Gomez really isn't spending money - he makes $9MM next year. But we seem to have a plethora of mix & match outfielders - I'd much rather focus on money on getting a top tier 1B or 3B. Long term, they need to mix in some good contact/high-on-base hitters with all their HR-or-bust guys. I like Rasmus, but he's sort of redundant on this team. It fascinates me that a guy can have 25 HRs and only 60 RBI, but his whole career looks like that.
Yea i'm just saying adding Gomez to the mix in the OF, lessens the need to go and spend big money on another OF. If you do bring Rasmus back, Springer-Gomez-Rasmus/Jake is a very good OF. If we are going to spend money on a big free agent contract (offense) i'd agree with you on 3B, maybe Catcher. We won't be spending big at 1B with Reed and even White likely ready next season at some point. Even though our pitching depth is good and more on the way, if we were going to give out a big contract, i'd just as soon spend it on one of the big pitchers that will be on the market. Put another true Ace in there with Keuchel, McHugh and McCullers would probably be the best 3-4 punch in the AL (if not all of baseball) and would have plenty of depth for that 5th spot. Might allow us to look at Appel as a back end bullpen guy also..... For now though, let's kick the crap out of KC tomorrow and Monday :grin:
When you remove Marisnick, Carter and Valbuena the number of bad PA's comes down quite a bit. I personally would like to see us also move Gattis and upgrade the DH. It would really leave Castro and Rasmus as the only high K, low OBP guys.
My dream scenario is Luhnow gets on the phone with his former Astros buddy in Milwaukee and works out a trade for Jon Lucroy. There's not much available in FA at C or 3B, unfortunately.
All those guys certainly won't be gone Can't see them take a team they put together, had success, and then tear it down If they could upgrade one of those spots they probably would I would guess Carter is back to hold 1b till Reed is ready Gattis had a "down" year and yet still produced Lot of people around here still don't like the makeup of the offense And I myself would like to see a great on base guy added to the lineup But to think they are gonna remove all the power/K guys when it's worked, well that isn't going to happen
I would love to see that Have to think they talked about him and Lind at the deadline this year and couldn't come up with a match
I think we let Rasmus go to the highest bidder this offseason. He's earned himself a nice contract somewhere. Preston Tucker can give you 25-80 over a full season, perhaps more. His defense is adequate in left, but we have time to train him or figure out if DH will be his best spot or not. Otherwise, you still have 3 CFs under contract in Springer Gomez and Marisnick. It's just an embarrassment of riches to have such a good Defensive OF this year, but not one we should break the bank to maintain. I'm all for the Astros spending this offseason, but hopefully it's on getting top notch relief first and foremost.
87 wins certainly a success by our old standards, but that doesn't mean it can't be improved. I highly doubt Carter is back, if he is you have to commit to him all season to let his peaks and valleys play out, which they shouldn't do. Marisnick will certainly be back, but as the 4th OF, not an everyday player like he was. I don't think Valbuena is back either, Marwin, Lowrie and Duffy can equal his production, with less all or nothing streaks. Gattis will likely be back in his same role, moving him is my personal feeling, not one I think will happen. The Astros have money to spend, and the market for high OBP guys is very thin and if we let him go we suddenly have another hole that needs to be addressed. Marisnick can't hit and Tucker is a disaster, and has no business playing OF. If there is some high OBP OF available via trade then find, otherwise I think retaining Rasmus is as good as you can hope for.
I agree we should try to get better, i'm just saying that thinking we will look to replace 4 of our 9 everyday players on a team that is still playing, isn't realistic. I'm also saying that whether some of us as fans like the way the offense was built or not, the guy that built it isn't likely to look to totally change it I do think Carter is back, certainly either him or Valbuena will be back. I don't think they would want to count on Marwin, Lowrie and Duffy as 1B/3B combination, when Duffy is such a ?? and Lowrie has so many injury concerns. Plus, they didn't play Carter everyday in the second half, yet held on to him and then he found a big streak to help us make it in. I see Carter as the starting 1B until they are ready to bring Reed up, and at that point he becomes a power off the bench guy. Agree Rasmus is likely to be our best option for that OF spot. Tucker is likely going to end up as a DH at some point, he is atrocious in the field. Jake has at least shown potential in streaks of being a good offensive player. Maybe he finds some consistency at some point Let's just win today for now :grin:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Good Read on Colby here. <a href="http://t.co/jidoFmbDMS">http://t.co/jidoFmbDMS</a></p>— PDS (@PatDStat) <a href="https://twitter.com/PatDStat/status/654284392387383297">October 14, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">In that article Lunhow "acknowledges that Rasmus may be playing himself into a contract above what the Astros would be willing to pay.”</p>— PDS (@PatDStat) <a href="https://twitter.com/PatDStat/status/654285427759714304">October 14, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I never understand why some teams allow one good week to inflate someones worth when we had 6 months of data on them. It happened with Sandoval last year, probably will happen with Rasmus this year. He is what he is, a good, not great player with an all or nothing approach that can lead to very unproductive stretches. I would love to have him back, but if this hot postseason is gonna cause somebody to give him a huge contract than we will let him walk. Luhnow isn't one of the GM's that will overreact to a hot postseason.
Agreed. If the market goes bonkers for him, I'll say "Thanks for the memories". He's been great down the stretch but, over an entire season, he's replaceable.
Same thing happened with Cody Ross IIRC. A good playoff run can really have a profound effect on the market. It just takes ONE team to overpay. I don't see us offering anything over 3/50. Hopefully he takes it. And I hope we keep him. It's okay to slightly overpay given what we've endured the past decade. Rasmus doesn't seem like a guy obsessed with money, but at the end of the day, money talks. So who knows.
We probably would have been sorry if we had re-signed Beltran after his hot streak in the playoffs because he did not live up to expectations after he signed his whopping contract. So, I'm on the fence about whether to bring him back. Rasmus has to want to be here first and foremost. If he's just looking for a max contract, then it's been fun but see ya.
People just remember his first year when he struggled, but Beltran was awesome for most of that contract. His second year, he hit 40 HRS, 115 RBI, and nearly a 1.000 OPS. Won a Gold Glove and was 4th in the MVP voting. He was an all-star 5 times during that contract, and in the top 25 of the MVP voting 4 times. He did have injury problems a couple of years in there, but he was very productive in years 2-7 when healthy.
I'd love to have him back but not at a major increase in salary. I can't answer your question but I get what you're saying. Neither of them has played a full 162 (Gomez's best being 153 in 2008). I do think that Tucker, Marisnick, or one of the prospects can fill a temporary spot...assuming they don't sign another FA.
Yeah, I think everyone is pretty much in agreement on that. Chris Young is available, if he only plays at MMP can we get him at half price?
At what point is overpaying not worth it? Like, does the difference from 11MM a year to 15MM a year really matter? Especially when we're 70MM below the league average in payroll? If any team can afford to overpay, its us. Colby's agent knows it, too. I get that we need to be smart with money, especially since we'll soon need to lock up Kuechel, Correa, etc., but the Astros don't seem to be in a position to alienate fans after this run, granted the FO has never really cared what fans thought. You have to be objective when handing out contracts, but I'd like to at least see a good faith offer made to Colby, one that actually makes him consider re-signing.
