I know it’s far fetched, but I’m a little surprised we haven’t heard any rumors whatsoever about Alex Bregman coming back. He’s probably going to sign a contract under Crane’s ~$170M/6yr self-imposed ceiling, and signing him would allow Houston to trade both Pena and Paredes for the players they’d need to have a dominant rotation and upgraded outfield. He also doesn’t have a QO attached.
Not sure why you sell low on Paredes. You have to take a discount given he likely won't be ready for opening day. As fragile and old as the rest of our infield is, we need depth...
Getting a starter with 5 years of control that has a 100 mph fastball isn't really selling low. He's their number 2 prospect that has already had some major league experience.
I think the fact that we need pitching and we didn't reset the tax kind of messes things up for us in regards to any big contracts that isn't pitching. Crane isn't one to hand out long contracts, and he definitely isn't going to go into a third year of LT to do it. It would require a bonafide ace like Skubal or Skenes for him to go into the tax this year.
Deferred money should be counted in total for the years of the contract then the deferred portion counted again in the years its paid out. Shouldnt have any advantage to deferring money, should instead be penalized. Double count it.
So you're trading him and HOPING the prospect pans out. Then what do we do when Correa goes down? Cam Smith at 3B? It's fine if you like him, I just dont see Parades as expendable unless we get a decent hitting utility guy too.
#28 prospect in mlb. Looking at the past #28: Adael Amador Pete Crow Armstrong Diego Cartaya Max Meyer JJ Bleday Brent Honeywell Luis Robert Ian Happ Gleyber Torres Alex Jackson Alex Meyer Anthony Rendon Zack Wheeler Looks hit and miss to me... Forrest Whitley's ranking at age 22: #19 Bottom line, it's still a gamble. Paredes is hurt, but medicine is easier to predict than prospects. I would want 2 or 3 similar level guys for Paredes. If we're talking Abreu and Tolle I'm all onboard. Cam can do some 3B and CF.
It's all about making the best roster in 2026. Jim Crane EXPECTS to make the postseason. Dana Brown does not have a contract for 2027. Isaac is one of the players with the most trade value. Every position he plays already has a regular starter so he is a luxury not a necessity. Having another TOR SP is a better bet to contend in 2026 than keeping a player without a place to play except in other players' days off. I don't necessarily agree but that's what the Astros are thinking.
17th pick it is 1. White Sox 2. Rays 3. Twins 4. Giants 5. Pirates 6. Royals 7. Orioles 8. A's 9. Braves 10. Rockies 11. Nationals 12. Angels 13. Cardinals 14. Marlins 15. Diamondbacks 16. Rangers 17. Astros 18. Reds
Astros didn’t win the lottery. They will pick 17th. They also have the 28th pick. Rays Giants and Royals won.
Deferring salaries doesn't really affect anything for baseball. The main effects are that it gives a player a longer term income stream to prevent them from doing something stupid with their money, and it lets the player pretend they are making more money than they are. But as far as the teams and luxury thresholds/etc, it doesn't really make any difference to them. A contract with higher deferred salaries is adjusted for its future inflation so it's just treated the same as signing a regular contract using its actual net present value. Shoehi's $700MM contract was really worth $450MM or so in today's dollars, so that's how it's treated. The Dodgers have to put $45MM a year into escrow and let it earn interest, so it doesn't save them any money. It just lets Ohtani say he made more money, even though the value of that money is inflated. Ohtani ends up in the same place (or worse, since he can't invest the money) than if he had just signed a $450MM non-deferred contract. The team ends up in the same place.
It doesn't. It's just treated as though it's a non-deferred contract with real-current value dollars (which is what it actually is in economic terms for both LA and Ohtani). So in Ohtani's case, it's treated as a 10-yr $450MM contract. There *are* some unclear tax advantages for Ohtani depending on where he lives in the future and how California laws get interpreted or changed, but that would apply if he signed with a Texas team too (or any other state with no state income tax). So that's an inherent advantage for certain teams including the Astros.
What I'm hoping for if Dana decides to trade Parades that he not only gets a guy like Tolles, but he gets Boston to also trade Abreu in the trade even if that means having to add Matthews/Hicks etc... to the deal.
