No. I think calling ourselves 'Enron Field' again would be hilarious. add to our bad guy persona Or do you mean is the tweet from Enron a joke? i think that tweet is real. i hope so, but probably a scam.
That's a terrible hot take. Bregman is one year older and has outperformed Adames in every season for the past three, by a distance. The career numbers aren't close, either. The idea of Adames having more value or getting a bigger contract is ludicrous.
I think Crane is going to greenlight 1 contract that is $20M+ for at least 3 yrs for a player who should project to 3+ WAR each season. Then I think he fills out the roster with 1-2 WAR guys on 1 yr or 1 yr+ option type deals. That puts 3+ WAR players: 2025: Alvarez, Tucker, Altuve, Diaz, Pena, XXX, Framber, Brown 2026: Alvarez, Diaz, Pena, XXX, Brown Then, Crane hopes at least 1 of Dezenzo, Whitcomb, Matthews, Melton, Baez, Leon, Zach Cole, Janek, or some wildcard can Become a 3+ WAR player by 2026, when Altuve can't be counted on for 3 WAR any longer. But there will be reduced pressure because of 4 other 3+ WAR position players. 2026 will be an interesting year for SP without Framber. Brown is currently the only guy who projects as 3+ WAR, But Arrighetti and Blanco could get there with a good 2025 plus McCullers will be projected there if he has a healthy 2025 at previous levels (I know- hahahahahahaha). The Astros really need at least one of the current top pitching prospects to blossom into at least a #3 type starter. Even if a few of them make it at a #4-5 level that could be bad for the overall makeup of the rotation IMO. 2026+ depends on what multi-year guy gets brought in this offseason and how well and quickly the SP develops. Of course another $20M+ guy could be signed next off season, but the farm simply must come through to stop using FA as a band aid.
Nobody saw Hader as a potential target for Crane last year, but he went for it. Only Crane knows what Crane wants and given that the team tends to do a great job of not leaking anything for any purpose, we won't hear anything from them to speculate further. And what we do hear is probably coming from the players or agents, not from the Astros.
Bregman's offensive decline is ****ing evident, he shows up for one month a season, and his BB and K rates cratered this past season. 3 straight years of declining production, not too mention Bregman has never been a great athlete, and is now slow as **** on the basepaths. There is plenty to dislike about Bregman without considering the nearly $20M difference in projected salary.
I'd quote you the Big Lebowski, "well that's just your opinion, man" - but some of those are demonstrably false. Bregman had a terrible start last season but was excellent from Mid May - end of season. His walks dropped off but he still had a top-10 in baseball K rate. As for declining 3 years, he produced more bWAR in 2023 than in 2022 and has been one of the more consistent 4+ WAR players in baseball. He's not who he was in 18/19 but he's been damn good for the past 3 years. And, again, better than your dude Adames over that stretch. I think the Astros need more guys who put the ball in play, and Adames is an extremely strikeout prone player. I don't think that profile does as well in the playoffs, and Adames hasn't produced nearly at the rate that Bregman has when the lights are brightest. He's also never, once, played 3B in the bigs. Last time he played 3rd in the minors he was 17. I think he projects well over there, but he'd be replacing a gold glover at a position he's basically never played.
You have no idea what you are talking about. Yes Alex is going to be 31 next year. Yes, Alex walked less than ever in 2024. Nothing else in your post has any truth to it. 1) "he shows up for one month per season" = Alex's OPS was better than MLB average in every month except April. And it was over .800 in June, August, and September in 2024. "His BB and K rates cratered" I addressed the BB issue, but he had a 13.6% K rate. The MLB average was 22.6% so I have no idea how you can say his cratered? "3 straight years of declining production" Baseball has so many stats and metrics that you can choose whichever ones you want to prove your point, and they will say he has declined the past 3 years. But there are things that he improved at. His HR%, EV and hard hit % were the best they have been since 2019. His ISO was better than 2023. He played with bone chips in his right elbow, for who knows how long last year, but he still was among the best players in baseball for 5 months of the year. He is getting older, but "cratering" is not remotely accurate. His performance is still that of a top 20% player in all of baseball. And he was the 5th best 3b by WAR, wRC+, and OPS.
I only used WAR to give some context to what tier or level of production players are at. WAR is the closest thing there is to a stat that measures every aspect of a position player's value.
