There are “two developing holes” on the Astros roster that the team could address at the trade deadline, ESPN’s Buster Olney writes in his latest Insider-only column. One is a big bat capable of filling the left field or DH spots, and the other is a potential closer. For the former, Houston has a number of internal candidates on hand (Marwin Gonzalez, Evan Gattis, Josh Reddick, Jake Marisnick) who have either struggled or been battling injuries, while youngsters like J.D. Davis, Tony Kemp, or prospect Kyle Tucker represent more options as manager A.J. Hinch juggles his lineup. Ken Giles has a 4.50 ERA and has allowed a lot of hard contact this season (.368 xwOBA), though he’s also given up just one walk and one homer in 18 innings, against 16 strikeouts. Given Giles’ struggles last postseason, however, the Astros could very well look at pitchers like Kelvin Herrera or Brad Hand to bolster themselves for some important ninth innings come this October.
Here’s some more from around the AL West…
- Sticking with the Astros relief corps, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal (video link) believes the team could specifically target a left-hander at the deadline. While Chris Devenski and Hector Rondon can handle left-handed batters, the only actual southpaw in the Houston pen is Tony Sipp, who has become a spare part rather than a regularly-used arm. The questions surrounding Giles notwithstanding, Rosenthal thinks adding a lefty might be the only real relief need for Houston, as the Astros have one of the best overall bullpens in the game.
- Athletics starter Daniel Gossett left today’s game after five innings due to elbow tightness, though he told reporters (including Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle) that his removal was precautionary. “I just didn’t want to overextend anything or have it lead to anything that might be worrisome,” Gossett said. The right-hander will undergo an MRI tomorrow in Oakland. Any missed time for Gossett would further thin out an already injury-riddled A’s pitching staff, as Gossett was himself a rotation fill-in while Brett Anderson and Andrew Triggs were out on the disabled list.
- Rookie Isiah Kiner-Falefa has emerged as a versatile part of the Rangers roster, and Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News chronicles at how Rangers scout Steve Flores came upon the youngster almost by accident. Kiner-Falefa initially caught Flores’ attention while the scout was on hand to watch another member of Kiner-Falefa’s high school team in Hawaii, and the interest developed to the point that Texas selected Kiner-Falefa in the fourth round of the 2013 draft.
Brad Hand and Craig Stammen for Kyle Tucker who hangs up first?
Padres.
Padres, need to add Whitley, Alvarez and Peacock to keep SD on the line.
You might have missed it, but SD said they are looking for an Aroldis-to-Cubs level return for Hand alone. Adding Stammen means Houston would basically have to send their top 3 or 4 prospects plus other pieces.
In no universe would Hand cost nearly that much. You’re making yourself look incredibly dumb with comments like that. My goodness
My goodness, you are dumb for ignoring the fact that I was quoting AJ Preller. Sorry but MLB doesn’t work like MLB the Show and GMs are often stubborn about things like this. Buy a clue.
Lol
Padres. Astros aren’t even including all of their top 10 prospects. Hand is easily the key to a dynasty for the Astros.
Do you know how hard it is to even repeat World Series wins in back -to-back years, let alone create a dynasty?
They both hang up
It’d be a mutual hanging up. Like “okay, I’ll let you go now.” “Yeah, thanks so much for the call, talk to you soon.”
The Astros never make the call.
hypothetically that trade happens, the Astros DFA Sipp for Hand, and the what other pitcher do they get rid of for a 34 year old Stammen having a career 1/3 of a season?
Its Hector Rondon, not Rendon.
raisel iglesias and Scooter Gennet for Whitley, Tucker, Alverez and Nova.
Scooter bad glove, hitting 341, 11 Hrs, Raisel a shutdown cloer.
And where would the Astros play Gennet?
DH!
That’s too much going to Cincy imo. I’d probably take out one of tucker/Whitley and add Bukauskas instead.
I’m not even sure the reds could get either of Tucker or Whitley. Given the Astros farm they’d probably include a quantity return over their future stars.
