Old man Ariza and old man Redick come to small towns, enjoy 5 million overpaid a year and enjoy vacation starting in April,
I think this is all hilarious. I appreciated Sam's joke, just as I appreciate your own. This is ClutchFans and it's the off-season. If we can't produce a bit of melodrama somehow, and there isn't a new major deal to talk about, what the hell are we going to do to pass the time? Now we can talk about EGG's in the GARM, and the Astros, and more Cheapo-Fertitto's eating Cheeto's instead of opening his wallet. How cool is that? I think we all owe Eric some thanks. He may have meant nothing by the tweet, but what if he did?
Is it really that impressive to sell out a 70k stadium 8 times a year? I'm more impressed with the Astros numbers. Especially a recent Monday-Wednesday Oakland series where they had 40k+ sellouts on a Monday night and a Wednesday AFTERNOON game as well as 39k on Tuesday night. That is more impressive than 70k on a Sunday afternoon.
It's weird how both Les Alexander and Jim Crane are both considered "big spenders" when neither has paid the luxury tax. This past offseason the Astros were losing 3 starters in Morton, Keuchel, and McCullers and didn't bother to sign a single established starter to replace them, forcing Luhnow to trade away 4 legit prospects for Greinke at the deadline while not even saving that much money since Greinke's contract at 3/58 is still hefty. I guess it just shows the value of good PR or something. Not saying Crane is a bad owner, but as for the spending part I'll believe it when I see it.
I just see this as EG giving the Astros props for giving a good team every chance they need to win a title. I am not looking for any subliminal messages and digs at Rockets management in a tweet like this.
Huh? McCullers is hurt. Morton wasn’t resigned as his money went to Bradley. Miley was signed to replace Dallas K and has been one of the best pitchers in baseball this year. Greinke is under control longer than Morton and is better. That doesn’t even take into account that the Astros have actually won something.
If you watched the Astros at all this year not sure why you're so happy with their rotation. Pretty much 4th and 5th starting spots have been tire fire. If they're as awesome as you think they are, they wouldn't have made this trade. And yes, the Astros won. But did they win on Crane spending all the money he can? Or tanking for 4 years. I'm sure if you've been a fan for more than 3 years you know the real answer.
The Tax line is $206 million...LOL. You have TO REALLY over spend to hit it. Only 2 teams hit it (not even the Yankees). Other 4 teams are not even within $10 million of it. Hell the Yankees are $14 million away from it.
I’ve been as Astros fan for 33 years. The Astros have been one of the 2-3 best teams in baseball all season long. Further everyone knew the Astros would do everything possible to add a starter at the deadline and they did exactly that. Right now this Astros team is vastly superior to last years team and that includes the rotation. Jim Crane hired Jeff Luhnow even when other, more highly coveted candidates were available. He has increased payroll each year and next year may very well be over the tax year threshold. Crane also isn’t going around claiming he will spend a lot of money and then not doing it. He isn’t promising fireworks or squabbling with his coach over a few million dollars. Crane isn’t instructing his employees to lie. Crane furthmore doesn’t have the financial assets Fertitta has. Crane also doesn’t say he will do X and then do Y.
This is a subtle dig to Tilman problem but don't read too much into it. I don't think it's like a I hate Tilman dig just a little jab because he wishes it can be better.
The Texans extended Chin Crater. Worst coach in all of professional sports when it comes to play calling.
Well, it's been both. They tanked in a historic manner for three years, one of which featured a near absolute-minimum possible salary roster. It was the closest I'd ever seen to the hypothetical "team composed of replacement players." But they've also spent money. Verlander was pricey, even more so with the extension. Brantley isn't inexpensive. Altuve isn't cheap. Greinke is going to cost the Astros as you note, about another 20 a year. A penny-pinching owner doesn't make those moves. It was stupid not to make CFM a qualifying offer. It was foolhardy to blithely act like everything would be fine when 3/5 of a good starting pitching staff were now unavailable. Thank goodness for finding Miley. And it would be nice of one of the multitude of Astros pitching prospects could pan out already. The point is, Astros management has spent to maximize their championship opportunities, even if meant paying the admittedly pathetic competitive balance tax. Which on a projected excess of ~20 million in payroll means a tax bill of 4 million dollars. Hardly the NBA's luxury tax scheme. But they're still spending 170 million dollars or so. They're not constantly yammering on about how they'll do whatever it takes or any of the other inanities that come out of Toyota Center. They just do what needs to be done to maximize their chances of winning. Which is in stark contrast to what we see the Rockets doing a lot of the time.
