Scanning the AL, it will be interesting to see what Boston and Cleveland do this winter. They are way behind NY and Minny respectively and even significantly behind Oakland and Tampa in the WC projections. They both have stars nearing free agency and payroll issues. Would not shock me to see any of Betts, Bradley, Rodriguez, Barnes, Lindor, Kluber, Hand, or Santana traded. The Angels should be aggressive because they can get in good position by spending some money, and they would be stupid to waste their Trout/Simmons/Ohtani core (I’m also a big Heaney fan). KC, Texas, Toronto, and the White Sox don’t have playoff hopes but they can be selective buyers as they emerge from rebuilds. Seattle, Baltimore, and Detroit are all horrible and need to continue rebuilding; Bundy, Givens, Boyd, D Norris, M Fulmer, D Santana, K Seager, and M Gonzales should all be available. Right now, the Yankees are better than the Astros and the Twins and Rays will be very tough. Houston still easily controls the West though, so no reason to panic.
Not sure of this. Astros have best set of position players right now even if Stubbs is the starting catcher as Astros are better defensively and offenses are close. I'd take the JV, Greinke, and LMJ trio plus spare parts against Yankees rotation. Yankees pen isn't enough for me to say Yankees are better.
Current Astros (minus Cole) are still better than current Yankees imo (though for the rest of AL, they're 1 and 2). If they do get Cole or Strasburg AND another workhorse pitcher, then things get more interesting.
Really hard to weigh teams right now before all of the offseason acquisitions are made. Astros did open the offseason as WS favorites, but NYY is going to add some serious pieces, and together with health, could very well be the odds on favorite. That’s okay—Luhnow’s bread and butter and plan is to remain competitive over a long time span. I don’t care who opens the season as the favorite. Lets just get to the playoffs year in and year out and let the rest play out.
It’s close. Yankees have way better catching and bullpen, although I was pleased to see Stubbs/Ritchie both project to be above replacement. Astros get the nod on the infield. For now the Yankees rotation is certainly deeper, and if you expect Greinke to be in decline it’s a pretty easy pick that the Yankees are better there. I also prefer Stanton/Hicks/Judge to Tucker/Springer/Brantley, but again, it’s close.
agree, I’m not drawing any conclusions, I was just trying to analyze what each team should be doing this offseason. If Houston wants to enter the season as WS favorites they will have to add a star SP and an above average everyday catcher. But mainly I was looking at which teams might be selling those types of players.
I think we may end up resigning mostly our own guys. We honestly need this upcoming punishment to be handed out sooner rather than later. If you are a free agent are you going to the one team that is currently being smashed all over the media for cheating and might have its future jeopardized with loss of draft picks, etc? Or do you pick one of the other 29 clubs?
If I'm a pitcher I pick the club that made Morton, Verlander and Cole a lot of f**king money. People rarely leave here worse than they came in.
If you are a free agent, you really don't care if the Astros are going to lose a draft pick or two because by the time those draft picks would be contributing, your time with the Astros would be over or almost over. The Astros are a very appealing destination, very close to the top. The problem is money is even more appealing.
It's not just about the draft picks. Now rumors going around Hinch might be suspended and again, if you are a free agent that has no ties to the Astros or Houston previously do you want to inject yourself into this crap? Personally, I wouldn't. You know they will be asked as soon as they sign "so with all the cheating this team is being accused of why would you sign here?" We all know the answer is money, but who wants the added BS if you can avoid it. Zach Wheeler types are going to have lots of offers. I doubt ours will be that much higher to make it worth dealing with the extra nonsense. Well yea if we are going after 3rd tier starters you can go with that argument. Guys like Zach Wheeler, Bumgarner, etc aren't looking towards future pay days. They are cashing in NOW.. but guys that are just happy to have a job in MLB... sure, they will sign. I hope I'm wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised if this caused several free agents to cross us off their list.
Looking at the NL, the Mets, Braves, Cubs, and Dodgers are the main contenders and should all be big buyers; not sure what the Cubs are thinking if they sell. Big middle tier in the NL with Arizona, Reds, Brewers, Phillies, Pirates, Padres, Cards, and Nats all with decent rosters but all with significant concerns. Personally I think the Diamondbacks should do a full rebuild and trade Ray and Marte while they have high values. Rockies are horrible despite Arenado/Story; they desperately need to rebuild. Hoping they make Gray available as he’d be a great target for Houston. Giants are long overdue for a rebuild as well. Marlins are horrible but at least have an upward trajectory.
If the money is equal I go to the place that gives me my best chance to win and that's Houston. I seriously doubt the loss of a draft pick/picks are going to be a deciding factor in whether a FA signs with the Stros or not.
Goddammit Astros quit having negative **** come out. I just took down my “In Luhnow We Trust” plaque. Mostly, this **** is just annoying. I don’t use pro sports teams as a moral compass, I use them as a distraction from all the other stressful and negative **** in life. If following my favorite team becomes a stressor because there is a constant stream of negative press, I can’t use it as a distraction, and it becomes a negative thing in my life. At that point it doesn’t make sense to devote any time/money following/watching them. I think a lot of fans are in the same boat. I wonder how much Crane knows and how tired he is of dealing with this kind of ****. If it were me, I’m calling Luhnow in and having him empty out the closet and putting him on notice that anymore surprises will result in termination.
I believe that, but there’s a reason the Astros are being pinned as the poster children for cheating, and I don’t think it’s just jealousy from other teams. And everything is compounded by the front office’s complete inability to get in front of a single ****ing story and utter incompetence in damage control.
How in the hell were they supposed to know Mike Fiers was gonna narc on them? The response to the Taubman incident was indefensible, but as for all the other stuff being throw at them, I'm not sure what they could have done differently to curtail the s**tstorm. Right now it's the dead of the offseason, so the franchise is really up a creek with nothing to steal press.
This is going to end up one of two ways (IMO). 1) Lots of others teams have done what we did and when that surfaces, the target on our backs will be removed (mostly) 2) We did something few to no other teams did in which case the scrutiny will be deserved. Your right that there isnt much to be done now. Someone in the Astros brass knows the real truth here.
So Astros, on the last bachelor party with half the teams around the league we heard you got a BJ in the champagne room...did any other teams get the same treatment? Also, is that all that happened or did you take the stripper back to the room and do a rail off her back while banging her from behind? Sleep on the couch for a week vs divorce and half your assets.
