You could make the opposite argument...he's already experienced winning, has a championship, etc. Now he's going to go wherever he can get the most money to set up his family for generations.
Don't know where to put this so I'll post it here. What's the deal with Chas McCormick? I think he was added to the roster in the Twins series. Maybe in the ALDS as well but not the ALCS. Was he up with the big club to soak in the locker room experience/practice with the big boys? Do they plan on being in the MLB next season or something? Is he supposed to be replacing Brantley or Reddick?
I think they can keep Springer. They could defer money like the Yelich deal to get through Covid times. Tucker steps into Brantley's spot, now you just need somebody cheaper than Reddick's 13 million.
I've been trying to look at payroll numbers for next year. Can someone explain Spotrac to me? They have 3 columns with salaries and I never know which applies for luxury tax purposes.
Lots of “we” in there. He might be gone, but he hasn’t wiped his hands of the organization like Cole did.
When did he buy the house? If he's had the same home for the last few years, wouldn't an upgrade based on his salary increasing be something he's planned for? Brantley, I'm sure will want to get away from the cloud of the cheating scandal.
If the Astros come close on the offer, they’ll probably have the inside track. Remains to be seen how much teams are going to spend this off-season... both due to recent pandemic financial crunch and due to the upcoming expiring CBA.
Now that is interesting, seems to be the first indication that he might actually want to stay? Still not sure where Springer stands. Wonder if he feels a bit disrespected in general, after the service time shenanigans, seeing Bregs/Altuve getting extensions, etc. I think he went through a round of arbitration as well. Have the Astros actually discussed extending him in the past? I can't seem to recall it being mentioned. With Correa, I remember it coming up, but that Correa was clear about not being interested and testing out the free agent market.
My understanding is that the Astros have had near-constant extension talks with Springer since even before he was originally called up. He may be bitter about having his service time manipulated. He may want to separate himself from the Astros because of the cheating scandal. Of course just like any organization there may be people in the Astros he doesn’t like and doesn’t want to work with anymore. And of course there may be other teams that he has always wanted to play for and other coaches/players he wants to play with, and other places he wants to live. But generally, I don’t think Springer hates Houston and players go where they can make the most money; I think Houston is in position to make him a very competitive offer if they want to. We will just have to wait and see how it plays out.
Astros did buy out 2 of the 3 arbitration years, and probably paid him up front sooner than they would have had to. It was a good faith deal to avoid the stigma/conflict of having different arbitration numbers. The pre-callup extension made was similar to what they did to Singleton (who signed) and Grossman (who didn't sign). Would have been a huge mistake on Springer's part... he ended up making more in his 6 years simply by being good and getting production-based raises. I thought there was a high probability they'd work something out this past off-season... but it never happened. I'm sure the number of years the Astros want him for, and the number of years Springer wants a contract for, are going to be different. Its unknown which teams are in position to give him what he wants on the open market. I think both sides are playing this as they should.
I've been an Astros fan since 1968, and truthfully have seen it all from the front office-- standing pat, chasing free agents, signing guys that were about to leave, and letting guys leave just because they were too expensive. That doesn't make me an expert, but at least that should entitle me to an opinion. We HAVE to re-sign Springer. He's certainly one of the 2-3 most important guys on the team, and if we don't make an heroic effort to keep him, it will signal that we are willing to start down the glide-path to a mediocre team--which is what we've been for the vast majority of our existence. It would be different if he were past his prime, or if he were the only decent player on an average team, and we were trading him for prospects to get better. Neither of those are true He is a top player on a top level team, he has several good years left, and we are not trading him--we're deciding whether or not to keep him based on $$ alone. Letting him go elsewhere just for $$ is a mistake. I fully understand that he may have decided to get a "fresh start" somewhere else, in view of all of the controversy surrounding the team. If he decides he'd rather play somewhere else, there's not much can be done. But we have to make this priority #1. I know we need pitching--but I'd rather have Springer than whoever is going to be the #1 free agent starter out there this year, and I suspect that most fans feel the same way.
Agree with all this; if it comes down to just money, Astros shouldn't let themselves be outbid unless a team is offering Mookie Money they literally can't match