To be fair... he was terrible with the Royals, so much so his market crashed (he signed for significantly less than Price and Grienke). In hindsight, it was a brilliant move by the Giants. But I would understand hesitation around handing out a hefty contract to a pitcher his age. But, yeah... that would have been a nice buy-low option.
The buy-low Cueto contract (6 years/$130 million) still looks to be out of the range of what this team is wiling to do, thus far. Of course, its better than what other pitchers have gone for... and what value they've gotten in return... but this is the price of acquiring starting pitching (even for those that are having their markets crash or coming off bad rental years).
For every Cueto, you risk a Samardzjia type signing..where you spend a ton and the guy doesn't return to form. Perhaps the best move is a Giants type play where you go after 2 of them (whether FAs or by trade) to distribute risk and hope 1 pans out.
^^ Regarding Lee that really wasn't an awful contract . What made it feel so bad is that the rest of our team dropped off and our farm system was barren . Lee himself out up expected numbers for the first half which is a pretty rare thing for big free agent signings .
Samardzjia hasn't been that bad, all things considered. Seems to have health. Eats up innings.... not as good as he was with the Cubs, not as bad as he was with the White Sox. That being said, the going rate even for him (a guy who looked to be on the steep decline) is 5 years/$90 million. The Astros are going to have to spend a lot for starting pitching, if they choose to go after it via free agency.
Everything points to reclamation projects in free agency, developing #3 starters from within and trading for a #1-2. There will be several #1-2 starters available, but the cost in talent will be immense. I suspect that is why the Astros hit the international market so hard (supposedly they may not be done).
Agreed . I think another complicating factor is that now as we are trying to compete our roster in general is pretty good and pretty full . We won't be able to offer guaranteed contracts for reclamation projects like ****ty teams will , at least not as many of them . There are players out there that have had injuries but have talent and in the past could eat innings . There are guys out there that are coming off down years that I would normally like to go after . The scary thing goin forward for the Astros is it looks like that barring trade , they are going to have to rely on YOUNG pitchers to step up . Results aside , the one thing you CANNOT rely on young guys for ( at least this seems to be the recent trend) is innings . Especially late in the season . I halfway expect the Astros to gauge where they are at when the deadline comes around . Give Paulino , martes , musgrove .. Etc.. A chance at the beginning of the seasons to look really good , and then trade them for a veteran who we know can put together the innings down the stretch. Pitching is a concern next year especially given kuechel and McCullers health . Mchugh has also been a workhorse in terms of innings the last three years , I'm not expecting any positive regression from him .
he's only been marginally better than Fister, if at all. Has had similar rough patches to the one Fister is going through now. But he's locked up for 5 years and costs 2.5x just this year. I'd say he's been "that bad" when considering the alternative option, which we actually have had in front of us. But yes, if you can sign 2 of them, you get a shot at 1 hitting and 1 being a Fister for 5 years. That would be a solid outcome. Signing 1 and getting 1 Fister for 5 years would not be so great
The Astros can probably gamble on one reclamation project, but I think they may target them through trade. Michael Pineda is a player that the Astros have coveted in the past and had discussions about prior to the deadline. The problem is that most of the reclamation projects in free agency will still command a healthy amount of money. A perfect example is Andrew Cashner. He SHOULD be a very good starter, but thus far hasn't been the last few years. He is someone that the Astros would have interest in, but he is likely to get 10 million or more a season. At that price the Astros are better off passing. So much changes from year to year in baseball. For all we know, Dallas K could have a sub 3.00 era next season, and McCullers could win 20 games. What is Devo goes to the rotation and pitches like a #2 starter? I agree with you that outside of Dallas K, there is likely not going to be many horses in the rotation. The good thing is that we have a lot of depth in the pen. The Astros are going to do everything possible to add a #1-2 starter this Winter. They will look at players like Sale, Quintana, Ross, Fernandez, Santana, Shoemaker, Archer and Teheran. If the Astros trade for a #1-2 starter, then McCullers would likely be included in the deal. As for Dallas K, there is no way to know what he does.
Samardjida, Cueto Could have also spent some to upgrade the offense which has had major holes in it a large majority of the year Could also add by way of trade Put it this way, if Crane would allow him to spend but he just can't figure out how to do so and help the current club We have problems
So what you're saying is that if there are problems there are problems and if there aren't problems then there are just circumstances. Is that a fair reading of the situation?
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Astros spent $10.3 million on int'l prospect, including penalties. Reminded Rangers were once called "Drunken Sailors" for same by Astros GM</p>— Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) <a href="https://twitter.com/Evan_P_Grant/status/775857208936452097">September 14, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
He still got 20+ mil a year. However the astros should be able to add at least 3 20mil a year contracts.
Also, something to consider for all of the Cueto/Shark suggestions: we would have lost our 1st round pick, and would not have been able to draft Forrest Whitley if we signed either. I'm not saying that's the sole reason I would or would not make those signings, but the loss of Whitley should be considered as part of the acquisition cost for either of those two.
