Yulieski Gurriel agrees to 5/$47M deal with the Astros

I love the fact that the newest guy is "Pavlov's dogs". Ring that bell, rollerinrk

 

He's getting paid about the same per year as Scott Feldman. It's not really a defining contract at all. $10MM/yr is a fairly typical midtier FA contract - lots of those guys end up mediocre. If a team can't afford can misses on those types of contracts, then any GM is going to be a failure.

 

I agree with Snake; it'll be a defining contract Luhnow's tenure. Off the top of my head it's the largest FA contract he's given out. We all know he's trying to pay below market price for ML talent. Given the financial constraints it's basically expected. However, sometimes GMs have to bite the bullet and pay market price for talent. Luhnow could easily get burned on this like several of the recent Cuban players.

 

It's the largest in total value, but it's not the largest per year - again, a middle tier pitcher in Scott Feldman got more than him. 5 years or 3 years, it's a relatively middling contract that most teams give out regularly and many of which result in mediocre players. You don't really get "burned" on those because the expectations aren't - or shouldn't be - that high.

Contracts, especially non-impactful ones like this, don't really define anyone's tenure. If Gurriel sucks but the Astros win a World Series, no one's going think poorly of Lunhow. If Gurriel is awesome, but the Astros are horrible again, no one is going to think Lunhow was great. If we sign a $25MM or $30MM player, that might define how the team does and thus shape how we view Lunhow. But this contract is completely forgettable and irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. At best, we're hoping he'll be the 5th best offensive player on the team (behind Altuve, Correa, Springer, and Bregman in whatever order).

 

Gurriel to LF/1B eh. Guess he wasn't promised 3B after all....

Proof that Bregman has been a wizard fielding 3rd.

 

Right on!

 

At best, I'm hoping he is better than Correa and Altuve.

 

I think their plan with Gurriel is to DH him but get him able to fill in at 1B, 3B, and LF. He will be a valuable piece if he can do that and be an above average hitter.

 

Well, Gurriel just rolled out of bed and started hitting once he got to the show. It'll be interesting to see where things stand once he's settled in...Obviously there's already a book on him, but I'm not sure this small stretch gives our opposition enough time to really refine/adjust to it this year....Color me impressed with YG so far.

 

Gurriel has started well, no doubt.

Great OPS numbers across the board.. hits to all fields and has a 1/1 walk ratio... Bregman.. nor Springer, nor Altuve, nor Correa, nor Valbuena, nor 90% of baseball can boast that. Small sample size, true, but it's real MLB stats.

He's doing real well.

 

Sure wish he would've come up 2 weeks earlier. It couldbe the difference between making the playoffs or not.

 

2 weeks ago he was in the midst of his stay in the high minors getting his timing back. He went 6-35 between AA and AAA. No reason to think he wouldn't have been at least that terrible in the MLB.

Based on results the Astros appear to have handled his promotion schedule perfectly, hard to say anything else.

 

Anyone else notice him limping when he runs after hits?

 

He had a hamstring issue that kept him out of the lineup for a few games. Probably still a bit tender.

 

I agree with you.

I just wish he could've gotten here earlier. I understand why he wasn't

 

The big wish is certainly that he had signed earlier. Wouldn't have been so bad, except for Valbuena's injury and Bregman's early struggles.

 

How did Gurriel perform defensively? I missed the game last night.

 

He had 0 balls hit his way.

 

He can hit all he likes; personally, I'm disappointed in his approach to buttoning his jersey. Singleton has forever soured me on guys who don't button their jersey up all the way.