Astros got good value back in Huff. It sucks he was viewed as a rental and no real effort was made to bring him back. The Astros got 68 games, and used him primarily at 3rd base until Morgan Ensberg could return to the lineup, at which point he headed to the outfield. Huff did enough to warrant a 3 year 20 million contract. And Huff went on to become an all star. A lifetime .808 OPS with 242 HRs, means Astros got good value for Zobrist, they just didn't resign Huff the way they should have done.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sources: Braves and Astros talked mega-deal for Freddie Freeman. Column on Atlanta and how to rebuild the right way: <a href="https://t.co/IUL7pXvOkz">https://t.co/IUL7pXvOkz</a></p>— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/667116743253430272">November 18, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Freeman-to-Astros talks died quickly, and since then Braves have vowed not to deal Freeman. Speaks to how public pressure affected them.</p>— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/667117642952663040">November 18, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I have a feeling this won't be the last time we hear about the two clubs talking about a Freeman deal.
Surely would have been a package with at least Reed and Velasquez going to Atlanta (and most likely another one or two high level prospects). And I would have been 100 percent down for it.
why didnt we go after krod, the return they got wasnt crazy.We easily could've gotten him for a kemp + filler type of deal. disappointed.
hard to know this early. depends what else they have in the works. I'd wait for more things to happen before being disappointed at the 1st or 2nd
yeah we cant pay 9.5 mil for a guy that has one of the best changeups in the game and had a era of under 2.5
I'm guessing that means Atlanta likely wanted not only our best prospects but for the Astros to absorb Freeman's entire contract. too.
I still don't know if Atlanta is truly trying to cut payroll or if they're trying to get prospects. You wouldn't think they're in a bad position, financially.... they're about to move to a cash-cow stadium deal where they'll own everything. They don't have a problem with giving out these big deals to begin with. If its truly about re-stocking the farm, they're going to have to "purchase" prospects (via absorbing the a lot of the large contracts they handed out).
I don't think they 100% know either. Teams around the league look at the Astros and Cubs quick re-builds and want to mimic them, but like the the GM of the Reds said, most market's can't pull it off without alienating the fanbase. The Braves, in particular, have just set the expectations too high for many of their fans. They bred a culture of sustained excellence which is completely counter to the Astros bottom-out method. (sidenote: I'd love it if the Astros fanbase developed those expectations). As an Astros fan who lived in ATL for 5 years, it's ironic to watch them throw away the 'Braves way' to emulate a team who they thought themselves better than for decades.
Agreed with everything... except for the notion that the Astros re-build was "quick" (especially when you consider that most feel they're still ahead of schedule). Have the Braves not drafted well? I presume they lost picks from the Upton signing, and the Uggla trade didn't work out well for them. But they seemed to have a decent club-controlled and prime years-extended core in place... perhaps they're really trying to emulate the Mets model (more more more young pitching), and the only way to do that is to purchase those prospects from other teams.
The only bad contract they really have is the $33 owed to Markakis, and maybe Olivera who is still an unknown.
Isn't that contradictory? Astros rebuild is considered quick because it happened faster than most expected. From where they started, what resources they had in the majors and minors, the lack of money from a TV deal, this was especially quick. The Astros sacrificed a lot of wins to get to the playoffs faster than they should have.
I'd say they 'officially' started the actual rebuild when Luhnow was hired. Their first season under him was 2012. Given that scenario, 3 years would probably be considered quick.
The result was quick, yes... but the overall strategy was designed/expected to be closer to 5 years.... which was more my stance (in regards to other teams trying to replicate/emulate). As many have said, if Luhnow expected them to contend last year... they probably would have had a slightly different approach last off-season. Granted, I was pleased they accelerated things once they realized it was working that well/that fast.
Was mainly referring to the article that implied that they wanted another team to take on Freeman's owed money... they weren't going to get any sort of good deal or prospects for him with that approach (let alone the fan backlash that appeared to have killed any chances of dealing him anyways).
