Exactly. It also lets Brown promote people he wants to promote before they get poached by other teams.
Stop with the bagwell gm nonsense. MLB.com’s Jon Morosi reported that Firkus had stepped into the role of point person for free agent pursuits at the beginning of the offseason.
Ball is a Click hire with a background similar to Goldstein and Click, so he should be a very analytics-friendly, progressive AGM. Cook is a Luhnow hire who graduated from Yale, so he should also be forward thinking. Brown worked well with the FO in Atlanta who are clearly leaders in identifying and developing talent so I don’t have much doubts about his ability to blend scouting and analytics in Houston. Firkus seems like he might’ve been at least partially behind the Abreu and Montero signings which aren’t looking good on the resume so far, so even though he was a part of Houston’s earlier success I’m not scared to see him go.
Maybe Goodrum left on her own accord? Didn't seem like someone who was a target to be pushed out by Brown.
To me, this says 2 things: 1. Dana Brown is simply bringing in his own people. 2. Jim Crane trusts Dana Brown to run the show and is letting him do so. What can Brown do for you (this offseason)?
Brown needs to extend current players and rebuild the farm system. This team really has no holes at the MLB level for 2024. A backup catcher and some bullpen depth. That's about it. Nothing to do about the farm in the offseason unless he decides Framber and/or Tucker are simply not going to sign an extension and he moves one of them in a Soto-like deal. ( very unlikely) I want to see Tucker, Bregman, Framber, Abreu, Chas, Altuve, Diaz, and/or Pena in that order of preference.
I believe Abreu and Altuve are realistic goals for this off season. I would go with 3 additional years for each with the third as an option based upon Altuve's ability to field his position and on Abreu's successful transition to closer. Touching base with Tucker and Framber about the possibility of team friendly extensions would be the most I would expect but I do not see an agreement with either coming to fruition. More likely are trades for top young prospects to build a future upon, beginning with a trade of Bregman as early as this off-season while pushing forward with Whitcomb or Dezenzo at third base. Tucker and Framber will want, and have earned bigger deals than the Astros are likely able to afford. If either is willing to do a five year deal at a rate that is not going to impede the teams financial flexibility sign them up, but I do not expect it. Chas, Diaz, and Pena need to show more to even begin talks with in my opinion.
I would be shocked if Bregman were traded. If he is traded the team might as well start a rebuild. The past 5 seasons, only Jose Ramirez has more fWAR as a 3B. Bregman is a whipping boy on this site because he isn't 2019 Bregman and he is so inconsistent day to day and week to week but big picture, he always has his numbers by the time game 162 is over. Since he entered the league in 2016 he is 10th in fWAR in all of baseball. replacing him with Dezenzo, or anyone else currently in the organization will likely cost the team 3-5 wins in 2024. According to the CBA, if a player is traded during a Long term contracts, the AAV is recalculated based on remaining year(s) so his AAV is $20M as an Astro but $30M for anyone else. It's only 1 year so not really prohibitive to another team, but I can't imagine any team giving up any player or prospect who improves this team and also pay him $30M. Trading Bregman would be a negative move for 2024 and possibly the future. The team is likely to get little return in a trade and might lose a high comp pick.
Firkus was a Luhnow hire, but not for the position he ended up serving. He was important to the Astros because he got along well with the owner and got along well with a wide range of people. He wasn't really a baseball man. Firkus was also someone that could go between Click and ownership after the owner and GM did not get along. So that was very important. The free agent signings were something that had already been discussed and agreed upon when Click was still with the Astros. Even the amounts for Montero and likely amount for Abreu were discussed. So, no single person is responsible for Montero and Abreu. Those are players that the organization wanted. At the end of the day, Crane makes the final decisions for good or bad. Jeff Bagwell, Reggie Jackson, Enos Cabell and Roger Clemens are people that Crane is friends with and talks to about baseball and gets their opinions, but from what I have been told, their control or influence is overrated. I agree with you on Cook and Ball, and Gelles as well all have backgrounds in analytics. Also, Dana Brown uses them as well. He does not sit down and mash the numbers himself, but he watches players and asks for analytical data. Brown has been the most successful scout in baseball the last half decade, he knows what he is doing when it comes to evaluating prospects, so I am not too worried about him. Gavin Dickey is supposedly someone that has a lot of pull in what the Astros do or do not do.
I hope Wagner does well but even if he hits his ceiling he would be a big step down both offensively and defensively from Bregman. Add that to the fact that Alex will get $30M next year and only has 1 year of control left so he will not bring back any meaningful player or prospect and that is a huge net negative for the Astros.
It is amazing that we should just peacefully accept that Dusty will put the worst player in MLB this season offensively and defensively into the lineup in the playoffs willingly.
It's amazing that anyone thinks we have any power over it or ability to stop it. As for peacefully accepting it? Where have you been? We have been b****ing about it all year.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/38637771/mlb-playoffs-2023-astros-dodgers-braves-division-series Only two players, Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman, remain from the 2017 team. I guess Justin Verlander was not ****ing here.
