Look at the Stanton and Pujols contracts. Pujols was as much of a sure thing as anyone and it was a pretty horrible contract for the Angels. Even ARod was a bad contract for the Rangers because Texas had to pay part of his salary when he was playing for the Yankees.
Pretty sure in terms of dollars/war the texas arod deal is one of the best contracts ever. Pujols was old so that one had no shot
A rod was a monster for the life of his 10 year deal, the fact that the Rangers were an incompetent organization doesn't change that. Granted that deal is very much an outlier as a successful megacontract.
Pujols signed an extension with the Cardinals first which bought out some FA years and they were all worth it. These are the exact type of extensions the Astros are willing to offer.
Assuming Brown and Dusty are on the same page, Brown did a poor job of constructing the roster. Salazar, I would assume, is on the team so that Dusty would have the ability to pinch hit for Maldanado late in games we are tied or behind in. Dusty doesn't choose to go that route though, so it's really a wasted roster spot. Either send Salazar down for someone who can give us more roster flexibility or a better bat, or send Diaz down so he can play. Diaz is wasting away on our bench, 6 games into the season and he has 7 at bats, and allegedly this is a guy with a legit bat Brown needs to learn how things work around here pretty quickly and construct a roster accordingly.
I thought by having a prior relationship with Dusty Brown might be able to reign in some of his silliness, but maybe that's not the case. More internal dysfunction is in store it seems.
It is extremely early in the season and Brown came aboard late and after free agency. I don't think we can make any conclusions about Brown or his relationship with Baker yet. Also, the reality is that we are down Brantley and Altuve in the line-up and we are going to have Maldonado out there a lot - so there are some real limitations. In centerfield we have one (McCormick) that would be a great platoon and another one that hasn't bounced back from injury. These types of situations show why Brown in the past has wanted a catcher than can hit some. Just my opinion, but O'Neal in St. Louis is someone that maybe the Astros look at, he is certainly not winning any friends there .... but his splits are a lot like Chas McCormick, in that he kills lefties but not righties.
I agree with this in general BUT Why have three catchers on the team if Maldanado isn't going to be pinch hit for in a close and late situation? Why have your #2 prospect (by most accounts) on your bench getting 7 at bats in 6 games? Why have Meyers in CF on a day when Framber is pitching? I know there are ALWAYS things that you can nitpick any manager on, it's the nature of the beast. But things like these are just really hard to make sense of. We have been ok with all of this in the past because we knew that "Playoff Dusty" wouldn't intentionally run lineups out there that weren't our best. We were head and shoulders above everyone else in our division so in the end it didn't really matter. We don't have quite the luxury of this anymore. We are still a great team, but Verlander provided a ton of great starts for us and he is no longer here. We are down Altuve for at least a couple of months. The Rangers are much improved. The Angels are much improved. The Mariners are a legit threat. We can't just sit around and wait for Dusty's playoff lineups
Dubon starting is the thing I struggle with the most. Having a bottom 3 of Myers, Dubon, Maldonado makes me want to puke. Give Hensley his shot a**hole. He should start every game period until Altuve gets back.
Oh I am not claiming it is perfect or that those are not valid questions. I can tell you what I THINK Baker would say and that is that Diaz has looked lost so far at the plate, and that he also was kept on the roster to DH, play some first and possibly outfield. So, the Astros would rather have a 3rd catcher available, and besides, they would rather have guys like Leon and the other guys they sent down getting at bats consistently in AAA. As for Meyers - my "guess" is that he is just trying to get him at bats - and I think that is part of the issue FWIW, I think he should be in AAA getting 4-5 at bats every game. Some of these problems can be solved just by adding one more solid bat.... but I don't know that it happens because so many of the Astros best prospects are centerfielders and Maldonado is locked in as a catcher.
What if, follow me here- there is no such thing as playoff Dusty and he’s always stubborn obstinate mule, but the FO doesn’t allow the nonsense when it’s winning time and matters. That tracks with what some on here have said and fits all observations over the past 3 years. Also- regular season Dusty is no longer an inept manager of pitchers because that’s part of the deal- he has no autonomy to manage the pitchers.
Man the takes are PIPING HOT in the World Champion Astros forum of Clutchfans 7 games in to the season lol
