade on offense over Duran or Abreu. Abreu has twice the years of control. Helping fix a roster logjam is a plus, but it's not worth doing just for the the sake of it. Now, Duran & Mayer or Tolle & Mayer for KMarte gets me talking, again. I seriously doubt anything goes down, but I'm shocked Paredes is still an Astro, so maybe something gives.

They won't trade anybody, now. Again, you confuse what I wish might happen with me thinking I think will happen. The suggestion has been to trade Duran or maybe Abreu or Rafaela. It's only been brought up a thousand times over about 2 years. No Duran at DH allows Masa a strong chance at winning the FT DH role and certainly a strong-side platoon role, as Romy can platoon with Mayer, when healthy. Even this layout could get complicated if Casas returns and looks good.

I'd go so far as to say, if just one from Romy or Casas are healthy and looking fine, there is no room for Masa. Where would he play? Who would sit? The other way to make the roster work would be to trade someone ahead of him on the depth chart.

I admit I have defended Bloom, JH and Brez on many things, so maybe you don't know what "defendsing" means either. Lack of comprehension does explain a lot.

Speaking of SP'er depth, I agree it is very important, and for once we seem to have top quality SP'ers and depth. Quality AND Quantity! It's interesting to note that our ring seasons were often led by just 5-6 key SP'ers, where very little injuries occurred and the need for depth, especially extended depth was simply not present. 2004: Amazingly, we only needed 5 GS outside our starting 5: 33 Pedro & Lowe, 32 Schilling, 30 Wake & 29 Arroyo. 2007: There were only 11 GS outside the top 6 SP'ers. 32 Dice-K, 31 Wake, 30 Beckett, 24 Schilling, 23 Tavarez, 11 Lester. 2013: A little more depth was needed, and even a trade for Peavy: 33 Lester, 29 Lackey, 29 Dempster, 27 Doubront, 16 Buchholz, 10 Peavy and 17 GS by 5 others. Those 17 GS were all pitchers who added zero value as starters. 2018: Kinda breaks the mold, as the depth helped, and the trade for Nate might have won us that 4th ring: 33 Porcello, 30 Price, 27 Sale, 23 ERod, 13 Johnson (4.17) 11 (3.33) 11 Pomeranz (sucked) 8 Velazquez (3.18) 4 Wright (2.68). Still we probably win without Johnson & Pomeranz and just needed the Nate trade to give us 5 SP'ers. Other seasons that seemed like near misses: 2003: 4 starters over 29 GS w Fossum & Suppan going for 24. 1986: 4 starters over 25 GS and 16 from Seaver, 13 Sellers and 10 Brown. 1978: 102 GS from 3 guys, 24 from Lee and 27 from Jim Wright + Ripley 1975: 114 GS from 3 guys, 20 from Cleveland, 16 Moret & 11 from Pole.

I dont see Masa as "in the way" for the same reason you dont see Sandoval as "in the way" , with above average injury look we prob wont need them and thats a good thing. But I dont want to find myself saying I wish we had Masa in the playoffs after weve traded him. And that scenario happened last year when he hit clean up for us in the playoffs and was probably our third most productive hitter in last years playoffs behind Story and Bregman. I have mentioned that I project Masa to have a similar OPS in 2026 as Duran, although that does not make him equal on offense to him. Having Masa was one reason I was okay trading Duran for someone like KMarte or Paredes plus King & Jarek. I'd rather have Masa as depth than not have him, but I'd rather have had a better 2Bman or 3Bman by more. Had we traded Duran, Masa's value increases. I'm okay with out roster. One major injury to an OF'er and I'll be eating crow. I'd like more pitching depth and know its great importance, but FT slots have more importance, to me.

Not seeing the major difference between "Can" and "Will" sure explains a lot about all your misrepresentations of posters' viewpoints.

1. Anthony 2. Contreras 3. Duran 4. Abreu 5. Errr.... Durbin? 6. Double Errr... Narvaez? 7. Triple Errr... Story? 8. Platooned Romy 9. I can't go further, even with more Errrs.

OF is a little different from 1B or C and some other positions, as there are 3 slots, and an injury to any one would put the 4th OF into a FT role. I get the need for a very good 4th OF'er, but between K Campbell, Masa and even Eaton &Romy offer some decent depth. The SP role is 5 and not 3 like the OF. The odds are greater one in 5 SP'ers gets hurt more than one in 3 OF'ers, and with the recent trend in SP'er injury, it's probably higher odds than 5:3. The 6th starter is very important, and I'd say more so than the 4th OF'er. Hell, the 7th starter might be close, especially if you have a decent 5th and 6th OF'er, as I think we do. Some of my trade suggestions included trading from OF and SP'er depth, but it was to gain a major upgrade at a position of great need (2B or 3B PLUS a BIG BAT) like K Marte. I'd probably have traded Crawford or KC for Paredes, but HOU wants one of our LH'd OF'ers and maybe would not add enough to just a Paredes return. I doubt any trade talks are still going on, but this will be the second year in a row we've started a season with a major OF surplus and a glaring weak spot or two left unattended or poorly attended. That being said, I really like Durbin and think Mayer has some serious upside, but it's a bit too speculative for my liking.

Zero confidence on staying healthy.

Yes, I said "can" not "will" or even "should."

Yes, but Masa, KC & Casas look like DH only types. Duran is okay on D- maybe, but he's the DH.

Hardly ever, but our history has been we only win rings when we use 5-6 pitchers for a huge chunk of all games started, anyway. I count 9: 5: Crochet, Suarez, Gray, Bello & Oviedo 4: Crawford, Sandoval, Tolle & Early Is Uberstine less thought of than Newcomb & Dobbins were last March? (Also, I'm talking LF & DH depth is a luxury we should have traded for strengthening other higher need areas.)

LF or DH is probably his best parking space. Too bad we have logjams at both slots, right now, and some player overlap in both slots: Duran, Masa, KC...

Agreed. Depth is a nice thing, but when you have some clearly weak areas, it's a luxury misplaced.

I'm super high on Jo Garcia, but Bleis and Cespedes are not even in my top 30.

It was about double the PAs from the Dalbec and Middlebrook teases. I know others hate seeing him take the third strike so much, but I love his approach. He's got a good eye, and he rarely takes a strike right down the middle. I'm cautiously optimistic.

I agree. I think if he's healthy he can easily hit over .800 and maybe even go .850+ with 30+ HRs.

Tiny sample size, last year. .766>.856>.800 before .2025 can be viewed as a down trend, but maybe not.

I thought it was pretty low, too.

.808 Anthony .789 Contreras .777 Abreu .774 Casas .767 Duran .760 Yoshida .745 Romy .731 Rafaela .729 Durbin .715 Story .715 Campbell .703 Mayer .686 Narvaez .684 Wong .682 Monasterio .632 IKF

He's making $18M this year and next. If he get's DFA'd and picked up, and he likely would be, he'd be making $18M this year and next. The Sox pay about $17.2M a year and the new team $800K a year. To me, it makes sense to see if someone will trade a bag of used balls for him + $14M a year. They pay $4M a year, and that comes off our tax line. Then, JH can go out and spend like crazy at the deadline! LOL

#1 Duran v R Romy v L

When he's DFA'd one team claims him based on their slot in picking order. It's not a bidding war.

Too funny. 🤣😂🤣