Such a dumb trade, Scooter isnt a fit in Houston.
Herrera isn’t better than Giles….. and their pen is full of righties. Not that I expect Olney to have anything smart to say.. How is that dude still employed
I think you or I are better than Giles.
Giles has a career 2.24 FIP. Maybe you should go try out for some MLB teams cause you’d make some big bucks if you can put up better numbers than that.
“Herrera isn’t better than Giles”……what?……
Giles was an elite reliever last year, Herrera was replacement level. 1/3 of a season doesn’t change that.
How about you stretch your sample longer than last season? Herrera had a big down year last year. Giles was bad in the postseason and honestly he’s only been a good closer in Houston for one season. His first season was bumpy and this season is no different. They pretty much know he’s not the man for the job now. I’d be more alarmed now than I was in ‘15. His K numbers are way down. I’ll have to take a look at his swinging strike numbers but I’d imagine they’re way down as well.
“Stretch your sample longer than one year!” …. proceeds to talk about postseason numbers aka the smallest sample size available. LOL!!!
Okay, stretching the sample to their entire career’s Herrera has a 2.75/3.13/3.37 ERA/FIP/xFIP compared to GIles’s 2.63/2.23/2.80. I guess we might be able to find a sample size we can stretch it to to make Herrera look better if we try. Giles and Herrera are almost identical on the season even, with the biggest difference being that Giles has an unsustainably low 57.5 LOB%, while Herrera’s is unsustainably high at 95.9%.
One thing that is also down, is Herrera’s velocity which is about 1-2 mph lower than when he was at his peak, while Giles is just as good as even.
Are you incapable of looking up stats before making pointless comments? Giles has a career 2.24 FIP. Herrera has a career 3.13 FIP. Giles has been under 3 every year of his career, Herrera only 4/7 years. Giles is a year younger. Oh I see you’re a typical homer who thinks the players on his favorite team are way better than they are. Giles is better and it takes two google searches to figure that out. Get a clue.
Damn, Gossett threw a 7 pitching inning then an 8 pitch inning then came out hurt. Basically threw the best 2 innings of his career then got hurt and possibly needs TJ. Rough.
He won’t need Tommy john surgery
Says who? Are you the surgeon?
Great, just great the the Brad Hand sweepstakes have started again. Here come the Padres fans expecting a Chapman-Miller haul, and hand picking the only top prospects deemed worthy to get such a game changing talent.
Agreed. Also hate the fallacy of “Let’s assume every team is in a 108 year old championship curse, with consensus top-prospect in all MLB, blocked the next 10+ years.”
I feel like you guys are ignoring the fact that Hand is like, really good and one of the top relievers in the game. And the fact that Torres and Sheffield didn’t gain their value until after the trades. Neither were near the top of the top 100 boards at the time.
It was a perfect storm with Chapman and the Cubs’ situation. And Cubs’ fans would crucify Theo, if they did not win it all, 2016.
Heck… I still see some Cubs fans… complain — despite the 2016 WS Ring — Gleyber was an overpay for Chapman, and they would’ve still won 2016 WS, w/o Chapman. (Fantasy land)
Ok, but I don’t see how that has to deal with Hand anyways? With Hands contract, he might actually be more valuable than Chapman was. It just seems like you don’t think he’ll return that much to the Padres even though he will
Chapman was so good, (better than Hand) seen as the missing piece. We’ll see if someone values Hand as much. think Hand gets traded, but don’t think “Chapman-like” return is guaranteed as many of you (mostly Pads’ fans) make it out. But if it happens, I’ll admit I was wrong 100%, and be happy for you guys. Good luck Pads’ fans. Preller did well extending Hand, now let’s see what prospects, Hand nets
Torres was the Cubs #1 prospect at the time. Miller was even considered more valuable then Chapman that season, because of his versatility. Hand in no way will get those same hauls, cause at the time it was the perfect storm for both the Cubs and Indians needs.
I don’t think Hand brings back a top 10 prospect in baseball alone. If you add it Stammen or Yates, I could definetly see it.
