I'm really not sure what Dana Brown is supposed to do. He can't dump Abreu without Crane's go ahead, he can't spend any more money given we're in the LT. He didn't injure Framber, Urquidy, Javier and Verlander, and who knew that Alex Bregman would cease to be an MLB level hitter in a contract year. I cant say anybody forsaw Pressly and Hader having an ERA over 8.
That tweet is weak. It’s ridiculous to compare Brown to Luhnow. Luhnow had FAR more leeway to make decisions and execute his ideas. Brown is completely handicapped by Crane’s oversight and payroll limitations as well as inheriting a drained farm system. I don’t know if Brown is a good GM. I have not been impressed by his interviews. But at this point I don’t even really view him as a GM, but more of a scouting director, because I don’t think he has near the autonomy of an average GM. Whats ironic about that tweet is that the reason Brown is so hamstrung is because of Luhnow’s failures (cheating scandal).
Fake Passan Blame Crane/Bagwell/Jackson/Biggio/Clemens…they’re the real GMs. ”He handles the draft/scouting.” … So I can’t really judge him until at least 5 years (until these draft classes progress —or ultimately not— through the system). “He fills out the back end of the roster.” … OK, so the Tayler Scott, Brandon Bielak, Victor Caratini, Grae Kessinger, Jon Singleton, Trey Cabbage… OK, so you can blame him, for example, not having a better backup option than Jon Singleton. And I guess not signing more SP. (Paraphrasing) “We like our guys/depth. The guys out there aren’t better than what we have.” Bullpen yes and no. They splashed on Hader. OUT: Maton, Neris, Stanek, Graveman(injury) IN: Hader … So he’s left filling the other spots with scratch off lottery tickets (Coleman, Kuhnel, Murfee, Tayler Scott, Sousa,…) He did get Javier extended? Was Yordan Click? Yordan was Click. I don’t know, I don’t know what he does, for better or for worse. With the Braves, I guess it was the (team-friendly) extensions and scouting? But extension-wise, that won’t matter here. Crane isn’t going 8-12 years like those Braves signed. Hell, he might avoid 3-year deals after the Abreu deal. (I’m half joking.)
Roster construction. Roster construction. Roster construction. The problems the Astros have been suffering with to begin this season can all be laid at the GM's feet. The one thing the GM is entirely responsible for is roster construction. The corner infield players have been awful. Bregman has a long history of slow starts and this one has been no exception. Abreu has in my opinion been the single worst player in baseball. Although there is reason to expect that Bregman may come around to some extent, Abreu could be done for good. These problems where well known by anybody that was paying attention since the end of last season. Neither where addressed over the off season or since. Bregmans peak trade value came and went over the winter. Living with his slow starting and Abreu's potential demise was a choice that required a back up plan. Instead we got a bench catcher. We got bench infielders Singleton, whose sole purpose is to play first base in the event of catastrophic results there. Kessinger is presumably here to fill the potential hole that Altuve would leave if an age related injury puts him on the shelf. We have a versatile bench bat who is good at several positions we are already good at. Problem is none of them in any way resolves our glaring weaknesses at the infield corners. The bullpen has lost several games due to obviously missing middle relief pitchers. Another issue that went unaddressed over the winter Loperfido. Loperfido. Loperfido. Now comes the promotion of the best power hitter not just in Houston's system, or even in all the minor leagues, but in all of professional baseball. The best power hitter in all of professional baseball. He leads all of baseball in home runs. Spend a few minutes chewing on that fact. Roll it around on your tongue once or twice. He is a versatile defender who also plays the position of the Astros greatest weakness. He plays first base. So obviously our genius GM is going to play him in the outfield. Roster Construction. There is a tiny sliver of time left to turn this season around. It is critical to get a few things done before the hole we have been digging becomes inescapable. First someone needs to set Brown's hair on fire. This is Cranes job. He must give Brown the impetus to move now to get these things done. 1. Trade Abreu and as much cash as it takes to get him moved now. I would expect to pay all of this years salary and would be willing to give up one of France or Arrighetti or the equivalent to make it happen. Replace him with Loperfido for now. 2. Move Bregman to eighth in the batting order and ask him to earn his way up from there. If he is still batting eighth at the break trade him to a contender that needs a third baseman. 3. DFA Singleton and let him walk or work out a trade with anybody that is interested.
