Rodon wants 6 years with an AAV over 30 mil.... He is a hard pass for me https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/12/carlos-rodon-rumors-six-year-deal-free-agency.html
Contreras, Nimmo, Taylor Rogers would be my 3 adds. If Nimmo is too expensive then Benintendi would be my next choice. If trade prices aren't as high as I think they are then Varsho would be my #1 target.
Also, this early off-season spending flurry should further re-iterate that none of the arb players with promise are going to be enticed to buy out free agent years (unless you're a pitcher with a finite arm shelf life). Right now, Cole at 36 million is looking like a bargain. Contracts are just going to continue to go up at a stupid rate... MLB just sold the rest of their part of the streaming company for over a billion, so teams are coming into at least $30 million extra revenue that didn't exist before the off-season. The streaming money is going to further escalate the revenues as its barely being tapped at the moment with Apple.
Thats not the value of Maldy and what do you mean close? Maldy's value as a catcher is that the pitchers trust him, and he does his work on hitters and where to pitch them, that's 75% of his value how does he stack up to Maldy in preparation and reading hitters. I really don't understand why some are so willing to just replace Maldy with anybody that can bat above 250 it's like people think we need offense after everything we have done the last 4years. He was fine enough to win 2 championships, what about those championships, was barely squeezing through?
I would have agreed with that sentiment a year ago. That being said I wouldn't want more than a 4 year deal. So your point is well taken.
Verlander had 28 starts and Odorizzi had 12. The 2023 Astros need to replace 40 starts. Framber had 31 - stays the same. Garcia had 28 - stays the same (#5) piggyback w/ Brown as needed. Urquidy had 28 - stays the same. (#6) Javier had 25 - increase to 30 (#2) McCullers had 8 - increase to 23 (#3) needs regular rest + constant routine. Brown had 2 - increase to 22 (#4) skip/ piggyback occassionally. Just like that the Astros can absorb the loss without even adding any pitching.
Truth be told our bullpen saved us in the playoffs with the lack of offense we displayed. Hardly anyone has ever averaged the number of runs scored that we did and won a World Series.
Lance has made that many starts only once in his career... last year when he tore the flexor in the playoffs. I don't expect that to happen (nor should it if he's still trying to prevent surgery). I also don't see them over-working Javier. The rest should happen, but I doubt they can all stay as healthy as they did last year... but as long as they're healthy come playoff time, all that matters.
I think he is great at what he does and am glad we have him back I didn’t know he won two championships though? Thought this year was his first Who did he win his first one with
Ok and? We just upgraded the offense and Maldy has been on 2 WS teams. Why does nobody ever factor in what Maldy meant to that BP and the impact he has made on the young guys? This is the point I have been making he is a huge part of the reason this pitching staff has been so dominant.
I agree on this. And, our bullpen was lights out because our starters were so solid this year. Can we realistically expect that next year? To me the stars aligned this year on pitcher health and performance. Does Valdez have a 2023 similar to 2022? He had a record breaking season. Can he repeat that? 90% of that? Who knows. 26 starts for McCullers? Coin flip there. Javier. Hopefully he continues to baffle hitters. I am leery that we get the kind stellar season from the starting crew that we did last year. Verlanders contract is nuts. I agree with that. But, we are going to miss regular season JV. Dude won the Cy Young. We are going to feel that loss. To what extent. That remains a big question mark. Would be nice if we can find a diamond in the rough that we could polish up overnight. I would take another Gerritt Cole type turn around. Like we did from his 2017 to his 2018. I wonder if there is a guy out there to be had?
Benintendi is projected at 4/54. A thing on Nimmo says he wont cost beyond 200 million so maybe he's shooting for the stars from a team that comes up short on Judge.
How much did Mrs Verlander have to do with him going to NY? I would have to think that she wanted to return to that life FT I don't blame her, I would love to be that rich living in that area.
