I hope he gets it - just not from the Astros. He is ideal as a utility player. He isn’t good at SS anymore and his bat isn’t anything special. I would rather spend that money elsewhere, especially if they can get Gurriel to play any outfield.
Boras is going to have a hard time selling Marwin at 10 million plus per season when Eduardo Escobar was locked up for 7 million per year for 3 years yesterday. Escobar is a switch hitter that plays multiple infield positions and his offensive numbers were better than Marwin's in pretty much every category this season. Plus they are the same age.
They have financial limits. If he can fill out the bullpen and maybe a rotation spot internally, it gives him more more to pursue a higher end player in FA. Also internally plugging holes cause a cascading effect...successfii filling a hole gives you a player under long term control. I could see possibly a free agent starter if we lose Morton and a catcher and/or veteran bat like Cruz/Brantley/Murphy... with the rest of the holes filled internally. Imagine Ramos behind the plate hitting 8th with someone like Cruz hitting 6th and Tucker/Kemp 9th.
No thank you on what? Wasn't advocating Bauer...or Corbin for that matter. The question was about Corbin's skill. And I responded with my thoughts and a comp I had going into last season (and even going into 2017 felt the same about both). To say, I don't think either one is a fluke. Doesn't mean anything about me wanting them on this team.
Corbin to the Yankees... he is a life long fan and they are after him like white on rice. Moving on. Andrew Miller, Marcus Stroman and Sonny Gray. Would love to get all three and let Strom have at it.
I don’t want Gray as the 3rd starter, but if they could get him without giving up much, I really like him as a BoR reclamation project.
I don't want to minimize the impact Marwin Gonzalez has had; he has arguably the most important home run in franchise history; was terrific all last year and was very good in this postseason. BUT... Utility players are far more dime-a-dozen-ish, and I'd rather take a step back, production-wise (although Marwin was not great this season), if it means allocating that money to more critical aspects. I'm very comfortable with Gurriel/Kemp taking over Marwin's role.
Not really, if anything this helps Marwin by eliminating possible competition. Absolutely no clue why Escobar settled for such a team friendly deal. The market will easily bear more guaranteed money than that. The yearly average may not be much higher, but only 3 years at such a low number is chump change. Utility guys that can have adequately productive bats are huge for a contender as team safety nets. (we never expect Marwin to be a regular, but he always does out of necessity) I never expected Marwin to be in the huge numbers, I too would be surprised if he gets much over 10 million.
Gurriel does create a quandry. I'm, not sure if he's good enough to a be a regular 1B anymore, but he's still owed 19 million dollars. If we add a proven hitter and move him to a utility role, I think he can help the team even if he can't get back to his 2017 power. If we have him, retain Marwin and go after another big bat along with White, he does start to feel like dead weight on a 13 man roster.
I was just being facetious, I can't pass up on an opportunity to call him Tyler. Please disregard, haha!
If they add a proven bat, Gurriel, Kemp and Marwin become redundant, IMO. Kemp is the easy keep because of his age/salary. If they were both free agents, I'd choose Marwin over Gurriel (younger, more versatile) - but, yeah- we're stuck with Gurriel (which isn't a bad thing; he's certainly not a terrible hitter).
Gray has an arbitration estimate of 9.1 million dollars. I don't see the Astros taking the chance on him for that much money. I expect Gurriel to bounce back this season and be a 20hr guy and close 100 RBIs. That surgery on his hand at the beginning of the season is known for causing a reduction in power.
I don’t think they’ll blink at paying Sonny Gray just slightly more than they paid Joe Smith last season if they think Gray can get back to the solid #2 SP he was in 2014-15. He put up 1.7 fWAR in 2018, so even in a down year he was worth ~$13M. Wouldnt be at all surprised to see Gray go back to Oakland.
Gurriel I can imagine as an exceptional role player -- he brings some positional flexibility, and generally has the clutch gene -- makes for a dangerous PH at any point.
