I think someone on here cited Paul Goldschmidt and his five-year, $130MM contract that takes him through age 36 as a benchmark/comp for Springer. I'd love to do a deal like that and maybe see if George would take more money in the first two years (AAV $30.5MM) and then lower AAV in years 3-5 ($23MM). That would put Springer in the top 15/20 contracts in MLB the next two years and probably match his expected performance. I don't think it helps from an MLB tax perspective, but could help manage the cash flow if they want to try and keep Correa too.
I love....LOVE me some ‘94/‘95 Rockets, but this Astros team is the closest thing to a dynasty the long, sad history of Houston professional sports has ever known. Would be a shame to let the core of that dynasty dissolve with only one tainted World Series to record it’s existence for posterity. Springer must be retained at the very least.
Lux tax. only the Yankees and Dodgers can realistically afford to pay it year after year after year. MLB needs a hard cap and a floor to balance the competition. More FA signing in small markets as opposed to always going to LA or NY.
Click did a bad job year 1. Failed to offload Greinke this year. He can right the ship by retaining Brantley and Springer. This young pitching staff May keep the World Series window open for the foreseeable future.
I guess Grienke is an expiring contract and would be enticing for another team to deduct from the cap? I give up...
We really lucked into Brantey's current 2-year deal. What a steal. 32 million total. Luhnow could've gotten charged with a felony on that one. Gets one of the top 5 most professional hitters in the league for chump change. I wish we would've offered more years in hindsight. I know he has injury concerns, but other teams won't be as gun shy as the entire market was on him 2 years ago. Especially with the NL incorporating the DH (that's a thing, right?). It doesn't get much better than Uncle Mike...he can hit 3rd on every team, and you know he'd be a great resource/veteran presence for a younger ball club. I think one or more owners will blow us out of the water financially on what they are willing to offer Brantley. I don't see him having a Matt Holliday like decline, but I guess everyone declines eventually? I think he'll get well beyond 2y/40m, personally. I would love to keep him, but I don't think we will be able to afford the top dollar deal on him. I wouldn't be surprised to see him get 3 or even 4 years. I could see one owner biting the bullet and getting Brantley for 3/90 or something along those lines. He's been a pretty consistent ~top 10 hitter in the MLB the past 2 years. Yeah, he's had some injury concerns, but he's remained pretty healthy the past two seasons, is 33, and, as stated, is the GOAT. He should remain servicable at the DH slot come the 3rd, 4th year I would assume.
The Astros forum during the playoffs doesnt turn into the GARM like a lot of you think. It turns into the FARM. You can take it either which way- a bunch of animals running around wild in a pen OR a bunch young, inexperienced know-nothings trying to make it on the big league squad.
Goldschmidt’s deal came before he reached free agency and he is more defensively limited than Springer. So based on that I think there’s a totally reasonable argument Springer deserves $150M. But the pandemic throws a ton of uncertainty into the mix. Rhetoric from GMs and owners may be a smoke screen but they seem to be setting the stage for reduced payrolls. If I were Springer’s agent and Houston was offering $130M/5yrs, I’d advise him to take it, but if he wanted to test free agency I’d set the asking price at $170M/6yrs with the expectation of getting $150M/5yr.
As it stands, it's only for this year. I wonder how NL fans feel about it after their 60-game trial run.
Greinke’s level of production post trade deadline didn’t warrant keeping him. If James Click didn’t really do to much to help us out either in regards to the bullpen.
It was really helpful to everyone that MLB didn't announce the postseason "no days off" schedule until after the trade deadline.
Have a friend in the organization and he says they won't be spending ****. That Crane had to be hard sold on just the Yuli discount deal, I hope he's wrong.