Let him sign elsewhere for a contract he'll never live up to. You already saw the cracks forming in his post season performances. He's telling you this season was a Montero one off. Thank you Hector Neris. Appreciate your time here but good luck playing elsewhere. It's unfortunate the club option converted to a player option due to hitting an appearance threshold, at this point you simply move on. I would try to sign Stanek to a very cheap extension. And we still have Graveman.
Was going to post this. The factor that hurts Neris is he's 3 years older than Montero. I still wouldn't mind re-signing for a reasonable price. Astros might not need the usual amount of BP guys though. They have 8 potential starters. They need a 6-man rotation (load management), so that leaves two of those guys for multi-innings in most of their appearances. If too many players get injured at once, they can call somebody up.
21-22: Didn’t pay Graveman (3y/$24M; later traded prospect for him) 22-23: Paid Montero (3y/$34.5M; one-year wonder, team won WS) 23-24: ¿Probably not gonna pay Neris?
Not going to judge either way. Thought Devenski was going to be this generation's Eckersley and believed Brad Lidge would never recover from his time in Houston.
Neris, as stellar as his ERA was, constantly was pitching out of traffic. Traffic of his own creation, to be specific. To his credit, he did get out of it with minimal damage more often than not, but that did not inspire me enough to want to lock him down for Montero money. That should be reserved for overwhelming, dominant stuff. That, he does not have, imo. On the cheap, though? Hell yeah.
Relievers are notoriously streaky and unreliable. Montero has huge arm talent, to borrow an NFL term. It would not surprise me if he has a Bryan Abreu level season next year then returns to 2023 level again in 2025.
I do not think Montero has Abreu level arm talent. Abreu only needs to focus on the strike zone, because his "stuff" is overpowering enough to get the job done. He's disgustingly filthy.
I don't think Montero has Abreu level arm talent ( who does?) But that doesn't mean that he can't have a standout (Stanek 2022) season.
Yes, and that Stanek season is not worthy of a huge contract. Stanek has a huge FB and below average control. A plus plus split, but without FB control, kinda ignorable.
Following this thought process, why not move Abreu to the closer role and see what Pressly + prospects could yield in a trade? Abreu is ready.
Hector Neris is way better than Rafael Montero. Hector Neris constantly was put in bases loaded situations and pitched great most of the time. Just don't overpay.
Neris very likely earned himself a contract that is out of the range of what we will pay. But Montero had one great half season, Neris has been a solid reliever for a long time. I would love to have him back as long as the contract wasn't crazy
I think it's smart to invest in your bullpen. But relievers, especially what I would call second-tier relievers (so... not Ryan Pressly or Bryan Abreu, essentially), tend to be *very* volatile. They'll be good here and not quite as good there, etc. It's why the Montero contract was so awful - they paid for one of his upswings when they likely could've replaced him cheaper and with little lost, in terms of performance/results. I think it's also an area you throw quantity at in order to find the quality. I would've spread Montero's $8MM out to 2-3 relievers, for instance. I still think Javier is headed to the pen, or, at the very least, should be headed there, and would be a tremendous asset if he does wind up there. Otherwise, I hope they don't put all their eggs in any one reliever's basket this offseason.
Exactly. Neris himself has been up and down. Don't sign Neris. Sign the guy with great stuff that is currently coming off their down swing and ready to be stellar next year. Reynaldo Lopez or Jordan Hicks Look at former Astro Pat Neshek. Perfect example of the ups and downs of middle relief.
