How Astros hot stove reports imply BIG roster changes!

How Astros hot stove reports imply BIG roster changes!

Welcome to Stone Cults. I’m Brandon Strange with Charlie Polo and Josh Jordan. You can go follow them on XPolo and Josh Jordan SCS. On today’s episode, the Astros first choice is pitching this off season. Their second could be second. We’ll explain. Speaking of second baseman, two of Alt’s little piggies went to the orthopedic surgeon. We’ll discuss the latest on him. And is Houston looking to sell high on one of their breakout players from 2025? One Astros insider says probably. Before all that, uh, hit like on the video, subscribe to the channel if you haven’t already. Click that bell for notifications so you know when new content drops, and when you’re on the go and you want to listen, we’re on all your favorite podcast apps. Just search Stone Cold Strobes. Charlie, Josh, welcome in. Uh, let’s start with some quick hitters before we get into the meat and potatoes of the conversation. Uh quickly, uh Frober declined the qualifying offer this week, which means Houston will receive a compensatory pick once he signs elsewhere. Raone Urias, uh he’s been DFAD. The open roster spot makes way for Miguel Ula. Uh promoted to the 40man. Uh Josh, you mentioned how much the team loves Dubon, so it’s clear they they had a preference between him and Urias. Uh Forest Whitley uh Forest Whitley was granted his release from the Rays to pursue playing in Japan. So fairly well to you. And then the Orioles announced Tuesday that Pedro Leon has already been DFAD less than two weeks after being claimed off waiverss from the Astros. So that gets you caught up. Uh let’s get into the newsy newsy stuff. Reports came out this week the Astros are among teams interested in card second baseman Brandon Donovan. Now, interest is obviously just that. I’m sure Josh has interest in a PreCBS Strat or a 59 less Paul. Uh I have interest in a Rolex Yacht Master. Like I I don’t think it’s in the budget for e either of us currently. However, um Channel Rome says that St. Louis is looking for starting pitching, which is something that Houston has some depth at as long as you’re not looking for front-end starters. Outside of the feasibility of it, Charlie, how do you think or what do you think um how do you think Donovan fits into this lineup? And then what do you think the implications of that interest are considering the infield log jam that the Astros already have? Speaks to several things. one the awkward fit of the current pieces of the puzzle for the Astros everyday players. Uh Brendan Diamond’s a good ball player, lefthanded hitting second baseman. So that’s point one, right? The glut of infielder, potential infielders the Astros have. Walker, Altuve, Pñena, Koreah, Paradis, all right-handed hitters. Donovan will be cheaper than any of them. Here’s a heretical point. If the Astros could trade Altuve for Donovan, you do it in a heartbeat. Altuveet, 35 years old, in decline, making $25 million. Donovan was a better player last season, hits left-handed. He’ll turn 29 years old going into the season and play for about $5 million. Obviously, Altuve is not going anywhere. But if you acquire Donovan, well, you’re already forcing Altuve to play more second base with the evident plan to play Yordon Alvarez a lot more in left field. Not sure how sensible that is, but they have all these moving parts. I’m going to circle back to while it made sense for the stretch drive under the circumstances. $22 million of Koreah is complicating in both roster construct and especially payroll. But if you have an inconjunction move that you know you’re going to trade off Paradis or Christian Walker, it has to be one of those guys. Kareah has a full no trade clause. Altuve is not going anywhere. Donovan would fit in very naturally economically in terms of price. Look, if I can get him for Spencer Aragetti and a lowlevel minor leaguer, done deal. If I know I’m moving another infielder off the roster. And one more point, Urias gone. Okay, failed trade. He didn’t hit here. All they gave up was a lottery ticket, low minor league arm to get him from the Orioles. So if they’re committed to Debon at more than 6 million, that’s one more reminder that Bryce Matthews just hasn’t shown enough. He play for the minimum. He could play second base and shorts stop and with spring training with his athleticism, he could play a little outfield in a pinch. You don’t want Duban getting another 400 plate appearances. is I don’t care how good his glove is, especially to pay 6 million plus for the privilege. Um, Donovan would be a heck of a lot better player and fit on this roster than Duban, who they could ultimately non-tender if they chose to go that route, though I think there could be a modest modest return, but he would be tradable. Talking about Dubon if they want to unclutter things a little bit. Yeah, I I get it. Donovan sounds great, but man, Charlie hit on it’s like we we got to