A lot can change over a year and even more over 2 years. Yainer Diaz was a throw-in prospect in 2021. He was a ROY candidate 2 years later. Jose Altuve was a novelty fringe prospect in 2010. In 2012 he was entrenched as the everyday 2B but pretty middling. In 2014 he was an mvp caliber player. Chas McCormick was a fringe prospect in 2019. In 2021 he was an everyday caliber player. In 2023 he was a borderline star. Yordan Alvarez was a lotto prospect in 2016. In 2018 he was a fringe Top 100 prospect. In 2019 he was ROY and became a perennial MVP candidate. Framber was a 3rd tier prospect 2017, and up-and-down SP6 in 2019, a MoR SP in 2021 and an ace in 2023. The list goes on. 2 years from now guys like Luis Baez and Bryce Matthews could be elite prospects and guys like Zach Dezenzo and Joey Loperfido could be borderline star MLB players.
I think Dezenzo is very like J D. Davis. He may end up a solid, middle of the road starting 3B who prevents the position from becoming a revolving door while still being a big step down from Bregman. But like Davis (and Tucker) it may take 2-3 years of bouncing between MLB and AAA to get there. Playing in MLB is hard. Playing at an acceptable level everyday is harder. Being All-Star level is herculean. The best thing for this team long term is to resign Bregman, even if it takes trading away someone else like Tucker after 2024, or at the deadline then offering him the largest contract in team history. Anyone currently in the system who replaces Tucker is likely to be better than whoever replaces Bregman, and an even better option could be brought back in that deal. I honestly think 7 yrs / $175-200 will get it done and bith sides happy. I don't believe he will get 10 yrs or $300. Think Marcus Semien or Kris Bryant - not Corey Seager or Manny Machado.
This can absolutely happen. Now name the top-100, fringe top 100 prospects that never became regular contributors, or never made it at all. JK.
My wet dream for 2024 is for Bregman to have 80 extra base hits, score and drive in 120 runs with an OPS of .950+ and win the MVP and gold glove while not having a single month OPS under .850. And the Astros win the World Series. I think Crane and Brown would be forced to offer a contract to at least make it hard for him to leave.
The Astros made this decision awhile ago, it was made by Brown and Murphy. Communication is going to be key with this. I am curious to know whether this is something that Forrest has really embraced or not. I am not in his head - but from the outside looking in, at 26 years old, and after missing all of 2020 and 2021; I would want to go to the pen and see if I can make it work. While relievers do not make starter money, they still do really well and he could carve out a 10 year career if he is lucky. That is a lot better than spending another couple years in AAA and then becoming a high school pitching coach at some private school in Florida for $50,000 a year.
Wouldn't it be nice, if for once, Bregman and Tucker hit to their abilities before May 15th? Love the guys and the end result is usually top tier. But instead of being in the MVP conversation, they could be the leaders if they'd just hit out of the gates.
I suspect Hicks is going to get more money than the Astros want to pay - but we will see. I can say the Astros do think highly of his upside as a potential future closer. A bullpen next year with Hicks/Abreu/Pressly would be nasty in the playoffs.
Any notion Whitley had of being Gerrit Cole or Justin Verlander or Clayton Kershaw and banking $300M in his career while racking up 200 inning seasons and cy young awards should be long gone. He can either pout and waste a year of his prime and increase the odds of washing out all together while waiting to get traded or DFA in the hopes that another team will retry him as a SP in his age 28 season…or he can embrace his current opportunity, focus in and become a truly dominant RP and still have a chance to bank $75M+ over the next 9-10 years. By the numbers his sole focus should be on making an MLB roster and banking that first $700k league minimum because odds are if he doesn’t do that this season then his career will be over.
It isn't a surprise that the Red Sox "head honcho" is a former pitcher and has an interest in Martin Maldonado - especially with Breslow stating that rebuilding the Red Sox pitching staff in 2024 if his top priority. Martin Maldanado for pitchers is the equivalent to Jason Mamoa for fat middle aged white women.
I agree with you - and any normal person in the position that Whitley is in, would agree with you. However, the problem is that we are talking about Forrest Whitley - someone that at barely 19 years old in AA was striking out 16 batters per 9 innings - decided ON HIS OWN that was was going to redo his mechanics, and 6 years later still fails to see that he should have just listened to Strom, Miller and Murphy. So - I have no idea what to expect from his. His fastball can be flat at times, but when he doesn't think about it and actually pitches, he does well - especially with it being his third best pitch. Too many homers last year, in part from what I have been told.... because of his MECHANICS and a complete lack of deception on his pitches.
Five free agent catcher options besides Maldonado: Tucker Barnhart, Austin Wynns, Curt Casali, Eric Haase, Cam Gallagher — HoustonChronic
Everyone is right how Baseball can dynamically change at the drop of a hat, but I think this might be the last year that we have a REAL chance at winning the WS again. Not saying that the window closes completely, but with Bregman becoming a FA, and Framber/Tucker right behind, this feels like this might be the last real shot we have. 2023 sucked due to all the injuries, and I feel like as time goes by, that's going to feel like the one that got away (more than 2019 IMO). We would have mopped the floor with Arizona, but I digress. I think we need to sign someone like Soler to a 1 and 1 contract, and get a couple of above average impact players (much like Reddick and McCann), be it a bat or an arm, to help push us over the hump. I like the Hicks idea. Cannot keep banking on McCullers to come back. GO ALL IN. These windows like this dont last forever. Lets get one more.
F all those options except maybe Barnhart and that’s only because he has a tiny bit of upside and would only cost the league minimum. I would rather bring back Maldy over Wynns, Casali, Haase, or Gallagher.
Barnhart hit over .220 in 7 of his 10 MLB seasons. He projects for .217 in 2024 so I’d say it’s close to 50/50 just for him. I am warming to the idea of Barnhart as the backup. He hits lefthanded which is another positive. But mainly he would be a solid defender playing for league minimum. I would obvs prefer Caratini or Graver or Murphy but if those guys are getting 8 figure contracts then I would understand taking Barnhart instead.
The problem is Verlander and Valdez. If Maldi is on the team he is going to start for them. That’s 40% for the worst catcher in baseball. I’d much rather sign a journeyman with better defense and have him catch 1 our of every 5. Maldonado proved to me he is a selfish sh*t with no self awareness. His preparation did nothing for our pitchers. They all did better with Diaz.
Feel the same way, which is funny to say when you think about how we were actually in the World Series (and ahead!) in '19!! The fact that it was the Rangers probably amplifies it for me. This era would be that much more memorable/dominant had they won 3 (or 4) titles versus the 2. Fully acknowledge that's being greedy, but you never know when an opportunity like this will come around again for the 'stros.
I think that too and consider it what I want to happen! Not confusing my favorite male players with a sexual release though. I say Bregman nails it early and often and has his best career year which propels us to the WS win! Keep up the good work ID!
