If Click recommended and/or approved and/or agreed with a 3/$35MM deal for Montero, maybe we're better off without him - because on no planet was that a remotely smart offer.
His second half was fools gold. He hit a few home runs with men on base at the end of the season to boost his September OPS and RBI total. You might say it doesn’t matter how you get there, but he was clearly still struggling in the 2nd half with getting on base and hitting consistently . He did have a good series in the playoffs in the first round. Nothing about his 2nd half ever convinced me that he had turned it around. He still looked awful in most of his at bats. And while Abreu’s September 2023 OPS is likely higher than what we will get this September at 1B, I don’t think his performance that month is worth killing for. Plus we will get much better production in August this year than Abreu gave us last year.
Sign a big contract, don't perform, get cut, go home, and still get paid. Sounds like a deal to me. Intentional?
I guess the Astros brass decided they could no longer fix what was ailing Montero pitching. seems like a cool dude. But the Astros are being stretched thin, and they have to be able to rely on the pitchers they put on the mound. The Astros have had to eat two mammoth contracts in the likes of Jose Abreu and Montero, both with 1 1/2 year remaining (but the players were so bad, it’s unjustified). Hopefully the folks who handed out those contracts won’t be able to have that type of sway any more.
Never liked Montero. When I think of him, I think of severely "blown" games, like walking in the winning run.
It was in that range. He had signed Pedro Baez the year before as well, if I remember correctly. He also extended McCullers as well. Click wasn’t a bad GM. However he also wasn’t quite as great as some seem to believe. I would hire him if I were a team like the A’s or Marlins or even a mid market team.
They have tried to fix him - they know what is wrong with him. They have told him and they have asked him. He needs to be humbled and let the dugout or catcher call his pitches.
There are a fair number of baseball players that refuse to make adjustments or change. That is why Frances Martes isn’t in the big leagues for example. The Astros have a few guys like that. Framber is someone that has to be humbled every once in awhile too… Hader has that reputation too… it took Verlander getting his brains beat in for a couple years to embrace that sometimes you need to listen to people smarter than you. Too much ego- saw Abreu struggle with it with Astros. He ultimately listened to the coaches but everything had to be done with kid gloves. It is why I appreciate Pressly, he goes to his coaches and teammates and will say “I suck - you got any ideas to help me?” and he will buy into them… it’s also why he has survived so many career enders. Humility - unless you are Michael Jordan, you need it - even Babe Ruth was humbled and adjusted his swing.
Probably isn’t - but this is the last play the Astros have….. listen to Miller and Murphy and get used to it in AAA or go and fail somewhere else, because he is a waste of time now.
He can thank the timing of his ascension, that he was part of the most dominant post season pen in 100 years- winning a title, relievers getting bigger paydays and a front office and owner that wanted to keep all of them together. He hasn’t earned his money but his contract on its own isn’t a killer - it’s have Abreu, McCullers and Montero…. If we only had 2 of the 3, we would have another near star on the team most likely.
Hopefully he learns to trust the catcher and not be predictable. Gains confidence and comes back up and be solid again whether it's this year or next year.
