Oh he definitely isn't perfect. Not sure any pitcher ever has been Not sure who has been more consistent over the past 4-5 years though, certainly there are some who have had "bigger" years because their K potential is higher. But I don't know who has been more consistent over the last several years
Lol This is actually exactly what I was talking about. Any time he gives up a run now someone will say "mental" "mental" lololol
Altuve's time at 2B is being determined more by defensive game situation than anything. When we play in parks with large LFs he hasn't played out there much, not at all in Pitt. At MMP he plays out there when our ground ball pitchers are on the bump. I think the organization views defense are extremely important likely because they feel like we have a few pitchers that if we play defense behind we have a great likelyhood of winning. This is likely why Shay hasn't been given any opportunities to play. I think any trade that changes that would have to be one that GREATLY improves the offense.
Other than Zach Wheeler, I can’t think of any others. I guess Burnes as well but he’s on the shelf now. There’s been plenty of others than have been better That being said, if we are talking about right now if I had to choose someone for a game 7, Framber wouldn’t be in my top 10. Maybe not even top 15.
They need to pay the price to keep Framber which should be cheaper or at least within Crane's 5 yr contract mandate. He really needs to bite the bullet to sign Hunter long term. That's going to be a long top of the market contract.
Hunter Brown changed agents and signed with Scott Boras with good reason. He may have already decided that he wants to test free agency. If he continues to pitch as well as he has this season through the next couple of seasons, he will get a huge contract. Unless the Astros offer him a contract that would buy out his arbitration years and pay him as one of the top pitchers in the league, I don't see him taking a deal prior to hitting free agency.
One guy I thought was close to perfect was Bob Gibson and they actually used him as a Pinch Hitter every once in a while.
I don't know either However, it has been reported that Hunter wanted an extension in the 2023-2024 offseason and when an agreement was not made he decided to hire Boras. I have no idea how interested the Astros were or if they even exchanged numbers. I also don't know if he hired Boras specifically to get a deal done, but the optics are not good for an extension to happen.
I think it’s safe to say that if a guy didn’t sign an extension when he was a homer prone enigmatic young gun 5-6 years from free agency, he’s a lot less likely to sign an extension when he is being widely touted as one of the 10 best pitchers in the league and is only 3.5 years away from free agency.
Brown is going to give us the double up: Comp pick for winning the CY young this year and a comp pick when he leaves us in 3.5 years.
I know it’s not gonna happen but I would be so stoked if Brown netted a 1st rounder this offseason, Framber nets a 2nd rounder, and Houston goes into the 2026 draft with 4 of the top ~75 picks; that would be a huge opportunity to add young talent on par with 2015 (Bregman, Tucker, Cameron, Sandoval) and 2012 (Correa, McCullers, Ruiz, Phillips). (The Astros also had a bunch of extra picks in 2017, 5 of the top 91, but didn’t come away with much other than ammo for the Greinke trade, as Bukauskas, Martin, Perez, Ivey, and Matijevic didn’t amount to much.)
That's an unfortunate truth. It's time to gamble on Arrighetti. I think if a young pitcher has a good work ethic, attitude, and true K stuff you need to gamble while he is still so far away from FA that he is still needing to secure retirement money, especially if he didn't get a big draft/signing bonus. My thinking has changed over the last year or so. Guys who have #1-#2.5 potential should be locked up for 2-3 extra seasons as soon as they have proven they can get MLB hitters out. In order to have post season caliber starters that don't cost $30M per year or leave every 5-6 years, you must gamble, and the earlier the better Ideally do it 1-2 years before arbitration so the AAV is below $15M ( just like Javier) and it wull not extend too far into a player's 30s. WHEN he ends up missing 1 1/2-2 seasons with TJS, a couple of 2.5 WAR seasons will make up for that lost value. You are losing $30M in lost salary, not $50-60M. If a guy's ceiling is below that of a very good #3 don't even consider it and trade him if he ever gets enough value to bring back prospects/young controllable players who project to be impact players. Then just keep the line of Gordon's, Walter's, Gusto's, and Blubaugh's coming to fill the #4-6 spots. Hopefully having 5+ of them ready continuously.
With Houston’s proven ability to develop pitching, I don’t think it’s imperative for them to extend any pitcher unless it’s an extremely team friendly deal. I don’t see Arrighetti biting on that kind of deal. The player Houston should have extended was Paredes, as soon as they traded for him. He’s probably playing too well now to go for the right price. Aside from him, I don’t see any real fits for realistic extensions. Melton and Matthews might be fits depending on their mindset. Ullola would be a sleeper pick for a pre-callup extension. Since Cam Smith hasn’t really busted out into superstar status (yet), it might be worth a conversation there, but I doubt he’s willing to bite at this point.
Astros ability to develop pitching, along with the nature of injury risk to SP, is why I felt this way fir a long time. I have since adjusted that stance. I still feel that way about any pitcher who is not good enough to become a #1 or #2 playoff starter, but the MOR-BOR-AAAA guys are a dime per dozen in this organization. How many #3-4 SP has this organization spit out in the past 10 years? Now how many #1-2s? Guys who project to become among the 50-60 best SP in MLB and have true swing n miss stuff are more rare and having them for 8 years instead of 6 is a worthwhile risk in my opinion, especially if the AAV is in the $15M range.
Atlanta looks interesting to pick apart at the deadline too and Brown probably has an open line of communication there . . . Marcel Ozuna is a free agent next year - would require yordan to play . . . but??? he could be cheap. Pierce Johnson. Iglesias. Dylan Lee.
The waters get pretty muddy classifying guys into 1-2-3-4, but I’d venture to guess the Astros have cranked out more guys capable of starting playoff games than just about anybody over the last 10-12 years. Keuchel, McCullers, Framber, Javier, Brown, maybe even Garcia or McHugh qualifies. You only need to produce one of those kind of guys every 2-3 years to not have to spend big money on pitching from outside the organization; I think the Astros have been able to and will continue to be able to do that. The real task is keeping Murphy and Miller in the organization. I think if Arrighetti were willing to accept a $15M/yr extension to buy out <3 years of FA it would already be done. I’d be fine with that deal, but I don’t think it’s very realistic and I think Houston will be more than fine (on the pitching side) without them. The real question for this org is how they will be on offense after 2027 when they have lost 4 of their current starters to free agency and have another one in his very late 30s; considering that’s 2+ seasons away, I’m still pretty optimistic about the future of this franchise.
