Carlos Correa to the Twins - 3 Years, $105 Million

https://theathletic.com/3208391/202...perstar-potential/?source=user_shared_article

 

Really hoping Crane is pocketing the money to spend it during the trade deadline. Maybe he wants time to gauge the weaknesses of the team. At the same time I am hoping Click is pushing for required changes instead of following Cranes lead

 

Crane has always spent and stated that winning is first priority. He has never given me reason to doubt that.

IF, and it's a big if, Jeremy really is what they portray in that article then the team should end up even better than if Carlos had signed.

Imagine getting all star level play at shortstop for minimum salary and using $30+ million to strengthen the team at the deadline.

 

Well-timed hype piece in the aftermath of correas departure. Which is fine, because I am hoping Peña is rookie of the year. The average fan will read that and say, ahhh, I see why they let Correa go, and perhaps be satisfied.

We should be (1) hopeful that Peña is successful, and (2) still demand that the 30MM be spent to help this team win a title this year. If crane does that, I have zero problem with not matching the Minny deal. If he doesn’t, it’s inexcusable. I don’t see how that can be disputed.

(And that’s all setting aside the fact that Correa is an icon and should eventually have a statue outside of MMP with Altuve (and maybe Bregs and Yuli as the most elite IF ever assembled).

 

What if they don't spend the $30 million and still get to the World Series? Is it still inexcusable?

 

What makes you think spending to the new luxury tax level was ever in the cards for this season? The only time the Astros spent to that level was the 2020 season after they made the World Series in 2019 and had almost 800k more in attendance than they did in 2021.

 

I don't care how much money Jim Crane spends.

I care about the team winning and having players that I like and can root for.

Unfortunately MLB is a sport where you can't keep the same players indefinitely and continue to win.

It's simply not feasible to continue paying increased salaries to multiple star players year after year. Sometimes they get older and less productive, and sometimes they need/want to be too much of the total budget. Sometimes the team simply does not have enough talent to win and can't justify the expense and needs the flexibility to reset and start over.

I get this.

See Bob Watson, Glenn Davis, Lance Berkman, Roy Oswalt and many many more.

In this case the team made a choice that Pena at minimum salary and the benefits that brings is better than Correa at $32+ million and the limits that brings.

I also note that in 2019 a 93 win Nationals team beat them in the WS. In 2021 a 88 win Braves team beat them in the WS.

It's not about winning 100+ games. It's about getting into the playoffs and getting hot at the right time.

Relying on fewer higher paid players limits that chance.

As great as Carlos has been in the playoffs It's tough to win without depth and healthy depth at that.

Here's hoping the team now adds young veteran talent and/or resigns/extends some of our other guys.

 

This. Until the Astros don’t get favorable results I find it really hard to come down on Crane or Click, regardless of how much money they do or don’t spend. As long as they make the playoffs every year and make it to the CS or WS every 4-5 seasons they are doing it right imho.

 

Yeah, for fans to be "demanding" of anything at this point is kind of ridiculous considering the unprecedented string of success this team has experienced. Are people really still insisting they know better than the Astros management what's the best thing? I get that not matching Correa's Twins offer feels silly and I personally don't understand it myself, but I'm not going to rail against the team's management when they're still in the midst of a run the likes of which this city has never really seen.

 

i will celebrate the result but not the process. I’m only being this hard on Crane because this group is the best team in the history of Houston sports. Yes, even better than the championship rockets teams, which I love dearly, but I believe this run by the Astros and the talent on this team is more elite than the talent on those rockets teams.

We do not get this historic level of talent together often, and bringing back Correa gives this group the best chance to win another title and to tell the naysayers to STFU. That’s why I feel so strongly about it.

I fully recognize that in baseball, you don’t have to be the best team to win it all. You have to make the playoffs, I get that. But I want another title with this group badly, and I thought Crane did too.

 

maybe it wasn’t. Based on our decision not to match the Minny deal, it appears to me Crane isn’t willing to spend to that level. I hope I’m wrong.

 

in another context, I agree with you. Had we won a second title, I would agree with you. But we are talking about legacy, greatness, history and statues outside of MMP. There is so much at stake for whatever remains of Altuve’s and Bregmans’s primes. The next 2-3 years are everything, and we could have reloaded with Correa for 1 of those very precious years.

I get it, Tucker and Yordan are fantastic. I would argue that Tucker is the best player on the team right now. But the Altuve, Correa, Bregman and Yuli infield deserved to get the chance to extend their all time greatness, especially especially when we are talking about the Minny short term deal, and not even the 5 year deal we were offering, Nevermind some notion of a 10 year deal.

 

2 more points

1) didn't ownership give them the "chance to extend their all time greatness" in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021?

The team:
brought in Brantley, Grienke, Pressly, and others.

Extended Altuve, Bregman, Verlander, Yuli, McCullers, and others

Developed Tucker, Alvarez, Framber, Urquidy, Luis Garcia now Pena and others.

All after 2017

2) what makes us as fans think we know better than the professionals what decisions will be best for the team?

 

I for one don't want to see Altuve, Bregman, Tucker, Alvarez and who knows who else playing for other teams against the Astros in 2025 2026 2027 etc. Because the team had to pay Correa.

It's the name on the front of the jersey not the back.

 

I disagree that the next 2-3 years are everything. I expect Houston to field a team in 2025 and I think they have a chance to be pretty dang good.

 

1. Yes they did. And those were the signature moves that put Crane at the highest level of ownership in baseball and pro sports. No exaggeration and no doubt about that.

2. I am not stating as fact that my opinion is “better”. It’s an opinion. I think it’s an informed opinion and a good one. But yeah, it’s just my opinion. For the record, this doesn’t mean I think Crane and Click are crap now, because I don’t. I still view them very favorably. I agreed with the decision on springer, the decision on verlander, gave and give them benefit of the doubt on Baez, Neris, whatever. But as to the decision on not matching the Minny deal, I’m extremely disappointed and disagree strongly, even in the context of my baseline to give them the benefit of the doubt because they have earned that and more.

 

perhaps I chose my words poorly saying the next 2-3 years are “everything”, because it’s not like I want us to mortgage our future. And that’s the key point in this, matching the Minny offer did not mortgage our future. it was short term. It would not have required us to lose Tucker or Yordan, or forfeit our ability to keep them.

 

The team matching Correa's deal with the Twins is not going to break up the team. Come on, now.

 

Don't count on it.

 

I can understand and respect that reasoning. I wanted Correa back too. And the fact that it didn't take 8+ years hurt.

But now he's gone and we are hearing all these great things about Pena and how much confidence the team has in him.

It may he just PR spin to shut guys like me ( us ) but as a fan I am hoping he is as advertised.

And I need to realize that maybe I don't know better than those guys