Giants-Astros Trade

[DetroitFan14]

Giants Get:
2B Jeff Keppinger who is batting .307 in 40+ games (coming off of foot surgery)

Astros Get:
Right handed starter Henry Sosa and right-hander reliever Jason Stoffel (Both in AA)

[jp98]

I have always thought Keppingger was very underrated. Hope he gets some publicity for how good he really is.

[JDubs80]

Kepp is great. Glad to see the Astros move one of their few bright spots of late, jeez...
guess that's just the nature of the beast. Hopefully these arms are good

[jasonadkins]

So does that mean Jason Bourgeois will start at Second Base for the Astros for the rest of the season? If so, might be time to pick him up in Fantasy Leagues for those 60+ Stolen Bases (when healthy at least).

[sfgiants4ever]

Sosa started the year in AAA but got sent down a month or two ago because he couldnt seem to find the strike zone. It wouldnt suprise me to see him in the bigs in a year or 2.

[7290morint]

So does that mean Jason Bourgeois will start at Second Base for the Astros for the rest of the season? If so, might be time to pick him up in Fantasy Leagues for those 60+ Stolen Bases (when healthy at least).

Nope, Altuve got called up and will be the everyday 2B. Drew a lot of positive reviews from the futures game. All 5'6" of him, should be a solid everyday regular for them with a lot of contact.

[pskell02]

Awful move for Houston, but good for the Bucs :) He and Pence kill them. No clue why they would basically give a guy like Kepp away for 2 guys that profile as fringe middle relievers.

And I'm now concerned for Altuve. The kid has a lot of promise, but I think calling him up this soon is a huge mistake. I think he is in for a rude awakening when he is facing superior pitching in the ML. AA to the bigs is too aggressive of a jump for a guy with so few ABs at that level.

[7290morint]

Awful move for Houston, but good for the Bucs :) He and Pence kill them. No clue why they would basically give a guy like Kepp away for 2 guys that profile as fringe middle relievers.

And I'm now concerned for Altuve. The kid has a lot of promise, but I think calling him up this soon is a huge mistake. I think he is in for a rude awakening when he is facing superior pitching in the ML. AA to the bigs is too aggressive of a jump for a guy with so few ABs at that level.

The Astros are looking to cut a ton of payroll, by as much as 60%. Getting rid of veterans is the first step in doing so. Keppinger has never been worth more than 2.4 WAR, so trading him for two guys that could be solid bullpen pieces makes some sense. They probably wouldn't get much more than that regardless. Altuve has drawn rave reviews especially after his futures game performance and AAA isn't really considered too much of a prospect level anymore but more of a holding pattern. They obviously wouldn't have brought him up if they didn't think he could handle it. It's not like they are contending anyways...

[mainerunr]

and Belt got called back up too...

[DetroitFan14]

I think its a good move for both teams. Astros arent in contention. They shed some payroll and potentially have a couple decent arms for the future. If not.. oh well.

Kepp should help the Giants. (obviously)

[cj52racers]

GREAT move for the Giants. I like it a lot. Good player in Kepp and don't lose too much.

[pskell02]

I would agree with you if they had landed solid bullpen options. Those guys however, are not. There is not much for buyers available this year, so even at a 2.4 WAR, he could have and should have commanded a better price. Houston pulled the trigger way early and did it for way too little.

While I understand that Altuve was tearing up the minors, he is still only 21 years old an has only had 144 AB's above A+. Bringing him up now is just asking for his development curve to falter. In addition to that, and more importantly, calling him up now is wasting 1 or possibly 2 years of team control. Houston is terrible, they are going to be terrible to bad for the next few years. Why would you want to waste 2 years of control on a guy who has a ton of potential on perennial last place teams? That's the kind of stuff that gets GM's canned and sets franchises back.

[7290morint]

I would agree with you if they had landed solid bullpen options. Those guys however, are not. There is not much for buyers available this year, so even at a 2.4 WAR, he could have and should have commanded a better price. Houston pulled the trigger way early and did it for way too little.

