I think it’s interesting to see how the current best teams were built. Atlanta: Lineup: 2 lower tier free agents (Yaz/Smith), 1 major trade (Olson), 1 minor trade (Dubon), 3 2nd/3rd rd picks (Riley/Harris/Baldwin), 2 int’l signees (Acuna/Albies) Rotation: 1 major trade (Sale), 2 lower tier free agents (Holmes/Perez), 2 4th/5th rd picks (Strider/Elder), 1 2nd rd pick (Ritchie) Notable: not a single home grown 1st rd pick among their core players, Braves built with myriad sources Brewers: Lineup: 3 1st rd picks (Turang, Frelick, Mitchell) 5 from trades (Contreras, Bauers, Yelich, Hamilton, Ortiz), 1 lower tier free agent (Rengifo) Rotation: 1 2nd rd pick (Mis), 5 from trades (Harrison, Sproat, Crow, Patrick, Gasser), 1 11th rd pick (Woodruff), 1 4th rd pick (Henderson) Notable: Brewers proving you can build a contender from savvy trades and hitting on late 1st/2nd rd picks Dodgers: Lineup: 1 3rd rd pick (Freeland), 1 trade (Betts), 1 1st rd pick (Smith), 5 free agents (Ohtani, Freeman, Teoscar, Tucker, Muncy), 1 int’l signee (Pages) Rotation: 3 free agents (Yamamoto, Ohtani, Sasaki), 2 trade (Glasnow, Lauer), 2 late rd pick (Wrobleski, Sheehan) Notable: Dodgers proving you can buy wins with money Yankees: Lineup: 2 1st rd picks (Wells, Judge), 3 free agents (Grisham, Bellinger, Goldschmidt), 3 trades (Jazz, Canallero, McMahon), 1 late rd pick (Rice) Rotation: 3 late rd picks (Schlittler, Warren, Rodrigurez), 2 trades (Weathers, Gil), 3 free agents (Fried, Cole, Rodon) Notable: built from various sources but it helps to be able to dump big money into pitching and keeping your best players I think the Braves and Brewers show you can build a winner without tanking or spending wads of cash in free agency. You just have to be really good at hitting on draft picks (not necessarily even in the 1st rd) and winning trades.
It is still being reported/acknowledged that Jim Crane has no desire to give up on the season. I understand that because there is only one team in the AL that has won more than 6 games of the last 10 and a 500 record is still in a wildcard spot. This league is very very winnable. But for months now they have operated under the idea that they have 75% of a championship roster and just need to add a couple of Cody Boltons and Braden Shewmakes to win. They simply don't. Waiver wire pickups and purchasing career AAA players to "fix" are not going to turn this team into a winner. This team needs a much larger change. The first question is a tough one: Is it even still possible to win in 2026, if it is do we want to and can we do what we need to in order to make that happen? The answer to the first part is YES 4 1/2 games out of the division lead is not insurmountable. The second part is tricky because the organization keeps saying YES but acting like NO. The third part is the rub of the whole thing. So far they are using a garden hose on a wildfire. When does the fire department get called in?
It's an incredibly stupid idea but if they are going to go for it then they better go for it. A half measure like just adding those two would be the dumbest decision they could make.
Yeah that ain’t it. A bad defensive OF with a below average bat from a division rival and a rental batting champion who has re-established his defensive value at a position you can’t play him at because you have an aging hall of famer there. Especially because Arraez doesn’t want to play anywhere but 2B. Really losing faith in Crane as a pragmatic owner and Brown as anything more than a scouting director. Never had much faith in Espada outside of being a decent but dull person.
At this point it is very difficult to know how much of this is Crane and how much is Brown. I have been told that this is Crane - especially after failing to make the playoffs last year, that Crane has wrestled away more power. It is always possible that the Astros change course closer to the deadline and Crane just isn't going to capitulate too early. As for Addell, he is ANOTHER potential platoon bat, he does very well from one side and is only a AA level hitter from the other side..... I am just sick of platoon hitters..... and I don't know how Arraez would fit for the Astros at all. I don't blame Arraez for wanting to play second, he is a lot more valuable if he can do that.... but he is basically a poor man's Rod Carew.