figure out this infield thing first, it just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. And yeah, with Yordon playing more in the outfield and what’s going to happen with Jesus Sanchez and we’re hearing that Cam Smith’s not guaranteed a spot on the roster. So, if you don’t keep Jesus Sanchez, what’s the plan there if Cam Smith isn’t showing you he looks like a big leager this spring? Just a lot of moving pieces. Does that mean I don’t know the infield is something where you’re right Koreah does complicate things but really it’s Christian Walker that complicates thing and the problem with me is the people coming up with this are the same people that thought Nolan Aronado was going to be a great addition to the Astros and all that extra contract they wanted to add on remember that and we first guessed that not secondguessed that we said please God don’t do that is a terrible idea and thank goodness his no trade no trade clause he wouldn’t wave it and he’s not here So, it worries me a little bit who’s making these decisions, especially for the long term. And you know, Charlie hit on it. The Korea thing. I love the move, don’t get me wrong, but it does complicate things. But you get Christian Walker out of here, things look a lot more clear. But, but you’re right. If they did get Donovan, what happens with Altuve? And what are you doing with Yordon and left? And Aluve has been banged up. Are we going to see him DH more? There’s just a lot more questions than answers. And and I thought all we heard was pitching was the priority. just when we did a video a week or two ago and now we’re talking about trying to give up the pitching prospects that we somehow have to go get Donovan. I if we have these great pitching prospects, why aren’t we hanging on to them and hoping that they come up and and provide you something at the end of the year or somewhere down the line? It’s just it’s exciting. We love this stuff and this it’s all about speculation and what could the roster look like and it’s all fun, but right now I’m I’m having a hard time figuring out kind of what the plan is. Yeah. Uh Donovan would be very nice in a vacuum. He’d be a fabulous addition. Four years in the big leagues. Batting average by season, 281, 284, 278, 287. OPS by year, 773, 787,7759,775. We know exactly what he is. So, should it somehow happen, don’t be sick to your stomach with the Astros off season acquisition of a second baseman named Brendan, the Rogers waste of a year ago. Yeah, I look I I think we have to also temper this with, you know, this news with what the motivations could be for people leaking this information out there. Is this to drum up interest in uh in someone? But I will say this, uh, yeah, I I agree. Lefty team control. He’s what, entering year one of ARB, uh, can play second base also, uh, profiles as a corner outfielder. So, that provides some flexibility in a way that the Astros could certainly use as we’re talking about like what are they going to do with the outfield and kind of, you know, how to solve some of that log jam. Low strikeout guy. um not a lot of power but gets on base and that’s something that this team desperately needs but especially with the high strikeout rate if you’re going to keep Cam on this roster if you’re going to like take a you know chance on some of these other guys they got to have some guys that see pitches and can get on base now interesting last season yeah absolutely and uh Jeff Passen uh says the Rays are listening to offers to Brandon Laauo now he would be obviously a rental as is entering the final year of his deal. Uh the Rays picked up that $1.6 million team option for him, but they’re clearly looking to shop him around. Do you do would the Astra I mean considering the log jam I I don’t know that a Brennan Laauo I mean obviously Brandon is a great player but does he solve anything in the big picture for Houston? again, left-handed hitter, 31 home runs last season. I mean, he’s a slugging middle infielder, but also has ample injury history. He’s a low walk, very high strikeout guy. And did you say 11.6 million, unless the Rays are going to pay that down, which is not exactly their mo. Uh, Donovan would be the better fit. Uh, though it should be noted he missed near a month last season with a groin injury and then had hernia surgery at the end of the season. Expected to be fine going to spring training. Allah Altuve after getting those piggies taken care of or the abscess or whatever it was in there that was tended to earlier in the week. Yeah, that’s the thing I noticed looking at Donovan. He’s only had one year where he’s played over 150 games. That was in 2024. Of course, he’s only played four years, but just saying that the numbers are what they are. I guess my biggest thing is I’m more excited about who’s going out this off season than who’s coming in. I think that’s kind of where I’m at. I just I wouldn’t mind a small deal like Verlander. I’d like to see them go get a meaningful