No way I'd give Santander more then a 4 yr contract. Three would be ideal. He's off the board. If Bregman isn't going to happen I'd love it if they could get Profar (even on a deal with any opt out after 1 yr). Not QO attached to him.
Contract limits for remaining FA I’d give out if I were Crane/Brown: Bregman 35M/1yr; $60M/2yrs with opt out; $160M/6yrs; $200M/10yrs, front loaded with 1 opt out Profar $16M/1yr; $26M/2yr; $41M/3yrs Polanco $9M/1yr; $12M/2yrs Verdugo $6M/1yr Heyward $5M/1yr Martinez $5M/1yr Moncada $4M/1yr Canha $4M/1yr Turner $4M/1yr France $4M/1yr Grichuk $2M/1yr Peralta NRI ($2M/1yr) Gamel NRI ($2M/1yr) Grossman NRI ($2M/1yr) Flaherty $22M/1yr; $34M/2yrs w/opt out; $66M/3yrs w/opt out; $90M/4yrs; $130M/5yrs Pivetta $22M/1yr; $34M/2yrs w/opt out; $66M/3yrs w/opt out; $85M/4yrs Scherzer $12M/1yr, incentives for ip to earn up to $18M Heaney $12M/1yr; $22M/2yr; $30M/3yr Quintana $6M/1yr Quantrill $6M/1yr; $9M/2yr, incentives for ip to earn up to $14M Junis $5M/1yr DeSclafani $4M/1yr, incentives for ip to earn up to $10M Flexen NRI ($4M/1yr) $5M/1yr: Yates, Jansen, Kimbrel, Neris, Chafin, Barlow NRI ($3M/1yr): Graveman, Stanek, Raley, Maton, Karinchak, Sewald, Middleton, Richards, Strickland, Smith
Singleton got his chance to prove himself last year and wasn't good enough. He doesn't offer enough positional versatility to be a bench player.
Crane gives what he considers to be a fair offer to his impending FA's. If they dont take the offer he moves on. There's none of the splitting the difference stuff that you're bringing up. Crane's a business 1st guy. When have you noticed Crane meeting in the middle on contract negotiations? Maybe Bregs will be different, but I doubt it.
Singleton was the 14th man in 2023. He was pencilled in as thd 13th man last season (but ended up as the 8th man). It seems silly to me that there’s so much confidence that Singleton can’t fit a role he’s literally been in for the last 2 seasons.
It's more about positional flexibility for the last position player on the roster. Think Kessinger last year.
Kessinger was the 20th man last season, and Houston DFA’ed him while choosing to keep Singleton AFTER they’d signed Walker and traded for Paredes. Why do you think Houston kept Singleton on the roster over Kessinger?
Because he's a more valuable player. Still doesn't mean they wont have somebody with more positional value as the last man on the roster. I could see a world where they have Whitcomb as the last man and send Jon to the minors and call him up if Yordan/Walker gets injured. This way he's getting regular AB's in Sugarland.
No. They will add at least one player. It may not be a huge move, but they will improve the OF before opening day. If they don’t, it very likely means they have a lot of confidence in Dezenzo and Melton being ready to produce early in the season.
I'd guess the Astros not improving the OF would mean the Astros thought they could make a bunch of trades moving salary around such that they could replace easily add another OF after trading Tucker, but were unsuccessful in what they thought they could do. I'd guess they still do something to help the OF even if more a bandaid. I think the Tucker deal will help in the future a lot, but I'm not sure they helped 2025 any so far over where they were expected before the Tucker trade despite adding about $11M in 2025 salary.
True but there's a major league job out there for him. I doubt he'd accept the assignment at this stage in his career.
I would be good with him on the roster with a different Astros team. For example the Astros team that won a title a handful of years ago…. at this point I would like to see some of the younger players get time or someone that can play multiple spots like Polanco getting the roster spot. I am aware that there is more in his bat that could come out with at bats - he has an aptitude for hitting, but I’m willing to take that chance. I am more concerned with seeing how the Pressly/Brown situation plays out. Brown has been very laid back with the Astros but has a temper as shown with Atlanta and Toronto.
