not crazy about Eovaldi but admittedly I haven't followed him for very long. He has an extensive injury history, no?
Yes, extensive injury history. But he was dominant for Boston in the playoffs and he’s one of only 5 free agent SP who could be a legit ToR guy. It all depends on cost. I don’t think he’s worth $50M+ because of his bust potential. But his high ceiling certainly makes him a player worth gambling on for less than $30M. My guess is he ends up getting ~$40M/3yr. I’d be fine with Houston giving him that as long as Houston has enough money to bring in another more reliable SP and one of the 3 good catchers that are available.
Eovaldi is a guy you try and put on the 2017 Charlie Morton plan -- keep him at 140-150 inning in the regular season, and hope he's healthy for the playoff run.
that's what scares me. Wasn't McCullers on the Charlie Morton plan? We see how that turned out. I'd rather not sign a pitcher with injury history. Next year is possibly our best shot at a WS for a long while-- don't want to put too much faith in risky acquisitions.
idk the geography of the bay area that well but that looks pretty far out of town.. like building a stadium in the suburbs?
If the Astros can't make something work with Arizona, I could see them doing something like: Sign Ramos/Grandal Sign McCutchen/Brantley Sign Eovaldi Trade Tucker + Martin + James for Kluber 1. Springer CF 2. Altuve 2B 3. Bregman 3B 4. Correa SS 5. Brantley LF 6. White DH 7. Gurriel 1B 8. Ramos C 9. Reddick RF Bench: Diaz, Stassi, Marisnick 1. Verlander 2. Kluber 3. Cole 4. Eovaldi 5. Whitley/Valdez Stacked.
I said this before, but even if Houston only addresses their most glaring needs solely thru 2nd tier free agency, they’ll still field a stacked team. Sign Ramos (2nd tier catcher) Sign Morton and Eovaldi (2nd tier SP) Sign Brantley, McCutchen, Cruz, or Murphy (2nd tier bat) CF Springer 3B Bregman 2B Altuve SS Correa LF Brantley C Ramos 1B Gurriel RF Reddick DH White Bench: Diaz, Stassi, Marisnick Rotation: Verlander, Cole, Morton, Eovaldi, James Bullpen: McHugh, Peacock, Devenski, Smith, Harris, Rondon, Pressly, Osuna That’s what happens when you go into the offseason with a projected 48 total fWAR already locked up.
I don't think they will stretch the payroll that much. They were at about 160 million last year. Your moves would put them in the 190-195 million range.
The payroll would be stretched for 2019, but Verlander and Cole come off the books after this year. They might want to stretch a bit for this year, particularly for pitching, knowing they may lose two aces next year.
I think they MIGHT stretch the budget for someone like Nelson Cruz on a one year deal. The problem is all of the guys you mentioned are going to require 3 year deals at a minimum. In 2020 Altuve will be receiving a sizeable raise, Reddick will still be here making 13 million, Yuli will be making 8 million, Correa will be on his 2nd year of arbitration, Bregman will start arbitration, Springer will be on his last year of arbitration and probably looking at 15-17 million depending on how he performs this season, Osuna will be pushing 10 million, McCullers will be on his 3rd year of arbitration, Peacock will be on his final year of arbitration, Devenski will be on year 2 of arbitration, Diaz will be on arbitration, etc. My guess is they might go to 180 million. So basically take off one of your acquisitions.
2019- $15 million plus 200k signing bonus. 2020- $15.5 million 2021- $16 million He would then be an UFA at age 36.
That's not correct. Kluber had escalators that he reached... 2019 17 million 2020 17.5 million 2021 18 million
