Before this season started, I would have bet good money, cash American, that Jake Marisnick was not long to be an Astro. In fact, it would not have shocked me if he was put in a package deal with others (maybe as a thrown in) to obtain a pitcher or another player on offense (a DH type maybe). I like Jake, but his ability on defense wasn't enough for me to think he would be long as player on this team. Not with the addition of Bradley. I know Kemp is not as good as Marisnick on defense but I thought that Kemp did his best last season late to prove he had more value than Jake. That and the fact that Jake's propensity to play balls to the wall defense led to many injuries that kept him from playing longer stretches of games for the team. Then last year I saw Straw play and was pretty much convinced that this was the kid who would displace Jake once and for all.
I still think that way but Jake has made it harder to easily pull that trigger because he is providing value beyond defense and speed on the basepaths. He still plays a reckless CF, but that's just Jake being Jake. I doubt either Jake or Kemp have trade value just by themselves and it would be hard to envision the Astros pulling a package deal with one or both involved, but if they feel they can bring back a championship-level part for the team, I don't see why not. But don't trade Straw, that would be a mistake at this point. IMHO of course.
