BBS never fails with this loser mentality. People were literally saying “bye” to Bregman last week... and are saying bye to Correa now... and even if there are no extensions, both are Astros till 2022-2023. Things happen organically. If the window is open, I have no doubt this front office will do everything within reason to keep it open. If its not open, I also feel this front office will do everything in its power to trade away everybody, and strip it down, to try and rebuild as quickly as possible. Wasn’t really that long ago when the Astros were saddled with pretty big contracts in Berkman/Lee/Oswalt with all of them regressing with the team nowhere close to contention... yet still trading prospects for Tejada and basically just “chasing it”.
What team is going to give you a good starter under club control? He has the option to leave for nothing.
If hes pitching like a 1 and we're winning, I dont get why we'd even think about trading him mid season. They're trying to "Take it Back" and they'll need that #1 pitching to win in the playoffs and hopefully WS. Worry about negotiating after the season. If we lose him we lose him, but I'd rather see another WS Championship and let him walk than wonder "what if..."
Nice rant..... It's not a loser mentality. It's called math. The Astros can't maintain a 250 million dollar payroll. Luhnow doesn't want to roll like the Marlins where they win a championship, tear it down, and win another years later. He wants a team that will have sustained success. Since we don't have the revenue of the Dodgers or Yankees that means continuing to draft and develop talent. If you lose your draft picks because of luxury tax penalties it makes it kind of hard to do that..... I love that they extended Altuve, Bregman, Pressly, and hoepfully Verlander. Eventually you have to make tough choices. If those choices end up being Altuve, Bregman, Pressly, and Verlander over Springer, Cole and, Correa I am good with that.
Short term deals for vets, with backloaded deals for younger players... and always optimize their chances with the window open. Yes, when the window is closed, they will get rid of people faster than you can blink.... but not a moment sooner. They aren’t going to be in luxury tax penalty hell. Crane also realizes that his revenue stream is greatest with a contender... and will spend more to keep that stream flush if needed. I’ve just seen too many nay-sayers question whether or not player X will be kept... when they’ve got 3-4 years to figure that out... and by then, if the window is not wide open, it will be a moot point. Additionally, I’d venture that if they don’t win (or come very close) to winning it all over the next 2-3 years, they’ll make some interesting choices regarding some of the players they do have under contract.
I agree, If they can sign JV then I’m good in knowing they have done their best and you can’t sign them all unless the player himself makes concessions to stay. I’m happy!
We aren’t trading Cole. The Astros intend to trade for another starter that is a top of the rotation starter if they need to. They tried to get a starter from the DBacks and Blue Jays (amongst others) but the costs were too high.
I'm not sure about this part. Last strip down was done because there was hardly anything to strip down. Expect current front office to not only maximize the highs, but also minimize time between them.
From everything I’ve read and heard different analysts say, Bumgarner might be on the decline. His stuff is way down and his velo is as well. And he does have a fair amount of wear on that left arm of his. It’ll be interesting to see how he comes out of the gates this season. If he’s the normal MadBum that we’re used to then I’m sure there will be a huge trade market for him.
I agree. I'd be really curious to see what pitching staff could do with him after what they did with Morton.
Joe Smith, harris, rondon and Mchugh will departure in 2020 that clears up 20 million, which will probably go to the arbitration pay outs. But Extend Cole now and 2020 will be the only year where we would be top 5 in team payroll. We're 9th right now @ 155 milly. After 2020,The death star has us set up where we'll be in great position as Brantley, Reddick and Verlander himself will all be gone by the time Correa gets paid. Yuli will have that cuban restaurant he wants to open so that's another 9 mil gone. We can keep them all! But it's crucial that the guys in waiting, i.e Ted Tucker pull their weight. Most importantly, Crane since getting re-married makes it rain with those dolla dolla bills y'all.
Current payroll sits at 184ish for luxury tax purposes. 20 million probably doesn't cover the arbitration increases for 2020. Correa, Osuna, Peacock, Springer, McCullers, Marisnick, Diaz, and Stassi will all be in arbitration. If Correa and Springer have big years they could eat up a majority of that 20 million in increases by themselves. If the Verlander deal is true to go along with the Pressly and Bregman extensions, that is 38 million in payroll increases for 2020. Verlander counts for 20 million this year since Detroit is picking up 8 million. Next year he would count for 33 million. Bregman would go from 640k to 20 million in salary for luxury tax purposes, and Pressly from 2.9 million to 8.75. You still have to fill the holes left by Chirinos, Harris, McHugh, Miley, Smith, and Rondon. You can probably fill several of the holes with young guys but I would doubt they fill all of them that way. With the rumored Verlander deal, Bregman's extension, Pressly's extension, and losing all the other free agents I have the payroll for 2020 sitting at about 176 BEFORE adding in Cole's possible salary and the arbtiraton increases. If Cole gets 28 million a year and the arbitration raised are 25 million that would put the payroll at 229 million for luxury tax purposes. That's also before filling the holes created with the other guys leaving in free agency. I doubt Crane goes that nuts on payroll.
Yeah, I don't see us offering a contract to Cole of that magnitude if we get Verlander extended. Luhnow likes his payroll flexibility. Here's a link to Roster Resource. They currently have us listed at $186,441,929. https://www.rosterresource.com/mlb-houston-astros-info/
No club control. He's a rental. I could see it at the deadline, but only if the prospect haul isn't great and they don't fully believe in Whitley in July as a post season difference maker. I'd bet if you asked the Astros right now their pitching plan for the postseason is JV/Cole/Whitley as a 1,2,3 and figure they trade for a 2 or a 3 type to slot in for the first 18 hitters in game 4 of a playoff series, and then get after it with what will likely be a pretty deep and talented bullpen with guys like James, McHugh and Peacock providing a bridge to Presley and Osuna in the playoffs.
Also, and I don't think this can be overstated, this signing of Verlander (if it happens) means that there is no way we take a step back in 2020 and make that a soft punt (think what the Indians are doing) where we try to mess around with winning the division in a short term re-build where we aren't in competition to be the best team in baseball (which isn't the same as saying WS champs due to the nature of the post season format). 2020 rotation then becomes: JV LMJ (by all star break) Whiltey as your 3 hammers in the playoffs and rotation pieces for the regular season and then bullpen depth of JBB James Peacock as guys that you'd think would have the inside track for first man up with a whole metric **** ton of guys like Perez and basically the entire RR and most of Corpus rotation as guys that make sense as depth pieces or potential breakout candidates, with the back end of the bullpen seemingly elite. If JV were gone and LMJ missing some time I could totally see them turning the entire thing over to a sorting process for the young talent and taking a re-set type approach. With that lineup that's still the best team in the division, but with JV it tells me the goal for 2020 is to be the best team in baseball- and that's exciting. My understanding when they extended Altuve was that they were in wide open window contention through the entirety of that deal in 2024. Locking Bregman up, and making sure JV will be a bridge for quality through 2021 says they are damn sure putting their money where their mouth is. As a first time season ticket holder this year I'm beyond excited for the season to start.
