Stephen Silas, Eric Gordon, John Wall, Christian Wood, KPJ, Oladipo, Olynyk, PJ Tucker, Garrison Matthews (remember when he led the league in RAPTOR? lol), Uzi, TyTy, Josh
I just watched the Dodgers buy a ring. I just watched the Yankees buy a WS appearance. Every single year those two teams get the pick of the litter from free agents No hard cap makes it impossible for small market teams. Astros were a top 5 team in payroll, but like 75M away from team 1. Tell Crane to open up his fat wallet and make some noise instead of operating like a Dollar General. They really going to let Bregman walk? SMH.
The Yankees pretty much had a cake walk to get to the WS then look what happened when they played a real team. My main issue with the MLB CBA right now is the loophole the Dodgers are using with deferred money to limit their luxury tax exposure. The Ohtani contract was a joke. They also had a bunch of deferred money in the Freeman contract, and to a lesser extent, the Teoscar Hernandez contract as well. So now they are set up to spend even more this free agency. As for Bregman, I'd like him back but it depends on the cost. Don't want to add another bad contract to the mix and would rather spend that money elsewhere (like on Tucker) if some team offers him a stupid amount.
Baseball has more variance than football or basketball such that it is hard for the best team to win the World Series. That said, NFL and NBA have better parity regarding chances to become a dominant team. In MLB, if you are in a major market, it takes real ineptitude to be a bottom 10 team in the MLB in wins over a long sample size (i.e., the Angels) and it takes a vastly superior front office for a middle or small market to win a lot over a large sample (i.e.., Houston, Tampa). In the NFL and NBA, if you have a bad front office that doesn't draft well, it is hard to overcome that with money (not impossible, but it takes stars picking your team over other major market teams). Sure, in the NBA the stars choose to go to the major markets more often, but CBA rules make it harder than the MLB's does about acquiring stars. Current NBA CBA is even more restrictive. On MLB's parity going forward, I think front offices in general have gotten a lot better the past ten years (i.e., less variance) such that it is going to be harder to be the next Astros.
Astros have been top 5 in payroll for 5+ years now...I'm not sure I would consider them a middle market team at this point. Everything else is accurate though.
The Astros were not a Top 5 payroll team in 2022 or 2023. The Astros were built when they definitely weren't a Top 5 payroll team. The Astros winning allowed Crane to make the money to spend to keep winning. It was not the spend money and then win (i.e., they re-invested their profits to support more winning and more profits). Without having been a superior front office for several years without much payroll, the Astros jumping up to a Top 5 payroll would not have mattered in the years that they actually did that. Even when they had big payrolls, a lot of that was paid for by other teams. The Astros have twice been in the Top 5 in taxable money (i.e., payroll they are actually paying even if not in the actual year) in the past 7 or 8 years at least and likely a couple of decades.
Which contracts would you consider 'bad' among the Astros? Thats an eye raiser considering they still need to resign Tucker too right?
#1 net efficiency rating and at the top of the Southwest standings. Unbelievable. Also, in terms of efficiency, it's interesting that the Rockets and the Cavs are near polar opposites. Rockets #1 Net #18 Offense #1 Defense Cavs #2 Net #1 Offense #19 Defense
Abreu, McCullers, and Montero made nearly $50M combined last year and this upcoming year and they are going to likely get nothing out of any of those players unless there is a miracle with McCullers. The Hader contract doesn't look great either. Luckily Abreu and Montero contracts are over after next year so they should be in a decent spot.
Life is strange… In 2021 the "future" looked like Rox building around an all-time scorer in Green, and Cle building around a perennial DPOY in Mobley…
It still feels like a lucky fluke because at least 3/5ths of our starting lineup shoots abysmal nearly every game
I really enjoy watching this team. Their effort, defense and athleticism make it very entertaining to watch. I’m not sure I’ve even seen Alpi try and draw a flop this year. Movements are with the purpose of attacking the rim, Not getting fouled. I’m of the belief the Terror twins are special and make us relevant against the leagues top teams. We aren’t “there” yet, but I’d say this season has us sitting ahead of the curve for any planned growth phase and has the brass more willing to be patient with this group
yes, this is extremely fun fun to watch maybe more so than at any point in my life. I watched the Dream era As a young child and that was fun, but I’m just more involved into it as an adult now. We are just an effective team. Every component adds some thing and the main scorer(s) changes quarter to quarter and game to game. Generally, we are making the right play. The defense has been beyond fantastic, no matter who is on the court. They are all trying hard.
