One of those turned into Bregman. He has had a better career than any pick from the 2014 draft. I would just consider that a trade of picks that Luhnow absolutely ended up nailing out of the park.
I have a feeling JV leaves and Brown replaces him in the rotation. Brantley comes back and we plug in JJ or Diaz at first.
JV got a 2 year $66M contract and the second one was prorated for the COVID shortened season. Then he sign a $25M deal with a $25M option he is likely to decline. He may or may not sign, but the numbers were lower. I really don't think JV is all about the money, but does want a competitive offer.
I don't want the Astros to rebuild. I want the Astros to win in the postseason. Wartime GM is not about leaving a stamp on the team. It is about getting results when you have a great team. Click has better wartime results than any GM in Astros history. Nice deflecting the question, though.
66 million 3 years ago before inflation and they didn't know that covid was going to happen when he signed it. JV was better this year than in 2019 and Scherzer got over 40 million since then. I say the minimum he will get is 35 million and only if it's a 3 year deal. If its 2 years, it will be for more per year.
In 2017 prior to the WS championship, you and Nick were questioning Luhnow as a wartime GM. I'm just using your definition and throwing it back at you 5 years after the fact.
Huh? Did you mean to respond to me? I haven’t criticized war-time GM issues since Luhnow was still figuring things out. As I said, I’m completely fine with Click being retained… but I also don’t think its going to be all that rash of a decision if they want to go with somebody else who they feel could optimize this team even further. But hard to optimize further an already great team, I agree (but the DH could be better…lol).
Yeah they clearly want to add another second tier star bat… be it Abreu or Bell or Hanniger or a few others. They know they need to extend the lineup…. If they get really lucky they add one of those bats mentioned and resign a Brantley for 100 games of quality play. I have heard Michael Conforto’s name numerous times. He could be in line for a one year make good contract and the Astros have the line up to make him look good, the space in left field and the finances. My dream would be adding Abreu and Conforto with Verlander back… all on short term deals. The Astros hitting with Abreu, Conforto and Pena emerging would be deep and nasty… Chas/Meyers hitting 8th? Maldonado in the 9 hole? Lots of pop and not many strikeouts
Crane to Click: "Well you just do what I tell you to do! Gotdammit if I had a wartime GM, a Sicilian, I wouldn't be in this shape!!!"
Yanier was competing against Hensley, Meyers, and Matijevic for that final spot... not Yuli, Mancini, Maldy... asinine to suggest that Hensley was a lock and those 3 were the ones on the bubble. ...and look at game logs, Dubon still had top of the order starts in the heart of the season... even in the load management strategy, Dubon playing was fine, but having him where he was just for his speed... ridiculous.
2022 Payroll -- luxury tax tier 1 threshold - $230 million 1 New York Mets $285,859,066 2 Los Angeles Dodgers $275,629,360 3 New York Yankees $264,934,200 4 Philadelphia Phillies $255,304,497 5 San Diego Padres $240,684,494 6 Boston Red Sox $224,676,946 7 Chicago White Sox $209,813,226 8 Atlanta Braves $200,067,952 9 Houston Astros $192,931,925 10 Los Angeles Angels $192,890,060 At first glance, we have room to keep Verlander + add a difference maker piece without breaking the bank...
Hensley plays all sorts of different positions (and had a 1.000 OPS). Yanier Diaz plays a position that the Astros were already 2 deep. He was never making the playoff roster.
Luhnow had a built a great team in the middle of the 2017 season , and you and the shark were still unsure of whether Luhnow was a wartime GM. I took that as building is not a part of wartime. Being able to take a great team and getting the trophy is all that seems to matter to be a wartime GM if Luhnow wasn't a wartime GM in July 2017. Granted, I think the wartime thing was silly then and now as I think the building part is the most important part (i.e., what Luhnow did up to the middle of 2017). I find it silly that Click is being criticized for realizing this is a great team and letting them win the World Series. I don't see the negative in realizing the team is great, keeping them together, and winning a World Series. I do believe most GMs would have made more changes than Click, and the Astros may or may not have won the 2022 WS due to those changes.
Abreu is the best free agent bat not named Judge. It will be very interesting to see both how much Verlander gets and how high Crane is willing to take payroll (in addition to how the other parts of the free agent market play out). I think there is a decent probability that Houston might have enough room to sign both Verlander AND 2 good bats (like one of Abreu/Bell/Rizzo AND one of Haniger/Brantley/Conforto), in which case Houston will be fielding one of the best/deepest rosters in history.
Not at all. I'm looking forwards and wanting the Astros to stay disciplined in how they allocate money. The path forward is putting resources towards young stars and areas of need. 39 y/o starting pitchers fail both tests. I love JV, don't get me wrong, but this is what ruthless discipline looks like. It's what sets the Astros apart from the field of teams chasing them.
