Back with those moves the farm system was actually fairly good. How long do you think that can continue with the below average state of the farm system? They had the option to retain their leader, a top FA, for just money but now (in my scenario that you replied to) they'll continue to worsen their farm system with a trade
We don't know what the state of the farm system is, everybody was claiming it was poor once Yordan and Tucker came up, and yet we have rebuilt the entire rotation. You don't know if they had the option or not because you don't know if Carlos gave them that right. We have replenished the farm system twice now since Altuve and Correa came up and if the team is still good to great we have plenty of time to replenish like any other team would. And none of this takes away from my initial post to you.
Hope you're right on Pena being a good option. Heard he's more defense oriented right? Decent but not great bat?
It will be interesting to see how the increased bonus pool for pre arb players and higher Arbitration awards affects the salary cap numbers. Does Bonus pool money not paid by the club still count toward salary cap? How much would Tucker have received last year if it had been in place? I'm really lost since Cots sold out and the information is getting sketchy on details with the new owner. Like seeing the MLB Rule 5 draft was cancelled and then finding out it was only for THIS SEASON and not forever. Those sketchy details are important. And somehow we will get a compensation pick for losing Correa, but Minnesota won't lose a pick. The devil is in the details.
He’s got serious swing and miss/K issues in the minors. I always bet against those guys. Springer did too and he overcame them, but that’s the exception rather than the rule.
I think the Astros' offense will backslide in 2022, unfortunately. I struggle to see Gurriel and Brantley repeating their offensive production this season, as they are both getting up there in age. Brantley's slugging percentage has fallen off since 2019. We had almost a completely healthy season from Yordan Alvarez in 2021, which we may not be able to count on this season. The Correa for Pena swap is almost assuredly going to take us backwards this season... although Correa's production was weak in 2018 and 2020 so if the trend held, he was due for a lower-production year in 2022. On the positive side, I expect Bregman to be much better in 2022, and I think Jake Meyers can be a stud once he regains his health. I'd like to see Korey Lee given some playing time, which should also represent an offensive improvement over Maldonado. We may need to make a move at the trade deadline for another bat.
His k-rate is way better than Springer. His Bb:k ratio wasnt good in AAA, but it was 30 games coming off injury and skipping AA.
Just looking position by position, the offense could feasibly be better. Could also be worse, but I don't think there's and clear way to lean. Correa posted a .850 OPS, Bregman posted a .777, and Diaz posted a .721. While it feels unlikely Pena could hit .850 this season, Bregman certainly could. We ultimately got a .731 OPS out of 3rd base, and it is extremely feasible Pena and Diaz could beat that. If (big if)Bregs can have a bounce back season, our aggregate production from SS/3B could actually be improved, or at least very close. I don't think Yuli can replicate his results, but otherwise I see us being as good, maybe better at the other positions. I think Yordan could actually be quite a bit better, despite his numbers already being pretty awesome.
Lol Not true. This is the second year in a row we let a superstar walk for nothing. Yes, we survived the CF rotation in place of Springer and went to the WS. You can’t keep doing that yearly and expect to keep going. Also two of the best playoff performers of all time The other side of your argument is we are coming off our 3rd WS in 5 years and cut the budget
What's not true? Who said we have to continue to do anything? Coming off of our 3rd WS and cutting the budget has nothing to do with my argument or the conversation.
I like it, but Gurriel was getting up in age before last seasons Batting Title. I'll wait for the production to fall before I get concerned. Something happened with Brantley. He fell off dramatically in August. If it was something temporary, he'll be OK. But if not, we'll find out pretty quick by seeing more of the utility guys out there.
I've seen this mentioned quite a few times. I get not wanting to let him walk, I'm not happy about it either, but what were we supposed to get? Should we have traded him at the deadline last season, is that what people are implying when they say that.
I am saying that our off-season was not the typical Astros off-season. If we typically lost a superstar every year in the off-season we would not be great This is, however, the second year in a row we have done so. I’m sorry man but that’s not a good direction
No I’m not saying that We kept them because we knew we had a shot to win it all again, didn’t happen but can’t argue with that I am saying there were other guys on the market who could have improved us in a pretty big way and we did nothing. If you continue to let superstars leave for nothing and only try to replace them through your system, chances of being a true contender for much longer go down drastically. We are not Tampa Bay. We are a major market that supports the team tremendously. I almost wonder if Crane is planning to sell soon
3rd year in a row we've lost a superstar. 4th year if you wanna count losing CFM and Keuchel after 2018. We've been losing extremely good players every offseason for a while now, and we're still projected to be one of the best teams in baseball. I never, ever expected Springer, Correa, or Cole to still be Astros this season. The situation we lost Correa in is frustrating, but I always assumed they were goners at this point. The franchise has and will continue to selectively retain, we chose Verlander, Altuve and Bregman. Moving forward we may have to choose between Tucker and Yordan. The key is to continue getting production from the farm. It's not a sign of doom.
Of all the MLB catchers with 175+ plate appearances, Jason Castro was 6th in OPS. So, Korey Lee would need to be an offensive upgrade over Castro.
I don’t consider losing Keuchel losing a superstar, even though he was one of my favorites Personally, I’m very disappointed we are cutting salary and leaving 30 million under the cap while most of our legit competitors have improved greatly Everyone doesn’t agree and that’s fine. I hope Peña and Myers/Chas are superstars and we have no drop off. I hope the pen didn’t need upgrades and they can dominate with what they have. I hope Odorizzi works out and him and Dusty can coexist. I hope we don’t miss Strom like I fear we will. I’m just not impressed with the work of Click to this point. Hope I’m wrong. Good chance we still make the playoffs this year, especially with them being expanded. If we get in we always have a chance
Why do you think they'll just leave 30 million in luxury tax space unused? They'll give extension to Tucker or Alvarez with that money I suspect. Probably Tucker since he doesn't really have injury history.
