This makes sense. I thought it was odd that they would have this money available after letting their starting SS walk on a 1 year $18 million.
They know their window is now because in a couple seasons Chapman, Olson, Bassitt, and Manaea will be gone via trade and/or free agency.
I think Luhnow might have traded for Raisel Iglesias and signed Alex Avila. Their combined luxury tax AAV is less than Baez and Castro. Luhnow had shown interest in Iglesias before.
McCullers looking like Hercules? Bregman too from what I have seen. Hopefully our beloved Astros have not found another way to...
Things I'm not looking forward: 1) Josh James pitching. I'm not sure if he will be good like in 2018 when he was throwing strikes, mixed results like 2019, or horrible like 2020. I do know that people will complain about every misdeed no matter major, minor, or even if he's just soft tossing in the pen. 2) Pedro Leon Meltdown/Hype Train after 100 plate appearances. I'm partly responsible for this whether he produces early or not. 3) Discussion of every FA Astros didn't get that performs well while crickets on the ones that suck. 4) Nervous frantic posts when some AL West Team is within 10 games of the Astros by the All-Star Break or outright panic if Astros are not in first. It will be like August 2017 all over again. 5) This board melting down if Straw starts in a slump. 6) Praying for good health. Things I'm interested in. 1) Catcher situation. Will MM continue to be a good hitter despite striking out a lot? Will Castro be able to find holes in defenders like Tucker did last year? 2) Rotation in general. Greinke...does he defy age one more year using even more old man skills? Framber..was 2020 just a fluke? Urquidy..can he match the command of 2019 with the stuff of 2020 to become more than just clutch in the playoffs? Javier...can he keep his arm strength up or even improve with getting properly stretched out in Spring? LMJ...will the curve be back full time instead of amazing for 2-3 games, off for 2-3 games? Will LMJ throw his cutter more? Can he get the curve, cutter, and change-up all working for an extended period of time? 3) Bregman, Altuve, and Alvarez bounce back. 4) Several of the minor league pitchers (Conine, Dubin, Solis, Solomon, Ivey) on whether they can show their stuff can still get out upper level hitters giving them a shot at the majors or as trade bait at the deadline, Whitley on whether he can be healthy and help the team, Garcia if he can remain a starter and help the team, and Abreu that he can hit the broadside of a barn. 5) Can Tucker play well like he has in 2019 and 2020?
There is just so much range of outcomes for this years team. Stars who played poorly in 2020 which lowers their floor, aging players who age can destroy at any moment, young guys with short track records, guys with injury history...that’s basically everybody on the roster except Bregman. Range of fWAR imho for each player: Maldonado 0-2 Castro 0-2 Gurriel 0-3.5 Altuve 1.5-7 Correa 2.5-8 Bregman 3.5-8 Diaz 0-1.5 Toro 0-1.5 Tucker 1.5-5.5 Straw 0.5-2.5 Brantley 1.5-4 Alvarez 2-5 Souza 0-2.5 Greinke 1.5-5.5 Valdez 0-5.5 McCullers 1.5-3.5 Urquidy 0.5-3.5 Javier 1-4.5
I'm curious. Were you actually aware of the trade the Angels made in December to land Raisel Iglesias before you made that post? The Angels sent Noe Ramirez and Leo Rivera to the Reds for Raisel Iglesias and 900k. Ramirez is a 31 year old reliever with a career 4.18 ERA and 1.246 WHIP. He was good last year but I doubt his trade value is anything close to prohibitive. Leo Rivera was the Angels 25th best prospect and an infielder. If losing that level of talent would have "decimated" our farm system I have bad news for you... it was already decimated. Reports suggested that the return was very weak and shown that it was just a salary dump for the reds. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/12/reds-trade-raisel-iglesias-angels.html
My guess is that Verlander will be put on the 60 day DL to make room for Cishek and Rodriguez will be DFA to make room for Souza. That assumes nobody else gets injured badly enough to warrant 60 day DL placement and that Emanuel/Martes will remain suspended and don't count against the 40 man.
It should be very quick to tell. If he strikes out 50% of the time in spring like last season, he probably doesn't. If he strikes out in the high 20s or low 30s, he probably makes the team. Tucker and Brantley, while not having huge split differences, are both LHBs which should give Souza a better shot than normal.
I think Souza's defense will be the determining factor in if he makes the team. If he looks capable in CF, I think he makes the roster even if he doesn't hit this spring. I think Click had a relationship with him and wouldn't have signed him if he didn't really want him to make the team, but there's no place for him if he can't handle CF.
