Interesting article on Scherzer to the Astros - YES PLEASE!

If he pitches in the playoffs and looks good, something like $50M/2yrs with a 3rd year vesting option might be in play. Otherwise (and more likely), I think he will be looking at something close to the QO with a possible 2nd year vesting and/or incentives. Verlander is old and carries a LOT of risk until teams see him throw.

 

Also- yeah- the Astros should be all in on Sherzer provided it’s just money. Stressing for him fixes the 2 biggest problems they have- lack of an ace and problems in the bullpen. I’d much rather get a quality starter than a refined pitcher. You need 8 arms you can trust in the playoffs.
Power ranked I’d have them:
Scherzer, Framber, LMJ, Greinke, Presley, Garcia, Urquidy, Odo, Javier.
if you went:
Scherzer/Javier
Framber/Urquidy
LMJ/Garcia
Greinke/Odo
With Presley available to close you wouldn’t need anyone else in the bullpen in a game you planned on winning. I’d expect 6 or 7 out of Scherzer thus the pairing of Javier as the weakest of the other strayers you’d be converting to non starters. I’d fully expect the other combinations not to need any other relievers. If you do Thats probably because **** went pear shaped and it’s just not a game you are going to win anyway.
I’d trade for Nelson Cruz if they are giving him away and have him DH and go Alvarez/Tucker/Brantley in the OF when Framber starts. On non-Framber days he would be my PH for Maldonado or Straw any game I was trailing in the 5th or 6th inning if the spot mattered.
Chazz michael Michales would be my defensive replacement/PH in the same scenarios for Straw/Maldy. I’d have 3 catchers so I could liberally PH for him in a close game. 11 relievers. So, something like this for the playoffs:

Greinke/Max/LMJ/Framber/Garcia/Urquidy/Odo/Javier/Presley/Stanek/Báez
Maldy/Yuli/Altuve/correa/Bregman
Yordon/Brantley/tucker/Straw

Cruz/Diaz/Michaels/Castro/Stubbs/Toro.

That bench could insure that you never had Straw, Maldonado or Castro ever take an AB 6th inning or later in a game you were trailing.

Scherzer should only cost money- Cruz should only cost a coupe of lotto tickets and money. Cruz coming over could mean we can keep resting guys and having big bats in the lineup even when guys take off days (and always be a full off day instead of a half off day.

That literally solves all of our problems with 2 acquisitions that should do nothing g to harm our long term future.

 

Maybe. But if I’m them I’d do it. He’s a ducking legend there. As you said I think he’s ready mentally to go another 5 years, they aren’t spending dick as far as money goes for the foreseeable future. He gives them big time credibility. Most people don’t think of Detroit as big FA destination. That coming off 70 wins this year would compete for a wild card in 22 and a division title in 23 if JV is good.
I’d also look at signing correa if I was them. I’d offer him 12 or 13 for 330 million.

one thing to note- I was talking to a guy who played Power 5 baseball in the big 12 and the SEC and was in the tigers organization. He had good things to say about almost everyone (and played on a travel squad with Bregman and loved him). He said the only guy in baseball he ever thought was a dick and big leagues him was JV- so maybe he wouldn’t be all that great as sage veteran to show guys the ropes. he also thought it was absurd what was being said about the Astros. “People are stupid. Of course they were cheating. Everybody cheats. No big deal.”
he had no connection or affinity for the Astros. Never played in their org and grew up a Rangers fan.
fun conversation talking about 6 or 7 hours over the course of 2 or 3 days. Good dude.

 

My contact who told me this is believeable.. he's played golf with phil garner many times in addition to other older ballplayers and coaches...

 

This has been posted in a few media reports including some Detroit centric sites that the reason there are has been little detail about his contract was because of this unusual option. I think everyone wants Hinch back and they are just looking for a good time for it to happen without a lot of backlash. I'm guessing if we make it to the world series, Baker can retire afterwards and we can get Hinch.

 

Defense matters. Tucker in center would suck

 

Not everybody wants Hinch back.

I certainly dont want back the man who choked away the 2019 WS.

 

Washington has won 3 in a row and is just 5.5 games out of first place. The A's were 5.5 back recently and we aren't counting them out yet. We all know the story how of the Nationals rebounded from a bad start in the 2019 season to win the last game played that year. Root for Washington to suck these last 10 days if you want this to have any chance.

 

2 losses in a row for the Nationals, 7 games out of 1st place. Scherzer trade stock rising.

 

It

A Scherzer trade, like all trades, comes down to how much you value anticipated coasts and benefits. We didn't absorb all of Verlander's contract. We didn't absorb all of Cole's contract. We didn't absorb all of Greinke's contract. Why? because of these valuations.

The one thing you can't do is ignore the costs because of the go it at ALL COST fan mentality. They would roll the dice on the present and shut the door on the future for a decade.

One thing I just watched was a fan type speculation that he would only approve a trade with an extension in place. OK. But they then followed up with, "that would make him very expensive in terms of prospects." This is wrong. You don't pay both Scherzer (in Dollars) AND Washington (players) for the extension which does not exist. You pay for it ONCE to either one or SPLIT it between them. Right now, Washington has deferred a lot of money to the future. Right now, it will be their obligation. If they expect to dump that, it is a point of negotiation, not a starting point.

 

Perhaps I read your post wrong, but are you saying if the Astros trade for Scherzer, it would shut the door on their future for at least 10 years?

Glad they didn't have that mindset regarding Verlander.

 

I think he's saying if the Astros traded for Scherzer using top tier prospects and paid him his salary + deferred money owed (about $115 million total) for 2 months + a playoffs, it probably wrecks the Astros for a long time. I mean, we wouldn't pay Gerrit Cole $300MM for 9 years with no prospect loss, so it seems pretty insane to give up prospects and pay $115MM for half a year. And FWIW, the Astros didn't pay lots of money and prospects for either Verlander or Greinke. In both cases, they made the other team eat a lot of salary to justify the prospects, and even then, the prospects were not their top tier ones. He's right about that part.

That said, I don't imagine there's any scenario where any trade partner would be on the hook for deferred salary since that's literally money that was being paid for past years' performance.

 

I apologize that my posts are often missing words or letters. My keyboard is messing up the last few weeks and I try to fill in the skips before posting, but sometimes what I see on my screen isn't what eventually gets posted.

 

Lol…

but I enjoy reading what my fellow fans feel inside. I’ve been there before!!!

I’m heck of a glad they haven’t listened to any of my off the wall all-in-deals too hahah….

 

Maybe Max Sherzer doesnt want to play here? He holds full 10 and 5 rights.

Seems like the Dodgers have ramped up the stakes for him.

 

Everyone wants Sherzer. Can the Astros outbid the Yankees, Dodgers, Giants, Rays, or who ever else wants him?

 

He's only going to a contender since he can sign anywhere in the off season. Dodgers or Stros are my guess. With the Stros, he has a chance of resigning since we've never been shy about spending money for short term contracts.