TRADE: Diaz to Houston for RHP Thornton

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[Skin Blues]

Interesting pickup. Played well in the AFL, including the Fall Stars game in which he gave up a double to Vladdy, got Biggio to ground out, and struck out the other two batters he faced. Seems to be able to miss bats and limit walks. An article on him from June.

[SharoneWright]

24. on Houston's prospect pipeline:
Scouting grades: Fastball: 60 | Curveball: 55 | Slider: 55 | Changeup: 45 | Control: 55 | Overall: 45
Though Thornton's stuff took a downturn during his junior season at North Carolina, the Astros believed in his previous track record enough to take him in the fifth round of the 2015 Draft. He pitched well in his first two years as a pro, then struggled at the upper levels of the system in 2017. He has fared better and shown crisper stuff while repeating Triple-A this season.
Thornton has added a couple ticks of velocity to his fastball in 2018, working at 93-95 mph and topping out at 97 with riding action. He has an interesting array of secondary pitches, including a curveball with some power and depth and an improved slider that he can turn into a true cutter. He needs to refine and trust his changeup more to find success against left-handers, however.
Thornton has a funky delivery but it gives him deception and doesn't prevent him from filling the strike zone. With solid stuff and strike-throwing ability, he has the ingredients to become at least a No. 4 starter. But he often gets hit harder than he should, so his long-term role may be as a multi-inning reliever.
http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2018?list=hou

[Tanner]

Was this the best we could do for a 1.5 war infielder with four years of control left? Not saying Thornton isn’t good but I thought Diaz could have netted more.

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Was this the best we could do for a 1.5 war infielder with four years of control left? Not saying Thornton isn’t good but I thought Diaz could have netted more.

On one level - straight asset analysis - I suspect you're right, but with the huge surplus we have building up on the left side of the infield, we're known sellers and that tends to reduce our leverage. Furthermore, Diaz is still a bigger salary than Thornton, so that money can be reallocated to another position.

[Wo1verine]

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[manjusaka]

Diaz is a solid hitter in the bottom of the order, but below average defender at SS. Established MLB regular with years of control like Diaz probably has higher value than the unproven AAA pitcher. All I can said is we traded surplus for needs. I will need to see Thornton pitching in the MLB next year for further evaluation of this trade. If he can be a solid backend starter then I think it is a good trade.

[polo007]

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[Lateral Quicks]

I like it. We have too many Diaz-type players - that is, guys that can hit the long ball occasionally but don't get on base or play great defense - and not enough pitching. Thornton's numbers last year in the PCL suggest he's a capable back-end rotation starter in the bigs this coming year. His peripherals look good to me. He's an upgrade on Gaviglio, and probably Pannone as well. Good guy to add to the Sanchez/Stroman/Borucki/Reid-Foley/Merryweather mix.

[Black Watch]

Yah, like I said last week, Front Offices are placing more value on defense and base-running than ever before, otherwise we would have gotten more in return.

I need more time to pore over the stats and scouting reports, but at first glace this is underwhelming.

[Tanner]

Yah, like I said last week, Front Offices are placing more value on defense and base-running than ever before, otherwise we would have gotten more in return.

I need more time to pore over the stats and scouting reports, but first glace this is underwhelming.

Yeah I suspect this is right. Solarte prior to 2018 was considered a utility player with plus league avg offence, negative base running, and questionable defensive value, and the Jays didn’t have to give up much for him. If other teams don’t think Diaz is much of a SS and he doesn’t provide value on the bases, then his value as a whole is likely less than one would think even with the years of control remaining.

He was very good in the 2nd half offensively and nothing to indicate it was flukey so I think he will add value to the Astros, but yeah after what happened to Solarte, and considering the type of year he had a year prior, it’s hard to place too much value on him.

[Schad]

Don't pay a tonne of attention to Thornton's ERA in 2017 and 2018; it's the PCL, where everyone sports an ERA in the 4s, and his peripherals improved considerably when his velocity increased. A 25 year old with mediocre minor league numbers isn't exactly sexy, but this is an upside play on a guy whose stuff emerged a little later. He'll get a chance to make the rotation, and if he doesn't, his stuff/delivery/control probably plays quite well as a reliever.

And if you guessed that this was yet another deal where we picked up someone that was blocked in the Astros organization and might have been exposed in the Rule 5 draft, claim a prize. Half our damned roster has been assembled that way.

[vaff87]

I kinda liked Diaz.

[Schad]

I liked Diaz as well, but we didn't really have any great need for Diaz in the future; he'd be a relatively expensive backup starting in 2020 when he reaches arbitration, and he isn't exceptionally young.

Accumulating near-ready arms seems to be a high priority, but our 40 man is starting to get crowded, too; having acquired Thornton, Paulino, Perez and Waguespack (which I spelled correctly without looking it up, much to my surprise) over the past few months, we might start to shift our focus toward arms more likely to debut around 2021 or thereabouts. We're going to need a second wave and some high-ceiling sorts.

[SharoneWright]

having acquired ~~~ Waguespack (which I spelled correctly without looking it up, much to my surprise)

not surprising really, since you (formerly) managed to spell schadenfreude correctly for years...

[Cyrus]

I liked Diaz as well, but we didn't really have any great need for Diaz in the future; he'd be a relatively expensive backup starting in 2020 when he reaches arbitration, and he isn't exceptionally young.

Accumulating near-ready arms seems to be a high priority, but our 40 man is starting to get crowded, too; having acquired Thornton, Paulino, Perez and Waguespack (which I spelled correctly without looking it up, much to my surprise) over the past few months, we might start to shift our focus toward arms more likely to debut around 2021 or thereabouts. We're going to need a second wave and some high-ceiling sorts.

I don't get this kind build we are doing, we are essentially in the last couple years getting thise fringey type middle infielders /outfielders, like below avg to solid types, and same goes for the middling arms, and hoping for what, to get by? At some point we will need a big wave of elite arms to come through, is it just nate and parhadino?

[Schad]

I don't get this kind build we are doing, we are essentially in the last couple years getting thise fringey type middle infielders /outfielders, like below avg to solid types, and same goes for the middling arms, and hoping for what, to get by? At some point we will need a big wave of elite arms to come through, is it just nate and parhadino?

I'm not in love with the fact that we've been more focused on near-ready over upside, either. But if we're going to make moves in that direction, I'm happier when they're more marginal deals like this, where there's no likelihood of us peddling the player for a high-upside sort.

We have no shortage of depth at this point, though...having shored up that weakness (and then some), I'm hoping that they'll move on to lower-minors targets, if for no other reason than because we can't roster all of these fringy players for an extended duration.