pitcher. Adding infielders right now. I’m just it feels like it it makes your problem even more difficult. And then it’s a matter of leverage. If say you do add another infielder like Donovan, then it’s like everybody knows how bad you got to get rid of some infielders here. So I don’t like that leverage that you’re giving to other ball clubs. As exciting as that would be, it’s about what does the final product look like when they take the field and and do you have is all your talent actually on the field to where because they were talking about, oh, sometimes Pettis will DH, sometimes he’ll play first base, sometimes he’ll play third, you know, are we really going to do that? I’d like to see a guy like Pettis have an everyday position if he’s going to be on the club just because as exciting as Donovan is, he’s not going to take advantage of the Crawford boxes like Pedes can do. I think leverage left when with the year that Christian Walker had in 2025. I I think le whoever they’re going to be pawning him off on is going to be number one taking a chance that their hitting coaches can help rehab or I mean granted he did his second half of the season was good so it’s it’s unfair to say that he had a terribly off year. He just was unimpressive to Astros fans, especially the ones that went to go see him live because his, as we’ve mentioned on here, his home road splits were uh there was disparity there. But, uh, yeah, I I I agree. I I do think this strong, going back to the original question, I think this strongly indicates that either, uh, Pedes or Walker is going to be on the move. I don’t think I I feel very strongly one of those two guys will not be on the roster when they go to spring training. Um, now circling back to what you talked about, uh, this kind of related, Charlie, but you you brought up Jose Altuve having that minor procedure where they took, uh, fluid from a wound that was between a couple of his toes. Uh, sorry if that was graphic. Hope you weren’t eating. Um, that’s the same foot that we, you know, heard was giving him trouble at the end of the season. They pulled him from a game in September. He missed a game after that and basically just played through the pain. it sound like he had been playing through it before they pulled him from that first game. So, this was clearly something ongoing there. So, I guess two-parter here. one is do you think um helping bring in a guy like Donovan um and kind of having some extra pieces maybe maybe not Donovan specifically but like keeping a guy like Dubon around and maybe adding a Donovan helps maybe alleviate the need for Altuvi to play so much because we talked so much about of uh Joe Espatada overworking him in 2025. And then um two is uh well I forgot what the second part is so let’s just go with that first question. Do you think this is a depth this can be a depth move for Alt to play so much? Well um I don’t I don’t think we need a correlation on it. Altuve played too much. 35-year-old players should not start 154 games, even if nearly onethird of those came in the designated hitter role, along with Alub’s decline in production over the last two years. I mean, the numbers tell truths. He popped up at a higher rate than he ever has in his career. I mean, he’s never been a big exit velocity guy. That’s okay that he was toward the lower rungs on the ladder in that category, but he’s become too pull happy. He also pulled the ball at a higher rate than he ever has before in his career. I mean, the home run numbers are good, but the batting average has fallen. And with it, the on base percentage and with that, the overall quality of the offensive player. How much of that can be attributed to wearing down over the course of the long season as you’re in your mid30s? All I know is that in 2024 through miday, Altuve was off to a gangbuster start. And then over the last nearly 120 games, three quarters of the season, his OPS was 740. Well, 2025 before he missed the game when they took him out, for a full month before that, he hit 150 with an OPS under 500. So, if the foot issue, uhoh, was really a month-long, six week problem, shame on Altuve, playing like garbage and not fessing up to it, or gee, the Astros medical staff asleep at the wheeler at the switch, not realizing they had a badly compromised player because anybody playing would have been better than Altuve given the declined defense. He’s now below average in speed by the metrics. He’s about 35th percentile in in sprint speed at this point in his career. So to have a guy with an OPS of 500 in the lineup still day after day after day as the Astros ultimately were slip sliding away from a sevengame lead in the division to missing the postseason entirely. He can’t play 155 games anymore. That would be managerial incompetence or neglect. Uh you’re living in the past. Joe Espada thinking that Altuve can get back to where he was in 2017 18. Forget it. And keep in mind, we’re just getting started on this contract for