As it is, it’s highly unlikely either the arbitration system remains the same, or the salary structures/cap/floor system remains the same after the expected work shortage in 2026. (And theres a good chance a combination of both will see revamps).
If we had a decent commissioner he would already be working on coming up with things to get some agreements ready to go.
I'm ok waiting until June. It's Astros tradition. Carlitos against the Whitesox. D-Day +2. Yordan homers in first game, D-Day +3
He can't. MLB just lost the 550 million dollar ESPN tv deal. Until they get a better idea of how much revenue they will lose on the new deal the commissioner is in no position to negotiate.
Cam Smith is looking like he is going to be a special player. He seem to have the “it” factor. Hated losing Kyle Tucker, but he bet on himself to be amongst the highest paid players. And he has done extremely well justifying that is is indeed worth a lot more than the Astros are comfortable paying him.
3 guys that are on the 40 man roster with 2 having all-star potential is more than a good return for Tucker.
if bill worrell was calling astros game, he would prolly mix up Cam Smith and Jeremy Pena quite often.
If Paredes is what we hope he can be (a decent glove at 3rd and abusing the Crawford boxes) AND Smith turns into the star it's looking like he might be...what a f***ing steal. Tucker is and will remain great. But not only do we not have to pay him the ridiculous amount he wants, we (hopefully) ended up with 2 stars? And a decent pitcher in Wesneski, too? Even crazier if/when Tucker leaves in free agency.
Let’s see him add some impressive mlb stats in 2025. Went to FSU…120 miles from me…. https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=smith-014cam
If Smith makes the opening day roster he’d have an excellent chance of winning ROY and getting us an extra draft pick. Feel like if he’s close enough that he could warrant a call up in a few weeks we may as well start him off in the bigs and then potentially sending him down if he’s not in the running for the award to give us another year of service time. I say this as someone who wanted him down in the minors to start a year, but think he’s talented enough to be the favorite in the AL for the award if he gets 162 games worth of at bats
I don’t know about “excellent” chance. He will have a chance. But there are probably 20 other prospects in the AL who are as highly rated as Smith who will be in the majors early enough this season to be in the mix for ROY. I don’t even think he is on the Vegas odds board but even if you wait to see if he makes the opening day roster I doubt Vegas would set the odds higher than about 8%.
It also isn't like this is the only year this can happen. He can spend the entire year in the minors and have the same (if not better) chance of winning ROY and draft pick next year. If he starts the year in the majors but has to go down there is no chance of ROY. If he starts in the minors and then comes up (like Alvarez) he can still win ROY.
Right. The plan I liked was keeping him in AAA most of the year and calling him up late enough next season to protect his rookie eligibility next year. So they get 7 playoff runs out of him and a potential draft pick. And if anything he’d be more likely to win ROY next year after another year of development.
You’re probably right, but my eye test tells me he’s a star. I’m seeing a very special hitting talent, 300/400/500 guy with 35 bombs. I bet he picks up right field and becomes above average as well.
I seriously think he will make it impossible to keep him in AAA until that late in the season especially if we are contending. If anyone gets hurt or Chas stinks up the joint, he will be called up especially if his OPS is anywhere near 900. We kept springer down because we weren't contending. However we did not keep Bregman, Correa, Alvarez or Tucker down longer than absolutely necessary.
