I’m sure it’s already been referenced but Cueto changing his social media pic to him with Dusty is interesting.
I think this is the thing, people keep arguing that our pitching without JV got 95+ wins, yea yea, but does it win a world series? Will a Framber, CJ, LMJ, Garcia rotation win? That rotation plus Urquidy and Brown can def win us 95+ wins, but we're not in this to win the West. It's world series or bust for the next 3 years.
Omar Narvaez is an interesting back up catcher option. Left handed stick... Has had some good offensive seasons and consistently draws walks
I think a owner needs a good connection to his players on their level. Bagwell is good at giving Crane the "mind" of the player. For this, I think Bagwell is uniquely qualified. As to how much weight to give Bagwell's assessments, well, that is up to Crane, not on Bagwell.
As good as our pitching was in 2022, you don't lose a Cy Young Award winner and bank on the other guys having repeat years. IMO, a few guys are due for some mild regression (Overachieved in 2022). As to your questions specifically, they are all good ones. Bad in the sense that the worse outcome could happen in all 3 cases and it wouldn't shock me. If we don't resign JV, we better spend that money saved on pitching.
Best remaining FA fits: OF Andrew Benintendi: should only get 4 years, good defender, lefty bat, doesn’t strike out, can handle CF in a pinch. Conforto, Brantley, Nimmo, Profar, Gallo, Bellinger make less sense but also wouldn’t be shocking. C Omar Narvaez: doesn’t strike out, good defender, should only get 1-2 years, used to being a backup, gives lefty bat off bench; Barnhart, Alfaro, Contreras, Vazquez, Zunino also make some sense. IF Yuli Gurriel: Unlikely to find an everyday gig, clubhouse fit, should be very cheap, can play 1B/2B/3B, doesn’t strike out; mostly sentimental so if it’s not him then they should roll with Hensley or another internal option LHRP Mike Minor: dominant as a lefty RP when he was in KC; Matt Boyd, Taylor Rogers, Matt Moore, Daniel Norris, Andrew Chafin, David Price, Danny Duffy also fit
Verlander had an ERA of nearly 6 in the playoffs this year - I believe it was the worst of all the starters - and they won the World Series. If Verlander wasn't here this year, Javier would have been the one pitching more.
I would add 1B/LF Dominic Smith as an option. Young left hand hitter coming off a miserable year, but showed a lot of promise previously. I would put most of what you have broken down ahead of Smith, but I would keep him on the radar... Especially if they bring back Yuli. Signing Smith and retaining Yuli would add lot of flexibility at DH/LF/1B to pitching match ups and Dusty's propensity for load management.
They won the World Series with a comfortable home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Verlander had much to do with that (the AL side, for sure). I suppose that it is easy to draw doubt on his deemed playoff failure(s), but that lacks giving credit for the full value that he brought us facing each team’s ace in virtually every series. I wouldn’t minimize his value and I hope that they bring him back. If I’m one of our competitors I put it to us and remove our ability to sign him. I believe that we will miss the luxury of having him when, if, he’s gone.
Actually LMJ had the worst of all starters… 5.96 to JV’s 5.85. Both were by far the highest paid starters.
I expect a back up on a minor league deal to go with Maldy/Lee behind the plate. Lee will be better than Maldy at the plate but like Maldy his defense is all I really care about. A year with Martin now is more important to the team's future at catcher than anything I can think of. I also do not expect to see Diaz as anything more than a third catcher and do not count on him to contribute behind the dish. He is most useful as a 1st base/DH and I hope he and Abreu switch back and forth there enough to make a full time 1st baseman of Diaz.by sometime during the year after next.
If costs were equal, and it was either/or, I’d take DeGrom over Verlander in a heartbeat. I’d love to see him with our coaching.
Sure - I don't have any issues with bringing him back. But the post I was quoting basically suggested we don't need him for the regular season but we need him in the playoffs. This year, his value was the opposite. DeGrom is another McCullers in that it's 50/50 if he'll even be available any given time. Verlander pitched more innings this year than DeGrom has in the last 2. Verlander has had one major injury but otherwise has been super-durable for the Astros.
I think we might be underestimating the value that JV brings- even if you stipulate it's only in the regular season. Keeping ahead of the Mariners and out of the WC round is extremely important.
Yes. That is what I was trying to say. Maybe I wrote it in confusing way. Point being that Click had likely some analytical reason for not wanting Pena there. I think we all agree he needed to be there. So, maybe there is some truth in what Bagwell is saying about going too analytical.
