Astros lost their a$$ financially the last year or so. 5 million for cheating, paying off Hinch, lawsuits galore, no fans is a massive revenue loss, 45.2 million for one start on the Verlander extension,etc.... Until covid situation is resolved and things get somewhat normal they aren't going to spend more and they aren't even going to maintain the current level of payroll. Click is probably going to be hated for decisions he had nothing to do with because of finanical limitations.
Singed I like what I saw with Garcia and Scrubb. Beilak lost his control after a strong start but the potential is there. We need all of them since our farm system is deemed weaker than past few years. If we need a closer or late inn guy, I think FA is the way to go. Treinen or Kendrick would be a solid addition.
If annual economics are in the equation, Click should be happy though. If he had to appease the fans and the owner all of his decisions would be analytic nightmares against his will. Correa, Springer included. So this gives him the authority to stamp his own identity and maintain an analytic approach. I think it's for worse, not for the better, as I too would run it back, but it allows Click to essentially mark his territory and determine his own fate.
We will just have to see. There’s not much reason to believe Houston was hurt by the pandemic more than any other team. If all teams are feeling the pain, free agents may just be in for a rude awakening. Good news for Astros fans is that other than Springer and Correa the team isn’t losing major pieces to free agency. Even before the pandemic and Verlander’s injury I didn’t expect Houston to keep both of those guys. If they lose both that will be a disappointment but like I said I am just letting it play out. I expect good things from Click.
I'm not doubting that they lost $ this year - I'm guessing every baseball team did. It would be interesting to see what the breakdown is on that. The Verlander extension is probably covered in part by insurance due to injury. To be clear, I think we can cut payroll and still sign those two players. Springer and Brantley are not going to collectively get raises in the $30m range. Especially, as you said, with the covid situation affecting MLB across the board.
Id prefer too build the pitching staff through the draft like Click helped do with TB and spend the money on keeping as much of the lineup in tact as possible. We have a ton of amazing young arms that are 5-7 years away from free agency. Guys who’ve put up good numbers 1. Valdez 2. Javier 3. Urquidy 4. Paredes 5. Taylor 6. Abreu 7. Scrubb 8. Garcia 9. Bailey Guys who’ve gotten a taste of the big leagues and an idea of adjustments to make and things too develop: 10. C. Perez (much improved in 2020) 11. Bielak 12. Armenteros 13. Castellanos 14. N. Rodriguez Top 30 prospects: 15. Whitley (#1) 16. H. Brown (#6) 17. Santos (#7) 18. Solis (#8) 19. Ivey (#12) Lotta talent there in place. With Grienke and JV off the books in 2022 there is 68 mil off payroll plus another 19 mil on McCullers, Osuna and Smith..though I wouldn’t keeping them on good deals. There should be enough money to pay Carlos Correa in 2022. The age you want to sign the heart and soul of your team.
It’s just hard to assign credit for Click’s accomplishments in TB when we know so little about what he was actually responsible for. I think the hire was about as good as Crane could have made though. it’s a guy with a good resume but an unknown as a GM versus a guy with some clear flaws but delivered the goods on the field with a historic level of dominance this franchise had not seen before and may never see again. I’d prefer the known quantity in this scenario but that isn’t an option.
When I talk about relentless, nobody out works Luhnow and he expected that kind of commitment from everybody in the org. Is Click that kind of guy? We will see.
There’s a good chance he’s “hungrier” at this stage of his career than Luhnow would have been going forward. And there’s nothing wrong or abnormal about that... it’s human nature to take your foot off the gas when you’ve been going hard, full steam, and accomplished ultimate success at every level. Frankly, Luhnow would probably have relished an opportunity to oversee another rebuild if it was ever needed... but the way he built things, it likely wouldn’t have ever been required.
Doubtful Gotta win the ring atleast once or more times. But way to break down a very bias view. Truth is we dont know how Click will do. He's never made one final call in his career. I would be very happy if Click was close to successful as Luhnow was.
Meaning Springer (this year) and Correa (next year) are the only major major players reaching free agency soon. Altuve, Bregman, Tucker, and Alvarez are all under contract for 4+ seasons. (I don’t consider Greinke or McCullers or any other player reaching free agency in the next 2 seasons as a major major player; they are good players and collectively losing them will have a major impact but I don’t expect superstar level performance out of any of them, and they are much more replaceable.
One very interesting thing to me is that the Rays are built very much on trades. Their primary roster this season didn’t feature a single player they drafted in the first round, and only 1 meaningful free agent. Here’s how the current Rays were built: 4 Rule 4 draftees: Snell (1a), Lowe (3), Fleming (5), Kiermeier (31) 1 Undrafted free agent: Brosseau 2 International signees: Castillo, Tsusugo 4 free agents: Morton, Smith, Loup, Thompson 15 via trade: Arozarena, Wendle, Adames, Margot, Choi, Zunino, Meadows, Renfroe, Diaz, Glasnow, Yarbrough, Richards, Slegar, Anderson, Curtiss Now some of those trades were prospects-for-veterans, some were trash-for-trash, some were veteran-for-prospects. But I think we can reasonable expect that Click may look to the trade market to make his moves.
My offseason is simple. Trade for Micheal Conforto. Sign Profor Look at James McCann C, Mike Minor and Robbie Ray, Andrew Chaffin RP and Kirby Yates as a Closer. Resign Correa. And roll with what we have every where else. I'm sure the GM of the Mets would be iffy on Conforto but I would headline with Lance McCullers and Josh James
I'm assuming you're talking about Profar, and I'm wondering how much meth you smoke on a semi-regular basis?
He said in the interview he was looking forward to the challenge of turning 6 years of winning into 12.
Nook said Houston is possibly interested in Profar as a CF regardless if Springer is here or not. Maybe he's just basing it on that.
I'm now wondering how much meth @Nook smokes on a regular basis There are way, way better options. Options that I don't have to reflexively hate.
