The Houston Astros were essentially short one everyday player heading into 2019, with no incumbent in left field or at designated hitter, but has top prospect Kyle Tucker ready to step into a major league role right now -- preferably one that takes advantage of his defensive abilities. Houston's two-year deal with Michael Brantley could complicate them, or precipitate another deal, but if not, he's a solid addition to their lineup as a primary DH who can spot the Astros in left and allow them to shift other players around to get any of the three outfielders a day off.
Brantley should be a 3-plus win regular now that he's healthy again, and perhaps hitting regularly as a DH will keep him so. He's exceptionally hard to strike out, which seems like a key skill in our insanely high-strikeout environment, and ties in with how the Astros have done so well the past two years at the plate and even into the postseason. He's capable of playing left field at an average level, but George Springer, Josh Reddick and Tucker all project as above-average or better for the positions they're lined up to play, so Brantley likely would be the odd man out in that alignment. The Astros had some in-house DH options but none who projected to produce close to Brantley's level of offense.
This assumes that the Astros are ready to hand Tucker regular playing time after a huge year as a 21-year-old in Fresno but a disappointing debut in a minuscule sample in the majors (.136/236/.303 in just 72 PA). Tucker is a top-20 prospect in the game, a potential five-tool guy who has shown better defense in pro ball, even in center, than I think anyone anticipated when he was in high school -- certainly better than I expected, and I still had him as the No. 8 prospect in the entire draft when the Astros took him fifth overall. He has power and speed, and his plate discipline has been excellent: he was above the median for regulars in the PCL this year in walk and strikeout rates, even though he was the league's second-youngest position player. He should be one of the AL's best rookies this year if he's handed the job, probably fighting Toronto's Vladimir Guerrero Jr., for Rookie of the Year honors, and if the Astros are willing to give him the left field gig, they could consider their lineup set and focus instead on adding rotation or bullpen depth.
--
The New York Mets have been having something of a terrible offseason, overpaying in prospects for Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz and then in years for Jeurys Familia, but their deal with Wilson Ramos is a welcome change. Rather than gutting the remains of the farm system to acquire J.T. Realmuto, the Mets signed a player who is probably Realmuto's equal and they didn't have to give up more prospects or give the player a third year to get it done.
The deal guarantees Ramos just $19 million for two years, with an option for 2021 that will be cheap if he performs as he did last year. He's close to Realmuto's equivalent with the bat, although Ramos had some awful years earlier in his career and even in 2017 forgot how to draw a walk. But he's a far better pitch framer than Realmuto is, so I don't think it's unreasonable to consider this a wash for the Mets. Of course, getting Ramos didn't cost a boatload of prospects. The Mets gave up their top two prospects in the Cano/Diaz deal, but their system still has some high-upside guys such as Ronny Mauricio or Mark Vientos, prospects they need to keep now if they want to stay competitive for more than a year or two. Adding Ramos solves their catching issue without tapping into that prospect depth, and may even force the Marlins to ask for a little less for Realmuto now that one major suitor has left the market.