The most success Astros have had is when they waited minutes before the August trade deadline....or about as unaggressive as possible while still making a move. Whether aggressive or unaggressive, it doesn't matter much to me as long as whatever they do works.
That model is virtually impossible to repeat unless you are in full tank mode for multiple years. How often are you going to be paying talent like Springer, Altuve, Correa, and Bregman less then 10 million a year combined? That was the deal in 2017.
I'm talking about what Luhnow did after the core pieces were in place. What's not happening now. For instance, Luhnow adds McCann in FA, a vet playoff catcher. Click is rumored to be adding former Astros reject Jason Freaking Castro. Tell me in over a year what exactly has Click done? That includes at the trade deadline adding to a team that was one game away from their 3rd WS appearance in four years.
Waiting until the last minute to make trades at the deadline to get the best deal possible is smart. What Luhnow did was proven to work. The jury is still out on whether what Click's (Nothing) is going to work.
1. McCann was a trade with the Yankees. They ate some of his salary. 2. Castro hasn't signed yet, and he is also a "vet playoff catcher". He just happens to suck and is 1 for 20 in the playoffs with a single. He's sporting a massive OPS of .186 in the post season, lol... 3. I'm not leg humping Click. I will wait and see what the roster looks like and how much payroll he will be able to spend heading into opening day before I start bashing him. Maybe Crane turned off the money. We don't know. As you said, the Astros haven't done anything major since the scandal came out and Click was hired. I would not be surprised if some players are blackballing the Astros. All things being equal, I wouldn't sign with Houston unless they overpayed if I was a free agent with no ties to the city. With that being said, the big stars haven't signed yet and that sets the market for lesser players. So hard to hammer Click when our farm system is depleted and we don't have the minor league talent to acquire the big guys that have been moved this offseason. Bottom line... on paper the 2021 Astros will be worse than the 2020 Astros heading into spring training. Luckily, our division hasn't done much of anything either and the Rays just took major steps back losing Snell, Morton, and Alvarado.
The A’s will be worse- likely losing Semien and Hendricks. Rangers and Mariners will still suck. Unless the Angels sign Bauer or make some other big SP splash, their pitching is still horrible. Very confident that the Astros will reclaim the AL West and that’s before we’ve even plugged our remaining holes. Getting Yordan back and a bounce back season from Altuve, Breggy and a now confident Tucker who is going to keep raking, to go along with our young arms in Framber, Urquidy, and Javier, and the vets- Greinke and McCullers. We will be fine in the division, IMO. If we add a solid bullpen arm and a serviceable CF and possibly another bat(Contreras, Ozuna, or bring back one of Springer/Brantley) watch out.
To be fair, only one of those players was obtained by active tanking. Springer was a draft pick based on a mediocre (but still foolishly trying) team, Altuve was a flyer that came out of nowhere, they were legitimately a bad baseball team the year prior to the Correa draft, and then they stripped it all down.... and got in position to draft Appel (bust) and Aiken which led to Bregman. Tucker was the other high draft pick based on tanking.
Click better sustain this winning for a while. Not because we want him to, but because he should want to and for longer than 2 years, based off the motivation Luhnow gave him in that interview.
Hahaha no. Astros currently have the 4th best offense in MLB and that’s with empty/replacement players in CF and LF. They have an above average rotation and an average bullpen. The Angels will be very good. If they add a stud starting pitcher and/or Realmuto they will probably be favored to win the division, especially if Houston does nothing significant. The A’s will be good too but for now are not expected to be as good as Houston. The Mariners and Rangers have no chance. Houston absolutely must address their outfield and they will, but none of the major free agents have signed yet. They need some more innings in their rotation and another proven late inning reliever. But those don’t have to be expensive additions and there’s a ton of inventory still out there. Houston needs some luck/discipline when it comes to their farm system, because otherwise they will not be good after the Altuve/Bregman contracts expire. Spending so many prospects to add veterans to their contending teams hurt them, then losing 4 draft picks due to cheating made it a lot worse. But they have a solid 2nd tier of prospects who are far enough away and with high enough ceilings that they have a chance to get back to producing some good talent to replace some of their aging players cheaply. Houston will almost certainly make the playoffs this season and they have a legit shot to make it back to the World Series. They will likely be a playoff team thru 2024 even if they don’t extend Correa, although after this season they are certainly in danger of becoming a 2nd tier team who can make the playoffs but does not really have a very good chance of winning it all. Click is waiting out the market. Keep the faith.
