In 2017 the Astros had a historically great offense in large part because they didn’t have anyone that was a negative player. I think something like 19/20 guys that played had positive WAR and nobody had an OPS+ worse than like 97 or 101 or something like that. We need two spots with a 100+ OPS and we will recreate that lineup. 5 studs (Alvarez, Tucker, Bregman, Altuve and Abreu) 2 a little above average (Peña and Chas- both of who have potential upside to be pretty good offensively) and need a platoon partner for Maldy and DH/LF dude to be average and we are there.
“Real improvement” doesn’t mean all that much if they’re just a more expensive version of Aledymis Diaz in the aggregate. At least not enough to be posting over multiple pages worth.
The 2017 Astros also “wasted” $20 million on Carlos Beltran… but apparently this is a move you’d like them to replicate.
Yes, losing JV automatically would make any team technically “worse” on paper. Even bringing back JV there’s a good chance they’re technically worse simply due to age and the odds that their pitching could likely never replicate what they did last year. The over under on wins next year is less than 106 even if they bring everybody back. At the end of the day, they’re still the betting favorites to win the World Series indicating they didn’t really get all that much worse relative to the rest of the league. That’s how good they are…. And that’s what’s annoying about a lot of the complaints here.
Brantley is a high risk move - I don’t get why you’d do that as if he isn’t ready in March everyone is gone. Obviously if he’s back to 90% of what he was last year he’s fine. I’d have preferred a half dozen guys over Barnhart and think that’s pretty weak, but certainly better than not and rolling with minor league JAGS. Those moves would be a B- off-season. We are probably as good as we were last year if we make those moves, maybe slightly better. Right now we are worse and that’s C- Barnhart and Conforto would be a B plus.
We live in a world where off-season BBS grades are the most important metric of success… “even if this team wins a World Series…”.
Beltran was their starting DH and had an OPS+ of 81 and a negative WAR. And a fantastic 0.440 OPS in the postseason.
Except this team has the resources to make impactful FA signings. There’s little holding them back in doing so and obviously nothing holding them back about stating those exact intentions. I’ve stated several times before that we’ll never be the team to make huge FA signings and that’s perfectly fine bc it’s smart and sustainable. But being as successful as we’ve been and actually shedding salary 3 straight years isn’t some admirable strategy either. If those savings aren’t ultimately being used to reinvest into the major league roster, what are you advocating for? It’s not fun watching iconic players like Springer, Morton, Cole, Correa, and JV walk. There’s an emotional investment a lot of us make in those players. Most of us can understand why, but shedding salary just to shed salary isn’t something that any fan should just applaud. Crane and company aren’t running a shoestring operation yet we currently sit 12th in payroll. Ultimately I trust where we’re going bc I know where we’ve been. But I’m not going to ignore the front office turmoil and seemingly lack of cohesion emanating from our make shift brain trust.
I wanted Vasquez too. But he didn't want to come back as a backup, even for a year out of the three. You can blame that on Baker. You can also blame Baker for getting us a Championship if you want to. I am an "in spite of..." guy, but you have to be happy with the results, even if it cost us Vasquez and Mancini.
Also worth noting that the genius GM who built the 2017 team also decided Maldanado was a better choice in 2018, let him go in 2019, decided it was a mistake, and went back and got him again.
Key word you used is impactful. Mitch Hanniger and Mike Zunnino and Andrew Benintendi are not that (at least not on this current team). They’re not “shedding” salary… they’re being pragmatic about who they spend on and for how long. Theyve actually spent more money this free agency than most… and some here are even questioning those signings. Again, I wanted JV. I thought they’d match but I understand why they ultimately didn’t. I also felt that they wouldn’t spend all that money on anybody else, especially not locking into deals of 5+ years for ultimately mediocre or past prime players.
The replacement my very well be Pedro Leon with starts at both CF and SS. That makes him at minimum a backup for everything but C and Pitcher. But are you willing to wait and see? Y Diaz may become everything you want at Catcher, or if not, at least a plus bat at DH. Are you willing to find out? K Lee has been a plus prospect as a hitting C with a good arm. Are you willing to see if he makes it behind Maldy? Any 2 of McCormick/Meyers and Leon could be our answer at CF and backup OF. Are you willing to find out? Sometimes the timing just isn't right to limit your possibilities.
Sure, if the organization believes in them, why not? The Astros went into last season with Pena an unknown at SS and Chas/Jake as unknowns in CF.
The more this off-season gets defined, and the more you look at all these teams, the Astros will continue to be the envy of the league and all other fan bases. They still have the best team on paper, the best odds to win it all… AND they’ve maintained financial and roster flexibility going forward which puts them in position to continue to add/improve throughout the season, or they see what they’ve got in some MLB ready players at AAA. No other team out there has significantly improved themselves despite all this spending. Some teams despite spending more will actually be worse. The Astros shouldn’t be afraid of the Mariners, Rangers, or Yankees… they’re probably more concerned about the Guardians.
If Brantley can swing the bat, I don't care whether he can throw. He becomes our Prime DH hitter. McCormick was average in the 8th hole. And while he can certainly improve, Average in the 8th slot is all you can ask for. Meyers may be back to the player we were expecting. While the jury is still out, he deserves at least as much support as the other injured players people are fawning over. Diaz is an enigma. He would have a great shot at C, but he's balking at the position according to reports. He has some elite tools hitting and we need to find out before we consider him trade material. Abreu just FITS. He is a PLUS PLUS 1B hitter with the high OBP and high BB to SO ratio that defines the Astros. He is perhaps a bigger upgrade to the line-up as the cost going from JV to Brown on the rotation. And lest we forget, we have Niko Goodrum waiting in the wings.
Where did I say that? Hint- I didn’t. Conforto isn’t going to put up a steaming pile of **** 81 OPS plus. He’s a 100-125 guy. He’s healthy- was healthy in August when we offered him. He was also a bit player that’s got like 1/2 a dozen AB’s in the playoffs.
