Absolutely. Also, going from Bagwell to Berkman to I think Brett Wallace was really sobering, realizing homegrown HOF/AS 1st basemen don’t just grow on trees. I agree though, seeing the internal progression and individual success players can have in baseball is a lot more rewarding (and important) than other major sports…Seems that’s low key where Luhnow and now Click have really excelled. Hopefully the latter can keep going it. Being able to produce homegrown stars, and above average players, is how this league is won. Luhnow lucked out a bit with Altuve, Springer, and some other big pieces but our ability to grow and develop talent has been astronomical (yes I went there). Half the league has Astro-produced or polished former players on their rosters, hell most organizations have copy-catted our approach.
Luhnow left this team in a position to be contenders for atleast another 5-6 yrs if Click can just add a little talent to the roster and not screwup what was left him.
Click bashers, how about credit for Montero? Real arm talent, dealing thus far in fairly high leverage.
Not sure about 5-6, but provided someone like Click is GM that doesn't try to re-work a great team to the fans dismay, I'd say 3-4.
Jeremy Pena is 8th in MLB in fWAR (1.0) and 10th in MLB in bWAR (1.1). This is an absurd (and yes, obviously unsustainable) 11 WAR pace, which does not happen to be normal for 24 year old rookie shortstops.
Montero has somehow elevated his fastball to be the best heater in baseball so far with the lowest xwOBA and a 23% SwStr%. Not sure what he changed as the pitch looks similar to the four seam he used last season. Tendering him based on his past performance seemed questionable so they must have had something planned for him.
Of course he won’t keep this pace. But his projections have already increased; he now projects to finish with between 2.6 and 3.8 war. So even just going by projections that have already been underrating Pena, he is a borderline star. Totally plausible at this point that he is a 3-4 win player which is amazing and single-handedly could extend the Astros’ window. He also looks very likely to finish in the top 3 for ROY if he stays healthy, which will net Houston a draft pick.
With guys like Pena, Lee, McCormick, Meyers and Leon in the system there's plenty of talent to extend the timeline. Click just has to be smart about the moves he makes or doesn't make in the future. What really needs to happen is one of the young pitchers in the minors develops into an ace.
Whooo hooo Let's throw a party. He found a good reliever on the cheap. I guess this means he won't be selling off the farm in trades to fix the bullpen this yr, only to let them walk next off-season. I guess you can call that an improvement that Click's made. But hey, from what I've read Click's a really nice guy and that's what matters most.
He is someone that they specifically wanted (Miller/Murphy/Putila) and targeted. I am no expert, but I have learned that the Astros player development and scouting department know what they are doing. The Astros have arguably been the best in the world at evaluating players and identifying players that can greatly improve with changes and getting them to perform at the big leagues. That all goes back to the decision made by Luhnow to move on from McCracken and some of the more traditional scouts the Astros had.
While I have a lot of faith in Bregman, Altuve, Tucker, Alvarez, and many others, if the Astros are still the AL West favorite is 5 years, Click will very likely be a good GM. There is time for Click to work on those years, but he still hasn't made a 1st round draft pick. I may be in the minority here, but I agree in general that the Astros farm system is thin. Luckily it is thin because a bunch of players graduated and became MLB players. Unluckily, the majority of the top prospects in the Astros system are still guys that have been there since Luhnow left.
The walk off just earned him a day off! I'm kidding but I bet Dusty is thinking about it while listening to "Get in where you fit in". So far he is leading all AL rookies in slugging (.540) and OPS(.873) tied for homeruns
It is way too early to judge Click’s drafting ability. So far his 2020 draft appears to be underwhelming as Santos, Brown, and Daniels all are off to poor starts, but Whitcomb looks like he will outperform his draft slot, and a couple UDFA’s from that year (Endersby especially) look like potential finds. It’ll be at least 2 more years before we can really draw any conclusions on Click as a draft GM.
