Maybe it will help him. If you believe he's a slow starter (he's not), then it's not like having a full spring training helps him. Maybe a compressed one would change up his routine and get him off to a fast start.
He has a career OPS in March/April of .737 and .818 in May. Both lower than any other month in his career. He’s a slow starter. https://www.fangraphs.com/players/alex-bregman/17678/splits?position=3B&season=0&split=
OR, he was a slow starter in one or two seasons (such as last year), which results in his average numbers for those months being lower than other months.
Balanced New Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) 1. Free Agency and Service Time - Accelerated Free Agency: an age-based or reduced service-time model for quicker free agency eligibility. - Limiting Service-Time Manipulation:Cap player options to the minors to prevent artificial delay in free agency. 2. Salary Structure and Payroll Controls - Improved Minimum Salaries and Arbitration:Enhance arbitration processes with guaranteed contracts and performance bonuses. - Soft Salary Cap with a Floor: Implement a system similar to the NBA, including "Super Max" exceptions, a salary floor, and gradual cap adjustments. 3. Competitive Balance Tax and Revenue Sharing - Rethink Competitive Balance Tax (CBT):Set predictable, moderate CBT thresholds and mandate reinvestment of shared revenue into payroll. - Enhanced Financial Transparency: Ensure negotiations are based on verifiable financial data. 4. Rule Changes and Technological Advances - Embracing New Technology: automated strike zones with a testing period in spring training. - Uniformity Across Leagues: Standardize rules between leagues for competitive fairness. - In an effort to analyze spectator engagement, a system where female cheerleaders of each team remove an item of clothing after a run scores, and introduce new dance moves following home runs. Intended to scientifically measure audience retention and enthusiasm. 5. Balancing Short-Term Incentives and Long-Term Stability - Draft and Anti-Tanking Measures: Revise the draft lottery to discourage tanking by linking draft picks to performance. - Cost Certainty and Fair Market Value: Design contracts that offer predictability for owners and market-value salaries for players.
Ugh… just had a pseudo-epiphany that the Astros may not be very good this year. Like not even in a disappointing way, more like a “it is what it is” sort of way. The current state of the farm system (at all levels), previous expected pitching youth (that certainly extended the window from the 2017-2019 squads) now going on likely 2 years out from TJ surgery with likely more youth injuries to come, and their payroll still being top 5-10 for continued regressing results…. Not great trends there for future sustained success.
You could be right. This is the lowest playoff odds Houston has entered the season with since 2015. They have a below average farm system, several bad contracts (Abreu, Montero, McCullers), and several contracts that could easily turn bad (Altuve, Hader, Walker, Javier). A serious injury to Yordan Alvarez, Framber Valdez, or Hunter Brown would likely be a death blow to their 2025 season. However, there’s equal or greater room for optimism. There is still a chance they will add another good player before the season starts, which would likely leave them favored to win the division. There are around 2 dozen high ceiling prospects in their system who have a legitimate chance to be very good big league players, and a handful of them are on track to impact the majors this season (including Melton, Dezenzo, Matthews, Blubaugh, Ullola). They have a good set of players who are in the top 10 in the league at their position who are under control for multiple years (C Diaz, 1B Walker, 2B Altuve, 3B Paredes, DH Alvarez, SP Brown, RP Hader). Their pitching coaches and development staff have shown the ability to find and develop pitchers to perform very well in BoR, MR, and low leverage roles. This roster is not on par with 2017-2022. But it’s on par with 2015-2016 and 2023-2024. I think we will have a really good idea of how this season is going to go (as well as how good the farm system is) by mid June.
You just figured this out now? They need multiple position player prospects to hit out of this next upcoming group. Mainly looking at Fisher, Melton, Dezenzo and Matthews. If they are all busts it could quickly be rebuild time. Which is scary when Crane says he won't do a rebuild.
