Bryan Reynolds is no Mike Trout now. Let's slow down with giving away the farm for a Luke Scott clone.
Looking at the roster and years of control… 1st Abreu (3) / Hensley (6) 2nd Altuve (2) / SS Peña (5) 3rd Bregman (2) LF Yordan (6) / Brantley (1) CF McCormick (4) / Meyers (5) / Leon (6) RF Tucker (3) C Maldy (1) / Lee (6) / Diaz (6) SP Valdez (3) SP Javier (3) SP McCullers (4) SP Garcia (4) SP Urquidy (3) SP Brown (6) RP Pressly (3) RP Montero (3) RP Abreu (4) RP Stanek (1) / Paredes (5) RP Maton (1) / Taylor (4) RP Neris (1-2) RP Martinez (6) Immediate thoughts: The 2 “holes” on this team, catcher and CF, also have our best, most MLB ready prospects. I don’t see a need to trade our farm system when we don’t know how these young players may perform, especially when we already have suitable proven options in McCormick and Maldonado already on the team. Looking at 2024 free agency, we will probably look to sign a couple of relievers. The bigger question will be catcher. No obvious decent options, so either Lee or Diaz (or both!) emerge, or we’ll have to trade for a quality option. We may also need to find another DH option, but that may have been filled internally by this time next year. 2025 Free Agency is when things get interesting. Altuve and Bregman are free agents. I’d imagine we keep one of them, and lose the other. Overall, by 2026 free agency, we will have up to 4 All Star bats to replace (Altuve, Bregman, Tucker and Abreu). You can probably cover 1 via an extension, and replace another via free agency or trade. The other 2 need to be internally developed. Those 2 need to be in our system within the next year, as it typically takes even the best prospects at least 2 years to work through the minors. Overall - this is the best run franchise in baseball. We are fortunate to have a disciplined but aggressive owner, and a developmental staff that finds talent everywhere.
Bauer's situation was heavily reviewed for 5 months and he did not have charges filed against him. While difficult, we should give him the benefit of the doubt. Bauer's version of the events in question strikes me as credible. A communications plan needs to surround his re-entry into the league... but if Deshaun Watson can do it (20+ different women, sexual assault), then so can Bauer (1 woman, disputed situation, consensual sex). I have watched Bauer's vlog for a long time and it's extremely high quality content. He's a normal guy and very intelligent and hard working.
Adding a bit on to this… Our current “window” is really 3 years. That’s how long you’ve got Yordan, Tucker and Abreu committed, and you could definitely extend one of Bregman or Altuve (or both). 3 years is also how long you’ve got left of Valdez and Javier. The question is what can you do over the next year to extend that window out another couple of years? The answer looks something like this: 1) Draft/develop 1-2 All-Star level bats (similar to Tucker/Altuve) and 1-2 above average bats (similar to Peña/McCormick). 2) Extend/resign one of Altuve or Bregman. 3) Extend either or both of Valdez or Javier.
He was instantly condemned here. Go look through the posts after the story broke. Few here were waiting to see if he was actually guilty.
R/L OBP SLG OPS PRESSLY, Ryan R 244 276 520 L 235 278 513 MONTERO, Rafael R 273 287 560 L 262 246 507 MATON, Phil R 315 384 699 L 329 433 762 NERIS, Hëctor R 294 323 617 L 252 286 538 STANEK, Ryne R 323 270 594 L 264 238 501 ABREU, Bryan R 318 324 642 L 287 208 494 MARTINEZ, Seth R 214 180 394 L 357 420 777
Have you guys forgotten all the stuff Bauer said about the Astros? No way he is welcomed by the fans or the team. I personally hope he doesn't pitch another game in the MLB.
