If there ever was a time to go over the tax next year would be the time. Matthews/Baez/Melton should definitely be ready by 2026.
Don't get the wrong idea, it's possible Snake did, that I think budgetary constraints don't exist. My whole point is that the only budgetary constraints hindering the Astros are self-imposed. I don't want to hear "can't afford..." ever again. Maybe you *shouldn't afford* playerX, but it doesn't mean you can't.
Yrs, but the way it is designed, the more consecutive years you are above it the more you pay, international bonus money you lose, and draft pucks you lose as penalties. At some point, every team needs to take a season and duck back under it - every team.
In that case, since I believe Houston “should” spend all they “can” afford, and since clearly Buck is correct and there’s no limit to what the Astros “can” afford, the Astros should have about a $400M payroll next year. Lineup is gonna be dope with Soto, Adames, Walker, and Bregman all in it next to Altuve, Tucker (who has been extended), Alvarez, and Diaz.
All budgetary constraints are self imposed. The NFLs salary cap is imposed by the owners. I'm sure the players would happily agree to getting rid of it. The main difference is that NFL and NBA owners have devised a system that minimizes the whining by fans while getting the money they want. MLB is about making the owners money. When a team can't afford a player....it is they can't afford a player such that the owner makes the amount of money he wants to make. When an NFL or NBA team can't afford a player because of cap situation...it is the same thing except the owners decided how much they would make in the CBA. There are exceptions of course as the richest teams probably would spend above a cap....though these teams aren't like most MLB teams that have tighter self imposed budgets.
SIAP Miguel Ullola was promoted to AAA and made his first appearance. FB was up to 96, sat 95. He walked 4 but only gave up 2 hard hit balls in 73 pitches. He is still on the Bryan Abreu path. I really like how the AAA rotation is shaping up to start next season with Blubaugh, Gordon, Gusto, Ullola, France, Kouba, and Brown.
I think Ullola will be a starter long term. He will likely struggle at first but his talent is strong and he has the make up to start.
Honestly? We should sign Juan Soto if we could get him for something like 12/500. I’d probably even do 10/500. Maybe 12/600. That’s if the plan is to let Framber, Bregman and Tucker walk. Soto, canna and Kicuchi for 3/48. Your pitching is in really good shape on short money through 2028, your lineup is deadly in 25 and still very very good in 26-28. That’s a 5 year plan to be on the top shelf of World Series contenders. If the team doesn’t develop such that you aren’t contenders anymore after 29 Soto will still have value and you can eat the remainder that’s underwater.
Nah. My opinion is that the unfair reality is that only the very top revenue teams should even consider $300M+ contracts. Thats really just LAD and NYY, maybe the Mets. They are in another tier that Houston just isn’t in. Now, if Crane is in the last 2-3 years of his ownership and all he cares about is getting another ring and doesn’t mind destroying a lot of the value of his franchise before he sells, then **** it, it’s his money, lay it down.
I don’t see how that would be a destruction of value. You would have to walk me through that. I mean/ yeah if he sucks sure, but that’s about as close to a sure thing as exists in this sport in Soto.
There’s inordinate risk in contracts that large, and the risk is backloaded. If Crane gives Soto $500M, then sells the team in 3 years, it is extremely likely that he will be selling a team with an enormous albatross contract on its books. The underwater value of that contract will detract from the value of the team when he sells. Even if Soto performs really well from 2025-2028, and Houston wins another ring or two, Soto’s contract will still likely be looked at as underwater because those contracts are intentionally structured to pay less than true value on the early years and overpay in later years. Crane might capture the value, because he might get what he wants (another ring), but he will be trading future value to get it.
That is lunacy, even IF you subscribe to the $10M/WAR nonsense, which any real statistician shouldn't (because it is a horribly skewed distribution and statistics 101 teaches you to use normal distributions; thus taking a mean from a non-normal distribution is dumb). The median $/WAR is probably closer to $5-7M/WAR. If you're paying more, you effed up your free agency, or you are the Yankees or Dodgers.
