Getting Correa and Graveman back would be a great offseason. Correa and Verlander may price them out of Graveman though.
I don’t think we’re going to resign Graveman. We have starters that can be part of the bullpen as of now. I preferred to use that money (plus CC money) to get a big bat or 2. I would love to have Graveman back but I don’t think adding a bullpen arm is an urgency at right now. There’s always the trade deadline to add a reliever. I still think we could/should add another TOR SP via trade.
Totally (?) unrealistic dream off-season (if CC walks) After re-signing JV we turn our attention to the bats. Sign Story to a 5 yr/$135 million deal Sign Marte to a 3 yr/$60 million deal Address the bullpen via small signings and internal options. Lineup would be Altuve, Brantley, Bregman, Yordan, Marte, Tucker, Story, Gurriel and Machete. Insane. Rotation would be JV, LMJ, Framber, Garcia and Urquidy.
Can't have both Story and Marte after the JV signing. Rather have Marte on the 3 yr deal vs Story for 5 years. We have Pena ready to go. I think McHugh comes back if we offer him a fair mkt value deal.
I see 3 signings left. Payroll resource projects Astros 2022 payroll with arbitration projections at $162 million. Crane was prepared for the 2020 Astros payroll too reach 200 million before Covid took effect. By all his reports, Astros can have a $200 million payroll this season. That leaves 38 million… CF/SS/Reserve Infielder Correa is gone. Pena likely starts. Starling Marte and Chris Taylor are two my favorite bats on the FA Market under 75 mil. Taylor can play SS/CF/2B/1B/LF so he provides the most versatility and has won LCS MVP. Good options in CF via trade rumors as well. I wouldn’t rule out adding a 15-20 mil a year bat on a 3-4 year deal. Having no current guaranteed deals on the books by the time Alvarez & Tucker reach free agency is ideal. I’d go 3/27 mil for Graveman (9 mil AAV) find a LH power arm in the pen. 1-2 yr/4-5 mil Unloading Odorizzi would offset the cost of bringing back Graveman and adding a lefty to the pen. 1. Maldonado 2. Gurriel 3. Altuve 4. Bregman 5. Pena 6. Brantley 7. * FA/Trade CF (S. Marte, C. Taylor, K.Marte, etc) 8. Tucker 9. Alvarez 10. Castro 11. Diaz 12. & 13. Between McCormick, Meyers, Siri, Leon, K. Lee or Stubbs 1. Verlander 2. McCullers 3. Valdez 4. Garcia 5. Urquidy 6. Pressly 7. *Graveman 8. Stanek 9. Maton 10. P. Baez 11. *LH Power Arm 12. Javier 13. Odorizzi or the slew of prospect options Tigers max out on Correa and garbage Yankees max on Seager, and a bunch of garbage. Angels max out one of Scherzer/Kershaw/Rodon Giants max out on Gausman, Bryant, etc Braves max out on Freeman and Scherzer/Kershaw, etc Someone pays Robbie Ray a lot of money Mariners max on Story and a bunch of garbage Dodgers can’t do anything. Lol. 20% of their payroll is facing felonies. Rays probably trade Glasnow. Padres file bankruptcy.
Love getting JV back, but with us only eligible for 1 comp pick, please, no QO signings. Not worth giving up the 2nd rounder for anyone we can get. Still would like to look for one more ace and a power bat. Will post more tomorrow.
Totally agree. This was purely a dream unrealistic scenario. I would rather have Marte at that price as well.
I think we may be much more likely to bring back Graveman and add another big RP if we leave CF within the hands of the guys already on the team. My best guess at SS is that we add someone reasonably priced and have Diaz and the new guy compete for the starting job. This would also mean the newly acquired guy would have to be a super util. I think Pena would likely be called up at the first injury of Diaz or the newly acquired, and could take the role permanently from there.
Sign Kris Bryant and call it quits. He gives us all kinds of flexibility over the course of the next few years. He can immediately start in RF and move Tucker to center. When Brantley moves on he can move to left, Tucker back to right, and Leon, McCormick, Siri, or Myers takes over center. Bryant also gives you insurance at 3B in case Bregman keeps getting hurt. Pena will give you very good defense at SS at worst. If he can hit major league pitching the you will have a better lineup than last year. Signing Verlander makes the bullpen less of a concern as you could train Odorizzi from the start of the season to become a long reliever. Verlander, McCullers, Valdez, Garcia, Javier or Urquidy with the other going to the bullpen. What a lineup: Altuve Brantley Bregman Alvarez Bryant Tucker Yuri Pena/Diaz Maldonado or later on maybe Lee?
With Verlander in the fold and $25M less in payroll flexibility, Houston still has resources to make 3 significant moves (2 trades, 1 free agent signing). Their primary need is a bat to replace Correa’s offense. Their secondary need is another pitcher, either to add another frontline starter, or to deepen the back end of their bullpen. Luxury needs would be a 13th position player and another pitcher. Locks (17): C Maldonado IF Gurriel, Altuve, Bregman, Diaz OF Tucker, Brantley, Alvarez, McCormick SP Verlander, McCullers, Valdez, Garcia RP Pressly, Baez, Maton, Stanek Locks if not traded (4): C Castro P Odorizzi, Urquidy, Javier Other internal options: C Stubbs, Papierski, Diaz IF Pena, Jones, Leon, Nova, Perez OF Siri, McKenna P James, Montero, Taylor, Abreu, Bielak, Solomon, Paredes, Martinez, Whitley, Dubin, Ivey, Emanuel, Scrubb, Solis, Bermudez, Record, Blanco, Taveras, France, Macuare, Conine, Torres, Rivera My current best guess would be signing an OF (Marte, Taylor, Pham, Canha), a RP (too many options but McHugh seems to make a lot of sense), and a fringey SS (Simmons, Iglesias, Villar, Galvis), then continuing to look for impact trades for pitching (A’s, Reds, Marlins).
Same! Love the energy he possesses, he’ll fit RIGHT in with this team. Very tough guy too. Still think we look to add one more starter, and Bassitt, because he only has one year left, shouldn’t cost as much as Alcantara, Bieber, etc.
Bassitt shouldn’t be all that expensive as a rental without a long track record as a top end starter. He is coming off of a career year where he was worth 3.3 fwar, so I would imagine 2 2nd tier pitching prospects could get that done, something like Abreu and Dubin. That would then free up Urquidy to be traded for an elite RP (Hader) or CF (Buxton)
My ideal offseason if Correa left was Bryant, Marte and Semien in, JV, Correa, Greinke, Odo, Brantley out. With JV back that means no chance at all 3 anymore just 2. Bryant- 7/175 Marte- 3/75. That's $50,000,000 in Salary in. $8 million savings on JV, 24 for Greinke. 12 for Correa. Ship Odo out of 8 million and there is your $52 million. Really, I want Brantley out if those 2 guys come in and sign Turner. That's probably equal money Here is your Roster: Marte, Tucker, Altuve, Yordon, Bryant, Bregman, Yuli, Turner, Catcher. That lineup ****s. Bench- Diaz, Castro, Meyers, Chazzy Fizz (13) JV, LMJ, Framber, Urquidy, Garcia, Javier, Presley, Stanek, Maton, Taylor, Baez, Bielak, Josh James (Brown and Whitley half way through the season if all goes right- if it doesn't get 2 arms at the deadline). That team is under the tax line and wins 100-110 games depending upon how the season goes. Bryant takes over at 1b for Yuli in 2023 and Meyers and Chaz go back to the platoon. If you really want to get Froggy trade Chaz, Siri, and Whitley or Brown or something like that for Bassitt.