Ok so your plan is: 1. Trade Abreu, a bunch of money, and your best pitching prospect for nothing. 2. Piss off one of your franchise players, then trade him at an all time low value to another contending team so that you have to play against him in the playoffs. Replace him at 3B with…?????? 3. Cut the only player left on the team who has extensive experience playing 1B in the majors. Loperfido’s 13 HR in hitter friendly parks do not make him the “best power hitter in all of baseball.” Brown has managed the roster admirably considering the restrictions he has been under. The only thing he’s done that I have 100% disagreed with was call up Henley instead of throwing Bielak in a bullpen game. I probably would have benched Abreu for Singleton sooner but only by a week or 2. The team has had insanely bad luck. The roster is deep and he’s reacted appropriately without panicking.
It's a counting stat. It still has meaning like it or not. Loperfido has outperformed all of pro ball in this regard. Why does that piss you off? Fortunately Dana got Abreu off the roster while I was sweating over that post so that is good news all around. Getting someone to pay for the last year of that ridiculous contract would be a big win and if it takes throwing in one of those AAAA pitchers to make it happen I am all for it. If it pisses off your franchise player to bat where he belongs in the batting order you may be better off without him. Any prospect can produce as much as he has this season and I would rather get something for him than the nothing we get by keeping him. Who is this player with extensive experience you speak of? Surely you are not describing Singleton.
I have no problem with guys not talking **** out of school to the media. Cliche's exist for a reason, Biggio knew this, you should too.
But none of these moves would impact W/L. Well, they might impact losses, in that there would be even more of them since you've effectively wiped out two 1B and one SP. Their replacements are not going to be better. I said this last year when everybody wanted to dump everything on Dusty Baker: for any/all faults we can place at Crane, Brown, Bagwell, Baker/Espada, et al - we are seeing - and have been seeing - the continued erosion of talent up & down the system. Losing draft picks has KILLED this team. Trading prospects for Verlander, Cole, Grienke, Verlander again, etc., has shortened our system significantly. Exceptional talent has either walked away or aged out (Yuli, Brantley); the run they were on where every prospect came up and was awesome is not normal; seeing the up/down struggles of Brown, Diaz, Pena - *that's* normal. This is why maintaining success is HARD. You try to balance today v tomorrow - but when you're good, tomorrow always loses to today until you look up one day, and tomorrow *is* today. They don't have talent to trade; they are spending a lot of money on veterans; their top-level prospects are not Springer, Correa, Bregman... I still think it's a good team. Even if this year drives into a ditch, it wouldn't shock me if a relatively similar run-back next season produces better results. It's kind of hard to start Altuve, Alvarez, Tucker, Verlander, Framber, Abreu/Pressly/Hader & be bad. But 2024 just might end up being one of those years - like 2016 - where absolutely nothing seems to work.
I don't care what Dana Brown says in interviews. All he does is say enough to get through the interview - he plays word salad. It is entirely too early to have an opinion on Brown. He doesn't hedge when it comes to the draft and I like that - he isn't trying to cover his butt. He lets it be known when he drafts players that it is going to be spectacular or a failure and it will be his fault if if goes well or bad.
Agree with the sentiment of what you said but disagree about how the trades are impacting the current roster. It’s hard to know what actually would have happened, but you could add back ALL the prospects they’ve traded away, and statistically it would likely only have meant a 2-3 win difference so far this season. Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford are good prospects but neither would be in Houston right now if they hadn’t been traded. Wilyer Abreu, Josh Rojas, Korey Lee, Abraham Toro, Jake Rogers, Jose Siri, Patrick Sandoval, and Jorge Alcala are all playing well, but trading out Abreu for McCormick or Toro for Singleton or Siri for Meyers or Sandoval for any of the SP who struggled wouldn’t have this team more than a few wins better. The roster was STACKED going into the season. Pitching injuries and poor timing of performance fluctuations can both be rolled under the umbrella of “bad luck”. It’s a shame, but it’s not really anybody’s fault. I agree that this year is a fluke. They will either get hot and it’ll be a comeback story for the history books, or theyll keep losing and it’ll be a big opportunity for this front office to rebuild the farm and extend the projected competitive window.
I will go somewhere in-between. I think we warm up, have a .500 May-June, a bit better after that, but fall short of making history or winning the division. This is really the worst possible outcome in that we don't get high picks for the draft of get to put up a banner. It also may leave the FO without a clear path forward. Not terrible enough to go full out rebuild, but still good enough not to throw in the towel.
