Creight Expectations
Patrick Creighton: Not likely any tricks up Morey’s sleeve
Jan 30, 2018, 6:41 am
Daryl Morey will have limited assets to move at the trade deadline. Rockets.com
The Houston Rockets are currently 35-13, good enough for both the second best record in the Western Conference and the NBA. Led by their pair of superstar guards James Harden and Chris Paul, the team has been able to take next step in the regular season and has shown they can play with the champs, the Golden State Warriors.
It’s a very good team and I hope you like it, because they won’t be making any major roster moves at the deadline.
Feb. 8 is fast approaching. Rockets GM Daryl Morey usually has a few tricks up his sleeve, and we know he loves to wheel and deal.
Barring one of the greatest displays of Morey Magic that he can even think up, let alone actualize, the Rockets are going to be standing pat at the deadline, and whatever moves they might make will be minor.
The Rockets have no cap space, and they are over the tax threshold. They don’t really have tradeable commodities on their roster that aren’t considered key rotational pieces. Trading an Eric Gordon, Trevor Ariza, or Clint Capela creates a new hole to fill on the team, and none of those guys are making particularly large money (Gordon $13M this year, $13.5M in '18, $14M in '19, Ariza $ 7.5 this year then UFA, Capela $2.3M this year then RFA). They don’t have a first round pick they can deal this year (dealt in the Chris Paul trade).
So while you see other teams making headlines as the Detroit Pistons did Monday by acquiring Blake Griffin from the Los Angeles Clippers, understand the Rockets made their moves in the offseason in acquiring Paul & Luc Mbah a Moute, and they are going to battle with the guys they have.
Essentially the only position they need help is at the 4/5, where a big man who can bang and play defense against more physical players would be beneficial, as Joel Blank speculated on yesterday. Capela has shown he can rebound and protect the rim, but he still gets pushed around some by the larger, more physical guys in the league. Nene is always an injury waiting to happen and can’t realistically give more than 15 mins on a consistent basis, and Tarik Black just isn’t a good enough player to go against the better PF & C in the league steadily, especially in the playoffs.
With limited bullets for a trade and no first round pick, even a GM as creative as Daryl Morey will find it extremely challenging to make any kind of move with substance. Their best bet may be to target a player like Knicks C Kyle O’Quinn, a junkyard dog style player who is tough defensively, rebounds well and is efficient with his limited offensive game. He could be a defensive presence for the team against larger, more physical bigs. Of equal importance is he has an affordable contract at $4.25M and he is a free agent at the end of the season, which means no long term commitment for the Rockets and a low asking price as he is a straight rental player.
The Rockets wanted that third star to go with Harden and Paul, and thankfully they didn’t pull the trigger on Carmelo Anthony. The right fit for them wasn’t available this past offseason. By not making a significant deal this year, they keep their assets for the offseason, when they will need them to try to unload Ryan Anderson’s contract. Without losing Anderson’s deal (with two more years at $42M total) there is no chase for a Big 3, so trading him is job 1 this offseason. They will need every asset they have to pull that off.
For this year, however, what you see is what you’re likely going to get. It will have to be good enough, because help isn’t on the way.
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How Jim Crane responds to this could be Astros most important moment
May 8, 2024, 11:25 am
Alex Verdugo homered and tied a career high with four RBIs, powering the New York Yankees past Justin Verlander and the skidding Houston Astros 10-3 on Tuesday night.
Anthony Volpe and Giancarlo Stanton also went deep off Verlander as the Yankees won their fourth straight. They've totaled 20 runs in the last three games after scoring just eight in a five-game span that ended Saturday.
Volpe finished with three RBIs and Juan Soto had three hits.
“Obviously, you’re not going to run out offensive nights like this every night, especially against a guy like Justin,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “But they are capable of that. They’ve got balance.”
Verdugo, batting cleanup between Aaron Judge and Stanton, accounted for New York’s first four runs with a three-run homer in the first and an RBI single in the third against Verlander (1-1).
“Sometimes it’s a little bit humbling when you’ve got Judge up there looking down at me and then you’ve got Stanton back right behind me,” a grinning Verdugo said. “I’m like the small guy in the group. But honestly, man, I love it. I really do. I feel like I add enough contact in there that I can either move over some guys (or) get the job done.”
The four-RBI game was the second of the season for Verdugo and fifth of his career. He also made a nice sliding catch in left field of a sinking liner by Jeremy Peña to end the sixth.
“We’re seeing the kind of player he is (on) both sides of the ball,” Boone said. “He’s been excellent. He’s been clutch.”
Verlander lasted five innings and gave up seven runs — the second-most he’s allowed in 37 regular-season and postseason starts versus the Yankees. He yielded eight runs in Detroit’s 13-9 loss on Sept. 1, 2008.
The three-time Cy Young Award winner permitted eight hits and walked three Tuesday night. The 41-year-old Verlander, who missed the first three weeks of the season recovering from right shoulder inflammation, has allowed 27 baserunners (17 hits, 10 walks) over 16 1/3 innings in his last three starts.
“If I’m being brutally honest with myself, the last couple games, probably in particularly, the walks showed me I was a little off,” Verlander said. “And sometimes it takes you facing a team that knows you intimately, and vice versa, to send you back to the drawing board. I think these guys showed me today that I’ve got some work to do.”
Volpe hit a two-run homer in the fourth. Stanton led off the fifth with a 421-foot drive to left field that was clocked at 118.8 mph off the bat. Judge and Jon Berti also had run-scoring singles for the Yankees.
Luis Gil (3-1) allowed just one hit — Kyle Tucker’s first-inning homer — and walked four with five strikeouts over six innings.
“Definitely was a point in the game where I told myself I’ve got to keep this game right here,” Gil said through a translator.
Trey Cabbage had a two-run single in the ninth for the Astros, who matched a season low with three hits. Houston has lost three straight to fall to 12-23 — tied for the fifth-worst record through 35 games in franchise history.
“Pleased about our walks. We walked six times, something that we’ve been trying to get better at — be more selective,” manager Joe Espada said. “We just couldn’t get that much offensively.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Astros: DH Yordan Alvarez crumpled to the ground in pain after fouling a ball off his left leg in the third. He was lifted for a pinch hitter in the eighth. ... RHP Cristian Javier (neck), who threw 3 1/3 innings Saturday in a rehab start for Double-A Corpus Christi, will return to the Houston rotation this weekend. … RHP Jose Urquidy (right forearm) threw to hitters and is expected to begin a rehab assignment soon.
Yankees: RHP Gerrit Cole (right elbow) threw in the bullpen for the second time since he was injured in mid-March. … INF Oswald Peraza (right shoulder) began a rehab assignment by going 2 for 3 with a home run for Class A Tampa. Boone said Peraza, yet to play this season, will need a spring training-like ramp up of minor league games before returning to the Yankees. … RHP Nick Burdi (right hip) struck out all three batters he faced in his first rehab appearance for Triple-A Scranton. … INF DJ LeMahieu (right foot) is feeling better and participating in baseball activities. Boone said LeMahieu will travel with the team for this weekend’s series against Tampa Bay and could get at-bats at the Yankees’ minor league complex in Florida.
UP NEXT
The three-game series continues Wednesday night, when Yankees LHP Carlos Rodón (2-2, 3.68 ERA) is scheduled to face RHP Spencer Arrighetti (0-3, 8.27).