You're not joking. Someone on twitter responded to the Gattis news today with: "Smart for team. They got below midpoint and an option for an average 2nd year raise in case he has a huge year. Cost control." Drellich's response: "Agreed. Astros saving dollars where they can. They're good at that. And it's not like it's bad for Gattis." He agrees with someone that this is a good deal for both parties, and still can't help himself from taking a shot.
Well, we certainly aren't gonna be sneaking up on anybody this year. http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/68235/ranking-the-teams-6-through-1-3
Not entirely sure what you were getting at, but I remember that Crane was in Boston to watch the Astros-Red Sox series during the 4th of July weekend and Drellich wanted a chat, and Crane declined. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Astros owner Jim Crane is at the game. He turned down my request to speak with him.</p>— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) <a href="https://twitter.com/EvanDrellich/status/617376021348753408">July 4, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Then, right before the Astros got Carlos Gomez, JJO apparently got Crane to talk while they were in an elevator together. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Just got off the elevator with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Astros?src=hash">#Astros</a> owner Jim Crane, who had some good info to share. More soon.</p>— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) <a href="https://twitter.com/OrtizKicks/status/626236205982552064">July 29, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> And then he tried to clickbait everyone into reading his rubbish.
So what do we know about Alfredo Gonzalez, the 23 y/o catcher on our 40-man roster? Those 40-man roster spots are so valuable that management wouldn't keep him on there if they didn't think he could contribute at the MLB level this year. I haven't seen any prospect chatter about him on any of the usual outlets, but he put up good numbers in ~300 PAs across A+ and AA last year. Zero pop, but he does look like a pretty big kid from pictures Drellich tweeted this morning. I'm guessing he's on the roster for defense purposes--if we need to go to our 3rd catcher because of injury, we can play him and he won't hurt us too badly. Remember, the bar for a 3rd catcher is really, really low. Exhbit A: Jesus Sucre for the Mariners last year.
Every team usually keeps a 3rd catcher on the 40 man roster, if it hadn't been him it likely would have been Tyler Heineman. I think those 2 are 1A and 1B as catching prospects go. Very similar age and statistical profiles. Gonzalez is a little younger, and is coming off the better season, so maybe they think he's figured something out. Now that Heineman has survived the Rule 5 draft, I don't think Gonzalez has a huge advantage, or Stassi for that matter. If Stassi doesn't perform I could see either guy taking his job. None of them have demonstrated any consistent offensive production in the minors.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/14786897/best-worst-mlb-offseason Bargain free agent department Best free agents signed to one-year contracts: Doug Fister (Astros): 11 Hisashi Iwakuma (Mariners): 8 Bartolo Colon (Mets): 7 Rich Hill (A's): 7 Alexei Ramirez (Padres): 5 Steve Pearce (Rays): 4 Yoenis Cespedes (Mets): 4* (*Those who cast this vote were highly amused by it, for the most part -- because Cespedes signed a three-year deal. But he's widely expected to opt out after one.)
Is there a list online of first year eligible rule v prospects for 2016? It's do or die for Singleton, Straily, Peacock and others
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Orioles?src=hash">#Orioles</a>, Yovani Gallardo moving toward a deal, source confirms, as <a href="https://twitter.com/Buster_ESPN">@Buster_ESPN</a> reported earlier tonight.</p>— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) <a href="https://twitter.com/jonmorosi/status/700148003454263296">February 18, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Peacock & Straily are out of options, and will have to be passed through waivers just to send them to AAA.
After a quick check, maybe i missed someone. David Paulino (was eligible last draft, but he will be a guaranteed pick if he repeats last year) Colin Moran Tyler White Tony Kemp Chase McDonald Jon Kemmer Conrad Gregor Those are the names of possible significance, Gregor and McDonald are unlikely to be worthy of targeting, but it's possible they breakout at higher levels. There are also some latin players who would be eligble, but none are viewed as significant at the moment. And pretty much everybody who played in Fresno last year will again be eligible. To my surprise, Francis Martes will NOT be eligible, which could be a factor late in the year if the Astros are thinking of calling him up. If he's dominating and seems like he could help the club it won't matter, but if they were merely considering giving him a cup of coffee to get his feet wet, it might.
Paulino was actually added to the 40 man before the previous Rule 5 Draft. Two guys who will be eligible are Kyle Smith and Kent Emanuel. Both are coming off TJ surgery, and Smith was already eligible once. I believe Smith will be ready at the start of the year and Emanuel won't pitch until midseason. If Reymin Guduan improves his control at all he will probably have to be protected (he too was eligible last year).
Wow, Jose de Jesus Ortiz just announced on twitter than he will be moving to St. Louis in April and writing for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Who will tuck Drellich in at night, now? Pretty fitting that after all the drama JDJO caused at the Chron during Luhnow's tenure that he would move to St. Louis.
Happy to get some new blood... but JDJO moving on to the SLPD (presumably to cover baseball) is a promotion within the industry. That paper is an institution (as is baseball in St. Louis), with plenty of long-time nationally respected writers, and little turnover.
