It would be unusual for six pitchers to remain healthy and effective for 20 games. While I hope this is a choice that will be required, my suspicion is that the situation will resolve itself before we get there.
Let me ask you this, what good move has Click made besides re-signing guys Luhnow has brought in? I'm all for re-signing Luhnow's guys and adding to them. I dont consider Baez/Castro to be meaningful championship type moves.
Bro, what is your bar for GM success? Click inherited a mature team with few holes, questionably on the downslope of their competitive window. The budget's been pretty much maxed and the farm system is nearly maxed as well (in terms of tradable assets). The team is absolutely in playoff contention and i bet other teams are scared at the prospect of running into the Astros in the first round. He handled the Framber injury in the best possible way, securing the top starter left on the market. Straw for all his **** is on pace for a 2.0-2.5 WAR season. (that WAR projection by the way was my best hope for him). Castro has met or exceeded his contract. Baez, well no one can bank on injuries; he may be the late season reliever addition we need anyway. What exactly do you think he should or should not be doing?
Click didnt even draft ANYBODY in the first round last year! Luhnow drafted Correa, McCullers, Bregman, and Tucker! Click is obviously a HORRIBLE GM!
Castro in incredibly limited time has already produced more than his entire salary for this year whether or not you consider his acquisition a championship type move. If Maldy gets hurt, it could be. Baez and Odorizzi have been hurt, but I was meh (neither good or bad on both, but probably higher on Baez than most and lower on Odorizzi than most) when signed. Stanek looked great until he was overused and then has had trouble with his release point. Not sure if Stanek was a good signing or not based on Dusty's use of him, but he was cheap. All those signings were relatively cheap and really didn't move the needle. I think Leon has a chance to be a game changer, but deal was small enough that even if he's a bust it isn't a big deal. Why does production by Gurriel and Brantley get reduced in your eyes? They ceased being Luhnow guys in 2020. Click recognized they were good, and got them to sign deals. You say expected, but that is the same as saying Click made a good move whether or not you will admit Click has ever done anything right. I did not expect Click to sign Brantley. I expected him to get a CF and a LF with more club control even though I was very glad he kept Brantley. The best thing Click has done so far has been to recognize the talent Luhnow had in place, and not f#$% it up. You want the Astros to make trades, but so far Click's insistence to stay the course has given the Astros time to learn that Valdez, Javier, Garcia, and Urquidy are pretty damn good pitchers. Because Click hasn't made any big moves that could hamper the future, the Astros are in an incredible position for the 2021 postseason and the offseason that follows. The Astros look to be one good move to maintaining a great team through 2024 provided they don't make any big bad moves. I expect Click to make a trade or two at the deadline, but the injuries and keeping guys like Garcia have really hampered his ability to make a splash. Edit: It is hard to be a good GM on free agency and trades without having drafted and developed players well. I don't mean to come off as pro-Click as I probably do, but I am happy with Brantley, Gurriel, and Castro. On whether Click is a good GM or not, it is going to take a long time to figure that out.
This. Click's had basically 1.5 offseasons and roughly 3/4s of a full season of baseball. He's got a lot of time to show his GM skills (for better or worse). I do remember a certain GM led the Astros to three straight 100 loss seasons.
I don’t like how high his voice is. Jeff’s was upper register too , but he could drop it an octave if he needed to speak Spanish
It's tough to evaluate Click so early in his tenure. He hasn't done a ton, but... there wasn't really much to do? It seems weird to criticize him for not making a huge splash when he inherited a top 4 team. I like most of his signings and am hopeful he can add a few pieces at the deadline.
Here’s the context to Click’s tenure thus far: Free agent signings: inherited a team that was already good and payroll was nearly maxed out. Draft picks: has overseen just one draft, one in which his team didn’t have a first or a 2nd round pick and the entire draft was shortened to 5 rounds. International signings: has overseen just one signing period, one where all the deals were almost certainly made before he became GM. Trades: has been GM for one trade deadline and one offseason, both of which his team had very few holes, very few trade chips/prospects, and very little financial flexibility. W/L: has been GM for one season, one in which the world was thrust into a global pandemic that pushed society into near chaos, and the baseball season was unlike any in history. Only 60 games were played. The Astros came within one game of the World Series.
They dont have to be on the downslope. I would've spent the money that was spent on Castro, Baez elsewhere and said as much at the time. The money would've been spent on a better reliever than Baez. He's had a drop in velocity the two prior years and shockingly now is injured. I predict he wont throw a pitch for the Stros this yr and Click paid him seven mil when there was a cheaper market for better pitchers. You know my thoughts about Castro, I wouldn't have signed him to begin with, much less for the money Click gave him and two years to boot. With that money I could've gotten an everyday regular CF. I'm just glad to see Straw starting to come around. Hopefully this continues and Straw performs well in the postseason.
Good post, Click hasn't screwed up what Luhnow built. He also hasn't added anything to what Luhnow built. Bottom line is, after seeing Click work the last two years I dont see him making the kinds of moves that will keep the Stros as contenders through 2024. He's already taken a multiple 100 win team and finished below .500 last year and will be doing well to finish with 95 wins this year. Best thing that could happen to keep the window open through 2024 is for Leon to become a Correa/Tucker/Bregs type star. I dont see Click being a wheeler dealer in trades or FA like Luhnow was and you have to be ruthless if you want to keep upwith the big boys. I see Click as Poops compared to Hunsicker..
LMFAO you would have taken the Castro money and signed an everyday CF? Tell me which everyday caliber free agent CF you could have talked into $7M/2yr guaranteed.
I've kept it in the General Astros discussion thread, which is exactly what it is. BTW, I dont hate Click, I think he's young and still learning on the job. Hopefully he can learn to become as ruthless and good at his job as Luhnow was. Click's biggest mistake so far isn't an on field thing. It was letting Goldstein go. IMHO That decision will have ramifications for years to come.
