01 July 2014

Houston Asked for Dylan Bundy in the Bud Norris Deal

Control Room in Houston

A lot of people in baseball got upset over the Houston Astros' email security.  Apparently, a hacker accessed their system and retrieved an email or chat log briefly noting conversations about Bud Norris deals during June and July of 2013.  One of these logs included information on Dan Duquette's conversations with Houston GM Jeff Luhlow on Bud Norris:
June 26 - [Dan Duquette] called [Jeff Luhlow] and expressed continued interest in [Bud] Norris.  [Jeff Luhlow] said that for [the Astros] to consider it at this point it would have to revolve around Bundy or Gausman. [Dan Duquette] said no on Gausman, but did not dismiss Bundy out of hand.  [Dan Duquette] said he had to talk to his doctors to really see what was going on.

June 28 - [Dan Duquette] said he would not do Bundy.  [He] Suggested Mike Wright and Pedro Strop.

a month later and days before the deal went down...
July 26 - [Dan Duquette] checked to see if we saw a Norris deal without Bundy.  [Jeff Luhlow] said that was unlikely, but we'd be willing to add to Norris to get Bundy.
A few days later, the Orioles acquired Norris for L.J. Hoes, Josh Hader, and this year's compensatory selection who wound up being Derek Fisher.

All in all, the conversations we are being clued in on are not all that interesting.  The Astros aimed high and remained high on what they were asking for Norris until the trade deadline forced them to accept what they deemed to be the best offer for him.  For instance, they were gunning for Jameson Taillon or Gregory Polanco from Pittsburgh.

What I hope this release does do though is remind people not to freak out over trade leaks.  Back in the Spring, there were writers who wasted a great deal of ink and fans who spent way too much time screaming about the Mets asking for Dylan Bundy in a Daniel Murphey deal.  Somehow, many took this as offensive or just plain absurd, but this is what many front offices do.  Aim high in case you can find a player that you were unaware of another organization souring on.

What the language perhaps suggests is that the Orioles were less sold on Bundy, meaning that there was a price for which he could be had.  They may or may not be true, but it was something the Astros needed to perform due diligence on to improve their own organization.  Perhaps that is what happened when the Cleveland Indians were able to acquire Trevor Bauer for pieces they wished to let go for roster flexibility.  Although doubtful with the Orioles just outside of first place in the AL East, we should expect our own front office to ask for the moon if they were to deal out Major League quality players.

So, yeah, next time you hear about a team asking for Dylan Bundy or Hunter Harvey, calm down.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I agree that the discussions themselves aren't anything to get upset about, but I do find them kind of interesting. I think it could be possible that the reason Duquette didn't initially say "no" on Bundy was just to keep the conversation with the Astros open, and keep them from making too much progress with other teams, knowing there is a chance (however small) that they could get Bundy for Norris.

Anonymous said...

You can count me officially pissed off at Dan Duquette.

First the Arrieta for Feldman trade which has turned into a first-rate Curt Schilling fiasco all over again that we'll be remembering for the next ten years.

And now he doesn't say no immediately to a trade of Bundy - our best prospect, perhaps still the best in baseball.

Duquette has improved our team a lot but losing Arrieta who is now better than anyone on our roster is huge.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous
Your joking right. He had a losing record and high ERA when he was traded. So hes been better. Maybe it was the change of teams or leagues or division. But to say DD was wrong shows to me a lack of baseball smarts.

Matt Perez said...

I think it's possible the reason that DD didn't initially say no on Bundy is because he wanted to make sure the surgery DIDN'T go well. If it went poorly then maybe you do trade Bundy and let some other team take on the risk.

How safe is anonbin? I was thinking of downloading the files myself and going through them but don't really feel like risking malware.