I always felt the front office made a fatal mistake after the 2022 championship season by not addressing SP depth. JV walked and they knew Lance wasn't going to be healthy for a chunk of the season (turned out to be the entire season). This always baffled me as the team saw first hand how being able to go 6 men deep pays dividends down the stretch and in the playoffs. We lost in 2023 because we ran out of gas, period. They repeated the mistake again after 2023, here they are scrambling, calling up rookies bc they don't have enough SP depth. Blanco and Arrighetti especially are going to wear down, Framber too.
Counterpoint- he has an elite skill set of plate discipline that will always play, doesn't get himself out, could probably switch over at some point in time and play a pretty quality first base as he gets older, and he's a really smart dude that I think will find ways to adapt as he loses his athletic skills. All that said- my max offer to him would be something like 8/160. That is a respectful offer that if he wanted to retire an Astro for life he could definitely take. If he can get more somewhere else I'd shake his hand and not lose a moments sleep over it.
My offer to Bregman would be $120M/5yrs, with $35M vesting options for a 6th and 7th year based on 100 games played in the last year (with buyouts if they don’t vest), plus large bonuses for all-star and mvp awards. The total potential value would top out around $220M/7yrs with a ~$130M guarantee. I highly doubt he would accept it. Alternatively I’d offer him $70M/2yrs with an opt out after year 1.
That's interesting. It's not too far from what I'm saying. I'd give him 160M guaranteed if it took him to retirement. If you wanted to mix in some incentives that were pretty heavy I wouldn't be opposed to that. $5M for an all star selection- stuff like that which could get him to close to 200M if the contract plays out well. I don't think either Crane or Bregman would do either deal btw, but if he finds he doesn't have a market that starts with a 2 on it who knows?
Yainer can't catch every day and Salazar worked well with Arrighetti last time. Salazar is catching Framber and Arrighetti at the moment.
I was thinking he would be back immediately after the All-Star break in a couple of weeks but it seems it will go past that now. Bone bruises are no joke.
That's the difference between a bat first catcher and a glove first catcher. Diaz has cost the pitcher strikes by the way he catches the ball all season. If Tucker was in the lineup maybe he plays more catcher. Right now, Altuve, Bregman, Alvarez, Diaz, Meyers, Dubon, and Pena are basically everyday guys. That leaves 2 of: Salazar, Loperfido, Cabbage, McCormick, Singleton, and Hummel(now Kessinger) to start. The differences between those guys are small enough that playing Sanchez as a defense first catcher who can impact the pitching and run prevention is a big benefit.
Salazar weakens the offense and Yordan weakens the defense. Also no 3rd catcher so we have to give up the DH spot if there is an injury. Diaz is a good defensive catcher and will improve with playing time. Diaz does not weaken the defense when he’s behind the plate. Everyone wants to point to framing now, that’s the trendy anti-Diaz company line now. Before it was that he couldn’t hit lefties. He needs playing time behind the plate.
