I understood getting rid of Lyles. I understood that Barnes was expendable. I never did understand why the Astros wanted Fowler in exchange - unless it was to package him in a later trade.
Because he's a legit leadoff hitter with more pop than anybody who started last year besides Castro?
He's also got a pretty good shot at leading this team in OBP.
.363, .389, and .369 the last three years. Last Castro led the team with .350 OBP. I'd say that OBP was probably the highest factor in Luhnow targeting Fowler.
He's more fast than quick, in 2010 and 2011 he had more triples than steals.
Not everyone can be a Shin Soo Choo.
Wow. How often does that happen?
unless it was to package him in a later trade.
I'd bet it's more common to have one triple and no steals than 6 triples and 4 steals.
I thought this a soon as I heard about the trade. I think Luhnow probably shopped Lyles because he could (organization has a lot of depth) and am thinking it was all about getting the best value back that he could. If it fit an organizational need, great. If not, then the thought would be at least you got value that you could maybe trade later for the need you were originally seeking. Reminds me of when he acquired Lowrie. Am I way off base?
I hope they didn't ship Lyles because they thought they were deep in pitching. I always assumed that the trade was straightforward: they needed an outfielder for this year (and next) and Lyles was the price they had to pay.
I think that they were selling at the right time on Lyles. His sample size was ample enough, even though he's still a young pup. He seems to just throw balls into bats. I hope that he turns it around, and he's got plenty of time to do that.
Why did they need an OF for this year and next? They knew they wouldn't be competitive this year for sure and, they'd been more than happy to trot out whatever talent (I hesitated to use this word) they had year after year before.
Carlos Lee had a triple once...once!
I think Crane/Luhnow took some of the criticism to heart, and within a certain budget, decided they wanted to improve the club for this year and beyond. Not break-the-bank type improvement, but improvement within their means. Witness all the arms they acquired. Fowler for Lyles fits within that strategy.Time will tell on Lyles. I still think he will excel, but it is hard to argue with analysis that regards him as average or below.
I agree, I think that, while it's certainly possible they might trade Fowler at some point (he's under contract through 2015), I think they made the deal because they like him as a player for the Astros, not as future trade bait. They are at a different point now than they were when they made the Lowrie deals. They need to show major league progress this year.
In 2011 Carlos Lee was second on the team in triples with 4, trailing only Bourn's 7 triples and ahead of Pence's 3 triples. Big wheels kept on turning that summer.
If say DDS and Springer looked like they were ready to contribute, and you could get good value for Fowler, then they would likely trade him. Hopefully for someone that was very close if not MLB ready at a position of need.
Exactly. Domingo Santana's likely to be in the bigs before Delino, and even he might not make it til 2015.
How many steals did he have in 2011?
his problem is injuries.
