It’s possible the Astros will add an ace-caliber pitcher via trade this offseason, but it’s not going to come at the expense of 22-year-old infielder Alex Bregman. Astros executives are telling teams that there’s “no chance” Bregman will go anywhere, reports ESPN’s Buster Olney (Insider required and recommended). That’s hardly a surprise, as Bregman is controllable through the 2022 season and has been resoundingly successful since the Astros took him second overall in the 2015 draft. After racing through the minors, Bregman thrived in his first taste of big league action this past season and now looks like the Astros’ long-term solution at third base.
More rumors from around the majors:
- The Padres are “aggressively shopping” infielder Yangervis Solarte, and the NL West rival Dodgers are among the teams discussing him with San Diego, relays FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link). The Dodgers have openings at both second and third base, two places Solarte has seen action. Most of Solarte’s work has come at the hot corner, where the expectation is the Dodgers will re-sign Justin Turner.
- The Blue Jays are “in talks” with free agent utilityman Steve Pearce, tweets Olney. Toronto first showed interest in Pearce last month. With Kendrys Morales and Justin Smoak already in the fold, signing Pearce would give the Jays another first base/designated hitter type and perhaps signal the end of the Edwin Encarnacion era.
- The Indians made runs at two notable free agent DH/outfield types in now-Astro Carlos Beltran and the newest Yankee, Matt Holliday, according to Rosenthal and Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (Twitter links). Cleveland continues to look at available “corner bats,” Rosenthal adds. Several free agent first basemen/DHs are reportedly on their radar.
- Free agent reliever Greg Holland is “a popular guy” at the winter meetings, a major league source told Rob Bradford of WEEI. Holland was a dominant late-game option with the Royals over the first several years of his career, but October 2015 Tommy John surgery prevented him from pitching last season. He’s now ready to return for his age-31 campaign, and MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes expects him to land a two-year, $18MM deal.
Dodgers go signPearce!!!!
Lefty Crusher whos versatile…sign him to about a 2year 12mil deal simillar to chris young’s
Thank God the Astros won’t deal Bregman. They better not. They have enough solid prospects and young major leaguers to make a deal happen. Start with Joe Musgrove and throw in 3 top 10 organizational prospects for Archer and that should be enough.
That’s way too much for Archer. Musgrove will be a solid #3 rotation guy and it would be insane to give away 3 additional top ten ( in your organization) prospects. That’s the kind of deal the White Sox will get for Sale. I get all the hype around Archer and while he is very good, he isn’t great.
I would love to see him in Houston, even over Sale, however he is not worth the risk you mentioned. I’d Propose Musgrove, P Tucker, and maybe Paulino (or another top 10 prospect). Throw in Kemp if they have to have 4 players. They get a quality SP, a power potential bat, a guy who can get on base at a high clip, and a prospect with a high ceiling. Heck, I’d gladly swap Reed for P Tucker in the deal too.
Over the past 3 years, Chris Archer ranks in the top 20 of all MLB pitchers in IP, SO, FIP, xFIP and fWAR and is also signed for 5 years at $39mm. He is one of the most valuable pitchers in MLB. Musgrove is not nearly enough to headline a deal for him. Truthfully, I’m not sure if Houston matches up for an Archer trade since they don’t have any top notch near MLB ready position prospects and I don’t see the Rays making a deal where the top 2 or 3 pieces are pitchers.
Thank you…. someone needed to clear this up for him. Lol
One thing I did not realize was his contract, and that certainly changes everything. To be honest, I thought he was a FA in a year or two.
Also, Houston does not have any “very close” position players outside of Derek Fisher, so you were mostly correct there.
With Archer locked up cheap for 5 more years, then no, Houston may not be a good matchup unless we are willing to give up Springer. I would hate that, however the best trades hurt for both sides and we do have Fisher who is most likely mlb ready right now.
I’d like to see them go after Hosmer and Duffy or Hosmer and Ventura from the Royals. Especially if they are going to throw in Reed in any prospect package.
Reed is a bust, I’d love to see him traded anywhere. Watching him last year was terrible, I was embarrassed FOR him. He is extremely overmatched at the big league level. He’s way too fat, his contact level is low, he has terrible pitch recognition, and worst of all, he has very slow swing speed for a “power” hitter.
I had all the hopes and dreams for him and they all became a tragic nightmare last season…
You can tell all that by watching a 23 year old rookie in less than 150 major league at bats? Amazing! Here I am thinking Astros have him ranked as a top 5 prospect in their deep farm system because they see potential in him.
Absolutely! If a player sputters in his first taste of the big leagues, its all over. No team should ever give that player a second try. Pbbbbbbbbbbbbssst to you.. My team will gladly take him off the waiver wire as soon as Houston agrees with you.
It’s way too early to say reed is a bust. I don’t see him having a future in Hou in the next year or so, but he has a long time to show his worth.
Rizzo struggled in his first taste of MLB in San Diego so bad Hoyer was able to get him from his old team. Rizzo struggled with the Cubs a few years ago as well. Cubs extended him anyway.
Point is like some others said above struggling in the big leagues at the beginning does not mean anything
It absolutely means something. Is it a death sentence? Absolutely not. But to say it doesn’t mean anything is crazy. Anthony Rizzo is an outlier. For every Rizzo, there are countless prospects that fizzle out after reaching the majors.
Reed is not a bust. and Houston is not going to sell low on a guy with 123 at bats who hit .340 and 34 home runs in 2015 and was on pace to hit 30 more HRs in 2016 before his call up an subsequent yo-yoing by AJ Hinch after he started poorly just like Bregman
the angels should take a flyer on greg holland
Story of the offseason. Teams want Ace pitcher and refuse to give up top prospects.
I am really starting to hate the word “untouchable”. A sure sign of a closed mind.
Agreed, the Sox should not settle for anything less than Swanson plus and The ‘Stros should absolutely ask for nothing less than Bregman, these guys are top pitchers in baseball and have years of control.
Padres are dumping salary faster than Warren Beatty dumped gf’s.
Solarte isnt a salary dump. He is a sell high and clear room for younger players to get playing time trade chip though. Asuaje will benefit from this and get playing time at 2nd while Schimpf gets time at 3rd.
I wonder if the Padres could get Deleon for Solarte straight up.
If Im preller I take that deal in a heartbeat lol. But more realistically itll be Gavin Lux and Brock Stewart and 2 A ball players with either high risk high reward type stuff.
not even in your wildest dreams, if LA gives up JDL, it will be for Dozier or another big player. not a 2nd tier guy
no way, if LA gives up JDL, it will be for Dozier or another big player. not a 2nd tier guy
Why no way? Solarte is an everyday Major League 3rd baseman coming off an .808 OPS season with three more years of control. That’s easily worth a solid but not elite pitching prospect like De Leon.
Yeah if the dodgers are involved in trade talks, it won’t be for any of their top tier prospects. Though I think the Padres could still get some decent pieces from them for Solarte.
It’s never going to happen, but if the O’s could sign Holland to a 2yr/18mil deal, they should do it.
6th inning could be Gyvens/Drake, O’Day, Holland, Britton. Which would be ideal, because our starting pitchers rarely go deeper than 5 innings.
Brach would be expendable, Brach+Christian Walker could maybe net a RF like Jorge Soler?