I think this is the most reasonable interpretation of events. Sure, there may have been an exchange of words when the parties didn't agree on Vogelsong's envisioned role, but it's unlikely that Luhnow or anyone else in the Astros organization did anything inappropriate.
I don't think they did anything inappropriate either. However I do believe they do things different than other clubs and in an industry like baseball, that can make players and agents uncomfortable. We still don't know how much of this is players just not wanting to play for a team that hasn't won in a long time. It will be interesting to see how free agents react when we are competitive.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Astros?src=hash">#Astros</a> discussed Kyle Kendrick as back-end starter option before failed pursuit of Vogelsong. Not sure if they'll revisit.</p>— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) <a href="https://twitter.com/jcrasnick/status/559078723350441985">January 24, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The problem is this isn't an isolated incident Isn't like he is the first guy to not like the way we operate
He's the first FA that I recall saying anything. This also comes right after Rasmus talked very highly of Jeff Luhnow.
People traded, performing poorly have talked bad about the way Astros do things. There was also the Appel in MMP story, but then many organizations do that.
Come on man you are smarter than that Can't separate free agents and draft picks and trade guys and your own players and so forth when discussing just how the front office treats people And I'm not saying I like our local baseball reporters cause I don't, but they haven't just made up a bunch of stories to ruin the reputation of our FO. Our FO does things differently and treats people different. They seem to think and act like they are smarter than everyone else, hopefully they are As for Rasmus, Luhnow drafted the guy and has had a relationship with him for a long time Back to actual offseason moves I sure wish we could find a mid rotation guy to add this year, feel like we are really close to actually being able to compete for a wild card
Why should the situations be comparable? What I know is we've signed plenty of FAs with no problems. Carlos Corporan was just DFA'd & traded and spoke highly of the organization on the way out.
Ok we will just have to agree to disagree then, I think our front office runs quite a few people the wrong way Hopefully you are right and the only ones who don't like them are the reporters, I see it differently though
I'm in the NO to Kendrick group, if we could add a legit #2-4 guy then I think we could become a legit contender, but no interest in adding a back end guy who lacks upside. Go with a kid in that spot and use the cash on another bullpen arm if one is available
I agree...give me a legit starter or just roll with our young guys. Grabbing a guy who's going to pull a 5.0 ERA in the AL is just pointless.
Let's take the top end of the range at 24 starts and consider that 5th starters probably go the fewest innings of any of your SPs, so probably 5-6 innings. That 1 ERA difference comes out to about half-a-run more per game. You think that takes a starter from, say, 10-14 to 16-8? If you extrapolated that to 162 games, you'd saying 1 pt improvement in ERA from all of a teams' starters would be worth 40 extra wins. In other words, 60 wins to 100 wins. That seems fairly unlikely. That said, if the team were in playoff contention, that's a prime consideration, and it's why teams like Oakland don't have the luxury of finding out if Straily is any good. It's also why teams like Oakland likely don't ever find a Dallas Keuchel. For the Astros, a few extra wins is not a good reason to eliminate player development. I'd much rather see if we can find a 5th starter type for the next 5 years rather than having a sure one for this year. That's the point - that's why contenders don't do it. The Astros have one more year of luxury to still experiment and should use it. Starting next year, that's probably out the window. Also, I'd point out that the Astros aren't handing a starting spot to a fringe player. They'd be leaving it open to see which of a number of fringe players steps up. You only need 1 of the 5 or so possibilities to be decent. I think making the playoffs this year would be a luxury but not the goal. The goal is to put a lot of unproven talent on the field and see who pans out. Next year, you go in with lots more certainty and can plug the holes where people didn't develop. I don't see how a 1-yr 5th starter helps in any of those objectives.
I agree with everything in your post except what i left in the quote It's time to make decisions about winning this year, not next year. We have had enough of the "future" mentality already. Although I do not like Crane and Luhnow as people, I do think they understand that it's time to focus on the big league club now and have the farm system be like all other franchises, something that is greatly important but in the background as far as the focus of the fan base. The payroll is showing that also Having said that, I don't want a guy like Kendrick because I simply don't see how he really helps us win games this year
NRI only. Doesn't strike out many, walks more than I would prefer, and isn't great at preventing homers. I would not expect him to outperform Woj.
They've done that with a lot of their bullpen and offense moves. But the key is that every decision they've made helps them win this year without hurting their future. They gave themselves flexibility so that they can still experiment and see if guys like Marisnick and Singleton can hit, but if they don't, they can move pieces around and still compete this year. It's the perfect way to transition from rebuilding to competing. An old 5th starter (if you guarantee him the job) is different. It helps compete this year but at the expense of the future. To me, that's the big difference.
That hasn't been borne out by the offseason moves. What you predicted for next offseason already happened this offseason. Multiple league average or better players were added to replace or add depth at the weak lineup spots (3B,SS,1B,LF). I disagree with you on the goal; the playoffs are not expectation but its certainly the goal. Many of those unproven guys (Matty D, Villar, Marisnick,, Grossman) are going to be on the outside looking in with regards to the 25 man roster. And if by chance the team is around .500 in late July, Luhnow and Co. are going to have an extremely difficult decision to whether to sacrifice farm assets for a rental player. That's an exciting, difficult position to be in. The AL west is competitive enough that if you think you have a legitimate shot you have to go for it. Agree with everything.
Depends on the player and the contract. If they had signed Jason Hammel to 3 years/$24 mil, I'd have said "Sucks for Wojo/Strailly/Buchanan/White, but at least we get guaranteed production from the 5 spot". I'm much more comfortable knowing Scott Feldman is in the rotation than hoping two of those four guys could lock down the 4/5 spots.
I would say all the evidence points to the Astros trying to acquire an old starter, but not guaranteeing him a job (except maybe bench warming, sporadically used, long relief pitcher). The guys the Astros have talked to are not the types that hinder development because they are just stop gap pitchers at this point who would be benched, cut, traded in a heartbeat if a prospect earns a chance in the majors. MLB teams generally need 6-7 starters in a season. Astros's number 3 starter is iffy (though I think he'll do fine), 5th starter job is a competition, and 7th starter likely didn't look good against AAA pitching last year.
