Lol, no it doesn't We lost 4 draft picks, that's significant for sure. But you don't have to trade away young talent like those guys because of it.
Maybe, let's see what happens. The Astros already have taken proactive steps to try and offset the punishments by revamping their minor league system and international strategy.
Agreed. If people think the Astros didn’t earn that World Series Championship and aren’t even a really good team if they don’t electronically steal signs, they aren’t very smart.
Same. I’ve expressed this concern before and had more than a few folks tell me I was blowing the potential impact out of proportion. But you’re crazy if you don’t think players, and i mean both outside and inside the organization, and whether they’re sympathetic to the situation or not, are not going to do what they can to avoid the organization. That’s literally how recruitment and retention works - whether that’s baseball, football, oil and gas, tech or otherwise. No one purposely chooses to go into this type of situation if they have the choice. Darkest day in houston sports history. Bar none.
MLB says this is part of the price for winning the 2017 WS over a "legacy" franchise like the Dodgers. They better appeal and should win.
History tells us that free agents go where the most money is offered So realistically we will never know whether this is the case or not cause we are already as high in payroll as we can go. Maybe players aren't interested in coming here now (or to the Red Sox, or Yankees) but we won't know because we did not have the money to offer them anyway
Agreed..there will be players who will be troubled about going into a situation where they know that their productivity, particularly if its great, will be labelled the product of cheating. Not if they have another option. This isn't going away for awhile.
Ehh no not really. Cheating is very common in baseball. The biggest impact on free agency wasn't from players not wanting to come to the Astros, it was from ownership and the front office completely altering their plans because they knew punishment was coming and would be severe.
No but they will be trying to hit the ball up the middle as much as humanly possible when he faces them.
The punishment of Luhnow is beyond excessive. I would hope the Astros take the league to court over this. Luhnow was supposedly not involved and had no knowledge. How he gets a year suspension is beyond me.
Anyone saying this is going to force a full tank mode is probably overreacting. They didn't take away international money at all. My guess is that we will be big spenders on the international market the next couple seasons. We are still one of the most talented teams in the league and if we hit on a couple international signings we can continue to sustain success moving forward. I'm very interested to see if we fire Luhnow or Hinch. I'd also expect a Springer extension soon to distract from this terrible PR and to secure some more success in the coming years without draft picks.