Really want to know why we didn't even offer.. we have so much money coming off the books for 2026 and Framber can carry our rotation.
I never wanted this dude. He’s always had A hole written all over him. If he’s an A Hole but hard worker/good teammate maybe I would feel differently. Astros missed out on nothing here.
The problem with that is $35M per season guarantee for 4 years. The odds of Framber missing an entire season or more due to injury are very good. It's just the nature of SP. Missing 1 season would be the same money wasted as 2 Lance McCullers Jr's seasons. A TJS likely means more wasted money than JV's first extension. Develop pitching, stock the rotation with pre FA guys and if you do commit past that, make it as short a deal as possible and under $20M per season.
I believe that as well, which is why I was very surprised that the Astros didn’t trade Framber. The FO is okay with not losing Tucker for nothing, but okay with letting Framber walk for nothing.
I think it came down to what we could get. If we aren’t contenders this year, someone will give us a lot for Framber by the deadline .
Checking in on my fantasy GM offseason recommendations. Free agent position player targets: Santander, Profar, and Walker have been busts. Bregman has been very good and Conforto has been middling. In hindsight, the Astros should have given Polanco a 3rd year to outbid Seattle. He’d look really good at 2B for Houston right now. Trade targets: Burger is the only one who was actually traded. He’s been terrible for the Rangers. Free agent SP targets: Pivetta, Kikuchi, Manaea, and Heaney have been studs. JV has been bad. All-Hindsight Astros roster: 2B Polanco* (instead of Rodgers) 3B Paredes DH Alvarez LF Altuve 1B Canha* (instead of Walker) C Diaz RF Smith SS Pena CF Meyers Bench: Dubon, Caratini, McCormick, Dezenzo SP: Framber, Brown, Heaney*, Blanco, Wesneski RP: Hader, Abreu, King, Maton*, Okert, Whitley, Scott, Gusto
I will still roll with Walker, I think he will turn it around. Polanco has a solid bat but struggled defensively at times last year and looks a step slower out there this year. Goldschmidt would have been a solid gap signing for the Astros.
I am not ready to walk away from Walker yet either. I like his defense a lot and there is still power in his bat if he can find a way to access it. At second base I am pretty excited about our depth. Particularly about Ferreras. There is still some chance For Rodgers to make a home for himself here. I can easily see Ferreras among our top candidates to make the team this coming off season if Rodgers does not take ownership of 2nd base. I know our GM is probably still hopeful for Mathews there but he should probably be getting a chance to play at first base and at left field some.
If we do not appear likely to be division winners at the break Framber will likely be traded at that time. That leaves us with Brown as our ace for the next few seasons and that ain't too bad a place to be.
Houston stands to add a 2nd round compensation draft pick for Framber (as they did with Tucker), provided they stay below the CBT threshold. So they’re not letting him go for nothing. The gap between what they got for Tucker vs what they were offered for Framber just wasn’t worth trading Framber. I still think they’ll trade Framber if they’re out of the mix at the deadline, but going into next year’s draft with an extra 2nd rd pick isn’t a bad consolation prize, especially if they get an extra 1st rd pick for Brown finishing top 3 in CY or Smith finishing top 3 in ROY. A draft with 5 of the top 100 picks could be a bookend of another run, like the 2012 draft was.
I had someone with the Astros tell me that not everyone making decisions for the Astros believes that it is a foregone conclusion that Framber is gone at the end of the season. Lots of uncertainty about what his actual market will be and the Astros are not adverse to signing him if he doesn’t receive the massive deal some have expected… they point to his age, the lukewarm trade offers they got and lack of star appeal that could keep his number in free agency more realistic.
