The question is how much more talent is he? The team made moves that led to not making other moves. If they were garbage, I think the team would cut bait and be done with guys, but Aoki & Marisnick are good values (at least in theory based on WAR and average cost in FA). Both fit needs on the roster. Marisnick has speed & defense that only Springer comes close to matching in the OF, and we need a 2nd CF. Aoki is a quality hitter that only Altuve can match in terms of consistent contact. Sipp is tough. Relievers often have terrible years for whatever reason and bounce back. They will move on from Sipp is he struggles early this year. They did it with Carlos Gomez.
Only see a fit if he/Astros wait until after the draft. See how outfield/DH/injuries shakes out and keep first round pick.
Here is an ESPN article about the lack of market for Bautista. If he really is tough on a locker room, he may not be a fit here. http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/77229/what-if-nobody-wants-jose-bautista
Very interesting. You might be right, it's looking more and more that the total risk might not outweigh the reward, and that's what most teams are probably coming to the conclusion to as well. I will note that we took on a similar knucklehead risk in Carlos Gomez, and we know that that turned out swimmingly, haha!
Yeah we all love that guy . However, we also took a flyer on Colby Rasmus and that didn't turn out too bad, well the first year at least. He came in with attitude questions and he thrived here initially. If the Astros end up signing him I won't be upset, I just don;t know if they would consider it worth it with the possible chemistry problems.
http://insider.espn.com/blog/buster-olney/insider/post?id=15478 Olney ranked the top 10 SS. Article is too big to post, but below are the rankings and relevant quotes. Lindor Seager Correa Crawford Bogaerts Russell Turner Segura Tulowitzki Simmons Spoiler: The Ranking 1. Lindor 2. Seager 3. Correa 4. Crawford 5. Bogaerts 6. Russell 7. Turner 8. Segura 9. Tulowitzki 10. Simmons Honorable mention: Gregorius, Escobar, Cozart, Swanson, Andrus, Hechavarria, Story, Diaz.
Yes. The Orioles lost a 1st round pick, paid him a decent amount of money, and got terrible production. I was so happy we didn't sign him.
Jeff Kent is a hall of famer and everyone knew it at the time when we signed him. Also that acquisition cost us Gerry Hunsinker who wanted to move Biggio back to second. Tim P who replaced him was terrible. While Kent was helpful in the playoffs its hard to say that he was vital to our success. Considering the long term impact the Jeff Kent signing is when Drayton took over the franchise to win now. This put us in a giant hole that took three 100 loss seasons to recover from and sent us to the AL. So yeah not all signings work out.
If not for Jeff Kent leading to losing Hunsicker and losing 100 games, we don't have Correa or Bregman, and perhaps we don't win the 2017 World Series. So if we do, maybe the Jeff Kent signing was the key to it all and the best signing we ever made?
Fringe all star at best? He made team twice and was top 10 in MVP voting twice. I guess Mike Trout is arguably a fringe most valuable player at best.
I thought it was the re-signing of Biggio that Drayton demanded but Hunsicker strongly opposed after the Astros lost in the NLCS too the Cardinals that caused Timmy P too take over and destroy the club