Houston Astros Rumors: Team has plethora of options for a front line starter
With Spring Training on the horizon, the Houston Astros are looking to make one last splash before everyone reports to Florida. So who are they eying?
Let’s flashback to a bit before the Winter Meetings, the Houston Astros were reportedly toying with the idea of adding another big name pitcher to the rotation just in case Dallas Keuchel leaves Houston at the end of 2018.
Astros owner Jim Crane told a herd of writers something very interesting this morning:
Astros owner Jim Crane said team could dip into farm system to acquire a front-line starter if a deal makes sense: pic.twitter.com/OiKpYwQZtV
— Alyson Footer (@alysonfooter) January 8, 2018
Alyson Footer followed up her video with this tweet:
Crane says high end starter doesn’t necessarily mean a free agent. Looking at possible trade for pitcher just as good as some of the top free agents.
— Alyson Footer (@alysonfooter) January 8, 2018
Now saying the “high-end starter doesn’t necessarily mean a free agent” really opens your mind into who they are actively trying to acquire.
My first thoughts after seeing that video and tweet was they were gonna go all-in for pitcher Chris Archer from the Rays. That club had already swapped the once-untouchable Evan Longoria to the San Francisco Giants already this off season, so I was thinking the Houston Astros were the next team to take something from the Rays until I saw this series of tweets from Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports.
Take a look:
The Astros going after another frontline starter, as owner Jim Crane suggested they are today, makes sense with Dallas Keuchel hitting free agency after the 2018 season. Could be Gerrit Cole via trade. Could be Yu Darvish or Jake Arrieta in free agency. Options are plentiful.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 8, 2018
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Obviously, the names Yu Darvish and Jake Arrieta are blockbuster. I’ve written about them before
and they are top of the line starters who are dominant on the mound. Gerrit Cole is an up-and-coming pitcher with mediocre stats but can improve his game over a year being in the same clubhouse with future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander and a high-end ace in Keuchel.
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In his 2017 campaign, Cole went 12-12 (W-L is meaningless in my opinion) with a 1.25 WHIP and had an ERA of 4.26. What’s alarming is higher than his career ERA of 3.50. There is a lot of room for improvement there which can be fixed so I think Cole would be better as a member of Astros than if he were with the Pirates.
The great thing is there is so many options to choose from here, let’s hope the team makes the right one.