I don't think so. I would not have dealt Acuna for Max while taking on that amount of money. They have a tight window and have pressure because Seager and Semien are about to become 2 of the 5 worst contracts in baseball. They still don't have a #1 starter. Their offense is built like the Yankees, relying on homeruns and walks. Those get harder to get in the playoffs. Start ranking by position compared to Houston.... they aren't as impressive as their results...
I liked the Rangers pitching signings (Gray, Heaney, Eovaldi) but let’s not act like adding Semien, Seager, and DeGrom via free agency was some stroke of genius. Young’s tenure as GM has been meh but he’s been blessed with ownership who is ready to scratch checks. How good would the Astros have been if Crane had let Luhnow/Click spend that same amount? At least 3 of Cole, Verlander, Springer, and Correa would all still be Astros.
DeGrom was a lottery ticket and they've done just fine without him. Look at their acquisitions over the past couple seasons and how they are performing: Adolis, Heim, Seager, Semien, Gray, Eovaldi, Dunning, etc. Look, I hate the Rangers, like I really effing hate them, but credit is due, they have built a contender and they made moves this past offseason and at the deadline that are better than what the Astros are doing.
In 2026 and 2027, they will be paying nearly 100 million just for Seager, Semien, and deGrom. In 2024, they have 144 going to those 3 and Max. The Astros entire roster in 2024 is projected at 156 before arbitration and free agents.
DeGrom is literally the opposite of a lottery ticket lol. A spring training invite is a lotto ticket.
lol all CY has had the benefit of is a loaded farm system from nearly a decade of irrelevance and an owner willing to open his wallet, sometimes stupidly, for FA’s. He isn’t exactly outmaneuvering anyone. Nvm that for the $750m he’s spent in FA the last two years we have a title and are a measly 1 game back from them when they should be running away w the division. And if you miss Lunhow so much this time in both 17 and 19 you’d be throwing the same temper tantrum bc neither Verlander nor Grenkie were here and Grenkie wasn’t even on anyone’s radar. Perspective is a good thing.
Let's go through your list... 30 28 29 32 31 33 28 All guys in their prime. All 2-3 years from being out.... They went for a win now and still don't have a top 5 roster on paper.
Bielak has 0.4 bWAR this year, negative bWAR for his career, and is equally likely to be in AAA, the 13th pitcher on a staff, or selling insurance this time next year. Luis Garcia is a much more likely value match for Verdugo, but if they are trying to make a run this year and want active pitching, JP France or Urquidy are the only options. And I would do Garcia or Urquidy. France hurts the current pitching too much.
That's a fascinating idea, especially when you consider the very real possibility that his pool of suitors may be smaller than we think, if his asking price is indeed going to be $400+MM. I don't know salary commitments moving forward - but the usual suspects all currently have payrolls north of $230MM. Not going to be easy for any of them to add ~$40+MM/year.
The Rangers aren't spending that much more than the Astros this year ($15M as of right now, but the Astros likely close that gap some in the next 24 hours) as they had much cleaner books, but with less talent when they went FA spending. The only weird thing on the Rangers spending is that their free agents best years will likely be before the best years of their controlled talent and they may have issues once guys get into their 2nd/3rd years of arbitration.
He was the ace of the staff in 2021 I think Lance will be just fine and after his time with the Astros ends nobody will be regretting his contract or time with the Astros. I expect 2024-2026 to average about 20 starts and 120 innings per season of 120% above average results. That would be about 3 WAR per season and finish his 5 yr contract over 10 WAR and just over $8M per WAR. Perfectly acceptable.
Counterpoint- the rangers gave out like 10 years and 300M worth of salaries for 2 pitchers who might contribute as much to their teams as you or I.
Waiting for some smoke to come through a tweet or whatever, but realizing it probably is not going to happen. WE have a solid lineup yall, but there is some pieces that are needs to push us over the hump. Come on DB, don't let us down.
Seems like we should evaluate the Astros management based on how they are adressing the Astros needs and not what the Rangers are doing as the baseline. In terms of the Rangers, the biggest difference is an owner who is willing to throw around some crazy money on long contracts vs an owner who is not. In general the Astros approach has had better results in keeping the team highly competitive over a stretch of time. On the counter, the Astros could have had Graveman and Verlander without any prospects had they been willing to sign 3 year contracts with either and the team would be in a better position. That’s not really on Brown and the rash of injuries the Astros had this year wasn’t something a gm would plan their roster construction around. On the whole Luhnow was a big part of some not great parts of Astros history and since he left the team has continued to compete for the WS without leveraging the future. As Astros fans we should be appreciative of that.
There really should be a balance though. If your team is in playoff position 2/3 of the way through the season, then it is smart to prioritize focusing on that season rather than giving up on it to keep the chances of winning in the future strong. Don't completely throw the future away, but right now in a vacuum, this team has better odds of winning a WS than next year does.
