There was no way the Astros were going to give Eovaldi that kind of money. However, I'm a little sad we weren't able to land Paxton, as the return Seattle received appears a little light.
I just want to say that I appreciate your insight. It's fun to come on the board and read your stuff.
That's what was said, but they ended up taking a package that was no where near as valuable as Whitley.
Sheffield was a top 30 prospect in all of baseball. The Astros don't have another top 50 prospect that is a pitcher. Their needs and the prospects we were willing to deal didn't match up. We are also in their division which explains the inflated ask of Whitley.
Where was he rated a top 30? On FG he's one of the higher rated 50 FVs (54th overall). I think Alvarez is more valuable than Sheffield (and worth trading for Paxton), but I guess the Ms were really set on landing pitchers in that deal.
That is correct, no one said those things, I was using hyperbole to highlight the "sky is falling" crowd. My statement wasn't an argument at all.
Speculation: Astros going cheap on SP and C to make a run at Harper. If/when he signs elsewhere they will deploy that capital to multiple areas. Would you rather have Chirinos/Miley/Harper or Grandal/Morton/Brantley?
This Harper stuff has got to be a smoke screen to drive up the price. No way the Astros sign him to $300M with all that is to come.
I'd rather take the big swing on Harper. But it'll never happen. Not for the money he's going to command.
The reason $300m isn't completely crazy for a guy like Harper is that he's only 26. This isn't a Pujols deal where you're going to be paying much of that money in years he should've retired. In the next few years, other players are going to surpass $30m/year and he won't seem like such an outlier...IF he's living up to his potential. I'm not necessarily advocating for the Astros to do something that crazy...but I wouldn't be totally against it either.
I wonder if Harper would go for a deal like 4 years $160M - 200M (40m - 50m per year) and then get another monster contract when he is 30... Not sure if we can make that work or not, but maybe a way to sign him without going 10yr $300m+? That way he is coming off the books after 2022 and can lock up other guys on our roster.
Harper already turned down 300 million. I expect his deal to be 360 million plus. We can't have 60-65 million tied up in two player (altuve and harper) long term and compete. We have to restock our roster with cheap young players. The Astros don't have the revenue to compete with the Yankees/Red Sox/Dodgers. It doesn't matter how big the city of Houston has become. The Astros aren't pulling in that kind of money. It's also not just up to Jim Crane like it was with Drayton. Crane has several minority owners that have a say. They can be a top 10 team in payroll and MAYBE stretch the budget a year here or there.
They can stretch. We've won a World Series and bandwagoners have helped with the revenues. Astros are banking right now.