The injuries are part of this team's downfall going forward. Starting pitching is non-existent (unless we replace Framber with another SP2 at best) and this team played over their heads last year which most likely won't be duplicated going forward. Lastly, I'm not sure this team has the fire to keep winning in the post season- much less pull out all the stops to get there again soon- without a major jolt to the lineup.
This is part of why I am so negative about the Astros this off-season. Once the story came out they were staying under the tax I don't see a path forward to building a competitive roster without trading Pena or maybe Paredes. Going by the top 100 prospects list on MLB.com we have 1 top 100 guy and that is Matthews at 93. For reference, the Mariners have 8 top 100 prospects and all of them are ranked higher than Matthews. We don't have the prospects to make that big move. The big name players always get traded for top 100 prospects as the main piece in the deal. The Astros need to add at least 50 million in payroll. Right now they are 26 million under the luxury tax... that's just not enough to fix this roster.
yep, you caught my meaning when I put “overpay” in quotes. The prices and valuations are what they are, that is the damn market. Maybe the market shifts later into FA or in trades. Or maybe we can find a high market price player to our liking because we value that particular player more than perhaps other teams, so the price isn’t as high to us based on our own analysis. All this guarantees is that some fans will complain because we “weren’t aggressive enough” if we end up not making a major move that costs a ton in prospects or cash, and other fans will complain if we “overpay” and spend the market price, which is a wonderful oxymoron. I miss the days when we seemed to get over on everyone and every move was gold. Oh where art thou 2016 Charlie Morton? 2018 Gerrit Cole? Straw for Maton/Diaz? (I’m not crapping on Dana Brown btw. His biggest trade was a winner)
There is a non-zero chance that the Red Sox were forced to outbid the Astros for whats-his-name. Safe to say, the Red Sox were in a bidding war.
Yeah it’s pretty clear the Astros cannot get where they need to be just using their extra prospects and currently available payroll room under the tax. So Houston will have to either go over the tax, trade from their big league roster depth, or somehow get extremely lucky. That’s why I’m in favor of shopping Diaz, Pena, Sanchez, and Meyers, as I think that’s the only avenue to getting Houston’s organizational roster in a position to have both short term and long term contenders. Diaz and/or Meyers and/or Sanchez can be swapped to address C and the bullpen and possibly even a #3/4 SP. Pena could address the lagging farm system and potentially add a SP. That would leave them with $30M-$45M to spend on a ToR SP and a good LH bat and at that point the only hole in the organizational roster would be at the bottom of the lineup where they’d be counting on 2 of Smith, Cole, Matthews, Melton, and Dezenzo to establish themselves as good big league hitters, which all things considered is where I want Houston to gamble.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/paul-skenes-tops-2025-pre-arbitration-bonus-pool.html Hunter Brown got a $2.2M bonus from the MLB pre arbitration bonus pool. Good for him and probably good for the Astros since it doesn’t count against their CBT calculation.
Huh, I didn't know that was a thing eta: full list here https://apnews.com/article/baseball-172bcc30db6aa4197e4e462e7a57dd9e That there were no other Astros in the top 100 is not a good look
It's almost unfathomable that Cam Smith was on the 26 man roster all season, the primary RF the vast majority of the season, yet did not make the top 100.
Since he decided to go 20,000 leagues under replacement-level for much of the season, I can fathom it But he was the one guy I was looking for on the list
Not really (it just sounded good), since a league is a measure of distance and a fathom measures depth. But I wouldn't expect you to know that.
Here I was giving you a compliment (I’m from the sailing capital of the world. I would expect me to know that)
I should’ve said “A” sailing capital. Just scroll down on the google search that you landed on. Surprised that you would need to. Hint : It’s also referred to as “America’s sailing capital”
I guess you just aren’t aware. Some more nautical hints and maybe you’ll finally get it. I am surprised by your apparent lack of culture on this subject. The Naval Academy is located there. There is a giant bay, world renowned for sailing. There are many rivers that feed off that bay like the Severn River and the Magothy river which runs through this famous sailing capital city. Lots of sailing on those rivers too. The city is also a state capital. I worked at a very famous and posh Yacht Club there, which is also world renowned for its Regatta races every year. Every year there is a very famous “Boat show” featuring sail boats coming in from all over the world. City dock is located downtown and it’s one of the most famous sailing ports in the entire world. I’m sure you can get it now. It was still a clever statement by you, even if it was accidental, with fathoms and leagues being both nautical terms and all.
