Sorry but not a single one of your salary shed moves make any sense to me, unless I am trying to sabotage the Astros chances of winning the World Series in the next few years
2024 potential playoff pitching. A week ago: / now SP1 Framber / Framber SP2 JV / JV SP3 McCullers / McCullers SP4 Javier. / Javier RP1 Pressly / Hader RP2 Abreu / Pressly RP3 Brown / Abreu RP4 Garcia / Brown RP5 Montero / Garcia
If Garcia hadn’t gotten hurt I might have him above Javier now in the SP pecking order. I remember the all cutter start that he had shortly before he got hurt where he looked pretty amazing.
If you moved all those guys together that essentially gives you 40M more you can spend. That signs Alex Bergman and Soler probably. My contention is that you’d be better with this rotation organizationally in 25 JV/Framber/Brown/javier/France/spaghetti paired with Bregman and Soler going forward than you would be keeping the pitching staff exactly the same and not signing Bregman and Soler. It’s cool if you disagree with that but I’m pretty sure I’m right. At a minimum what it would do is put the Astros on zero bad contracts (unless you count Abreu- and I think his contract is just fine).
Alex Bregman made $28.5 million in 2023. It’s not going to be the AAV that will be the issue in extension talks, it will be the length of the contract. No different than Correa and Springer before him.
Angels GM- So, Artie, we haven't come close to .500 for a few years now, Trout isn't getting any younger, and we just lost out best hitter and pitcher, how should we approach the offseason? Artie - Lets make sure to address our bullpen
I don't hate it for the Angels. They pay him 5-6 million and then trade him at the deadline for a couple prospects.
A couple interesting signings. I guess the first question is, as an Astros fan, would you rather have Josh Hader at 19 million or Matt Moore and Robert Stephenson at 20 million? The Brewers just signed Rhys Hoskins for 2/35 million with a player opt out after one year. Abreu has 2|39 left on his deal. There is more risk with Hader as he could get hurt - but I’ll take Hader over Moore Stephenson. As for Hoskins and Abreu - it’s tough. Abreu has had the better career but is coming off a poor year. I think it’s a toss up but my gut is Abreu.
Yeah wise move. Should have gotten 3-4 elite prospects for Ohtani and not have given up the same for a one week half assed attempt of contending.
We are starting to see more signings which is great. I also think this proves there isn’t much money out there to be had.
If we're only talking about depth, Moore and Stephenson fit the bill. If we're talking about getting one of the most dominant closers in game, hands down Hader. Injury is also risk, but I believe getting Hader was one of the best moves that has been made this offseason outside of what the Dodgers accomplished. Prior to Hoskins getting hurt, Philly had huge expectations for Hoskins. They were counting on him, but Harper being able to move to 1st base was tremendous for that team. This allowed them not to have to go re-sign Hoskins. The one thing that stood out for me from the eyeball test with Abreu was his defense. Yuli made some damn good plays at 1st base even at his last year with the team. Yuli made up for a lot of terrible to low throws from anyone within the diamond. I felt there were at times Abreu just didn't make plays needed at 1st base. I don't know if his back had anything to do with it, but he didn't pick up the team. I still choose Abreu over Hoskins for the simple fact that he provides protection. I believe he is going to have a great year for 2024 from the offense side of things.
They are looking for reasons for an unreasonable statistical anomaly. And it's not new. I personally think they should just drop the star in the batter's eye and make it monotone dark and wide enough and tall enough to cover every possible release point from any pitcher. Excuses? Maybe. Reasons? Maybe. But the anomaly is real.
