George Springer

And bringing him up in late June/early July (after the super 2 deadline) seems to be the most likely scenario, barring injury.

I don't agree with it... Just saying I'm not getting my hopes up for anything sooner.

With the holes this team has at 1st and in the OF, you'd think they'd be ecstatic to have more valuable talent at AAA ready to make their debut and draw some more fans, and give the team the best chance to win.

 

Ha, if the team is doing well and he is a big part of it in 2017, you really think he will say "yea this is cool but scr** them I'm outta here they held me back"

Really?

We live in a right now world, if the situation and money is right he will stay if it ain't he won't...and that all assumes he becomes a legit player which is far from a guarantee

It really is funny to me that some are worried if he will "stay" when he isn't even here

 

I'd rather have him here now, but how the current players are doing will have nothing to do with when he gets here.

News flash, we aren't contending this year if he is here or not

 

It shouldn't matter if this team is contending or not. They should always strive to put the best possible team on the field. I also don't expect any minor league player to be great right away.

 

Ok, I understand what you are saying. But honestly, that isn't the approach we are taking. Haven't taken that approach for a few years, it's been about tearing it completely down and building it back up.

So if you really just want the "best" we have up, whether they can compete with that or not, I get it, but expect to be disappointed. The approach we have taken is to build it for the future, and that includes the trades for prospects, the complete tear down and #1 picks, and consideration of future salary in building future mlb teams as it comes to the timing of bringing up prospects

Personally, I don't agree with everything they are doing nor do I agree with your constant rampage about how they are handling Springer. But with where we are as an organization, it would be incredibly stupid to let the performance of guys like Grossman/Krauss to have any effect at all on how they handle their top prospects

 

I'm talking about playing the prospects that are of age and ready to contribute. Stop worrying as much about arbitration and free agency years (don't ignore it and wildly promote guys... But don't stash guys either simply because of money issues while ignoring their baseball abilities).

Let the team grow at the major league level if needed. I liked what the 1991 Astros did.

 

Again Nick, I understand what you are saying. But the fact is we are looking towards the future right now as an organization, and if a guy like Springer isn't going to sign a contract that buys out arbitration and guarantees him to be incredibly wealthy, then he is going to likely be down till super 2 passes. It's not going to drastically change how good the team is now, but it might allow them to add a needed player in 2017 if the team is contending.

Comparing the current team to the 91 team or pretty much any other team in history is not really a legitimate comparison, not sure any team has ever done a complete tear down like we have. Like it or not, arbitration and free agency does matter right now, and in all honesty with how the rebuild has been done, it probably should matter. The key will be in another year or two, when we have enough talent to begin to compete, will that kind of thinking end or will it continue even when we are good. It if continues, then yea we have a problem. If it is all a part of the rebuild plan then in a few years we could very well be better off for it

 

You are really taking the romantic view with all of this.

I'm also pretty sure convincing Springer to sign the contract was in the "plan". That failed. They're unlikely to lock up the other top level guys like that as well.

 

Not much of a romantic, pretty much a realist

They locked up Altuve already. With the other top prospects, hard to say how they would react to an offer like that. If they already signed a big money deal that sets them up for life then they might be more likely to do what Springer did and try for even more. If they aren't already "lifetime rich" then for some it would be tough to turn down all those millions when none are guaranteed.

Some will take it, some won't. Springer obviously has a lot of confidence which is great. He could be unbelievably rich right now, he chose to try for more. Of course that was the "plan" and many teams use the same "plan"

 

Letting the team grow at the major league level is a really good way of destroying some of your young players. You know as well as I do that baseball is a game of confidence as much as talent. If you bring up a young guy too soon and he struggles, it could get into his head and it will set his development back significantly.

When Seattle traded for Justin Smoak, the team insisted on having him start at the major league level. He has never gotten on track. He has started off better this year than years past, but I do wonder if a year at Tacoma would have made a difference.

 

For every Smoak and Corey Patterson that gets mentioned, there are countless other players and teams that thrived via the sink or swim strategy (including the early 90's Astros, the marlins second World Series team, and the Cleveland Indians in that major league movie).

And frankly, asking them to promote a 24.5 year old former first round pick isn't exactly a stretch. Also, Smoak is still in the big leagues as an everyday player. Can't exactly say he "flamed out", and you can never presume that all these guys go on to become all-stars.

Like I said before, despite all the minor league talent the team has... There's a good chance that no more than 2 or 3 guys ever legitimately make an all-star game (let alone several other guys who will never make it in the big leagues).

 

The Astros would have won the World Series if they would have developed guys instead of using the sink or swim. Well, that's not a fact, but it can't be proven wrong either.

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10781398/jedd-gyorko-signs-contract-extension-san-diego-padres

Signing without any PT is a bigger risk, but he certainly made the right choice if the 2nd coming of Dan Uggla is worth $35M guaranteed.

 

Or that was just an awful move by the Pads.. he wasn't "worth" that (from a standpoint that there were other similar offers) given that he wasn't on the FA market. They had to make a call, and I think they offered way too much

 

So, more time in the minors would have led to being able to hit Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz and Kevin Brown?

 

Biggio had 589 PAs in the minors
Bagwell had 831 PAs

Berkman had 1238 PAs

Who knew the reason for postseason success was the difference in minor league seasoning?

 

If they had just skipped the minors we would have won many more World Series titles.

 

They legally can't keep him down for "service time" issues... its a violation of the CBA.

No surprise Luhnow, or the front office, has never come close to admitting it... they can't, and they're too smart to implicate themselves in future grievances that could result in harsh penalties against the team in regards to future draft picks, etc.

 

The team is hitting .189, OPS of .616. Singleton has an OPS of 1.151 and Springer is at 1.003. This is getting freaking ridiculous.