Carlos Correa to the Twins - 3 Years, $105 Million

In before the 30-50 Twinkies are forced to trade Carlos before the deadline.

 

I have given Carlos this gift as a token of our appreciation for his years of service and asked him to wear it on the field going forward. I found this in Hawaii.

 

i have no doubt it was the best deal - for BOROS.

 

Best to revisit all these decisions (Morton, JV, Correa) in 3-5 years. There are always multiple possible outcomes that don’t necessarily benefit just the team or the player… but ultimately should make a full assessment of the impact of these moves given that these all seemed to be calculated choices the Astros front office/Crane made.

 

Did you that from Greg Brady

 

Can't be true... Click kept saying Correa is a "priority"

So full of $hit.

 

I don't know if Click influenced Crane or the other way around. I do know that Crane made it clear he wanted to handle the Correa negotiations.... which is puzzling.

What I also find very odd is that there is no sense of concern or urgency by the Astros front office publicly (doesn't surprise me) or privately. Before Correa made his decision I was told to relax and not worry and then after he made his decision the attitude was the same.... even after Story went to Boston everyone is just mellow.

Have you heard anything? They were legitimately in panic mode after Verlander was hurt, and they really wanted Verlander re-signed before the lockout and made it happen.

I get that Click likes to give young players opportunities, and I know that the Astros scouts like Pena a lot.... but something seems off.

The Astros were talking to Correa, Story and Conforto before the lockout and were even considering a move of Brantley.

Now they are obsessed with signing shitty relievers and failed middle infielders.

 

That last line is a killer. Not a one year thing and there's an opt out after 1 year. Extraordinary Chutzpah.

 

I can't find the quote now, but "We want to be players at the Trade Deadline" is the gist of it and what maks the most sense.

 

Couple of guesses:
They feel extremely good about Pena and the rest of their roster as-is. Which isn’t unreasonable; they could have 3 MVP candidates in the lineup between Alvarez, Bregman, and Tucker.

They expect to make a major major move (likely at the deadline). There are some players who might be available who could be better than Correa: Reynolds and Soto come to mind.

Their financial situation is unexpectedly dire so they are just fooling themselves to feel better. I consider this unlikely.

 

The name I'm most intrigued by is Jose Ramirez. At the Trade deadline, Cleveland 'could be' out of contention and he had max value to Cleveland in terms of prospects this season with a year left on his contract after this season.

I understand he wouldn't be available before the season. It gives us a chance to see Pena and Ramirez as well as see what needs may develop during the season. Playing the later moves as well as the current move is definitely chess like. I'm not saying it's likely to happen, but it wouldn't catch me entirely off "guard." - Pun Intended.

Imagine going into the playoffs:

1. Altuve 2B R - 7.9 WAR
2. Tucker RF L - 5.7 WAR
3. Ramirez SS S - 7.5 WAR
4. Alvarez DH L - 4.8 WAR (162 Avg)
5. Bregman 3B R - 9.0 WAR
6. Brantley LF L - 4.8 WAR
7. Gurriel 1B R - 4.0 WAR
8. Meyers CF R - 4.0 WAR (162 Avg)
9. Maldenado C R - 1.7 WAR

Each of the players has hit these numbers in the last 5 years or projects to these numbers over 162 games.

P1. Verlander R 7.4 WAR
P2. McCullers 3.5 WAR
P3. Valdez L 2.5 WAR
P4. Garcia R 3.6 WAR (162 Avg) Urquidy 3.6 (162 Avg)

C. Pressly R 1.9 WAR

 

I think the "players at the trade deadline" talk is just spin. That may have been part of their thinking, but they don't need $35M available to be players at the trade deadline. I think it's pretty simple - they are already likely to make the playoffs so why spend another $35M to pick up a potential couple of wins when you can just pocket that money instead? If they have to (e.g., Lance is out for the year) maybe they make a big move at the deadline but they may also only make some minor moves as well.

 

I think Ramirez would be in high demand. Do the Astros have good enough prospects to compete with other teams? Do the Astros want to give up what it would take?

 

Looking at teams who will likely be out of contention at the deadline, here are the guys who might be available who could arguably be more valuable than Correa:
Shane Bieber
Jose Ramirez
Juan Soto
Stephen Strasburg
Luis Castillo
Bryan Reynolds
Ketel Marte

 

I am not sure to be honest.

Click doesn't leak much at all, and Crane only leaks what he wants heard obviously. I can tell you that the people in the front office were told that they would be very competitive on Correa and if they missed out on him, there were resources available to fill the gap.

The Astros were supposedly one of the three finalists for Story as well, and that was after the Correa decision.

Is the concern with McCullers health the reason the Astros aren't being as a aggressive?

How much of this is Click and how much of this is Crane? It is hard to say for sure....

I doubt it is a financial issue. Crane will be smart financially but the Astros have done well.

 

I like the idea of adding Reynolds/Marte. It was talked about on here last year some and it wouldnt cost a kings ransom. I definitely like the versatility of Marte as long as he can stay healthy.

 

Reynolds makes the most sense to me, but the ultimate “let your nuts hang” move would be to trade for Juan Soto. A super duper star. I have no idea what would be a fair value but my guess is unless 2-3 of Houston’s prospects take massive steps forward there would be no way Houston could make that move. He probably has like $180M in surplus value. Maybe if all of Pena, Javier, Brown, and Leon have monster seasons leading up to the deadline then those 4 guys might be enough.