Well...we’re setting up for a truly bizarre/crazy FA market, especially with the CBA agreement coming to a halt soon. I don’t think the players and owners could be farther apart, and the league has done little to meld the differences. As seen from the offseason to date, it’s clear that owners will “collude” to some degree and are just not going to offer amounts tendered from previous years. MLB players have had the best set up by far (when compared to professional athletes from NFL, NBA, etc.), with no cap and fully guaranteed contracts. I think that reality is going to set in and previous offers will not be offered. George is unfortunately setting up to be *really* disappointed, and his ill-will towards HOU is just going to get worse. I feel terrible for him, he got duped my HOU’s service management scheme, and because of COVID, could easily lose ~50mil in guaranteed money. This will be a bargain bin offseason, and the players are going to be pitted against themselves like we’ve never seen before. I’m interested to see how Click handles it.
Chris Archer a free agent after Pitt declined an $11M option on him. Think he's worth a shot on a 1 year deal? Can Strom work his magic on a former ace? He sat out 2020 after undergoing TOS surgery so...not sure if he'll be able to turn it around
Astros picked up Raley’s $2M option. Pitching staff has 11 spots locked in: Greinke, McCullers, Valdez, Urquidy, Javier, Pruitt, Raley, Taylor, Smith, Paredes, and Pressly. Scrubb has a strong argument to be the 12th guy, with Garcia also having a case that he belongs in the majors. I believe Frances Martes and Cionel Perez may be out of options. I expect Houston to use their young pitching to trade to fill other holes.
Yes. I think this is the exact right guy. Original Charlie Morton style deal. Obviously this failed with Aaron Sanchez via trade, and was kinda neutral with Wade Miley. As much as I love Strom, it's good to remember it doesn't always work out. But I'm in, 2 years, incentive-laden and team option style. Also, Click knows Archer well..
Is there anything to read into this? Maybe... -Want money to spend elsewhere? -What Yoni said? -We are in major spending decline? Anyone shocked or surprised?
Use the money that Brantley made to pay for a OF like JBJ and a backup catcher. I don’t think Maldonado can make it through a full season playing 90% of the games.
I am ok with spending the money elsewhere if it regains us the offensive production lost by letting Brantley go. While Reddick's offensive production should be pretty easy to replace, Brantley's, not so much. We are probably looking for 2 OF, not 1. Totally agree about Maldy.
If Astros offered Brantley a QO, i think he would accept it. Astros can probably knock off 4-5 mil of that if he’s on next years team.
I don't think Brantley is back next season. He missed 14 games with all his little nagging injuries. In 26 of the 46 games he played in he was the DH. With Yordan coming off the knee surgeries I don't expect him to be able to play the outfield much at all. It will be tough to keep Brantley and Alvarez in the lineup when they both need to be at DH so much.
Has there been any indication that Brantley would want to come back? Can't recall any strong comments on whether or not he has enjoyed his time playing for Houston. Also wonder if he would feel that not getting a QO is an insult or not.
By "little nagging injuries" do you mean he got Joe Kelly'd? As an aside, I would understand if Brantley doesn't want to be here because he feels he got hurt by a guy with a bone to pick over something he had absolutely nothing to do with.