The problem in part for Click was that most the moves Click was against worked out and lead us to a title. From botching the trade deadline, to standing on the Meyers hill until the end - to wanting to deal Urquidy for Contreras, to wanting to keep Gurriel off the playoff roster... to targeting Mancini at the deadline and having him bust - to wanting to let Verlander walk, and requiring Crane to take over negotiations. When you don't get along with a lot of the front office already in place, and were hired to "add to, not subtract" from the organization - and you then make some bad choices (some of it was luck), then you are going to be under scrutiny. Especially when the owner asks you if you are willing to bet your job on Meyers and Brantley. He also really did not engender goodwill around the league with his antics at the Winter Meetings. Click was given a raw deal in some ways IMO, but he also did some of this to himself.
Nook are the Astros still talking with Neris? Why not trade Montero (or Graveman) and use that money towards resigning Neris?
IMO trading Montero or Graveman would not free up enough money to pay Neris. Neris wants more than Graveman and money woukd need to be included in a deal for Montero.
The Astros have plenty of SP to get through the season IMO. 972 innings = 6 innings per game. Framber= 190 Verlander= 175 Javier= 165 Brown= 165 France= 140 Urquidy= 140 =975 Bielak, Dubin, and Arrighetti can pitch 125+ each to cover injuries. McCullers is likely good for 45-50. Garcia is also likely good for 45-50 if he's not in the bullpen. Not to mention each of the rotation guys could easily pitch 10-20 more innings if needed. There is plenty of SP depth for the regular season. Keep in mind, this unit fought through extensive injuries last year and every single pitcher is back + a full season of Verlander and McCullers and Garcia should be back for the final 1/4-1/3 of the season. The post season is a different thing. The majority of those names are not playoff caliber starters. If Framber, Verlander, and 2 of Javier, Brown, and McCullers are healthy and well then all is good. If 1 of Framber and JV or 2 total of the 5 named are injured or fatigued and not pitching well it will be bad. If this team decides to bring in a SP he must be a guy who gets added to or replaces one from that group of 5. Otherwise it's a waste and SP is simply too expensive to get.
Who said anything about it being "enough" to pay for Neris? Montero is owed 2/26. They would probably have to trade a prospect along with Montero (or possibly even have to pay some of the 26 mil remaining) but you then take that money and put it towards Neris. Could probably get Neris for 3/30.
I totally agree. I'm just saying that it's not always about just results. It's about things going as you planned and building trust much like in the corporate world. Executives gets rewarded on how close they can get to their forecast so that investors can predict and plan.
Was on vacation over new years for a cruise and with early towing of Xmas episode didn’t want to do the same for a new years episode. It’s too long probably. We front loaded the. If picture stuff into the first 30 or so minutes and then spent another hour and 15 talking about every single additional free agent still out there.
We talked about that in the pod. andrew said 3/75. My thought was he gets to 100M+. I think he gets like 5/110.
I know they spoke to him a few weeks ago. Supposedly he isn’t happy with the offers he has received. There is a real sense that he may not repeat his performance from last year.
This was what they thought going into last offseason and it bit them at the end. After 2022 when the surplus of SP served an enormous advantage over the course of the season and in the playoffs, I was extremely disappointed we didn't add an arm or two before 2023, especially after JV walked and Lance's health was uncertain (as usual). Rangers essentially took that approach and signed a ton of arms, and even then they had to trade for two more at the deadline. By the time we traded for JV, we didn't fortify our rotation, we salvaged it. You can never have enough SP, ever. Brown may suck, France may regress, Urquidy always ends up missing time, the AAA depth like Dubin and Arrighetti may not be ready. In my opinion, we are still weak at SP.
I understand what you are saying. But this team has TONS of quantity. It has every starter that got them through last year + a full season of Verlander and 2 scheduled to be healthy by August. The pitchers currently on the roster started 178 games in MLB last year including all 162 for the Astros. And they started another 41 in AAA. That doesn't even include Arrighetti who could be this year's France and start 20+ games if needed. This team could lose 4 starting pitchers for the entire season and still have 6 starters + McCullers and Garcia shortly after the ASB. But how much quality will be in those innings? It's about the quality. Any starter that gets added needs to be at least top 4 on this staff otherwise might as well just go with what's here. Adding a playoff starter helps this team. Adding an innings eater doesn't. In fact, I actually think trading a guy like France to help in other areas and replacing him with a guy like Dubin is very smart.
Weak relative to what/who though? If your overall point is that the Astros don't have a guarantee to get 162 games started from a quality MLB caliber pitcher if lots of stuff goes wrong, sure, that's true. But the question would be so what? Nobody has that kind of guarantee and I can't think of anyone (I'm sure there is- but it's escaping me right now) that I would consider more qualified than the Astros to throw out MLB caliber starters at 7, 8, 9 spots in the organizational heirarchy- especially in the 2nd half of the year when LMJ and Garcia are back.
If for some reason all 30 teams lost their top 3 SP What team would have the best/deepest rotation 1-5?
This sounds a lot like trading Chris Paul and picks for Russell Westbrook. You're selling at the absolutely low and buying at the absolute high. Relievers are notoriously fickle year to hear and there's a decent chance Neris and Montero are not all that different next year.
True, imagine if all that dough didn't go to overpaying a middle reliever like Montero that was showing signs of ineffectiveness in the playoffs and went towards a MOR starter instead?