Altuve. He’s going to be here a long time. You don’t want to run him into the ground at 35 years old. Let’s be smart about that. I get the point that you want to play him down the stretch when you’re trying to make the postseason, but not to the point of which he’s not any better than a replacement player. But that’s the other problem, right? Who would the replacement player be? It’d be somebody like Dub Bon or somebody like that on the old roster that that gives you nothing with the bat as well. And it’s he shares a position with Yordon where you have to have kids gloves with him too. There’s there’s only so many off days and so many ways you can keep these guys rested and protect them, but that has to be a top priority. You have way too much money invested in Altuve and and to some extent Yordon as well. Yeah, Charlie, it’s why we’ve uh worked well together is you actually hit on what the second part of that question was was how much of that uh do you take solace in the fact that maybe the foot contributed a little bit to what uh we saw the performance in the second half? I I just have to hope that Joe Espatada and or the medical the new medical staff took some information from this that this was informative for them that you’re not going to you’re not going to will more production out of a hurt player. And then also, I mean, come on, at the end of his career and at this contract that you mentioned, Josh, that they’re paying him uh in far excess of what his production trends to be over this period. You’ve got to protect him for in for the same reason you got to protect Yordon. And we were talking before this about, you know, Yordon playing more in the outfield. Like, what sense does that make? Well, this kind of compounds kind of dovetales on that. So, so Chandler also says that uh interest has never been higher in Jake Meyers. Now, that stands to reason we’ve talked about that on this show probably I think a month ago. Uh one of the the things I mentioned was keep an eye out on Houston maybe selling high on Meyers considering he had this kind of anomaly of a year. So Chandler concurs. He says, especially given what the team just went through with Chaz McCormack, where they held on to Chaz McCormick through interest. Other teams had interest in Chaz McCormack and then they end up having to just DFA him because there’s no value left. He says that um the Phillies could be interested in Jake Myers. Now look, I I like Jake. Obviously, we’re we love what Jake brings to the team, but it makes a lot of sense to not get caught trying to squeeze too much juice out of the orange or however you want to say it. I just worry because you look at Jake and he was one of the few offensive bright spots in 2025, like unexpected surprises. What does that 2026 outfield look like? Should they deal Jake Myers? Yeah. And Jake Myers once he finally got back from the calf injury and the aggravation of the calf injury, he was pre2025 Jake Myers. I mean, he hit 200 with an OPS of about 475 the last 15 games of the season. But the hope would be that with a recovery of offseason and gearing up in spring training that he’ll go back to 2025 Jake Myers pre-calf problems. Cross your fingers on that if you’re the Astros or otherwise. He turns 30 next season. He’s still pretty economical. Probably comes in in the $3.5 million range as a salary arbitration season 2 uh player. The glove plays anywhere. The throwing arms and noodle anywhere, but Jake Myers can go get it at an elite level. The thing is, what in the hell are you doing in center field if you’re the Astros? Jacob Meltton has shown nothing. Zack Cole is a 250 minor league career hitter. Both of those guys strike out at rates rates that make Christian Walker look like peak Jose Altuve in terms of making contact. Um, if you’re a contending team, I don’t see how you can go into the season thinking, well, either Melton or Cole, couple of left-handed hitters, one of them will be worthy of the job. I’d also be curious in moving Meyers also shaving some payroll if you’re going with a minimum wage replacement. What’s the objective? A hard throwing bullpen arm. It’s not like you’re going to get a premium prospect from anyone for Jake Myers. No, that’s a good point. I don’t see you getting a lot. And yeah, Fan Graphs I think hasn’t projected about three and a half million. So maybe save a little bit there. I think if if it’s a decent package though for Jake, I might might want to take what you can when you can while you can because he could easily regress this year, you know, to Brandon’s point, and then you get nothing. But also, you could have a bunch of nothing with the guys that are sitting behind him. The other thing that occurred to me is remember there was a brief period of time where Cam Smith was getting reps in center field. Do you remember that in the outfield? You know, as they were like, “Oh, maybe that could be a possibility.” It never really, you know, came to fruition, but that was something