Yea, I meant Cam Smith. I said Fisher by mistake who is a lower level prospect. Sorry.. I'm on a steady diet of opiates right now.
It’s been lingering. I was always a proponent of just keeping Tucker as 2025 with him was going to be the best possible WS odds for the foreseeable future. Once they traded him, I thought it was going to lead to more moves to tear down… then they got Walker and you’re considering them now adding more payroll for one (or two) last attempts. But the more I hear that nobody in the farm is projecting to be special atm, the more I see all the wasted money in the injured players and ok closers, and I see Altuve already being position changed due to noticeable fielding decline, I’m worried things will go faster than expected.
If I were to envision the most realistic magical season the Astros could have in 2025, their World Series roster would look like this: CF Jacob Melton: ROY finalist posts .230/.320/.470 line with 35 SB 2B Jose Altuve DH Yordan Alvarez 1B Christian Walker 3B Isaac Paredes: the Daikin hype is real, .240/.340/.490 C Yainer Diaz: takes a small step forward LF Zach Dezenzo: overshadowed by Melton but still has an excellent rookie season .250/.320/.460 RF Chas McCormick: rebounds to post the 2nd best season of his career SS Jeremy Pena UT Mauricio Dubon OF Jake Meyers Backup C Victor Caratini Emergency C Cesar Salazar Game 1 SP Framber Valdez Game 2 SP Hunter Brown Game 3 SP Dylan Cease: deadline deal for Ronel Blanco, Luis Baez, and Shay Whitcomb Game 4 SP Luis Garcia: full rebound/health Closer Josh Hader 8th inning Bryan Abreu 7th inning Lance McCullers Jr.: gives 45 healthy productive RP innings MR Cristian Javier: comes back healthy late August MR Forrest Whitley: establishes himself as a dominant big league RP MR Kaleb Ort: builds on last season MR Rafael Montero: gets fixed LHRP Bryan King: builds on last season Extra SP Spencer Arrighetti
I am ready for some baseball; I have no clue if the Astros will be good, but I am here for all 162 games. I am not a gloom and doom fan, I think the Astros can contend if we get one more bat or if Bregman comes back, and if I am being honest, at this point after the Stros sweetened the deal this past week and he doesn't take it then I want to move on.............you either have a better deal or you simply don't want to be here, but I am tired of feeling like the girl you want to take to prom but holding out for the hotter girl.
I think we can lock this thread up. Astros ain't doing anything else this offseason, including signing Bregman. IBTL.
I like how you think…. There are a lot of if’s, so I think it’s very probable the youth movement keeps the train a chugging along. Especially since right now they wouldn’t be shouldering the heavy lifting, all they just have to play defense and be average offensively, and the team can definitely contend.
If Drayton would have just left the team alone, that team would have won some titles. The Doug Drabek and Greg Swindel signings got Drayton into a panic; and I think that bust on the finances eventually led to the massive trade that shipped off Caminiti, Steve Finley for Derek Bell trade. Bagwell, Biggio, Caminiti, Steve Finley, Luis Gonzalez would have won several pennants; and perhaps a few World Series championships. I know Drayton bought the team after they’d already trade Kenny Lofton, but what could have been? it was still a good run in the 90’s, but it could have been historically good.
I don’t see any way it makes sense for Bregman to delay making a decision past this week unless he is willing to hold out well into the season to see if an injury opens up his market or breaks a team into meeting his demand. Given his profile I think that would be monumentally stupid. If he’s smart then he requests teams’ best and final offers later this week and makes his decision this weekend.
Also, waiting for an injury makes no sense as well. What team would hand out a 6+ year deal over an injury?
