“According to Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News, the "final clubs competing to land" free agent outfielder George Springer are the Mets and Blue Jays. Thosar adds that Springer "figures to pick up a long-term contract worth well over $100 million" from one of the two teams and that there should be something official to announce come January. SNY's Andy Martino states in a separate report that the 31-year-old slugger "is still asking for well over $150 million."” https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/...0201230-golgieaw35gajm2en7ppg6kp5u-story.html https://www.sny.tv/articles/here-s-the-actual-situation-with-the-mets-and-george-springer
Giles went to Toronto in the Osuna trade and the salaries were almost a wash. The Astros knew Cole was gone after 2019. Also, we let Chirinos, Miley, Rondon, McHugh, and Will Harris walk after 2019. They also cut Joe Smith's salary from 8 million to 4 million. Crane was willing to add the 2 months of Greinke's salary because he had a ton of salary coming off the books for the following season and they did almost nothing in the offseason after 2019. They resigned Smith and Maldonado. That was it.
They did add Maldy. Also do you think they have money to spend by letting those guys walk and the insurance savings? They should have money to spend.
The farm isn't in as bad shape as some think it is. You have multiple pitching prospects starting with Whitlet Ivey/Brown etc... The position prospect aren't as bad as your making them seem either. Leon/Pena/Lee etc.... With the money coming off of the books that I listed above there should be money to spend. But I agree there should be no comparing Click to Luhnow. One plays chess while the other plays checkers. Luhnow set the bar high for Crane/Click when he basically said he thought he could keep the current run going for another 5-6 years.
I said they resigned Maldonado and Smith after 2019. When we traded for Maldonado the 2nd time he was only making 2.5 million for the year. Adding him was only like 800k or so for the last 2 months of 2019. With Reddick, Brantley, Springer, Biagini, Osuna, Garneau, Devenski, and Peacock coming off the books and the only arbitration guys being Correa, Diaz, and McCullers they have some money to spend. However, it is probably less than people are thinking because of COVID. Look around the league. Teams are trying to dump salary left and right. Astros aren't going to be anywhere near where they were in payroll last year. From what I've heard they are really really high on Leon. Had it not been for the international signing period being delayed and no minor league season last year the Astros thought he would be an opening day starter for 2021. That's why I am less optimistic on them bringing back Brantley. It wouldn't surprise me if they spend on Bradley Jr. in CF and get a cheap veteran for the corner OF spot until Leon is ready. I would love to have Brantley back but what I've heard about Leon makes me think they might not want to do it. The Astros will likely add a bullpen piece, a veteran backup catcher, and maybe a veteran starter to eat innings. We don't know that Verlander's contract was covered by insurance. Nobody has confirmed that and there are also policies that don't cover TJ surgery. So they might have had insurance but it might not have covered that injury. We just have not heard from the Astros if it was insured.
They used the revenues they generated from all their success - increased attendance, playoff revenues, etc. And their payroll massively ballooned from $125MM to $200MM+. You'll notice that all of that revenue is no longer available. They also had no fans this past year and its unclear how many fans they will have this year - where is your accounting for that? And no one has any idea whether JV's contract is insured - you literally just made that up.
Where did you hear they expected Leon to be ready that early? It would be pretty shocking (but awesome) if he were ready anytime before mid-2022.
I'm not talking about who I heard it from. I've already proven that on this forum before. Your time table is probably more correct now that the signing period was delayed and he couldn't play in the minors last season. That's why I said I think they will sign a cheap veteran for a year. Leon can flat out rake. The last year he played in the cuban league at age 20 these were his numbers.... .383 BA, .467 OBP, 1.258 OPS, 15 HRs, 36 RBIs, 7 SB.... in 33 games That is the same league Yuli played in and the 15 HRs was a record for the 1st phase
Others on the MB came up with this idea. You know why, most of these massive contracts in all sports are insured. Crane would be crazy not to insure the big money contracts. Crane doesn't appear to be crazy to me.
Honestly, I don't think it matters. Their current estimated luxury tax payroll sits at 173-175 million including the arbitration estimates for Correa, McCullers, and Diaz. They probably won't spend more than 30 million so they leave a little room to make moves at the deadline and remain under the luxury tax level. I think they spend that much whether Verlander's contract is insured or not.
He ain't getting over 150. Springer just hates being associated with the Astros. I bet we're offering 100 mill plus.
What do you mean by “seems more skeptical?” I just don’t see Crane giving any other GM the leeway he gave Luhnow... based on what that leeway ended up leading to in regards to the culture/shenanigans/eventual scandal. and Crane has always taken the lead in extension negotiations... it’s his money.
Yes the Astros throughout their upper organization are very high on Leon and believe he has star upside. They really want to work on his body and some of his mechanics in the box. One thing to keep in mind about the Cuban league, it isn’t nearly as deep or as good as a handful of years ago because of so much talent being drained. I personally believe that Leon isn’t talked about more because he is small.
As in he said, he doubted the team would be able to perform well in the playoffs after the poor season despite players assuring him not to worry. Not sure how else to take that, but as skeptical.
He admitted he was "skeptical". Edit: The playoffs are a very small sample. A few playoff games should not affect his opinion one way or the other too much.
Ok... but you're talking about him possibly worrying more about the future than the current based on skepticism about this team's ability to perform in the playoffs that he was ultimately wrong about last year, but it doesn't matter because its such a small sample size thus nobody can ever be truly right or wrong about it... That's a mouthful. Regardless of all of that, it will take a few years, a few drafts, a few off-seasons before we can see any sort of "Click" effect take over. Right now, this team's core is pretty much set for the lineup and the rotation... just need to supplement some key additions based on whatever happens with Springer/Brantley, attempt to retain or extend some potential future free agents, or come up with suitable plan b's should they not be able to retain anybody.
How much do you think it costs to insure a 37 yr old pitcher with previous injury history on a $60MM contract? Hint: it's going to be prohibitively expensive (likely north of $10MM). If Verlander wasn't hurt, would you have considered that cost as part of the Astros payroll/expenses? Or do we just pretend the insurance is free? It's easy to say "of course he'd be insured" but there's no evidence of that. And in the big picture, insurance is a losing proposition by definition (since the insurer has to make money). If you're going to insure every big money contract, you're likely losing out as a result - you only likely very selectively would insure certain contracts, and if you're insuring the riskiest ones, you're going to be paying a hefty premium. There's a very good chance his contract is not insured since it was so short term.
