Leon’s development was wrecked by defection, COVID, injuries, and position switches. So even though he’s entering his age 27 season, I think his development is more like a typical 24 or 25 year old. Not to say there are huge odds of a breakout, but I think he has more upside than the typical 27 year old. I don’t think Gamel would have signed with Houston if he didn’t think it extremely likely he would make the roster. And between service time manipulation and injury chances, I think it’s very likely he makes the opening day roster; he may not stick on it all season, but I do think he’ll make the team out of camp.
The ones that have the translatable talent usually overcome such things. The fact that he could barely get promoted in the first place probably speaks more volume than all these other details. We're at the point now where "anything can happen" has become more applicable to all the failed Astros prospects... vs actual tangible results like scouting reports, stats, bat speed, etc.
Well, it’s not as if stats and scouting reports paint an entirely bleak picture for Leon. Consensus among scouts is that he has plus speed and power with plus defensive skills in the OF. Statistically he’s put together consecutive 20/20 seasons in AAA, with a 17/38 season the year before that. Like I said, I don’t think it’s likely Leon has some big breakout in store if he’s allowed to play everyday in AAA vs ride pine in the majors. But I do think he has higher odds of reaching a new level than the typical 27 year old.
s I get the stats are there.... which is even more reason why the scouting and day to day assessment of him mattered in terms of his lack of promotion. Its not like this team has been worry-free at CF all these years since Springer. Plenty of opportunity for upgrades. He apparently just has the profile of stuff (based on people who do this for a living) that isn't expected to translate at this point in his career (where he's fully developed from the physical aspects, and possibly also fully developed from the mental absorption capabilities as well).
I think Leon has done all he can at AAA and the organization has no reason to make sure he gets regular playing time. He might as well be the 13th position player as a defensive replacement for Altuve/Yordan in LF and occasional pinch hitter who gets a start every 2-3 weeks.
This is the way. Hell or high water this is the LAST year I am paying $100 per ****ing month to watch 70-80 baseball games on tv.
It’s basically disastrously bad for the Astros if a TV package like that was the thing. Like utter trainwteck turn the team overnight into a small market team disaster.
The $99 to watch all the games for the year. That would likely bring in about 30M tops in tv revenue/subs but probably more like 10 or 12M. They get close to triple that 30M number right now. . There would also be production costs on a deal like that borne by the Astros. Unless you think that they will get to keep both without tanking the RSN numbers, which I doubt would be the case.
Obviously no team is going to make that change without equal or greater expected revenue coming in. Where are you getting your estimate that the Astros (or MLB, same same) having their own streaming service and charging $99/yr would “top out at $10M-$12M in revenue to the team”?
As the Astros have not made that change or even attempted to make that change, one would assume their current revenue stream is much more profitable. I estimate I pay about $600 to watch the Astros. I just can't fathom how even with eliminating a middleman the Astros could make up the $500 dollars per person willing to subscribe as well as the money from people that pay for watching the Astros even though they just want the other channels.
The Astros are getting an extremely small cut from each subscription because it’s part of a large channel package run by a 3rd party. I don’t think the Astros have the freedom to just cut ties with their RSN and/or offer their own separate streaming service. I’m definitely not an expert on TV revenue. But the Astros latest TV deal was an utter mess constructed right during the demise of cable so I’d be surprised if they got some kind of killer deal that guaranteed them a ton more revenue than they could get doing their own standalone service.