that crossed their mind for a while. They’re like, well, hell, if he learned right field that quick, maybe he can play some center field. He’s big and fast and has a pretty good arm. But as we heard, they’re not even sure he’s going to make the club this year. So, and if that’s the case, I know Jesus Sanchez was just god awful when he came over to the Astros last year, but he does have a decent resume as a big league ball player and he is left-handed. He can play some corner outfield for you. I’m just kind of thinking, do you want to trade an asset when it’s at his absolute lowest, you know, or end up cutting them? I don’t think they do that, but they would have that option. So, it makes me wonder if you got a brand new hitting coach, a new offensive coordinator. You have all these new offensive pieces and coaches. It’s ground zero for everybody. It could be ground zero for him, too. He doesn’t have the pressure on him of joining a team in the middle of a playoff race. maybe he can kind of hit the reset button and get back to playing ball like he did a couple years ago when he was more productive. So much of this comes back to what are the payroll parameters Jim Crane agreed or endorsed going into tax territory at the trade deadline, not at the beginning of the season, right? The whole offseason dance a year ago was, hey, want to stay under the line. The presumption is that is the intent going into 2026. That is really tough trying to upgrade upgrade this roster. Yeah, I look I don’t think Jake Meyers gives you Jake Myers as the centerpiece of a trade gets you anything back of value. Jake Myers as a piece of a trade, as as a as a bundle could be it’s very attractive. There’s a reason why a lot of teams are calling for him because there’s a lot of value. I mean, and the same way that Houston looks at pitchers out there, kind of the uh island of misfit toys of pitchers out there and go, “Oh, we’ll take him. He’s got good spin. We can work with him.” There are other coaches, other teams that look at a guy like Jake Myers and go, “Oh, we can help unlock what’s there.” Like, he’s already showing potential. Uh, you know, high high exit VO guy. And and Charlie, you mentioned the the glove plays anywhere. So having a a great center fielder who can provide great coverage for you and if you can unlock some offense from him and help replicate what he did in 2025, then that could be an enticing package. I’m I would be in favor for the right deal. I think it’s got to be the right deal, but I think it is highly suspect, highly volatile to count on Jake Myers coming in and replicating what he did in 2025 in 202. I agree. And let’s remember, while the batting average was 300 for a good while, coming back at the end of the season, tank that, he also only hit three home runs and about 350 at bats. So that he could hit 240 and be a negative offensive player. absolutely would be on the table. I just want to mention Jacob Melton and Zack Cole who presumably would be the the two options if you move off Meyers. Both of those guys are older than Julio Rodriguez. Both of those guys are older than Andy Pahes of the Dodgers. They’re both 25 years old. These are not elite prospects. Meltton is a top three Astros prospect because of the state of the system, not because he’s an elite prospect of his own merits. and on MLB pipeline. And I know Zack Cole, wow. Couple of those tape measure type home runs. He’s not among the Astros top 15 prospects. He struck out 20 times in 47 at bats. Meltton 27 times in like 72 at bats. Small sample sizes, but Cole a strikeout disaster throughout his minor league career. Just does not project a hit for any sort of average at all in the big leagues. But his best tool is his throwing arm. He probably could play a major league center field. So can Melton, but I don’t want to be thinking, “Yeah, my center fielder has to hit ninth.” And to that point, Charlie, it makes you wonder, are they less focused on defense this year? All we heard last off season was, “Oh, Jake Myers, you have to have him in center field, especially with Altuve being there in left. He can help him in the power alleys and and he can help out with Cam Smith, who’s a rookie in right field, and defense is so important.” and Dana Brown saying, “Yeah, Christian Walker, the homers are great, but we’re more excited about his his gold glove defense at first base.” After he got a look at the offense last year, I’m thinking they they need to make sure the offense sees a little bit of uptick here, even if it comes at the cost of defense. I know Melton can play decent defense and his offense is terrible. But but Jake Meyers really really has proven to be an elite center fielder when it comes to defense. And he finally did show you something with bat last year. I’m just curious that maybe a little change in philosophy after they had just such a a poor offensive showing, especially towards the end of the year where it got really bad. Yeah. And Charlie, I think