I’m not sure about Verlander, we already have a competent 6 man rotation without him, and that money should be thrown at resigning Tucker and Javier IMO.
This is where I'm at as well. We have to look forward, and Verlander is likely going to atrophy from this point on... the question is how fast. Given our starting pitching strength and needs elsewhere, we have to be smart about how we allocate resources. Locking up the young core is vital. Preserving financial flexibility is also very important, and allowing Verlander to move on contributes heavily towards that goal.
I’m pretty much with you. Click’s lack of moves/moves really haven’t hurt the team in any way… and standing pat has kept them in contention whether that was his true intention or not. I feel the referendum on all the TB guys is very similar (Bloom, Click), other than Friedman who got this whole ball rolling. Maybe they were better working as a team instead of being the man in charge? Maybe they’ll grow into the job but it takes 5-10 years vs. 3 years. If a move is made, I don’t see it as a doom/gloom, Crane is becoming Jerry Jones-type issue. It will be at worst a lateral move… with potential upside for having a guy who can replenish the farm but also acquire the targets needed.
Im not convinced JV is going to go full on money hunting. He likes it here, he knows the astros are his best chance to get another ring, and he and Crane have a strong relationship. I wont be shocked if we gives up a little money to stay here but im sure he will still ink a multiyear deal. If he walks then it will sting but we have the depth to recover from his loss, just hope we are aggressive with the money to make moves whether internally with extensions or to bring in a big bat.
Barry Switzer coached a SB winning team for the Cowboys. George Seifert won a SB for the 49ers. The 1994 Rockets were built by Steve Patterson, not whoever was the defacto GM that attempted the Sean Elliot trade. They didn’t screw it up… but they also didn’t build those teams. But I’m fine if they retained Click and let his process eventually leave a stamp on this team… may take some time though and not sure he wants to work on a year to year deal (but I also get the impression that he doesn’t have another job lined up).
Dusty has won me over. He had a lot of bonehead decisions during the regular season, but they all made sense in the post season. Rest/player management was more important than hot streaks He experimented with the line-up during the season to figure it out for the playoffs (Pena at 6, etc.) He played cold players over hot players to get everyone going (benching Diaz after a hot streak) He preferred Maldy over Vazquez even with his anemic bat because of the impact he has on the field (grooming him to take over as manager in the future?) Knew when to sit Mancini when he was struggling The only head scratcher was lack of use of Stanek, but I'm assuming there was behind the scenes issues we will never know about.
Dusty’s best regular season moves were him letting Montero work through his struggles in low leverage situations (when everybody had thought he’d maxed out his effectiveness). He really didn’t have to do much “managing” as this team was pretty free of injuries, head-cases, and the division mediocrity took care of itself. Resting guys comes from the FO/Trainers. And the pitchers decide on Maldy, not Dusty. The Stanek move in the post-season was likely a mandate from the front office, as Abreu had better overall peripherals to get those key outs. That worked great. All the front office recommendations for the post-season have worked great.
Stanek's WHIP and FIP was surpassed by Abreu, Neris, and Pressly -- great stuff that earned a shining ERA but 2-pitch pitcher with questionable control... I get why Dusty used him sparingly, but mixing things up would have averted flirting with the 3 appearance penalty that relievers face
Worst Dusty moves... 1) Phil Maton with 2nd most innings from the bullpen during the season, 2) Nico Goodrum/Mauricio Dubon in the top 3 slots of the order, 3) Overuse of Maldy... pitchers have their preferences, yes... but only the likes of Maddux, Clemens, Verlander have the leverage to get a personal catcher. The load management came from Dusty... that's his MO since he has been managing (source: Washington Post) and has made last minute changes -- remember benching Diaz because "he has been running the bases too much"?
How is that a bad thing? Ideally you want to use your non-post-season relievers as much as possible in the regular season to keep the important guys fresh.
Maton may have been more effective if wasn't overused as well. Looking back... Seth Martinez and Hunter Brown could have been deployed more in the leverage situations Maton was in. The Yanier Diaz being a permanent bench warmer was really puzzling especially when those ahead of him in the depth chart started to crater.
Maton didn’t have a real role. He could pitch high leverage…. Or he could pitch mop-up. He could be used more regularly…. Or he could go a week in between appearances. The Astros didn’t have to use much long relief this year. And Maton still didn’t pitch badly… he just was on a bullpen full of studs.
And who built this team????? Bregman, Pena, Yuli, Tuck, Yordan, Framber, JV, Javier, Garcia, LMJ, Pressly, Abreu, Chas, Brown, Brantley, Maldy, Urquidy, etc etc. Your definition of a War time GM is a joke!!! Did Click help with this year's team, absolutely. But don't be coming in here with this BS that he's the best GM in Astros history because anyone that TRULY follows this team understands who's mainly responsible for constructing and building this team and it's not even up for debate.
Maton was bad in April; his best month was September. Brown wasn't even on the roster for most of the season. And who cares? The goal was to have the bullpen in the best shape in October, and it was. The goal wasn't to maximize Phil Maton. Why? It's not like they were going to leave Gurriel, Mancini, Maldanado, or Vasquez off the postseason roster for Diaz. These are weird complaints about a team that achieved all it's objectives.
Yeah those 3 whole games (11 whole at bats) when Goodrum batted 2nd or 3rd (once in the 2nd game of the season when they were admittedly still in "spring training" mode) were horrible.
Crane loves him some Verlander. He wants him, he'll get him. Crane knows they don't "need" him, so my hope is that he still plans to spend elsewhere to fill real needs as if Verlander didn't resign. Wasn't there a report a few months ago that Tucker is not interested in an extension? He wants to be a young free agent and get that monster deal.
