Astros Report: Reliever Drew Storen Emerges As A Target
It’s already that time again for the Houston Astros.
The Winter Meetings are set for tomorrow all the way through Thursday of this week as baseball’s top executives gather together to talk turkey.
During the season, a lot of communication is done by phone and e-mail but this is the largest single gathering of the who’s who of those who are running pro baseball and the perfect time for executives to meet face-to-face.
As expected, the Astros are going to be quite active as they make some tweaks to a roster that was just a heartbeat away from qualifying for the ALCS.
There will be all kinds of rumors that will be flying about this team but we’ll be waiting and watching to see if any of them actually pan out.
The Astros certainly have an idea of what they and want and what they need.
But I have no doubt the Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow knows the stark difference between the two.
By the way, has he hired an assistant yet?
To my knowledge, that position is still open — maybe he feels it’s not a high-priority right now at the moment.
According to MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart, the theme for this year’s Winter Meetings for the Astros is beefing up on the bullpen.
Particularly on the reliever market.
The Astros have already been linked to rumors about going after Aroldis Chapman, Jake McGee and Ken Giles.
The Astros also want Drew Storen and here’s the latest from ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick:
#Astros have discussed Drew Storen as possible late-inning option. More a fallback if they don't land Chapman, Giles, McGee in trade.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) December 5, 2015
It remains to be seen if they actually nab any of those three.
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I’d love to see Chapman here.
But as reported, Storen will be more a backup target if the Astros don’t land any of the three, which I consider highly likely.
It’s quite understandable that the Astros want to go this route for a group that was rock-solid for most of the season but totally imploded in September.
The bullpen’s ERA for most of the season was on the three-range but had fallen to 6.42 collectively in September, the worst in MLB at that time.
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You saw and I saw it — there were times when you’d worry if this group would blow another one as our stellar starting pitching set the table just fine but only to find things fall apart down the stretch.
I’m okay with Luke Gregerson closing but with as big as a market there will be for relievers this year, there’s no sense in the Astros staying complacent on this.
Storen would be a nice addition to this roster but the Astros are going to have to get in line with a slew of other suitors for his services.
Next: Astros Should Target The Rays Relievers
Storen, 28, posted a 3.44 ERA along with 67 strikeouts to 16 walks through 55.0 IP in 58 games for the Washington Nationals in 2015. His solid 1.109 WHIP and excellent 2.79 FIP would make any executive long for his services.
We’ll see and were off the races!
Go ‘Stros.