Keep in mind, the Tampa team that just went to the World Series that Click was a major influence in constructing had their playoff MVP as an OF who was a throw-in on a trade and was considered a 2nd tier prospect at best (Arozarena). Their 5 most valuable position players in 2020 were: A guy they drafted in the 3rd round (Lowe) A guy they drafted in the 31st round (Kiermeier) A guy they signed as an undrafted free agent (Brosseau) A guy they traded for who was never a real prospect (Wendle) Willy Adames The rest of their everyday lineup was a cheap free agent (Zunino), 2 guys they got in an afterthought trade (Diaz and Choi), and Austin Meadows. Click is not going to want to spend $100M on one player. Hell he probably will not want to spend $10M on one player. He will think he sees too many other better ways to deploy that money. Whether Crane (and the fans) give him a chance to prove it remains to be seen.
Teams make deadline trades all the time that don't work out. Luhnow for the most part was not very aggressive, just like Click has been, other than the Greinke trade (even that was last minute). Luhnow sought out value and didn't overpay for a player he had to have. The Astros need an OF. There are likely more of them available in what is likely the Astros price range than there are teams willing to pay for an OF. It is to be seen whether Click can make the right decisions, but waiting for the market to play out worked for Luhnow which is what Click is doing.
Luhnow had money to spend- Click doesn't Luhnow had excess prospects to spend - Click doesn't Luhnow had multiple, cheap, team controlled superstars - Click doesn't Luhnow had 4 years to build a reservoir of assets, which he proceeded to utilize during the contending years. Click inherited a thin farm, multiple players entering free agency, and 60 million dollars spent on a sidelined ace. Not to mention the farm system has been in a complete freeze due to Covid, so he hasn't even had a chance to make an impact there. People don't need to crown Click, but comparing him to what Luhnow did during the good years isn't fair.
Click should be aggressive on extending Correa. That’s #1 on my wishlist. Re-sign Uncle Mike and a so-so CF (if they don’t want to spend a lot of money) to go along with a few bullpen help. I’m happy with the SP rotation for now. Wait till trade deadline to pick up what’s needed. Let get get going with the Correa extension talk.
Some here suggested 6/150. I don’t think that will get it done. I think Correa asking number would be 210M+. I think 7/210 probably the minimum to sign correa. It’s a lot of money but after what he did in the playoff and what the franchise has gone thru this past season, I think he deserve it. Maybe even more.
I'm not too worried about Click's relative dormancy. The chips will start to fall once the top tier players are off the board...that's how it always works, and especially more so now with the current market conditions. I do believe there will be good deals available. We are far past the days of Jordan Zimmermans inking 100m contracts. And re: the 2020 trade deadline, I'd rather have a GM smart enough to not make a move than to have one who does so just for the sake of it. If the cost was too high--which it likely was last season given who was available--then so be it. And let's be real...the marginal upgrade would not have moved the needle...I mean, we were 1 game away from the WS and we don't have the farm to acquire an all-star. Who would you armchair GMs have acquired in hindsight that would've made the difference vs. TAM? There's a lot of reasons to be excited about 2021 and beyond for the Astros. I'm really hoping that Crane does not go into penny pinching mode as the next few years will probably be our best shot. But at the same time, the name of the game is getting to the playoffs year after year, and not necessarily putting all of your eggs in one basket.
I love Correa and how he seemed to be the only Astro with the nuts to standup to the onslaught of trash talk from other players. However you can't give that kind of money to a player that's only season with over 500 AB's was back in 2016. Too many risks for that amount of money.
No, this is a playoff team as constructed now. Ya’ll are nuts if you think Astros won’t fill needs with quality players this offseason.