Of course Hand is more valuable than Chapman. Hand isn’t about to just leave after the season.
In hind sight, the Chapman trade is a lot worse than it was at the time, and it was still bad at the time. I’m not saying Hand will return a top 10 like prospect like Torres is, but a top 50 prospect like Torres was. That deals outlook has a lot to deal with how much Torres rode up the boards after the deal.
And again, Hand has a contract that is amazing and is still one of the best relievers in the game, probably top 10. Chapman was only controllable for three months. Hand will get at least one bonafide grade A prospect.
Torres was a top 30 prospect when the Cubs traded him….. what do you mean he wasn’t top 100 lol
Cubs trade for Chapman is objectively one of the worst trades in the last decade. I said it at the time and stand by that now. Just a terrible overpay. Indians gave up similar package for Miller with 2 extra years of control. Worst move Theo has ever made.
And if the Cubs hadn’t come back to win game 7, Chapman would have been blamed for the loss cuz he game up that HR to Davis.
I wonder if, had the Cubs lost the World Series, Theo would have overpaid to keep Chapman in Chicago to give the illusion that he didn’t trade Torres for a rental. Or maybe he would have been smart enough to realize that signing him wouldn’t change the fact that the trade was a sunk cost.
Who knows, but the more he posts it maybe it will magically be real.
Who said he wasn’t?
Holy how did JD’s post get 10 downvotes? Nothing they said was wrong. Hand is more valuable than Chapman was at the time he was traded, how can anyone disagree with that?
Trading hand to the Astros makes too much sense not to happen, but if we’re being realistic it’s not going to be another Miller-Chapman trade.
Here come the entitled fans of contending teams expecting to get Hand for spare parts and fringe prospects and then berating Preller for not taking their lowball offers and acting like they were doing him a huge favor with those offers.
*scans comment section
*sees no trade proposals from fans of contending teams
You tell them!
As a Padre fan, I’m not delusional about potential returns for Hand. It’s not going to be a “Chapman to the Cubs”-type trade, but I could see Hand bringing back 1-2 good prospects from a contending team (maybe a lottery ticket throw-in type as well). The Astros are a perfect fit for him, and their farm is so deep that even if they don’t get someone like Whitely, the Padres will still get some intriguing pieces.
The padres need to target that elite level talent for hand though. If it takes packaging him with a Yates or stammen or whomever. They really need to shoot for the upper echelon prospects. They have a million above average to good prospects but you only have so many spots on a major league team. Look at the glut of young guys they have in the outfield right now. They don’t need more of that. They need to get a real impact guy. The padres have more lottery tickets than probably any team in baseball.
Kyle Tucker is a top 20 prospect for Houston. And he’s an outfielder.
Whitley and Tucker are the Astros’ only prospects that are good enough to be a centerpiece for Hand. But they alone are probably worth more than Hand. That’s why I included Stammen.
The part no one is talking about is that Preller’s reputation might once again hinder him from being offered fair market value for Hand. Let alone the overpay he seems to be holding out for.
I don’t see Hand getting traded at all, Preller seems extremely set on being blown away by an offer or standing pat. No reason for him not be tbh
I could see Hand going to the Nats or maybe even Cleveland !
Tucker and Whitley are not even on the table for Trout, much less anyone else.
lol
Giles has a predictably flat fast ball and “realy good at times” but predictable slider. He’s a 2 pitch guy so everyone picks one and looks for it to drive. He needs a moving 2 seem or functional change up. Anything to break up the predictable pitch sequence.
Interesting trade talk but concerning the Astros they will most likely refrain from a move until late this month and July. My guess is they are still interested in Zach Britton and will wait to see if he is fully recovered and to form. Barring that they will look also at Iglesias in Cinci or Brad Hand from San Diego but do not expect Tucker or Whitley includedin any trade deal and to note the Astros are loaded with farm and young players . Forgotten ones like Martes, JD Davis (not really playing much)Paulino and a host of others including Tony Kemp they have the prospects and young players to get a deal done with either Cinci or San diego.