Arraez: ah yes, let's add another infielder after an offseason of people losing their heads about this team having too many infielders Adell: ah yes, let's add an outfielder who has 30-homer potential but at the cost of walking 25 times and striking out 200 times
What I wonder is if Brown is being told to "fix it" and not being given any real payroll flexibility to fix it. The signings this off season were all either ones that Crane wanted or were made because Crane would not greenlight spending. It really seems at this point that Crane will spend good money - but it has to be HIS idea and on players he likes..... be that Abreu, Walker, Tatsuya, McCullers or Hader. Otherwise, Brown is forced to go to the local dump to fix the outfielder issue or back end of the rotation and now - middle of the rotation.
Crane needs to find his next Luhnow. Unfortunately I don't think he's ever going to give his GM that much leeway again.
If the Astros are gonna dumpster dive then go get somebody like Luis Robert. At least he’s shown he has the potential to be good.
For the mere cost of AAA starting pitching with middling stuff you too can be the proud owner of Joe K's or Luis No Walk's .... and it only costs Crane maybe $5,000,000 after he gets the other teams owner to eat a little bit of salary.
I don't think there will be another Luhnow under Crane. Crane is the best owner in Astros history --- but he isn't the same as he was 15 years ago. Crane isn't going to ever give someone that level of control again, and at 72 years old, he likely will never allow the type of rebuild that the Astros should be looking at.
I've said it before the season and took a lot of heat for it. The Astros are not a smart organization by the standards of 2026, they just aren't. Jim Crane took for granted that the system Luhnow build would just be able to maintain itself regardless of who was at the top. He never allowed Click to make big changes and Dana Brown isn't really qualified, so it stagnated. All while Crane and his "baseball guys" made more calls. I'm tired of hearing how the farm is struggling because of not having top picks. That's certainly the easiest way to get top talent, but not the only way. You still have the entire rest of the draft and the international side, neither of which has been giving us s**t. Crane oversaw the greatest era in this cities history, I guess he plans to leave it right back in the steaming heap he found it in.
Dana had to fill multiple pitching holes with basically no finances to do so. Tatsuya is who Crane was willing to spend money on - Brown wasn't given that money and told to go find a starter in free agency or trade. Burrows has been bad and I don't mind Brown getting heat for it - but I will say that when a GM is told to fill multiple pitching holes and is given no money to do so and has little minor league talent to do so--- it is a recipe for disaster.
I don't think it is that simple. There is no doubt that Luhnow was peak - but if Click had been able to do what he wanted, the Astros likely don't win a second World Series. Also the Abreu signing and Montero signing were things that Click wanted to do before he left. As for whether or not Brown is qualified - I don't know if he is or isn't, because Crane makes all the major decisions. At this point it is on course to be a dumpster fire --- what upsets me isn't that this isn't a 95 win team anymore.... what upsets me is that the Astros have the pieces to start an excellent rebuild, and the people hired to do their jobs cannot do them. Also - the budget for the minor league system/scouting/coaching etc. is no longer competitive.... it needs to be increased.
When talking about Click, I'm more referring to the analytics and data lead player targeting aspect of the front office. Click may have sucked at it, but if that area isn't constantly being updated for the current trends it will fall behind....quickly. Jim Crane deciding to stick his nose in is obviously the biggest issue.
Thing is they did spend money on pitching. Imai is getting good money. They would've been better off spending that money on an everyday OF. If Dana is on a budget he needed to hit on another Kikuchi type trade. Unfortunately he traded for Burrows.
Even when Luhnow was here Crane had to approve the JV, Brantley, Greinke etc.... deals. Unfortunately Crane struck out on the Imai deal and Dana struck out on the Burrows deal. You can't tell me that if Luhnow or Click was the GM that the OF would basically have 3 Mendoza level hitters as the everyday OF.
From the outside looking in, this appears to be exactly what is happening. Said it the other day but it's such an incredibly stupid decision to sign a closer for $20M/yr and then put financial restraints on signing a proven MLB #2 starter, especially when the rest of your rotation is unproven (Burrows, Weiss), a huge question mark coming off a major injury (Javier), or just clearly not good anymore (LMJ). No GM on the planet would willingly choose to spend $20M on a closer and then only $18M on an unproven Japanese pitcher as your #2 in a rotation already filled with huge question marks. When you spend $20M/yr on a closer, it should be a given you are willing to spend whatever it takes to ensure the team good. That should be reserved for teams like the Dodgers, Yankees, and Mets.
It is possible because the money is largely accounted for and the prospects are not great. I suppose that the Astros could have traded Tucker for a different young outfielder or maybe Brown could have signed someone like Ramon Laureano last season.... but the actual constraints on Brown are worse than Click or Luhnow from a financial and trade asset perspective.
