No. I don't think the Astros are going to spend any serious money. It will be stop gap measures at best or low risk guys like Cliff Lee and hope they rebound to old form. I just have very little faith that Crane is going to open his pocket books for the likes of a Chris Davis. I mean, we couldn't even resign Kazmir at 16 m/yr which, while high, is probably market price (and the Astros would keep their coveted draft picks). So who are we going to spend any serious money on? This is an 'all in' year for the World Series, no doubt. I think its a mistake to think we can rely on our farm and hope a Singleton, White or Reed crank out a .290/25 hr/90 rbi slash line which is what we need in a 1B. At this stage though, who is left? No one I really like in the FA market and others like Gallardo will cost us a pick and will prob cost similar to Kazmir at similar if not worse production. Only way we'll improve is through trades IMO, but opening the pocket book? Naw. Thats for East Coast/West Coast big spending teams. Not the little Astros. If there was any year to go in big for a Greinke or Price, this was it. We have a 3-5 year world series window, why not capitalize on an opportunity that has eluded the Astros franchise for 50 years? We keep hearing thats the goal of the team, "to win a championship" yet the ownership was to cut corners to get there.
All got better than their MLBTR estimates Keuchel: $6.4M Valbuena: $5.8M Marwin: $1.9M Fields: $800K Keuchel shattered the $4.35M record for a pitcher in their first year of arbitration.
really glad Keuchel both shattered that record and the estimates out there. Should have us in as good position as possible going into LT negotiations next offseason
Haha wow. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jason Castro filed at 5.25M, astros at 5M</p>— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonHeyman/status/688128086148124672">January 15, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Also. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Evan gattis filed at 3.85M, astros at 3M</p>— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonHeyman/status/688128551208394754">January 15, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Estimates: Castro - $4.6M Gattis - $3.4M I'm assuming Astros and Castro come to terms. That is too close.
Castro isn't going to Recieve less than the Astros already offered it'll be around 5.11 mil or just pay him in full, it's not that much more.
Of course not, those are MLBTR's estimates. The team's offer exceeding that amount is uncommon and I find it interesting. If it does go to arbitration. The player can only be awarded his claim or the team's. The arbitrator can't choose middle ground.
3-5 year window? More like a 10+ year window. Don't need to spend absurd money on talent to win a championship. Save those contracts for the core guys over the next 3-6 years..Keuchel, Correa, Springer & Altuve Luhnow has proven he can find talent in the draft both in St Louis and here. Keep using that formula and the Astros can stay a contender. Wouldn't have made it too the playoffs last year without strong rookie campaigns from Correa, McCullers & Tucker. There's lots more on the way
Seems like a kudos for a Cy Young season more than anything. I can't imagine a $1m bump in salary now will account for 8-figure difference in long-term value later.
How is this the 'all-in-year'? You admit there's a 3-5 year window and yet you say they have to go all in now? That makes no sense. As much as it pained to watch them reshuffle the deck this offseason and not add a major player, I think it's reasonable to see how much organic growth they get next year. They've got the prospects to swing for a big piece at any point in the next 3 seasons too.
I don't think Luhnow views it in terms of "windows", and I never have. I don't know why people are so convinced talent will suddenly stop coming in just because the MLB team is good. Quality organizations can do both.
You go all in every year you are a legit contender for the World Series. Just because you have a 5 year window (10 is absurd, so much changes in 10 years and no one projects that far out ) doesn't mean you play it safe for the first two and then push it in the third year because it falls within the projected timeline. There are so many unknowns with injury and performance that thinking you have a long window of opportunity is unwise. Thus, especially a team like the Astros that has never won a WS in 50 years, you seize the opportunity. That means now. Not let's hope a bunch of minor leaguers pan out. Especially when the team ranks in the bottom half of team budgets and where there is wiggle room to expand. Having said that, they may have waited to long. Maybe they'll get there through trades, maybe a minor leaguer will pan out but hedging is getting old .
This is our first off season as a contender, how in the hell can you say anything is getting old? The Astros have a had a plan, and they've stuck to it. Now that they are good, fans want them to press fast forward and look for shortcuts. Why now, there's no reason we can't be a contender for the next decade.
There are no such things as 10 year windows - that's silly. Look at every team in baseball and you won't find a single one that looks remotely like they did 10 years. You'll find very few people that are stars today that were stars 10 years ago. The odds of the 4 players you mentioned being great 10 years from now is fairly low - one or two of them would be outstanding.
But those players get replaced with new players. The braves did it. The cardinals did it. Yankees did it. We did it.
They don't need all 4 to be great 10 years from now. Even though Correa, Springer & Altuve still fit that timeline. Those players get replaced with new players. We aren't talking about the Bregmann's, Cameron's, K Tucker's, Reed's, etc yet. They continue to draft well it's easily a 10+ year window.
Certainly - but any team can do that. There's no "window" that looks 10 years down the road. Crappy teams today have just as good a chance to be great in 10 years as the Astros. Over the last decade, the Astros went from a World Series to complete dismantling to back to the cusp of greatness.
