I really don't care about Joe Smith being out. The system has a glut of guys that need to be given a shot. Plus, having another young arm emerge would be huge. That is also the reason I really didn't want Harris back either.
Good signing for them. If the Angels land Grandal (or even if they just add a 3rd tier option like Lucroy or Wieters) and add 2-3 fungible relievers, they will have a really good team that could challenge for the division if they catch a couple breaks.
I remember last offseason they made a bunch of similar moves and similar things were said. They are pretty much playing the lotto with those 2 signings.
I’m all for bringing back Keuchel (his market is shrinking & I think the QO attached will scare atleast rebuilding teams/teams with thin farm systems away) and using Tucker to lure Realmuto instead of a ToR starter like Kluber, Grienke, etc. 1. Springer CF 2. Bregman 3B/SS 3. Altuve 2B 4. Brantley LF/1B/DH 5. Correa SS 6. Realmuto C/1B/DH 7. MARWIN please DH/IF/LF 8. Gurriel 1B/IF 9. Reddick RF 10. Chirinos C 11. Diaz IF/LF/DH 12. Kemp OF/2B 13. Verlander SP 14. Cole SP 15. Keuchel SP 16. McHugh SP 17. James SP 18. Osuna RP 19. Pressly RP 20. Rondon RP 21. Devo RP 22. Peacock RP/SP 23. Harris RP 24. Perez or Valdez RP/SP 25. Best option among Stassi, White, Marisnick (Astros have too deal atleast two of them) or Perez or Valdez, etc
I love a good fantasy lineup construction as much as the next guy, but people need to start taking financial reality into account: the Stros currently have $25M to spend. Make Realmuto, starter (my #1 by far priority), and then Cruz fit into that budget. Smith should be back sometime in the summer. Zach Britton had surgery on his achilles (on his plant leg, same as Smith) last Dec. 22 and made his debut on June 12.
There’s no way that we only have 25 mil to spend. I’m going to have to run #s on this tonight. We’ve lost a ton of players and have only gained 3 cheap contracts.
What do y’all think Keuchel ends up getting? Starting to think he’s going to have to settle for a 3-4 year deal...
https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/HOU/houston-astros-salaries-and-contracts.shtml Looks like we are at 137 +13 for Brantley=150. We still have 57 mil to spend to hit the cap. What am I missing?
At this point a proven starter is the only must between now and opening day. I actually like our collection of arms behind the aces, but some stability is much needed so we aren't too dependent on unproven arms. Realmuto would be a nice pickup no doubt, but we don't need him. I'm on record as saying I outright prefer White to Cruz.
We aren't spending 200 million, that's what you seem to be missing. Our salary will be around 175 million on the high end.
Crane and Luhnow have made it public that they can spend up to the luxury tax limit. Gotta make this fast cause I gotta run back out for a bit, can provide more details later: Guaranteed Contracts: 99.3 Arbitration Estimates: 48 Pre-Arb + rest of 40 man: 8 Benefits: 14 AAV adjustments for Altuve, Verlander, Rondon, Smith, Yuli: 9.9 Equals 179 meeeeelion dollars. CBT (luxury tax) is at 206. That leaves 27 million not taking into consideration my rounding off of numbers. That 27M also includes any salary they would want to take on during the season (such as deadline trades).
The link I provided shows a total investment of 150 mill including all arbitration and other fees. Your numbers reflect a 29 mil difference. I’d like to know where you see that big of a difference between your estimate and their’s.
The Astros are not adding another $55,000,000 to the payroll and I don’t they should be expected to. The Astros were shopping Reddick to clear salary. The Astros have money, but not that much money.
