Looking back on things, Crane probably should've traded for a bat, not signed Abreu. If anybody should've known about Brantley's health it should've been the Stros org. This is is the product of not having a GM this winter. I never liked giving giving Montero that contract.
Best owner the city of Houston has ever had. His strength is being able to hire really talented people to run his org.
Weren't the Astros interested in Christian Walker? Their was rumors the D-Backs were open to trading him this past off-season. Probably not longer with the great season he's had. He would've been a huge get for this team at 1st base.
I would look into trading Javier this off season. He's a 6 inning pitcher who cant pitch a full season without wearing down. I would only trade him for a star level player though and after the year he's had this year, I doubt he would bring back a star level player.
I could actually see them letting Bregs go and bringing up Dezenzo, then spending that money on Tuck/Framber/Altuve. It's not what I would do but that's why Brown makes the big bucks. I would feel much better if Luhnow was making these kinds of decisions.
Agreed and if Crane thought making a mid season trade would help him win another ring, I've got no doubt he would go over the tax line.
Would really like it if we stopped suggesting trading guys when they have their lowest trade value…. Whether it’s Montero, Abreu, Javier, Framber, Peña. You know who has the highest possible return right now on a future trade? Diaz. Do you think anybody would be pushing for that? Absolutely not.
Trading Javier would be a terrible terrible mistake. He is not a work horse, and likely won't ever pitch 200 innings, but pitches 150 innings at ace level. Think McCullers if not injury prone. He's also signed to a very affordable extension for 4 more years. He was very good to start the season this year but has thrown a lot of innings after a deep playoff run then shortened off season. He needs to be limited to 90 pitches and 5 days of rest every 2-3 starts THROUGHOUT the season to keep him fresh. Javier just needs a manager that knows how to use him. With him, Verlander's age, McCullers' injury risk, and Garcia recovery from TJS, this rotation needs some serious coddling next year.
80% of the guys who contributed last year were luhnow guys. Crane has shown he can hire one guy. All of the luhnows guys are now spread across the league and found pretty good sucess. Bagwell was sort of disaster. Click didn't do a whole lot except add a small piece here or there.
How much do we expect Garcia, McCullers... and Whitley to contribute next year? (And Bielak and Blanco?)
2022 Astros acquired by Click: Michael Brantley : FA 1/25/2021 Mauricio Dubon: trade 5/14/2022 Trey Mancini: trade 8/1/2022 Jose Siri: FA 12/23/2020 Christian Vasquez: trade 8/1/2022 Jason Castro: FA 1/22/2021 Nikko Goodrum: FA 3/15/2022 Yainer Diaz: trade 7/30/2021 Justin Verlander: FA 3/12/2022 Jake Odorizzi: FA 8/8/2021 Rafael Montero: trade 7/27/2021 Phil Maton: trade 7/30/2021 Hector Neris: FA 12/1/2021 Ryne Stanek: FA 1/7/2021 Seth Martinez: rule 5 draft 12/10/2020 Will Smith: trade 8/2/2022 Pedro Baez: FA 1/15/2021 We can debate how much contribution each player made, but thats 17 of the 45 players, or 38%, who saw the field for the 2022 World Series Champion Astros. Click does not get enough credit for completing this team.
People forget how mediocre the pitching staff was in 2020 and particularly how God awful the pen was that season. Enoli Paredes was pitching leverage innings in 2020 for God's sake. He should get credit for turning that weakness into a strength. Also, he traded Myles Straw for Yainer Diaz. That could end up being similar to the Fields/Yordan trade....
Absolutely Click deserves credit for adding some pieces that helped form what ultimately was one of the most dominating pens in playoff history and helped us win the WS. He added Neris, Stanek and Montero. Yes Montero has been horrible this yr and Stanek has been up and down but Neris has been solid. I understand why they parted ways with him, but no matter how anyone wants to spin it, Click made some key moves that helped this team win the ultimate prize (a World Championship)!!!
Javier pitched the game that brought us back in the WS to tie the Phils. Completely swung the momentum when Lance got hammered with all those long balls. doesn't seem we would get anyone back with as much ceiling/potential as Javier in a trade. maybe he just needs to rest this offseason
Next years rotation will be very deep. You could easily piggyback them like Javier and Urq did last night for most of the season.
I wasn't a Click fan,and he's not Luhnow. but he did a pretty good job. He traded for Maton and found a future star in Diaz for an avg OF. He also rebuilt the bullpen into a dominate force in the playoffs. The juries still out on Brown, he got a late start and really hasn't done much of anything this year. Hopefully he continues what he has a great track record of doing, finding star level young uys in the draft and the international signings. Hopefully they will be like Brown's picks with the Braves, young, very talented and in MLB within 3-4 years.
