Pence back then was under team control for more years, and he cost way less, that's a huge factor in the low return by the giants. Plus pence wasn't even worth Singleton, Cosart, Santana....we owned them
PTBNL possibilities from the Sox and Jays Some really, really intriguing names listed there. Hoping for John Stilson and Jared Mitchell.
The Astros should claim cliff lee off waivers. Some writers have surmised that the phillies might just let him go to a waiver claim because of his potential remaining 100+million dollar contract. He might not be 26 million a year good but, he even in a down year, this year he'll still be worth 3-4 wins over replacement. If the phillies pull him back; no loss. If they let hin go Houston could then either keep him to anchor and mentor a young staff ( they could definite afford in their payroll) or, maybe even better, could eat a part of his remaining salary and trade him in the offseason or next year for prospects. The second scenario would be like effective buying prospects. Because of the new draft and international signing caps, and because the Astros payroll should be around 20 million, I think this would make since for them.
If he gets placed on irrevocable waivers, then it's something to consider. But to put in a waiver claim on him while he's on revocable waivers is *******-ish. That would basically be putting a waiver claim for the right to negotiate a trade with Philly; something we have no intention of doing. All it would do is block other teams from the opportunity to negotiate a trade with Philly.
It's not just the right to negotiate a trade. The right to trade only occurs if he's pulled off waivers from his current team after the claim. If they don't pull him off waivers then he would go to the Astros without Houston having to trade anyone. That's what happen with Alexis Rios a couple years ago. It's interesting because it's been reported that if claimed they might not pull him back. That may not be the case but there is little downside to claiming him in the Astros situation.
True. I just think it'd be a little silly to put a claim on him at this junction. I'm certain he'll be claimed otherwise.
Maybe none of this is even possible (sorry, MLB GM'ing is not my strong suit), but if I'm Jeff Luhnow, I would be calling GMs left and right over the next couple of weeks, just as those GMs have placed their players on revocable waivers, and engage them in trade talks. With the top waiver priority, the Astros could make a claim to pretty much any player. This allows Luhnow the opportunity to have the attention of other GMs during this post-waiver trade period. If he can get Jim Crane on board, Luhnow should try to work a couple of trades in which he essentially "buys" some mid-level prospects. The Astros could agree to take on some moderately bloated (but not obscene) salaries of contracts that are either expiring or maybe have another year on them for competent-but-not-stellar major league players, offering some lower-priced major leaguers in return. The price for taking on that extra salary: a mid-level prospect. I'm not talking about getting an A-level future franchise player here. Maybe another couple of top-21-30 prospects to restock the club (maybe a top-11-20 prospect if the money goes beyond this season). If all it costs is a little extra payroll for the next two months, I can't see why that wouldn't be an avenue that Luhnow and Crane explore. But maybe that's just me.
Most GMs that want to get rid of bloated contracts just dump the player, nothing else. I don't think they would give up a prospect when they could just dump it and not give or receive anything
Add to that dealing with teams close to us in standings like Colorado, Cubs and San Diego could be almost as easy as before the deadline with players not needing to go unclaimed for very far on either side. Maybe a deal with the padres where we take on Nick Hundley and/or Cameron Maybin, I think both players could raise their stock with a change of scenery, especially Hundley who's dead pull power would play up at MMP. Its hard to say if Maybin's deal is bad money yet, but Hundley is playing in AAA Tucson and Yasmani Grandal has taken over as their catcher of the future. I also like Kyle Blanks as a reclamation project. Maybe something like, Brian Bogesevic, Jordan Schaffer and Fernando Abad for Hundley, Maybin, Blanks, Donovan Tate, and Keyvius Sampson.
They did this already yes? The various trades that included money (lee/myers/wandy/etc) were essentially buys on prospects. Or am I off?
yes and know. We sent money in all our recent trades to help cover outgoing players contracts. But that money was more or less already spent. Getting him to pick up new future commitments especially those that are viewed as bad contracts, will be a different bridge to cross. Luhnow has stated payroll will start with a 5 next year, so there is definetly some money to spend.
Do you think the Astros would have gotten anything of value in return if they hadn't thrown in large amounts of money?
I doubt that happens. Luhnow is good but you're proposing something has basically never happened outside of basketball. Any team needing to shed a bad contract that badly probably needs to hold on to their prospects too.
No absolutely not. but my point was at the time, that money was already on the balance sheet. Crane was already prepared to spend it. It shows he is willing to accept a few b- level prospects are worth more money to us than carlos lee. Taking on a bad contract that he wasnt already prepared to pay could be a completely different animal. But I think it is an interesting idea, i wouldnt give it much thought if Luhnow hadnt already made the statements about next years payroll being that high. I could see the Padres going for a deal like that it saves them around 30 million. The prospects I singled out were hypothetical. Neither of them figure to be top 5 prospects for Padres next year and Tate is going to have a tough time cracking top 20 for them. Tate in particular seems like the kinda guy Luhnow is targeting. Former high draft pick with alot of tools. Reminds me of another Houston GM...yikes
I think we should trade a PTBNL/cash for a guy with Jordan Schafer type production, but is almost 29...
