As excited as I would be to see him in a Hou uniform, loving those Crawford Box bombs, I think it is in our best interest to do exactly what we are doing--move on. The contract space assigned to EE would eat into anything we might be able to do with the rotation in 2018. We already have a ton of depth in the offense. All holes have been patched.
I'm not as worried about it from a financial standpoint I worry more that if we sign him and lose our 1st rounder next year, we would possibly be less likely to give up top prospects in a deal for a TOR pitcher. Don't think we will see top prospects moved AND forfeiture of the top pick EE could be a beast at the Juice Box though
Agreed there. EE would essentially limit our spending and trade options in a lot of ways. It would be awesome to have him, but the cost is too high given our needs.
Yep And the other part of the equation is this EE would be great if you could get him for 2 years...when you start looking at paying big money in years 3 and 4, it doesn't look as good... I've heard he might consider a 3-4 year deal at 18 per, if year 1 was at 21-22 with an opt out That might be good for us, get him for this year when we can easily afford the salary, and if he stays around the salary would be less in the final years.... but, do you really want to give up a 1st round pick for a guy who, if he does well, will likely only be here 1 year?? Springer Bregman Altuve EE Correa Beltran Reddick Gattis-McCann (platoon) Gurriel Guess that's why Luhnow makes the big bucks
Unless you are, in fact, a slow-pitch softball team...how many DHs can you fit on the field at one time?
Not sure EE would be more of a beast at Minute Maid. Here are ESPN rankings for most hitter friendly parks: http://www.espn.com/fantasy/basebal...vorable-fantasy-baseball-hitters-pitchers-mlb
Someone posted his HR spread at one point. The vast majority of his HRs go to LF. In the article you posted: "Minute Maid provides a boost to righties with pull power -- think Evan Gattis -- thanks to its Crawford Boxes in left field, but is otherwise neutral." Hence, EE.
I'd love to see EE in COL just to see the numbers. They inked Desmond to 5y/70MM, I believe to play 1B, so I doubt it happens. They were talking to Trumbo too, which would've been cool.
Desmond was a putrid defensive outfielder, and reports are out that COL is transitioning him to 1B: "I have all the faith in the world that Ian's going to be a good first baseman," Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich said. http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/18277251/colorado-rockies-finalize-deal-1st-baseman-ian-desmond
He was much better than expected, and definitely not putrid. They are moving him to 1B because they already had a great OF (which makes them signing him beyond stupid).
Since they a bunch of outfielders now, I think they have to say they are signing him to play 1B - but CarGo and Blackmon are great tradebait if they are trying to rebuild or acquire pitching. I suspect he ends up in the outfield by opening day or the trade deadline at the latest.
That's the general speculation, but BA pointed out in their podcast that it'd be a weird thing to do to a key free agent signing. Because they had to sell him on playing 1B/learning an entirely new position. So doing what you're saying means they're either knowingly deceived Desmond and are wasting his time OR he's aware and the money was overwhelming.
Money is there. Also, probably told him 1B is temporary. I'm guessing the Rockies think Colorado will help him more than most hitters.
Gotta feel bad for the rockies if the only way they could add talent to the org was to overpay a SS/OF to play 1B. If Luhnow did that in the 2011-2014 phase I'd have been furious.
Sucks to be Colorado. Pitchers don't want to sign there. Hitters don't want to sign there because they'll never sign pitching. Front office does weird stuff...but it is harder to judge their front office as what is normal for rest of the league likely won't work for them.