https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/unique...ana-browns-creative-side-as-astros-gm/sn-amp/ Kind of interesting on how they got Gage.
LMFAO You have to right click and copy the image address, not the url of the page. The image should pop up on your preview if you've embedded it correctly.
Interesting story lines to follow… Does Hunter Brown continue Houston’s ridiculous (seemingly never ending) trend of high impact rookies? He currently has the 3rd best ROY odds, even higher than Jung on TEX. Life after JV — how do Framber, Javier, Garcia, et al pitch this season? WS fatigue? Abreu and Brantley — can they stabilize the offense? Altuve — we are set if he repeats last year…but I think we all keep waiting for the age/regression bug. I wish he would utilize the whole field like he used to earlier in his career…now he’s so pull dominant. But it’s Altuve so I won’t question it. fingers crossed we stay healthy. This team/org is so exciting. Lots of good players! Even the minor league options for 25th/26th man will be interesting. Dierden anyone?
It’s guys final evolution as an age cheat to become pull hitters. Altuve ain’t never using all the field again like he used to- that’s a young man’s fast twitch game. Old guys need to cheat, get out in front and hook it. Which is cool because there’s more damage to be done pulling the ball then anything else.
So true, although with Altuve’s knowledge of the game he could become a slap hitter like Rose, Carew, and others as he gets older. I like the pull heavy approach for Altuve for a couple more years. Never underestimate the Tuve!
How will Altuve, Abreu, and Brantley age? Can Bregman return to his 18-19 form? Can Tucker get some luck and be an MVP candidate? Will Yordan stay healthy playing the field more? Is Pena a 2.5-3.5 win player, or a 4.5-6 win player? Who will be the real everyday CF and how good will they be? Can Yainer Diaz be a ROY candidate playing backup C/1B/DH? Will Hunter Brown be a ROY candidate? Will McCullers be healthy? Will Javier, Garcia, and Valdez continue to be effective or even take a step forward and be in CY contention? Will Abreu continue to be a dominant RP? Will Pressly, Neris, and Montero stay healthy/effective?
Perfectly fine explanation if I was on a laptop or a computer with a mouse. What about my mobile phone? I figured it out.
You post too much. There’s countless variables that go into and relatively dictate each season. This is the forum to discuss those story lines. Unless of course repeating as WS champs is an easy feat and foregone conclusion. Certainly news to me.
Lance is a fan favorite not only here but the local media. With that being said, I've been saying it's key for Houston to have pitching depth to absorb his time missing.
https://theathletic.com/4230583/2023/02/20/mlb-salary-arbitration-cba-tension/ […] The three-person panels’ decisions often come off as random, and their rulings are not the only measure of success in arbitration season. The vast majority of players settle before reaching the hearing stage, many with good results, some with extensions resulting from the leverage they gain through the system. But the players lost several cases in which the spreads were large — Astros right fielder Kyle Tucker got $2.5 million less than he requested, Mariners right fielder Teoscar Hernández $2 million less, Braves left-hander Max Fried $1.5 million less. And Burnes was not the only one upset with management’s approach. Rick Shapiro has represented players in arbitration since 1989, including 10 years as the head of the union’s process. The only time he remembers speaking publicly about a decision was in 2017, and that only was in response to comments by Yankees president Randy Levine. But in the wake of an arbitration panel awarding Tucker $5 million instead of the $7.5 million he requested, Shapiro did not hold back. Shapiro, one of Tucker’s representatives with Excel Sports Management, thought the panel ruled incorrectly, but that wasn’t his principal beef. What bothered him most was, at a time when MLB is introducing rules changes designed to favor all-around players, league representatives took a diametrically opposed position with Tucker, essentially arguing he needed to hit more home runs. In announcing the rules changes last September, commissioner Rob Manfred said fans “want more action, more balls in play … more of the athleticism of our great players.” Tucker, 26, hit 30 home runs, stole 25 bases and won his first Gold Glove last season. His request was for $100,000 more than Pete Alonso and $400,000 less than Vladimir Guerrero Jr. received in settlements. All three players were going through the process for the first time. Alonso is not the all-around player Tucker is. Shapiro referenced the quote from Manfred, then said, “Yet representatives of the commissioner (outside counsel and a league official) sat across the table from Kyle Tucker and said none of the tools you bring to the game, none of the athleticism, none of the base-running, none of the Gold Glove defense, none of that matters in salary arbitration. If you want to get paid at the top of the market, you need to hit home runs, and only home runs.” The $2.5 million difference between the Astros’ offer and Tucker’s request tied for the largest spread in 2023, matching Bo Bichette’s with the Blue Jays. Bichette later agreed to a three-year, $33.6 million extension. Tucker, too, might end up with a lucrative extension; Astros general manager Dana Brown has said he wants to make such a deal happen. But Shapiro was more concerned with the league’s message — the game it wants on the field is not one it wants to pay for. To which the league says: OK, let’s do something else. “During the last round of bargaining, MLB proposed replacing salary arbitration with a formulaic approach that would have paid more money to arbitration-eligible players in aggregate. That proposal was rejected,” a league spokesperson said. “We continue to believe that the salary arbitration system creates unnecessary acrimony between Clubs and players and wastes an enormous amount of time and money. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss changes to the system.” The union disputes that the league’s proposal would have paid more money to arbitration-eligible players. And the union is adamant that the current system should remain intact. “While we often disagree with individual hearing results, salary arbitration is a right that generations of players have fought for and defended despite MLB’s repeated attempts to eliminate it,” a union spokesperson said. “It empowers players who are under club control and their agents to negotiate a salary or, failing an agreement, to have an arbitration panel step in to determine that salary.” […] Tucker would have earned $8.5 million under the league’s pay-for-performance proposal, $1 million more than he requested in arbitration. But the union believes a short-term boost for individual players, or even the group as a whole, would not be worth losing the long-term ability to negotiate upward. For now, with the current CBA running through 2026, those on the players’ side have a more immediate issue — trying to figure out why they lost so many big decisions in arbitration this year. […]
I feel like the arbitration process should be an entirely written, confidential process. Both sides detail out in writing why they think their proposed salary is proper, the arbitrator reads them and makes a decision, and neither side ever gets to see the other side's arguments. Still a fair process and cuts down on the hard feelings because all the player or team ever knows if that the other side won. Edit to mention I have no idea how the process works today, but assume reps from both sides argue in person with the arbitrator listening.
