finally. I'm happy about this...seems unlikely to be claimed, but we save on his contract if he is. Win-win as a 1st roster spot to clear
I'm glad Luhnow admits his mistakes and moves on from turds like Singleton. This guy got his money and laid down like the dog he is.
Forgot he was even still on the 40 man.So this was a pretty easy spot to clear. The contract was a small calculated risk, it didn't work out. I'm not gonna pile on Singleton for not being good enough.
His potential was just like the buttons above the logo of his jersey: there for the taking but untouched by Jon.
And all those ppl who criticized him and the Astros for signing that contract before he made the majors where are they now? It just shows it's still a risk. That contract helped the player. He made the right call to get the money when he could.
Can I have Hunter Pence back? Spoiler Hunter Pence: Traded with cash to the Philadelphia Phillies for Jarred Cosart, Jon Singleton, Domingo Santana and Josh Zeid. In the end: Pence for Martes, Marisnick, Moran, Cameron & Fiers
Hopefully that teaches a lesson about prospects. That deal was nearly universally praised for the Astros return and not one of those prospects directly amounted to anything. #endsantiprospecthoardingsoapbox
It's like Santa's workshop around here, lot's of activity, we building stuff, and sometimes things go out for delivery so they can disappoint some other poor kid on Christmas morning.
Singleton was out of options and there was very very little chance of him making the opening day roster so this was inevitable. Hopefully a team out there still sees something and is willing to pick up his contract, otherwise hopefully he becomes an asset in AAA.
Fast forward to April, Rangers sign him, hits .390 +30homers. Singleton was one of those guys that when he took his batting stance, he had the look like something great was going to happen but 3 swings later reality would sink in, this guy just isn't a mlb hitter. When we traded Pence, it was the only time I temporarily stopped watching Astros baseball in my silent protest. Glad pence won a couple of WS but I still miss him. Springer+Pence would be the coolest socially awkward outfield of all MLB history.
The only question I have about the contract... would singleton have put any sort of increased effort to getting better had he not been paid? It's impossible to answer that question.
They stopped offering those contracts to prospects that were not deserving of them. Guys like Matt Dominguez and Robbie Grossman got those offers, more for cost certainty than actual surplus value. The Singleton contract clearly shows giving those contracts to the wrong guy can still be a bust. Those contract offers need to go to can't miss prospects or guys with some ML time/success. They tried (appropriately) to offer one to Springer. Wouldn't be surprised if Bregman was approached.
I would imagine every team has sports psychologists that try to evaluate inherent motivation/etc. It would be the same analysis you'd want to do before giving a player their first big free agency contract or giving someone like Correa a big 10-year extension or whatnot. I would say yes. First off, we have no idea if they stopped offering those contracts, and second, we don't know the specifics of what types of players they offer them to, and if we have players that qualify. I think if the Astros had a similar player again, they wouldn't hesitate to give that type of contract again. When you're paying a Josh Reddick $13MM per year or a Charlie Morton $7MM per year, then $2MM a year on a potential star is absolutely worth the risk. If he doesn't pan out, it has no real impact on the team; if he does, they've locked in a player at a cheap rate for many years.
