They also only bought out 3 FA years on Yordan. Because of the position Yordan plays, he can sign 3 year FA deals and likely not miss out on future earning potential. In some ways, a 3 year FA deal will allow him to make more total money vs. signing a 10 year FA deal outright (but yes, less security). Will people be worried about Yordan’s impending departure when he starts those bought out FA years as they have been with Tucker? We’re also seeing those types of decisions play out in real time with Bregman, who would have been a FA this last off season without the extension. He would have likely gotten fair offers…but nothing earth-shattering. He probably has that same type of dollar/year contract available to him after 2024, minus serious regression at the plate. They still have Tucker for 2 full seasons after this one. People have been worrying about him before last year, and again, those 3 season are basically the same time-frame they “extended” Yordan to.
Players don't begrudge other players for making money. Tucker 1) Has been healthier and fewer future health risks. 2) Has more defensive and baserunning value 3) Waited linger (if it gets done) so risked more time without security and is closer to FA and further into the arb. process. All of those things are real and legitimate reasons for a Tucker extension to be more than Yordan's By all accounts, Yordan is a smart and good guy. It woukd be very unlikely and unexpected if an extension for Tucker caused any issues at all no matter how big.
Anyone that watches Bregman can tell that his hands are weird. Bregman 's super power is his plate discipline and pitch recognition, not his swing. You give Yainer that discipline and he would be a 1.000 OPS guy. Pena is a total mess since he has no pitch recognition. Just throw him sliders all day long. He has way too many moving parts including his head and eyes.
Players don't begrudge other players for making money. Tucker 1) Has been healthier and fewer future health risks. 2) Has more defensive and baserunning value 3) Waited linger (if it gets done) so risked more time without security and is closer to FA and further into the arb. process. All of those things are real and legitimate reasons for a Tucker extension to be more than Yordan's By all accounts, Yordan is a smart and good guy. It woukd be very unlikely and unexpected if an extension for Tucker caused any issues at all no matter how big. Lol. By all accounts, Chas is a different guy. Easy guy to root for though.
If you have Yainer Bregmans plate discipline he would be the best player in baseball. Bregman and Soto are the two best at plate discipline. But if you gave Yordan acunas speed then he'd be the greatest player of all time. I think that sort of analogy and combination of skills would work for any of hundreds of players.
Exactly, this isn’t the NFL or even the NBA. I can’t remember a situation/player in the MLB that signed a contract and then after the fact cried about it. Look at Jose Altuve - he signed what turned out to be an extremely team friendly contract early on and watched others including Bregman make more than him. Haven’t seen him complaining.
Does Shohei Ohtani not exist anymore? FWIW with how much Yordan gets injured, having Acuna’s speed would only hurt him more in that department…would rather (insert player who never misses games) durability for him.
Bregman has incredibly fast timing from the beginning of his swing to contact. He has one of the shortest swings in baseball. This speed to contact enables him to wait a little longer to analyze the pitch... which in turn leads to superior pitch recognition and plate discipline. His swing also enables him to hit the fastest fastballs in MLB... His swing is virtually flawless in terms of efficiency of movement... which it kind of has to be because he has few physical gifts (although he maximizes what he's got).
Wouldn't say players begrudge other players. Just that they would the organization. Of course the Astros will try and throw the bag at Tuck. But Yordan will feel a certain way. That is human nature. If you felt you were more valuable than a coworker at a company and aren't compensated as much as them. You would feel a certain way. That is the real world.
Most players get better at controlling the strike zone as they get older. I expect Yainer to get better at that. I don't ever expect him to be elite at it- just better. He can't likley have a 1% chase rate his entire career.
I see the Astros/Orioles telecast and Blummer/Co bring up their lineup. Interesting to see if the Orioles end up developing like Houston did. Springer- 826 OPS Altuve- 812 OPS Correa- 855 OPS Adley Rutschman- 805 OPS Gunner Henderson- 800 OPS Anthony Santanader- 806 OPS Current Astros Yordan Alvarez- 984 OPS Kyle Tucker- 894 OPS Altuve- 883 OPS Yanier Diaz- 807 OPS Chas McCormick- 885 OPS Astros star power is off the charts! They just need Abreu and Bregman to get back to being themselves. Pena to just be an average guy and it should be smooth sailing in the AL.
In the unlikely event they actually do extend Tucker, my guess would be something like $240M/7yrs. That buys out 5 free agent years (so Crane can technically stick to his rule of not giving out >5 years). He's on track to earn $30-45M combined in his remaining arb years, so that would be the equivalent of waiting until he reached free agency and giving him ~$200M/5yrs. Tucker should go for that and if he ages well he'd probably get one more shot at a decent multiyear deal. That AAV also would not put them over the tax threshold for 2024 (although it would max them out). It wouldn't be a steal like the Altuve extensions or the Alvarez extension, but I think it's what it would take, if Tucker is even listening.
Has anybody flat-out had Crane quote that 5 year rule? The previous "limit" was thought to be 3 years... then he signed Lance and made Correa a token offer. I mean if it comes down to Tucker wanting 6 years of FA paid, vs 5, do you really think lines are going to be drawn in the sand?
I don't think there is a line in the sand that will never be crossed. That said, I think Crane has a much stronger aversion to longer contracts than teams with similar or higher payrolls, and speculation should mostly treat it as such.
