Well the obvious one to me was Carlos Lee even was a White Sox at early in this career. But Kent was older like Jose and a short contract.
Could be scary if we don’t get a number one like deGrom or Verlander. 1. Is Brown a starter or is his control too much of an issue? 2. Can McCullers make it a full season and not get hurt… has never happened before. 3. Urquidy and Garcia? Will they take the next step?
If they give Verlander what is rumored they would have 85 million in payroll fall off that year. Altuve is likely looking at a paycut. Bregman might be getting a cut too. I don't see either getting 30 on the market per year. They will have a jump in Yordan money... not much else...
All valid questions… in addition to that Urquidy had shoulder issues just last year, and LMJ still likely had a torn flexor that may never heal fully without additional surgery. The only sure things are Framber… and Javier (who’s still never really pitched a full workload). Crane knows all this. Hence JV still very much in the mix.
Updated expectations coming out of todays press conference: 1. A left handed hitting OF (Brantley, Conforto, Benintendi, Nimmo, Bellinger) 2. A catcher (Alfaro, Contreras) 3. A utility guy (Gurriel) 4. A pitcher (Verlander, Chafin, Cueto)
I don't mind it as a part of the decision making but not exclusively. Culture and personality is a factor. He's not wrong there. The issue is when those conflict with the analytics and the analytics get ignored. No need to worry until we see him pushing for the Astros russell westbrook move...
Probably just signing offense. Valdez/LMJ/Javier/Garcia/Brown/Urquidy is a contending rotation. Pressley/Montero/Neris/Abreu/Stanek/Martinez/Maton is a quality pen. I think if we bring back Verlander, it opens up trading either Urquidy/Stanek/Maton for either a bat or prospects.
Will need more clarification on LMJ’s flexor tendon issues that apparently was still an issue last year, and forced him to change his pitch choices/approach, as he wanted to avoid surgery. He was still effective… but I have my concerns about that approach over a full season and him just staying healthy period.
What steps does Garcia need to take? I mean it would be nice if he improved further, but he's been a good pitcher 2 years in a row. Urquidy a little less so, but still great for a 5th/6th starter. Astros fans seem to think anybody that isn't a Cy Young contender is a problem. Our rotation has more redundancy than any team in the league, and we need to pay 40 million for even more of it?
The rotation is a "redundancy" because of JV. You take him out and the pitchers all have to take a step forward and the chances of everything working out don't typically happen. JV mitigates a lot of concerns with everyone while being a cy young ace. And they also help JV not being overworked as well. We know LMJ isn't staying healthy over a full year. Valdez is damn good. hes shown he can be a top pitcher. hes the one with the least amount of concern. Garcia is ok in the role hes been in previously but being elevated in the rotation poses plenty of questions as expectations rise. Same goes with Urquidy. How does the league adjust to Javier? Brown is still young and unproven. I'm not sure why a number of folks want to assume without JV this rotation won't miss a beat. There's plenty of valid concerns that go along with the rotation minus JV. It becomes a lot closer to mediocre once an injury/struggles happens to just 1 or 2 in the rotation
I think there is a great amount of thought and effort that goes into delivering salient information to players in a manner that will not overwhelm them and instead will make them better players. This isn't some novel insight. For instance, I remember an article (see below) from the Luhnow era discussing how the Astros had solved some of the drawbacks of the shift related to players' uneasiness with adopting the technique, and if anyone was ever guilty of being too "about analytics," it was Jeff Luhnow. https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/40132/banjo-hitter-best-defense-baseball/ When you boil it down, what separates guys from Bagwell from guys like Luhnow/Click isn't so much a different emphasis on chemistry/culture vs obtaining the best players available, but the manner in which these groups determine who are the "best" players - or, what numbers are important and which aren't. For instance, who do you think would be more persuaded by the factoid bandied about Astros fans regarding the Astros' record with Pena batting second - Bagwell or Click? The reason why one person would find that information salient while another would find it next to worthless is much closer to the heart of this issue than any debate about the importance of culture or chemistry.
There are 4 pitchers in a playoff rotation, so 4 aces would be beneficial. We won the WS because of pitching, so unless you really think Hunter Brown or Garcia is taking the next step, Verlander would improve the team a lot.
Garcia has tremendous stuff and the body type to flat-out dominant. But like most young pitchers, his command can escape him from time to time and he gets a little too cutter/slider happy (gives up more HRs on that pitch). I expect he could take a Framber-2020-like leap next year.
