Unless the Astros offer him a lot in his final arbitration year with a year or two of free agency on top of it..which is the only strategy I gather from not giving him a full 3 yr arbitration deal
I'm cool with this deal. Seems like it's a good way of establishing good faith with Springer and the other players, since it clearly doesn't really benefit the club from a salary perspective. The next 2 years of winning will hopefully make George want to continue with the club, and hopefully make it so that the Astros can sign a more long term deal next year to avoid free agency if they're willing to pay close to market rates. Looks like he's not a Boras client, so hopefully Luhnow will find a way to make it happen.
5 HR in 7 World Series games. .379 average. And now the pressure is off. Are you kidding me. Heart of a Champion. This is a steal. Springer is elite level talent. Just go big Astros and lock him up.
That's my point. Next year's arbitration could/would have been much higher if they hadn't signed him. I think he will go for 40 hrs and hit closer to 0.300. Until he regresses I see no reason why his career won't continue its upward trajectory.
Its possible... but rarely is his number going to go up by more than a few million, even with upward trajectory. Springer was also filing at just $10 million this year (with the Astros countering at 8), so they're giving him a big enough raise this upcoming year to entice him to guarantee the 2nd year at a fixed rate. In the end, had he won the arbitration hearing and got $10 million this year.. he'd have to get more than a 4 million bump next year for the Astros to save money on the deal. In the end, it does cut out a lot of the hassle... and as was said before, arbitration hearings are always ugly.
One thing is for sure, if he's in the starting OF for the All Star game this year, he's for real. He's gotta overcome Trout, Judge, Stanton, and Betts. And I believe he can do it. He's on that level.