one of the things that Meyers shows us is that you don’t have to have necessarily elite prospects, and thank goodness for Houston that’s the case. But what sometimes you can catch lightning in a bottle like Chaz in 2023 or uh Meyers in 2025, but counting on it, that’s a whole other thing. Uh final thoughts before we jump out. Well, the first I think real notable free agent move of the off season, right? Generally things don’t get hot and heavy until the winter meetings which come up early next month, uh December 8th through the 11th anyway, in in Orlando. the Seattle Mariners with the first shot fire that yeah, we’re not backing down after finally breaking through and winning the division and coming so close to winning the pennant and finally going to a World Series. They keep Josh Naylor and the projection game Jim Bowden had him getting four years 90 million. Naylor signed with five years 92 a.5 million. I mean, seemingly a relative bargain. Loved his time there. Obviously, the success they had, but it’s $18.5 million per season. Naylor’s really good. Christian Walker makes 20 million. And well, he wasn’t really good. Now, the Mariners do still stand to lose Jorge Palano, their second baseman, who had a terrific year. I think a much lesser import is uh if Gino Suarez uh moves on uh as a ex-Mariner for the second time. But Josh Naylor, a big keep for the Mariners. And I’m sure the Astros took notice of it. Yeah. My my my big takeaways here is they think Yordon’s going to be ready. You know, we know he’s only at 60 something% now, but they think he’s going to be good to go for spring. They think Altuve is going to be good to go for spring. They got to be. The Astros need these guys to be healthy and to produce if they want to have any chance of accomplishing their goals this year. So hopefully the Astros have their medical staff. They’re they’ve revamped things. Hopefully, they have their finger on the pulse a little better and they’re right and they can these guys will be healthy and they can help them stay healthy because I mean it’s just hugely important. These these are the guys that are making all the money. They’re the cornerstone of your franchise. I think if you keep them healthy, you got a good shot here. And I expect a good year from Kareah and a lot of the other guys. They just they got to put it all together. Sometimes it’s just not your year. Injuries just they just they snowball on you. Sometimes you can tell kind of early on too. In this case, the Astros, it was the very end of the year where everything just completely unraveled. And I think this year, just stay healthy and I think you got a shot. But Charlie’s right. Mariners aren’t screwing around. They’re going to be tough to beat again. Bonus final point. We spent a little time last week because, well, it’s fun this time of year. Whose report was it? John Marosi, I think, on Dylan Cisus likely a free agent move in the offseason going to the Astros. Pish posh on that. Unless Jim Craig says the hell with it, spend whatever it takes to upgrade this roster given the Astros payroll circumstances. But beyond that, with Hunter Brown finishing third for Sai Young, the Astros get that bonus pick, right? A near dry gulch of a farm system. Ah, sip of water, a pick after the first round. You know what? The Astros sign Dylan Cece. They lose that pick as a taxpaying team. Unless an accounting miracle comes in when the numbers official final numbers come out the first week of December and somehow the Astros wriggled just below the first tax threshold. But that’s not the expectation. If they sign a Dylan CE or any other free agent, a magical Kyle Tucker, nah, forget it. But if they sign a guy of that caliber who turned down a qualifying offer, Michael King, same category, by the way, though he won’t get cease money, the Astros would forfeit their second and fifth highest selections that they have, not their second and fifth rounders. Those picks now would be the prospect promotion incentive pick they got for Hunter Brown, finishing third, which comes after the end of the first round, and their fourth round pick. I cannot see any way the Astros do that to pay a free agent pitcher$ 160 $175 million wherever cease uh comes in or even three years 70 million or whatever Michael King gets if they’re to add a free agent pitcher it’s a shortterm guy like an oldie in Mel Kelly maybe Zack Latell is another name to throw out there a starter who’s been durable and all right these last couple of seasons and then there’s always the one-year obligatory Justin Verlander contract mention So, you’re saying there’s a chance? We’ll leave it there. One last reminder, if you’re watching on YouTube, be sure to click like on the video. And if you listen on podcast apps like Apple or Spotify, please give us a five star rating while you’re here. For Josh and Charlie, I’m Brandon saying so long. Thanks for listening. And as always, ghosts.

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