While I understand that Altuve was tearing up the minors, he is still only 21 years old an has only had 144 AB's above A+. Bringing him up now is just asking for his development curve to falter. In addition to that, and more importantly, calling him up now is wasting 1 or possibly 2 years of team control. Houston is terrible, they are going to be terrible to bad for the next few years. Why would you want to waste 2 years of control on a guy who has a ton of potential on perennial last place teams? That's the kind of stuff that gets GM's canned and sets franchises back.

No, giving Carlos Lee the type of deal they did is what sets franchises back and get's gm's canned. He's not anywhere close to having super 2 status (which is probably going to be changed in the next CBA anyways). If he struggles in his initial trial, I'm sure that they will send him back down. I really don't think they could get as much as you think they could have. Teams are much more reluctant to let go of top talent for players. Hell the Giants could have went after Jose Reyes by dangling Zack Wheeler but they chose not to and that tells you something. Reyes has to be the favorite for NL MVP and his performance isn't/wasn't enough for them to give up a top player. I really don't think the deal was that bad for the Astros.

[pskell02]

Not at all saying they should get a top tier prospect for him, but they should have gotten much better than what they did. Reminiscent of the awful JJ Hardy trade over the winter. Hell, the Bucs got James MacDonald and Lambo for old ass Dotel from the Dodgers (granted Ned is a moron), but my point stands. Houston should have gotten more.

I wasn't suggesting Super 2 for Altuve, more so that he should have had at least the remainder of this season for development in the minors. Whats the harm of letting him finish up in AA this year, or move up to AAA? Then see what he has in ST and at worst have him up mid-season if he is performing well. If they bring him up and he is not ready now, they have thrown away an option and service time. I just don't agree with it when your team is probably the worst in baseball.

[7290morint]

Not at all saying they should get a top tier prospect for him, but they should have gotten much better than what they did. Reminiscent of the awful JJ Hardy trade over the winter. Hell, the Bucs got James MacDonald and Lambo for old ass Dotel from the Dodgers (granted Ned is a moron), but my point stands. Houston should have gotten more.

I wasn't suggesting Super 2 for Altuve, more so that he should have had at least the remainder of this season for development in the minors. Whats the harm of letting him finish up in AA this year, or move up to AAA? Then see what he has in ST and at worst have him up mid-season if he is performing well. If they bring him up and he is not ready now, they have thrown away an option and service time. I just don't agree with it when your team is probably the worst in baseball.

Fair enough, I can deal with an "agree to disagree". The last thing I want to bring up though is sometimes there isn't a market. I remember when the Brewers traded J.J. Hardy to the Twins for Carlos Gomez. Nobody was happy, and then it came out that Doug Melvin called everyone to try and get a pitcher back for him and the Twins were the only ones who were willing to trade ANYBODY for J.J. Hardy. They also did it during the winter/offseason when they could get more teams involved. Hardy was becoming increasingly expensive for not a lot of production (he has somehow managed a 3 year 20mil + extension though) Sometimes the salary dump is more important than what you get back .

[mikecancelliere]

I always thought kepp was a good player too. It's the Astros loss

[dmott19]

No Astro fan, myself included, should be too disappointed by this move.

We aren't gonna be good for the next few years, that is a given. By the time we are in contention (if any time soon) Keppinger wont be a center piece. The move was more of a salary dump than anything. Honestly, If the 2 guys we got in the deal play at the Major League level as middle relievers Ill be happy. If not, Then the farm system got more arms and creates a little more of a internal competition and maybe lights a fire under some pitchers at those levels.

It sucks to see Keppinger go, hes a class act. But if he helps the Giants to another World Series, Ill be happy and rooting for him. The Stros season has long been over and as much as anyone tells me this is a terrible deal for the Stros, I wont see it. Maybe its just the fan in me, but I like the idea of dumping salary because I know we wont do squat for a good chunk of time.

On the other hand, I dont like the move to bring Altuve up yet. I think its too early, hes only 21. But boy did he look happy and excited on the bench, that gave me some hope.


Now we need to deal with Carlos Lee........ :mad: