I’m wanting to know how long Brown signed for. With Click’s 1-year extension offer (and previous contracts), I’d like to see what kind of commitment Crane made to Brown. Haven’t seen that reported anywhere yet.
I suspect we are holding the last spot for Yuli if he can't find more money and playing time elsewhere. We can do a lot worse with our 40th spot than a guy who has been an absolute hero in our two world series titles despite his regression.
At this point if Yuli can’t find a big league deal anywhere else I would rather them hire him as a special player dev assistant and tell him to stay in shape, and if Houston suffers a significant injury at 1B, 2B, or 3B then sign him to a minor league deal and let him get in rhythm and call him up. No need to have him languishing on the bench playing twice a week sitting the bench when he doesn’t have much defensive or baserunning value.
I have the same opinion of sycophants who cannot see imperfections. No person, other than Jesus Christ, is perfect. Take a rational look at strengths and weaknesses. Trashing your owner isn't good and it doesn't matter whether it's deserved or not.
I am certain Crane has been building a list of things he wants done when he has a GM in place. No doubt his first move comes from that list. The first move he initiates will be in distinguishable from those moves till we know him better.
From The Athletic on Tuesday Another curiosity in the free-agent market is the continuing availability of three accomplished left-handed relievers — Zack Britton, Andrew Chafin and Matt Moore. In the view of one executive, the expectations for those pitchers changed after the Phillies awarded Matt Strahm a two-year, $15 million deal in early December. “That deal destroyed the market,” the exec said.
I understand that Click did much less than a typical GM does in 3 yrs. I understand that the talent Luhnow complied and culture he instilled were major reasons that the Astros were able to win the 2022 World Series. That said, it's crazy how little credit and respect that this group gives Click. Just because a player was in the Astros organization in 2019 does not mean that he is guaranteed to be on the Astros team in 2022. The majority of the players on the 2022 team either joined after 2019, resigned after 2019 when they could have gone elsewhere, or made the team / remained on the team when Click could have traded/released/ or just left them in the minors. Bryan Abreu was bad in 2020 and 2021. How easy would it have been to give up on him? Click made that choice. David Hensley was a 26th rd draft pick who was striking out 23.5% of the time and yet to hit 10hr in the minors going into his 5th year. Click could have moved on or decided he's a non prospect. Aledmys Diaz was due a big raise in arbitration after another injury filled year. Click could have non tendered him or traded him. These are just some examples of gray area players that are being given credit to Luhnow but Click had major choices in whether they were on the 2022 Astros or not.
Click has gotten appropriate amounts of credit for the players he actually acquired and what he oversaw in terms of team-building/improvement... but what you just posted above is a bit of a reach. You don't need to give him extra credit for "doing nothing" on players that had very little trade value. He does get credit for not trading Javier/Garcia/Urquidy/Valdez when they had more value, even though he didn't acquire any of them. By this logic also, Luhnow gets full credit for Springer/Altuve/Keuchel... even though he didn't acquire any of them.
So I wonder if Dana is going to be just inheriting the brain trust that’s already in place or will he be making his own hires to some top positions. As has been discussed I’d love it if he brought Mike Fast with him.
My point is that outside of a few players who had already established themselves as of 2020 and were controlled through 2022, neither should get "full credit" But Luhnow should get SOME credit for keeping those guys and not trading them away because they very easily could have become part of the teardown and replaced with new, Luhnow acquisitions.
What interests me most is determining where Dana is different than his predecessor and how that difference translates into action. I am also interested in his baseball philosophy(s) and point of view. Not sure how much or often we will see this part given Crane's rather heavy handedness. Something will stand out at some point I think though. The Dana/Dusty dynamic could prove interesting also. The above shouldn't take too long to begin to see. What will take longer is how savvy his gambles turn out to be.
As long as you stay consistent. By this logic, Dana Brown now may get the same credit for players Click acquired the last 2 years when he doesn't trade them away and they turn into studs on his watch. I think its just easier not to over-think the calculus on where credit is applied. Click did maintain the excellence that Luhnow firmly established. Will remain to be seen if his draft picks or international signees turn into something that can be fully applied to his legacy, just like others are applying Luhnow's acquisitions to his.
