MLB Chatter Thread

Jiggyfly

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I agree to an extent, but Luhnow's general philosophy has been to collect as much talent as possible with position needs being secondary. If Gurriel pans out, perhaps Bregman becomes a nice asset in a trade. If the Gurriel signing interferes with re-signing an Altuve or Correa down the road, I will be upset then.
Gurriel will be making 7 million a year by the time those contracts come up, by signing him it take the pressure off to sign Valbuena and Rasmus.

Bregman has been projected at 3rd, LF and CF they will find a place for him and have already said he is not being traded.

If he hits anywhere near what he is projected that will save money in the future.

And if it gets his brother to sign it will be a steal.
 

Rev

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I dont see the problem with it but I do hope he fails. Hope it causes Altuve and Correa to go elsewhere as well.
 

Jiggyfly

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http://www.si.com/mlb/2016/07/17/houston-astros-sign-yulieski-gurriel-cuba

Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow indicated that Gurriel would be on the Astros’ 25-man roster as soon as he was able to get a work visa and get his bat up to speed via, in Luhnow’s words, “a shortened version of spring training.” That doesn’t necessarily mean that Bregman will be blocked, however.

Luhnow mentioned Gurriel’s ability to play multiple positions several times on Saturday, describing him as a five-tool player who is “very good at all positions in the infield, and he can play the outfield.” It is unclear whether or not Gurriel actually played the 89 games in centerfield in 2005 that he is credited with on his Baseball-Reference page (he is credited with a similar workload at third base for that season despite having played just 89 games in total), but it seems clear that the Astros intend to use him as something like an everyday super-utility player, and could very well make similar use of Bregman. Luhnow appeared to support that idea saying, “what I want to do is to put as many good players out on the field as possible and let [manager] A.J. [Hinch] and the players sort out where they play every night,” adding, “we’ll make it work.” Hinch similarly praised Gurriel’s versatility in an interview with ROOT Sports before Saturday’s game.



Exactly how those pieces fit together remains to be seen, but first base, designated hitter and centerfield have been underperforming positions for the Astros this season (sOPS+ of 78, 56 and 60, respectively). Adding Gurriel and Bregman offers the possibility of filling two of those three holes in the lineup on a regular basis, most likely with one of them, not necessarily the same one every night, taking third and the other sharing first base and designated hitter with Valbuena. That said, if either proves viable in the outfield, and the Astros did work Gurriel out in the outfield before signing him, Houston could make use of that player in leftfield with Colby Rasmus shifting over to center. Whatever the alignment, it likely means less Evan Gattis, A.J. Reed and Marwin Gonzalez, and possibly even less Carlos Gomez and Jake Marisnick in the Astros lineup down the stretch. Given that those five players have hit a combined .221/.270/.367 on the season, the bar for success will not be set very high for Gurriel or Bregman, both of whom are capable of being impact players in the pennant race.
As for the contract, it is by far the largest of any current Astros player and will take Gurriel through his age 36 season, but it also has an average annual value below $10 million (the payout schedule has not yet been made public). So, it is a large gamble within the context of the Astros’ roster, but it is not a contract that will rob Luhnow of any flexibility going forward. If anything, it is a gamble that was made possible Luhnow’s ability to build a budget-price contender around homegrown stars such as Altuve, Correa and George Springer, who are making a combined $4.54 million this season.
 

Rev

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I thought I learned my lesson last year about giving up but they are really trying my patience now.

This pitching sucks and going to have to make a move soon.
 

Cotton

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I thought I learned my lesson last year about giving up but they are really trying my patience now.

This pitching sucks and going to have to make a move soon.
We have scored 11 runs in two games and lost them both. Yeah, I'm fed up with our pitching, to say the least.
 

Rev

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Lohse needs to be taken out back and put out of our misery. Sad thing is I'm going to my first Ranger game of the season and it's his spot in the rotation.

Now I do think that we have 3 spots in the rotation that should win most games with Yu back. Its just the offense not showing up on the last Darvish start and now two bad starts in a row.
 

Carp

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I agree to an extent, but Luhnow's general philosophy has been to collect as much talent as possible with position needs being secondary. If Gurriel pans out, perhaps Bregman becomes a nice asset in a trade. If the Gurriel signing interferes with re-signing an Altuve or Correa down the road, I will be upset then.
It is a nice problem to have for sure, lots of talent. I read some stuff that had him shifting to the OF, but I am not sure how much he has really played there...he has pretty much played 3B his entire career and 2B to a lesser extent. Saw some folks talking about him and Bregman basically being super utility guys...which in theory sounds good, but sometimes being used at multiple positions defensively retards their growth offensively.
 

Cotton

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Sounds like the Rangers are losing their fat lead off hitter.
Lead off hitter? You talking about Fielder? No big loss, really.
 

Rev

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Sounds like the Rangers are losing their fat lead off hitter.
Gallo could hit as much as he could and still hit homeruns. Ive been fed up with Fielder for awhile and it really bites that we are on the hook for that contract.
 
D

Deuce

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Lead off hitter? You talking about Fielder? No big loss, really.
Well, his numbers are comparable to a lead off hitter so whatevs. But I disagree. He's a loss and he's big...so he's a big loss.

But my fantasy team is looking forward to full time duty for profar now.
 

Rev

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Well, his numbers are comparable to a lead off hitter so whatevs. But I disagree. He's a loss and he's big...so he's a big loss.

But my fantasy team is looking forward to full time duty for profar now.
More like a bottom of the lineup hitter.
 

Rev

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For AAA..... He is a less advanced Joey Gallo.
 

Texas Ace

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Red Sox are on fire, and slowly creeping up on the best record in the AL.

It would be nice to get an arm or two at the trade deadline, but I would imagine there will be some competition for that as the Rangers are desperately in need of pitching themselves.

What a bright future the Red Sox have. Ramirez was amazing last night and he along with Betts, Bradley Jr, and Bogaerts should make for an excellent corps for years to come.....assuming they keep it intact.

Again, we just need the pitching. Get that in place, and the Sox are going to be good for a very long time.
 

Cotton

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Red Sox are on fire, and slowly creeping up on the best record in the AL.

It would be nice to get an arm or two at the trade deadline, but I would imagine there will be some competition for that as the Rangers are desperately in need of pitching themselves.

What a bright future the Red Sox have. Ramirez was amazing last night and he along with Betts, Bradley Jr, and Bogaerts should make for an excellent corps for years to come.....assuming they keep it intact.

Again, we just need the pitching. Get that in place, and the Sox are going to be good for a very long time.
I am jealous of their offense. I mean Texas has a decent offense, but the Red Sox are head and shoulders above almost everyone offensively.
 

Jiggyfly

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