I'd pay it. Just so we don't have to face him and that line-up. I still want to shove that dumb homerun trident up that elf's @ss. The one that looks like that one elf on Rings of Power.
Why mortgage the farm if you won't re-sign him? I guess just to max out the remaining Altuve and Correa years?
I personally think that if Skubal is traded, it will be to a team that believes they can extend him. Doesn’t really make sense to pay that price unless you think it will pay dividends beyond next year.
Astros won’t be interested in either of those players, but it may reduce the market for Jesus Sanchez.
My current estimate for CBT payroll is just under $223M. Leaves them about $21M to spend. I expect they ditch some payroll via trade or non-tendering. Sanchez $6.3M Urias $5.0M (or Dubon $6.5M) De Los Santos $2.0M (salaries are average of MLBTraderumors, Cots Contracts, and Spotrac arbitration estimates) I see at least $13.3M freed up
Looking at Houston’s roster construction I suspect they may be anxious to work out a trade or two sometime in the next 2 weeks, before the 11/18 Rule 5 draft protection deadline. They have 13 pitchers who project to be healthy next spring that cannot be optioned (that doesn’t include the 3 guys recovering from surgery who will go on the 60 day IL on opening day). They have 12 position players who cannot be optioned. They have at least 3 players they need to add who would almost certainly get picked in the Rule 5 draft. All that is to say they have a roster crunch on both sides of the ball and likely need to trade 3-4 players if they want to avoid exposing valuable players to waivers or losing decent prospects to the rule 5 draft.
Dodgers already have expressed interest (yes I am serious). I’m sure NYY, NYM, SF and 3-4 others will want to get him and extend him.
I don't believe that Astros have the prospect capital to go out and get Skubal. Plus, I don't believe that the Tigers want prospects, as they have some of the top prospects in baseball. More than likely they are looking for young controllable pitching and position players, which other than Cam Smith, the Astros are sorely lacking in that department. This team already has a young ace pitcher in Hunter Brown (who I would love to see the Astros extend him this offseason, before Skubal sets the market next season). While getting Skubal and pairing him with Hunter Brown in what would be the best 1-2 combination in the league, its a dream at best.
