I’ve seen his name on lists of people who have opted out, but i’s probably a moot point. If he hasn’t technically opted out, he will.
That was my thoughts exactly when I saw this yesterday. Like seriously, WTF do you want. Obviously I'm thrilled with the seasons end result, but Wilson Contreras would have looked an awful lot better in October than what we got from Mancini, Diaz or Urquidy. Yet Click would have been crucified for "not getting a bat" had we lost.
Great answer. Success has many fathers. At this stage post Luhnow, it's such a mature process. Early Luhnow-era it was "let's find guys with big breakers that will tunnel off a 4-seam". Many a 2-seamer was shelved. The league caught up to that. Several teams took a copycat approach. But you look at the pitching staff that just won the title and other than the fact that they're all monsters, they come in vastly different profiles. JV: traditional 4-seam, slider, curve mix Framber: double plus curve ball, mid-90's sinker, decent cutter/changeup Javier: 2-pitch pitcher with Invisball and slider LMJ: initially pushed to 4-seam/slider, now back to 2-seam/slider with a never finished change-up. Pressley: basically a starters 4-pitch mix as a closer Neris: splitter etc.... Back to the OP, big picture I'd give a lot of credit to the analytics team and Brent Strom. Strommy defined the organizational approach to pitching/pitching development. His legacy lives on with Josh Miller and Bill Murphy. Someone not mentioned so far is Maldy. His prep and game-calling skills are as good as I've seen; he like everyone else brings out the best in the pitchers.
Click's in a tough position. He clearly doesn't have the full-faith of Crane. Crane thinks himself as good a baseball-mind as anyone and tends to surround himself with yes men/similarly minded voices. Seems like Crane is actually pretty good... for an owner... but just not on the same page as Click.
I'd rather give him 2/40 and resign Brantley and extend tucker with the 40 mill we give JV. Abreu has Good relationship with altuve and I'm sure hell love our club. It's just crazy how everyone is on the JV bandwagon after one decent start. He was crap the majority of the postseason. If phillies had one clutch hit during game 5 JV would be thrown off the bridge. I love JV but he's not worth 40 million. Spread that money
Astros need to seriously look long and hard at catcher. Maldy will be a year older and we aren't even sure what his health will be like. He might even retire. Unless Astros believe in Lee, they might go ahead and try to re-sign Vazquez. Focus: 1. JV 2. C 3. 1B 4. DH 5. CF
In retrospect it worked out. If the Astros wound up losing in 7 with the production they had from the DH spot it would have looked terrible. One thing I think it does say is Crane is looking for sustained success and/or really values team chemistry.
Only pitching they need to sign as a free agent is any cheap deal they are pretty sure they can fix and turn into a steal. Sign uncle Mike as a player/future coach. Lock him up. That swing is going to play for a few more years. Plus he TEACHES the young guys how to do it. Ask Tucker, Chad, Yordon, Pena.
There is a difference between being aggressive and being raped. Urquidy is worth more than a rental of catcher that wouldn't play more than half the remaining games.
No way in the world the Machete is retiring unless his arms and legs have fallen off. This cat loves baseball.
I think he views Click like we all do. Great at certain aspects of the job... but possibly lacking at some of the other aspects (which could be very superficial aspects... like being personable or being able to connect with others or being able to carry out negotiations, etc. etc.). I have a feeling they'll work something out (if Click wants to). Unless Crane already has a deal in hand with somebody else. This is not the best time to be transitioning baseball operations to a new regime.
I forget what the rotation was looking like at that part of the season... but Urquiddy was still getting the ball regularly and it may have been the stretch where he was actually the most consistent pitcher. From that standpoint, I can see why Dusty preferred to keep things as is. But I agree, now that we know how it played out, Contreras would have been an upgrade. I will never forget Urquiddy's 3 innings pitched in game 3 (probably after a lot of people already turned off the game). Given how many high stress innings the bullpen needed to throw in games 4 and 5, who knows how it plays out if he wouldn't have been able to save them.
It's been pretty plain to see that chemistry in the clubhouse is very important to this team. And it's a contributing factor in their sustained success.
Crane has a great baseball mind. You don't hire Luhnow and Click and let them do what they do without a great mind. Click is as good of a GM as Crane could have hired at the time and he should get some credit for the bullpen. That being said, those guys weren't great immediately when they got here, but we're developed by the coaching staff that Luhnow and Strom built.
Contreras could have DHed, he didn't have to start at catcher. Ultimately it worked out so nobody can say it was wrong, but if a couple of these really close games we played go the other way because we got an absolute zero from DH we're singing a different tune.
For an owner, Crane has a great baseball mind. Agree. He definitely has a progressive, long-term, and analytical viewpoint. But he's gotta know he's sandbagged Click to a point. Click got hired after the scandal, didn't have his first couple of top draft picks, and didn't even get to pick his manager. All Click has done is made another 3 ALCS's, 2 WS's and won a title in 3 years. I think Click deserves as much credit as anyone. They need to find away to get on the same page cuz as currently constructed, the club is (amazingly) still in the middle of its window. A regime change benefits no one.
I can't believe Click would offer Urquidy straight up for Contreras without there being a Yanier Diaz type prospect attached.
Does anything think the new rule changes will dramatically shift the Astros roster decisions for next season? On first glance, I feel they probably even out for the Astros?
