Another year, another offseason of fans angsting about the catching situation. What a time to be alive.
Astros may need to just continue to develop their own in house pitching, the price for average pitching is unreal.
The market is moving MUCH faster than the last couple offseasons. I’d gladly give Wheeler 5 yrs/$100 million.
Exactly. Not sure what's driving the force behind the faster market, maybe Keuchel/Kimbrel ultimately missing large chunks of the season (and the latter's struggles possibly being due to not having ST to warm back up into game shape?). And 5y/$100M is pennies compared to what Cole is going to get. I'd do it, I believe in his potential and am confident his health struggles are fully behind him.
I would only do it if as the GM, I had no doubt that Correa would be gone after 2 years. And while we all have our opinions on here, have no doubt Luhnow knows whether we have a legitimate chance to keep him around or not. If the answer to that is no, then yea I might be ok with giving 20 million a year to another pitcher. Best thing that could happen for us though, would be for Whitley to come out in the spring looking like pre-2019 Whitley, looking like a dominant front of the rotation pitcher. Give us that with JV and ZG, and Lance back even for limited innings this year, and i'd be good with a smaller and shorter signing for the back end of the rotation, even bringing a guy like Keuchel back
I do not like this news of Gibson being signed by the Rangers. I suspect the Astros might go really cheap this off-season.
I think we likely have a "minimum moves" offseason. Mostly stand pat, no shiny new toys or anything. Very boring IMO but considering a possible punishment looming I really think we just play it very safe.
They need to sign Springer to an extension. They've already stated they'd make a push for Cole. They will have a top 5 payroll next year without any other significant additions based solely on arbitration raises and existing contracts.
He’s been terrible the majority of his career. Unless they can pull off a Morton-esque transformation with him he’s nothing more than a guy who adds some depth to their rotation.
Why? Gibson is mediocre. The Astros already have a better option in Urquidy. If the Rangers want to trot him out every 5 days, so be it.
I agree. They will probably give a shot at Wheeler and if that doesn’t pan out, will look for under the radar signings to bolster pitching. I also think they extend Springer. A rotation of Verlander, Greinke, McCullers(?), Urquidy, and one of the youngsters seems good enough for the regular season. If they think they need another top grade starter they’ll try at the trade deadline. Next year’s offense should be even better: Springer Brantley Altuve Bregman Alvarez Correa Gurriel Catcher Tucker
