https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/01/astros-sign-chris-gittens-to-minor-league-deal.html Injury prone bat who has put up monster numbers in AAA. Interesting signing.
Too bad sunshine burned his bridge with the Astros. Also didn’t he spit tobacco on his baby or something?
I'm not saying they aren't an upgrade. But they are not enough of an upgrade to justify paying them. None of those guys are playoff starters if Verlander, Framber, Javier, and McCullers are healthy. One or two of them not being healthy is reasonable, but if so then Brown and/or Garcia potentially outpitch any of those guy and take the spot(s). Lance FRIGGIN' Lynn got 1 yr $11M. How much are any of those guys going to need to sign? And it's even money that at least 5 and possibly 7-8 Astros currently on the roster COULD outpitch him. The Astros have other holes to fill. This is not worth the $10M+ risk.
Helluva career. Helluva ballplayer. Helluva hitter. Glad we had him on the Astros and he was able to put a couple more productive seasons together after his injury issues towards the end of his career in Cleveland.
If having a team that is basically the 2022 WS Champs minus Neris, Stanek, Yuli, Mancini. Vasquez, Aledmys, and Maldy, but with Yainer, Caratini, and Abreu is mediocre, sign me up. Also, the Astros likely still add one reliever to replace Neris.
The Astros as the AL favorites. Maybe they can survive without a human piece of trash on the roster? Especially one who happens to be enemies with the star 3B that would like to retain if possible?
This team is far from mediocre But if the choice is being mediocre or having Bauer on the team I have been a fan of for 45 years I choose being mediocre. As for the "incident" and Bauer being a victim, it's bullshit. Maybe he was set up but he was still a willing participant in some disgusting things I simply can't respect whether they were consensual or not, legal or not. He is a sick human just for the lesser 10% of the things reported, and it's naive to think that at least 10% aren't true. But to be honest, this has nothing to do with that. This has to do with his public accusations and hypocrisy regarding the Astros pitching development. He does not deserve to ever pitch in MLB again and certainly not on the Astros.
This. And even if you're of the opinion that Bauer is somehow completely innocent in all of this and morally you have zero problem with the guy (which I don't know how you could feel this way, but I'm not here to judge), the Astros need to have learned their lesson from Roberto Osuna. If there's a team out there willing to take the PR hit and willing to give Bauer a second chance, fine. But let it be any other franchise other than the Astros. And even if he does get a second chance, who's to say Bauer is remotely the same guy he was when he last pitched in MLB? I certainly don't think he's the difference between the Astros contending and them being "mediocre." And any notion otherwise is completely asinine.
Bauer is human garbage. I don't care if it would guarantee a WS next year keep him far away from the Astros. How anyone could advocate for him is beyond me.
