I love looking at the Angels prospect lists. Brandon Marsh has a ton of power in the write-ups. His max of homers in a given year...7. If Springer was an option, I think Astros would try hard to get him as he's the best player at a position of need. Player opt outs don't help teams as they only opt out if they haven't declined. If the player ages well, team only gets 2-3 years of the good stuff. A team option would help the team, but doubtful Springer allows one without getting paid what he's worth before the team option unless his agent is horrible. Springer deserves to get paid this offseason and I think he'll get quite a few years to keep his salary down the first 2-3 years. Wanting JBJ should not be seen as thinking less of Springer...only as an omission that it is probably time to move on. He's just the next man up at CF and there is a big gap between them.
I understand the premise but do you just throw out player value and let the player dictate what they want? It's not as simple as being cheap, it's about assigning a value to a player and keeping the team contending.
I never said the Astros should pay George Springer or Carlos Correa significantly above their market value. I also believe that the best way to maintain a contending team is to keep as many elite players that have proven they are capable of elevating their production in the playoffs. Springer and Correa both fit that bill. I think the market value for Springer is roughly 4 years, 100 million or 5 years, 125 million (team option on the last year), which is very reasonable for a player of his age and caliber. For Correa, if he was able to stay healthy and be consistently productive, he would have received a contract similar to what Manny Machado received from the Padres (10 years, 300 million). Since that’s not the case, and there are four other elite shortstops in his free agent class, I expect him to get a deal somewhere around $200 million and in the range of 20-25 million per season. The Astros have the financial means and market size to sign either of the deals I proposed and still competently fill out the rest of the roster for 2022 and beyond. Provided both players were interested in remaining Astros (that may or may not be the case), and I have to choose between the two, I’d keep Correa because of the age difference.
YASIEL PUIGOF, CLEVELAND INDIANS MLB.com's Mark Feinsand reports that the Astros, Orioles, and Red Sox are among the teams showing interest in free agent outfielder Yasiel Puig. Puig changed agents earlier this month -- from Dan Horwits and Cesar Suare of the Beverly Hill Sports Council to Rachel Luba of Luba Sports -- as he looks to get back into Major League Baseball following a lost 2020 season. He struck a reported deal with the Braves in mid-July, but it fell apart shortly thereafter after Puig tested positive for COVID-19. The 29-year-old had a pretty good showing in 2019 with the Reds and Indians, and Feinsand notes that other teams "could also be in the mix" beyond Houston, Baltimore, and Boston. SOURCE: MLB.com Nov 24, 2020, 9:52 PM ET
Then I pass. I rather take the chance that Javier becomes just as effective then Snell and if you trade away Tucker, that potentially means Brantley, Springer, Reddick, and Tucker all gone. Does that make the asking price for UFA'S they're interested in go up? They might think they're desperate with the lack of OF depth. I would pass on this as well. As I said above, I'll take my chances on Javier. Who knows about Whitley but I still think Abreu can bounce back and be a key part of the team. He was solid in 2019. Looked decent in Spring training but unfortunately came into 2nd camp out of shape and was bad. I assume he was out of shape because of the uncertainty of the season although he should have known a season was a possibility. Then again maybe he had no access to a gym/place to pitch. I expect him to be back into shape when Spring training starts.
Why are the Astros going after Free Agents? Resign the the Core Players in Carlos Correa and George Springer. Jose Altuve Contract is going to look very bad in a couple of years.
They think he can be an adequate bat at a low enough cost. These are the type of players the Astros are going to target to fill gaps when the system isn’t producing an alternative. I don’t have a strong opinion on Puig. He is likely adequate to fill an outfield spot... if it isn’t Puig it will be someone like Robbie Grossman or Jurickson Profar or Joc Pederson.
These two things seem opposites of each other. The Altuve contract was an example of paying the steep price to resign core players. You say it's going to look bad in a few years - but that's the same as Springer likely will in a few years too. Correa is more uncertain due to his age, but you'd also have to sign him to a longer deal so you'd have the same issue on the backend of that contract. If you want the Astros to resign key players, those contracts sucking towards the end of their tenure is part of the deal.
Playoff Altuve was back to beasting minus the glove.. happens. The idea of trading Carlos Correa is just an idea. =)
I'm almost positive most fans aren't gonna be happy with our offseason. It was always baked into my long term outlook, so I won't really be surprised, but it will likely be a point of contention for the casuals.
Especially if we fail to resign Correa long term. Yea, I didn't buy Luhnow's initial claim that we would be competitive for years to come. Well, competitive in our division, sure, but not at the top level. We are in that phase where we cant keep our talent because now that many players have shown they are great, they want to get paid. I am wondering how many $25M+ contracts the Astros can support. If we add Correa, that is three, and all infielders (Altuve, Bregman, Correa). Wouldn't be very diversified, would it?
Yep, Astros were never going to keep all 4 core position players. Getting 2 extended has been great. Looks like Astros had about $100 million invested in post-arb contracts before last season got shortened. Astros were suppose to pay 4 players 20M+ in a normal year. On competitive, MLB changed into an era of superteams. What Luhnow was talking about was being able to compete with the AL West/Wild Card every year which is the same as being a WS contender. I took it to mean he was shooting for a true talent level of around 85 wins or more every year. Some years Astros would struggle and finish less than that, but in a good year would be one of the stronger teams. What Astros became is one of the greatest teams in MLB history. Yes, that is unsustainable. Trying to stay at that level may cause some bad years in the future. Astros had very bad luck being as great as they were in an era of Superteams.
Agreed on keeping them all. I think the disappointing thing is that the young pitching this season was so good that we unexpectedly can save some serious money on that end, which I had hoped would free money to sign at least one of the 3 offensive guys (Springer, Brantley, and eventually Correa). To potentially lose all of them while also losing JV due to injury is the end of the powerhouse element of this team, I think. Instead of just assuming playoffs and trying to be the most dominant team in baseball, our near-term future seems to be more about contending to make the playoffs and hoping to get hot.
I agree, I never expected Houston to resign Springer or add a star player this offseason even before Luhnow got fired, and I expect it even less now that Click is GM and the pandemic wreaked havoc on revenues. A successful offseason to me would be spending $20-30M in payroll and trading upper level pitching prospects to patch the 4-5 holes on the roster. They do that and they will still easily be among the 10 best teams in the league. If they evaluate pitchers correctly they could even be one of the 2-3 best teams. I do think Houston can pretty easily afford another big contract, assuming revenues bounce back. Their projected commitments (including arbitration raises): 2021: $153M (including Verlander) 2022: $80M 2023: $115M 2024: $140M 2025: $110M
I'm hoping Astros spend $40-50 and don't trade upper level anything as those guys are likely Astros at some point this season. I want the Astros to get guys on multiyear contracts on this offseason's $/WAR number. If Astros can make a highway robbery trade, that would be good too. Thinking 30-40 million may be more likely than what I hope.
I’m counting on Click to make a couple “highway robbery” moves: Sign a starting pitcher reminiscent of 2017 CFM. Sign a guy who could possibly be a closer. Trade for an underrated young outfielder. Sign a 2nd tier free agent catcher. Sign a versatile veteran bat. Sign Pedro Leon. Trade to add international bonus pool money or a draft pick.
