Max Fried is someone that I have heard connected to the Astros for several years. I am not saying a signing in imminent, but he is someone that Brown and Crane are fond of - much like Hader. Everyone acted shocked at the Hader signing, but I heard a number of times that Crane wanted him - just like he did Verlander. So that is someone that is worth keeping an eye on. I could also see the Astros sign Fried, and then moving a younger pitcher for a position player under affordable team control - as the Astros have positions to fill. That could be a deal with Boston for someone like Casas or Abreu (Boston is willing to move him).
The Astros bullpen was weak last season. If they have an internal replacement or can rehab someone, that should likely be an addition and not a replacement. $14M is not going to get a bat that helps more than Pressly without some luck. The Astros have had hits and misses with some guys performing and others not. I do bank on the Astros being able to get better than market value for a guy in the $14M and up range. If the Astros need to open up $14M, the Astros should trade prospects to get an overpaid player off the books.
Bullpens fluctuate from season to season. The Astros may well believe they have a better chance rehabilitating a pitcher and putting him in the pen, than finding an outfielder or 1st baseman on the cheap. The Astros also have some pitchers coming back from injury. Maybe? That is really an internal decision. They may be able to take that $14,000 and add another $5,000,000 to it and get a bat on a 1-2 year deal that they believe is a real difference maker, or they may decide that they want to take on a player with salary and that $14,000,000 million is enough to fix another issue. Maybe? Depends on what they think or Pressly going forward and the cost of moving off of salary from a prospect standpoint. It can be "clean" for the Astros to move Pressly and then move someone like Luis Garcia to the pen if they want to do that. There is more than one way to skin a cat - and the Astros are looking at all of the scenarios to see what they can get to fit together, and at what cost.
There is more than one way to skin a cat. While there are more than one way to skin a cat, cutting off one's hand first makes it harder to skin a cat however one tries to do it. Bullpens do flucuate from season to season. Pressly has had 7 good years in a row and is a better bet than most relievers to have a good season next year even if it is not a great as he was. The Astros can look at all the scenarios they want, if they come up with a better use than Pressly for those $14M, the Astros should look at others making at least $14M, and trade one of them and keep Pressly. 2025 is the likeliest year for the Astros to win a World Series going forward. 2027 and 2028 are next to nothing. Basically, salaries in 2027 and 2028 should be treated as 2025 money. For instance if the Astros are content that they can lose a proven reliever, it would make more sense to trade Hader, agree to pay Hader's 2027 and 2028 seasons ($38M) in exchange for $38M in value for 2025 plus Hader's 19M for this season. Astros would still have to replace Hader, IMO, but I see that as easier to do with banking the $38M in value of the 2027 and 2028 salaries on a club controlled player(s) from another team than trying to replace Pressly value by just being smarter than everyone else.
Exactly, if they traded Pressly to get rid of his salary and used that money to pay for Robert in a trade, that would be a win IMHO.
Pressly is one of my all time favorite Astros. He's been excellent for years and absolute nails in every postseason until last year. But the man's going to be 36 next season. He's not the pitcher he once was. More importantly, he's not the closer anymore. I don't think the Astros can devote the kind of money they are spending on him to be the setup guy, when you've got Hader in the closer spot and Abreu as probably better than both of them in the pen as well. Hard to win by paying $44m to Hader-Press-Montero next season, with so many offensive holes. The bad contracts given out the last couple seasons have put a squeeze on the payroll, and expensive relief pitching is a like a sports car parked in front of a mobile home lineup.
It’s not rocket science, trade framber and pressley for prospects. Sign a dependable free agent pitcher with the money saved. Kikuchi would have been a great fit.
A single season of Framber is worth 3 good prospects, but once players establish themselves their value goes through the roof until they approach FA. The only way trading Framber makes sense is if Brown really is as good as we all hope and the prospects work out. It's always a gamble. And, yes. Abreu would look very good on the roster now.
I hope Soto signs with the Dodgers. I don't want him in pinstripes and I want baseball to have to deal with their issues and not kick the can down the road. Let Soto sign for $650,000,000 in LA with $350,000 of it deferred and Iet's discuss "fair" and "trash cans".
Problem is there’s not really any bad contract that’s tradable other than McCullers, who still has a chance to recoup some value. I don’t think Montero and Abreu can be dumped since they’ve already been DFA.
This is why I always loved Bill Burr's defense of the Astros, they "brought a gun to a gun fight." He mentioned how there are 2 or 3 teams that treat the rest of the MLB like their own minor league system then cry foul when teams employ their own tactics to try to even the odds. I am sooooo unapologetic about what the Astros did in 2017. Bang bang hoes, kiss the ring.
Unsure if this was posted but this seems to make too much sense. Although unsure if the Phillies would be interested
