I’m sorry- I meant catcher behind Maldonado for this year is a joke, and it’s a joke at the plate. And Maldy is Old AF. And the FA market next year is garbage. This year was the time to fix that spot for the next 3-5 years. Opportunity lost
If they extend multiple guys and use that money to get up to the tax line I will be clapping my ass off and apologize for doubting them. That hasn’t been what they’ve done in the past though. They’ve talked a big game about spending maybe even into the tax and never once paid tax, and many years been considerably under it (like- a superstar contract under it). If this off-season ends with 3 or 4 extensions as between: Javier, Garcia, Tucker, Peña, Abreu, Bregman, Altuve, Framber, Brown and Whitley (just kidding) it will be a super successful offseason and I will be thrilled. If not I will remember it as the year that they signed an old 1B for short money, completely abdicated all responsibility to fix catcher, brought back a broken down 36 year old that’s likely going to be a terrible decision and in general messed around with and squandered an opportunity to create maybe the greatest baseball roster of all time, while being well under the luxury tax. Montero and Brantley were a combined 20M. That’s less than Contreras AAV. It would have been so simple to fix that for the rest of this competitive window.
Yeah. That’s my point in calling it a hole. Even with Maldy it’s a major hole because he’s old and is at best a time share for the job this year only.
New catchers will arise; others will become available by trade; young guys will become good; etc. The idea that this year is the only opportunity to fix the catcher spot for the next 5 years is just silly.
Not the only opportunity- the best time. Two different things. We could have solved it at an all star level for the price of a couple middle relievers. To solve in the future we will likely have to trade real stuff of value to get it done.
This year is the only year left to fix the catcher spot for this year. The Astros still have an incredible amount of talent under contract/control over the next 3 years (i.e., I'm much more concerned with these 3 seasons than the 2 after). I'm not as down as Wulaw on Abreu and Brantley. I'd see the Astros adding a catcher as greatly increasing the margin of safety that the Astros win the division this year (i.e., increase WS odds as the bye is huge).
I wanted Contreras, but I don’t think I was beating the table at the price he commanded. He would have been a good add, but: - there’s a premium on defense with rule changes facilitating stolen bases. - likely also a premium on stability to get our staff through these rules changes like pitch clock, balk enforcement - I do see the value of giving ABs to Lee or Diaz to develop them as players and trade chips. - now that Dana Brown is in town, I’m more hopeful for what a I consider a better case scenario - the $$ is used to extend our core and up and comers.
I’ve been listening to people b**** and moan about how we can’t win with Maldonado for years. Im not a Maldy truther but it’s well past broken record at this point. If you still believe that you should go pound sand.
Playing Lee as back up this year and starting him next year fixes the problem for more years, gets better results, and costs a tiny fraction of the cost of going to the free agent market. The free agent market is garbage every year and should be avoided whenever possible. Efficient spending beats spending thoughtlessly every time it is tried.
There is no indication he would have been willing to sign here and play behind Maldy, even for the same money.
People (at least most people) aren't saying you can't win with Maldy. It would just be easier to win with someone better. Basball is a game that little things by themselves usually don't matter too much considering how strong the Astros are at most positions and the rotation. The Astros will likely walk through the regular season with or without Maldy starting and get a bye if they have good health, and the worrying about catcher is for naught. I probably whine too much about little things that should be easy fixes, but probably won't matter unless something else goes really wrong.
I hear and understand where you’re coming from. I think a lot of message board back and forth comes down to who and where different posters assign blame and credit. For me, I grade Jim Crane on 2015-2022, the greatest run in Houston sports. By far. Ever. I give him enormous credit. He is the lead and final decision-maker. He hired Jeff Luhnow. He hired AJ Hinch. He hired all of them. He established the winning culture. Every enjoyable moment you or I or any Astros fan has basked in these last 8 years…No one deserves more credit for that than Jim Crane. That’s how I see it. He is the greatest Houston sports owner ever, and it doesn’t matter much to me that the competition is as weak as it is. I’m not saying he’s perfect. Literally no one is. But he’s closer to perfect than any other owner Houston sports fans have had. Ever. So yes, I understand the point you’re making about 2019 vs 2022. There are granular discussions to be had about what is 100/100 vs 99/100. As always with communication, it comes down not to what a person says but how they say it. I don’t have an issue with how you’ve said anything. We may disagree about the merits of Jim Crane, we may not. My main point here would be that I think Jim Crane’s doing a damned good job, and I’ll take Jim Crane in the Jim Crane vs that other ****stick poster (not you) contest. But I will stand by the assertion that winning it all is essentially 100/100. As Herm Edwards taught us, you play to win the games. Is that unfair to the job they all did in 2019? Absolutely. Ain’t nothing in life fair. They didn’t win it all in 2019, so 2019 is open for questioning/criticism etc. They won it all in 2022. 2022 is beyond questioning. Fair ain’t got nothing to do with it. That’s how I see it. If you see it differently, all good, long as we’re all being respectful.
Yep. If Brown is going to repurpose that money to extend our young guys and extend the window through the end of the decade huzzah huzzah. Off-season well done. It wasn’t a big price either. 5 years 85? Something like that. A value for an all star catcher.
This is a good and fair way to put it. We are in the middle of an amazing run and possibly on the precipice of something generational. We should do everything possible to maximize it. If this teams was going to win 88 or 92 games I wouldn’t care nearly as much about a missed opportunity here or there.
You cannot control the end result merely the process. To value good results that are the result of bad process is to hit on 16 with the dealer showing a 6. It might work but it’s a bad idea regardless of the results. Leaving 40M unspent and having a massive hole at DH isn’t great process when your team is a legit contender. Playing a guy with a 650 ops at 1B isn’t a great process. Winning is separated by such a thin line and involves so much luck over a 7 game series that you just can’t lol at the results and default back to great decision/bad decision.
Bad process? GTFO. The Astros are a freaking dynasty. And the results of the regular season aren't luck.
Yes, the Astros would have a better statistical chance of winning with a catcher that is decent at working with pitchers and is a really threat with the bat. The Astros obviously agree because they went after Contreras, had interest in Murphy and have been loosely linked to Perez with the Royals. We will see what happens. It is possible that Lee has an OPS of around 670-700 and becomes the catcher for the Astros the next 4-5 years at little cost........ it is less possible, but also possible Diaz takes to catching at the big leagues and the Astros get an OPS .800 type stick behind the plate at little cost and the offense more than makes up for and glove issues behind the plate.
Crane moved on from Click because he didn’t go out and sign guys in the off-season and said he’d take care of it at the trade deadline and didn’t. so, yeah, the owner of the team even though Clicks process was bad.
I'm pretty sure he isn't talking about Luhnow acquiring a huge amount of talent, and Click keeping it together with small tweeks. ? I'd say 88-92 wins for a generally healthy team is when fans should care the most about teams not making small easy fixes. That is a 50-50 shot at a bye in half the divisions including the AL West (not counting the Astros). Adding a couple of wins adds 20-25% to winning a division which increases World Series odds from about 9% to 10-11 %). That may not sound like much, but that would be a biggesr increase than the Padres got for spending $280M on Bogaertes.
