No question but there's a reason the Pirates took a chance on Moran. If he shows up and goes .270 with 18 homers then they may well be on to something with him.
I've felt off offseason Moran was a good candidate for a breakout season. If his power sticks he could be an .800ish OPS guy. But his upside is limited, and he's likely a 1B if playing full time. For a solid starter with legit ace potential, that risk isn't really even a risk.
And giving up 31 home runs after yielding just 36 in your first four seasons is almost certainly rooted, to some degree, in bad luck and likely to regress even if Cole doesn't see any benefits from being with this front office/coaching staff (though he totally will see benefits from both). His strikeout rate last year of 8.7 was same as 2015, his near-Cy Young year. Calling Gerrit Cole a league-average pitcher is silly.
I can't describe how happy I am right now - we just won the World Series, and there's no reason to think we can't contend again. #blessed
Thanks! Very interesting read: http://www.businessinsider.com/brandon-taubman-astros-executive-journey-2017-12
Yep. Between him and Mike Elias as far as the next off-springs of the "Luhnow tree". David Stearns was the first. Did anybody else leave the organization last year?