He's talking about the Dodgers being the Buffalo Bills of MLB. Make it to the World Series and lose over and over again.
I never said Straw straight up over Pollock, you missed the point. You see him as a stud, fine, I don't. Personally attendance is part of the grade to me and he gets a D- in attendance on account of the last 3 season he has averaged 79 games played, last thing I want the Astros to invest in is a 4 year deal with a 30 year old above average hitter. The thought has been the Astros have about +/- $12 million to play with unless they can move some salary off the current roster. Maybe he outplays his deal with the Dodgers but I seriously doubt we will look back at this signing as Lunhow screwed up and should have given Pollock 4 years $55 million to move to Houston instead of LA. As far as Straw goes since you aren't inside the organization I'll ignore your "bench player" assessment. He maybe, but the kid has hit at every level and can run like nobody else. The little I have seen he gets a decent jump on the ball and hits his throws. Many great minds though Altuve was going to be a average to below average MLB player.
If you assume Straw won’t be able to add a ton more power than he has already shown (which means he will never hit 10+ HR in a mlb season), and that speed is a big part of his game, it gets real hard to find someone who fits his profile that went on to be a good big league everyday player. Go look at players who stole 20+ bases but hit <10 HR last season; only 1 was a good player (Mallex Smith). Speed is a nice tool to have and it usually means a player has defensive value. And Straw also has a great arm for CF. But without enough power to keep defenses honest, players like him (who rely on speed to get on base) almost always end up as bench guys. Altuve was a middling player his first 2.5 years in the majors until he had a pretty dramatic (considering his build and minor league track record) increase in power profile. Anyone counting on that from Straw is extremely likely to end up disappointed.
I just don’t see how you can expect anything significant from Straw long term. It’s 2019 and the trends are not in Straws favor. Everyone’s moving away from plastic straws to paper straws. It’s a mess. Straw is not a good investment moving forward.
Lol. @LonghornFan I saw "MLB" and "Buffalo Bills of the early 90's" and was trying to figure out where Marvcus Patton fit into this conversation..
Justin Verlander: $25,714,286 Michael Brantley: $16,000,000 Josh Reddick: $13,000,000 George Springer: $12,000,000 Yuli Gurriel: $9,500,000 Jose Altuve: $23,357,143 Joe Smith: $7,500,000 Roberto Osuna: $6,500,000 Collin McHugh: $5,800,000 Hector Rondon: $4,250,000 Will Harris: $4,225,000 Lance McCullers Jr.: $4,100,000 Brad Peacock: $3,110,000 Ryan Pressly: $2,900,000 Jake Marisnick: $2,212,500 Payment from Detroit Tigers: -$8,000,000 Arbitration-eligible players: $18,612,500 – includes Gerrit Cole, Carlos Correa, and Chris Devenski Club-control: $3,450,000 40-man players-minors: $2,250,000 Est. player benefits: $14,500,000 Projected 40-man CBT payroll: $176,731,429 Borrowed this from https://climbingtalshill.com/2019/01/25/breaking-astros-current-2019-payroll/
No sense in pursuing Marwin. Keuchel makes sense, for the right price, but I'd like us to invest elsewhere.
I beg to differ. Marwin is invaluable and a proven clutch postseason hitter. It cannot be overstated how important he was to postseason success in 2017 and even 2018 despite the series loss to Boston.
Morton was an "invaluable and proven clutch postseason" pitcher. Where's he at now? Bottom line on Marwin...where would he fit on our roster? Springer Bregman Altuve Correa Brantley Gurriel Reddick White Chirinos Stassi Diaz Marisnick/Kemp
I think there’s plenty of sense in Marwin. Astros have two LH bats in the starting lineup, having a guy who can play all over the infield and LF makes it easy to plug in a third on any given day, plus he can handle the bat well enough for DH duty on occasion. The best left handed bat on the market and the player that provides Hinch with the most versatility and options. Clubhouse leader w/ Altuve through the bad and great years. Astros are a tight group and he’s one of the most respected. I think Astros will carry 13 position players and this will spell the end of Marisnick or Kemp or White in an Astros uni. Lock up Marwin & Keuchel and that’s a pretty great offseason with upgrades at C & LF and healthy versions of Altuve & Correa C Chirinos, Stassi IF Gurriel, Altuve, Bregman, Correa, White, Marwin, Diaz OF Reddick, Springer, Brantley, Marisnick/Kemp/Tucker. Marwin & Diaz LF Options. SP Verlander, Cole, Keuchel, McHugh, James RP Osuna, Pressly, Devo (v.2), Rondon, Peacock, LHRP spot Valdez or C. Perez, Harris/Guduan/Martes/J.Smith (later on). Maybe Whitley comes up, dominates and pushes McHugh back to the pen or James (hope he takes a big step forward too)
If they carried 13 pitchers with the starting staff we had last year, what makes you think they will only carry 12 with this years version?
