This is why I thought he had trade value. The Astros roster at the moment is a bit crowded. There should be a backup IF spot open next spring training for Shay Whitcomb, Joey Loperfido, Grae Kessinger and David Hensley.
Yes. A lot depends on how aggressive Houston is this offseason, but my current expectation is that there will be 2 position player spots open for competition this spring: 1 for a utility player between Kessinger, Whitcomb, Hensley, Julks, and Leon, and 1 for a lefthanded hitting bench bat between Singleton, Loperfido, Wagner, Salazar, Hamilton, Dirden, and Barber. There may be some vets brought back/in on minor league deals to compete as well, Madris/Matijevic types. But it makes sense to keep Whitcomb in AAA on the 40 man for a year to see if he can take another step up while their better middle infield prospects come up from lower in the system.
Wouldn't shock me if the Astros bring back Brantley on a low salary with a bunch of incentives based on plate appearances. Crane loves him.
Yes. If Brantley stays productive thru a couple playoff series and wants to come back then $6M/1yr with $500k bonuses for 200/300/400/500 plate appearances makes sense. I expect Brantley to retire though. And free agent OF pickings are slim so it’s possible Brantley could find a better deal elsewhere. I do not want Houston to commit a 8 figure deal to him again. I’ve also wondered if he would be open to semi-retirement, not signing but agreeing to a deal in principle for him to join the team after the trade deadline. Dude has shown he can still basically walk in off the street and consistently rope liners into the OF.
Just one of the games they should have lost… but won. Everybody seemingly only remembers the other ones (ones they should have won but lost). Most of these tend to even out over 162… or the disparity isn’t as egregious as the brain tends to recall. Why is that? Why must we only hold on to the things that hurt?
Anyone planning a Springer vs Correa meet-up before GM 1 on Saturday at one of the bars/restaurants along Crawford / within walking distance to MMP?
In general, I agree with this sentiment. It’s similar to poker players only remembering their bad beats or sports betters only remembering the crazy ones that went against them (like myself and the 28-3 Falcons loss). That being said, we definitely lost more games this year that we should have won.
Not sure about that. Couple of Angels games, the Nats game, couple of Rangers games, Dodgers game, Orioles game… and this is just off the top of my head. Maybe there’s a slight discrepancy… but its always closer than you think.
Just what happens during the games happens. My problem is that Baker didn't always play his best cards because he won with 2 7 off-suit once.
I think that an interesting idea would be to bring up Barber, a la Julks in 2023. I think he could be a solid replacement for Brantley and provide a good LHB w/ good speed on the bench and help his jump to MLB with limited starts. C: Diaz 130, tbd 32 1B: Abreu 137, Diaz 25 2B: Altuve 94, Dubon 68 3B: Bregman: 155, tbd 7 SS: Pena: 155, Dubon 7 LF: Barber 54, Chas 54, Yordan 54 CF: Chas 94, Meyers 54, Dubon 14 RF: Tucker 155, Chas 7 DH: Yordan 101, Altuve 61
Talking more about games where the win probability swung drastically/unexpectedly in the very late innings.
It’s not a bad idea but I don’t think it’s a good idea to waste a year of Barber’s control for 54 games. Also, you are way overplaying all the starters. No player should be expected to play more than 130 games max.
