Ugh. That sounds like they have no intention of resigning him. Just gross. Jim Crane do the right thing.
Some of y’all are such Debbie Downers! Great season! Great core of guys moving forward. An owner who’s shown he will spend money. A diminished market in general for free agents this year will probably lead to short term deals and testing a hopefully better market next offseason. Springer will never be more loved than he is in Houston. He’s a lock for top 5 franchise player, ever. He came up with the org, he’s not a rental like Cole or Beltran.
I agree that it would be cool to have that core together for a long time and build a real connection with fans. I do think that has value, though I don't know how to quantify it. Personally, I enjoy rooting for players who build something together and that you follow over time (one reason the Rockets' rebuild-the-whole-team-every-year philosophy is disinteresting to me). That said, Biggio/Bagwell were part of some great years in 2004 and 2005. By 2008-2010, people had completely lost interest in the Astros, despite still having other next-gen fan favorites like Oswalt and Berkman still around. So I don't think keeping guys around for the next several years makes much impact 8-10 years down the line. Similarly, all those fans who had deserted the Astros from 2010-2014 came back really quickly when they started winning. Fans have pretty short term memories.
Money>Love for professional athletes. Doubt love come into play when he decide where to sign. If he does resign, of course he will say he loved this organization, city, fans, blah blah blah. But the truth is, Astros gave him the most money. Saying that, I think we do have a chance to re-sign Springer. I never even consider Cole coming back after last year.
I wouldn’t take Clicks comments today to mean Springer leaving is a done deal. I think there is probably a very wide gap between players and franchise expectations about money available to free agents. It is safe to say that the odds of Springer signing with Houston are much lower than they were last year. But I do think it’s still possible that the market is cold to Springer (and all free agents), and he circles back. We will see. The good thing is that even if they do absolutely nothing this offseason, Houston projects to win 90-100 games. I am going to give Click the benefit of the doubt, and I expect him to make a few great trades as well as rebuild the farm. The 2 guys who he worked under previously are currently in the World Series.
Springer will always be one of my favorite astros of all time. Not sure if we will resign him or not. He will take the best offer available and I can’t blame him. I honestly wouldn’t go over 4 years on a contract offer. That being said, we have a great core of players and I’m confident in Click to make some under the radar moves and his involvement moving forward in the International market. We’re gunna be just fine
I totally forgot Hendriks said before the ALDS they "wanted Houston and were going to prove they were the best in the division" Lol great season. Cant wait til next year.
Why are you confident in Click? He's a rookie GM. We dont know if he's going to great/bad or somewhere in between. He's got a lot to prove and live up too. IMHO
Maybe he joins Houston to be their closer. Maybe he's thinking if you can't beat them, join them. He's one Oakland's free agents I believe.
Obviously we are all a bit biased...but you have to think pitchers would want to come here to work with Strom, right? With what he's done with Valdez and so many other projects is just incredible. This seems like the ideal spot for pitchers to come on a short-term deal to rebuild their stock.
I’m confident in Click because he played a huge role in the identifying of talent in Tampa Bay. One of the biggest “moves” Click made this year was standing pat at the deadline and not mortgaging any talent for the future in a sellers market. He has been active in the international market coming to agreement with Pedro Leon.... one of the top international players available. The Santos kid we drafted with the Cole comp pick looks pretty damn intriguing as well. Another reason I trust in him... is because Crane trusts in him and made the hire. Crane is willing to spend money, which is a luxury Tampa Bay has never really had. So I think the mix of identifying young talent and an owner willing to open up the pocketbook to go along with a solid core is a recipe for success. He still has a lot to prove, but I’d say year one under the Click regime was a success, especially considering the circumstances. If we lose springer and or Brantley, a lot of fans will be emotional, and rightfully so.... but I think Click is a guy who has a plan and a process to keep this team in the upper echelon for many many years to come.
Not making any moves doesn't inspire confidence, he's unproven and Click's tweet certainly doesn't either. With this said you made a good case for Click and I hope you're right. I'm afraid they will live off of Luhnow's work for a couple of yrs and then slowly fall off of the map. Kinda like when Poops replaced Hunsicker fans were saying the same things you're saying now. How far is Leon away from MLB this might change my thinking on spending money or prospect capital on an OF. I do like the Santos kid. 97 with movement and room to get more velocity with a good breaking pitch.
Luhnow was amazing and was a huge loss, but I love how Tampa runs their organization so I’m pretty confident in Click. I don’t think he’s going to make many bad moves, but I do think he will play it cautiously, which means I wouldn’t expect them to try to sign Springer right away. My guess is that they plan to let him test the market and try to jump in later when the market has been better established. I can’t see Houston being in any hurry under the circumstances.
Click has essentially kept Luhnow’s front office intact. One would expect that the Astros will still evaluate talent the same. Drafting, trading and signing FAs should still use stats to find gems. Click will have to deal with a depleted farm due to Luhnow’s last big trades. Click like all other MLB GMs will have to deal with the new Covid-19 financial realities. Since the Astros FO is built to find gems, one would expect them to weather this storm better than most.
I don't think Click will be a bad GM, but the likelihood of him being as creative and as relentless in acquiring and developing talent as Luhnow is pretty low.
Sorry if this is posted somewhere else, I cannot find it. What is going on with the signing of Pedro Leon? Seems like the kid has been in limbo forever..
Not sure what Luhnow did was “relentless”. They made a commitment to the minor league system from the top down, made a concerted effort to have a draft system in place, drafted well, and most importantly signed their picks. they didn’t really commit to the international market as much as some other teams, despite finding some decent pieces along the way. Click should be able to do at least that. His questions will be more how will he execute big league trades/deadline deals and whether or not he can get established guys extended...
I don't know what you mean by not committing to the international market. You mean in terms of exceeding their allocation for signing bonuses? In terms of international talent acquired I think the Astros were very successful under him with Oz and their Dominican academy. Valdez, Paredes, Urquidy, Javier, Cionel Perez, Abreu, Jojanse Torres, Jairo Solis, Celestino, Nova, Franklin Perez, Alcala are guys who are either valuable MLB players, were traded for valuable MLB players, or who are still solid (40+ FV) prospects. The group of Valdez, Paredes, Urquidy, and Javier could account for 8-10 WAR next season, which I would describe as something more than some "decent pieces." Most of the value has clearly been on the pitching side of things, but I would be happy with that kind of value creation moving forward under Click.
Mainly talking about going after some of the more in demand players and not bargain hunting. Even the Rays have allocated more than expected spending there in recent years. I agree they’ve been successful in having some pieces develop well. I don’t think Click will have trouble continuing that sort of practice which was also being done in TB.