He spent the off season toning his body and working on being able to become a starting corner outfielder. He has a really strong desire to play the field. This was all pre COVID so I have no idea how he is since quarantine.
Not sure Crane or Click want to take the PR hit trading for McGuire considering the disaster this offseason has been. I wouldn't care, but Crane proved he did when he fired Hinch and Luhnow. I don't like Belt because he hasn't produced much in years, is making over 17 million a season, and would cost some sort of asset. Meanwhile, you could just sign someone like CJ Cron who signed a 1 year 6.1 million dollar deal and recently has been more productive at the plate than Belt and only costs money. Cron's WAR was double that of Belt last year. So unless the Giants will eat almost all of his contract it makes little sense. I would prefer to just sign Gurriel for another year if he produces this season. Also, Astros have to decide whether or not to pay Springer or Correa. So they need to save money somewhere if they want to keep those guys around.
And he came in to camp with 2 bad knees. It's not happening. He's a DH and will only get worse in the field when he gets older. I would be utterly pissed if he misses time because he had to play his token games in LF and bangs up his knee.... especially with a 30, 28, and then 26 man roster. Let Straw or Tucker run around out there. Not to mention Alvarez has a habit of smacking foul balls off his legs.
Doubt Alvarez sees the field in a 60 game season, every game is far more important. For the same reason, I wouldn’t expect too see a taxi squad player starting a game on the mound.
I am skeptical as well (was surprised he didn’t get a scope) but he wants to play in the outfield and they were going to give him a chance to.
Belt had been pretty good outside of his home games in SF, just not sure I would want that contract with our need for pitching. If they are a huge amount of it I do think he could be a nice addition No way we would add McGuire. Regardless of how anyone might feel about what he did, the media would rip us in a huge way and right now I can’t imagine Crane wants more of that, especially for a guy who the “potential” to be a major league regular, but a huge amount of bust potential too
With this being a short season, and potentially the last one with the whole group together, i'd be surprised if they played him out there. I would think they want to keep him as healthy as possible for 2020 while trying to win another one. Next year, assuming no strike, would be much more likely to put him out there for a number of games.
The media will frame it however THEY want to frame it as. As it is, nobody can separate the 2019 team from the 2017 team. Everybody thinks something is going on regardless that Alvarez and Brantley were nowhere near the team in 2017. In the end, a lineup of Springer, Altuve, Brantley, Bregman, Correa, Alvarez, Gurriel... playing almost every game... is going to put up a **** ton of runs that will lead to a lot of wins.
Who can we realistically expect to keep in 2021 season out of the core group of guys? Will we still be a serious WS contender? Didn't want to make a whole thread about this.
I think we can keep either Springer or Brantley pretty easily. Will have a decision to make on Yuli and Peacock but I wouldn’t think either would command much money in the free agency offseason we are looking at it’s after 2021, heading into 2022 when things get really interesting
The only pending free agents after this season are Springer, Brantley, Gurriel, Reddick, and Peacock. Of those, Springer is the only one I would consider a “core” player, and the odds of resigning him are very hard to predict right now given the uncertainty of next season being played and how free agency will play out. It does appear that Houston should have enough money for at least one big contract, but whether they give it to Springer is a total guess. Either way, Houston will have to do something in the outfield since Tucker is the only player under control who profiles to be an everyday caliber player. My guess is that Springer gets resigned long term and Houston signs a 2nd or 3rd tier veteran (possibly even Brantley) to play LF. I have no idea what Gurriel would cost but if he’s willing to take a cheap 1-2 year deal hes an option, otherwise I’d expect them to just to let Jones and Toro compete for the 1B job next season. On the pitching side, no idea if they will resign Peacock but he’s not a major piece. The pitching staff they end this season with will be 95% of what we see in 2021. Even if Houston lets all 5 of their free agents walk, they will still be a WS contender in 2021. An offense built around Altuve/Bregman/Correa/Alvarez and a rotation with Verlander/Greinke/McCullers/Urquidy should be more than enough to get into the playoffs. After 2021 there is a major risk that Houston will no longer be a contender. Correa and Springer could be gone, along with Verlander, Greinke, McCullers, and Osuna. If all of those guys are gone, and no young players have emerged to replace them, Houston will likely be a fringe playoff team. However, if multiple of those guys are resigned, or if guys like Whitley and Tucker become stars, Houston will likely contend until the core group (Altuve, Bregman) enter their mid 30s in the 2nd half of this decade.
Current projected 2022 roster: LF Springer ($85M/4yr after this season) SS Bregman 2B Altuve DH Alvarez RF Tucker 3B Diaz 1B Jones CF Straw C Garneau Bench: Stubbs, Pena, Toro, McCormick Rotation: Whitley, Urquidy, James, Javier, Abreu Bullpen: Valdez, Martes, Taylor, Pruitt, Biagini, Torres, Paredes, Pressly That roster would project at around 87 wins with a payroll around $100M. There’d Presumably be quite a bit of payRoll room, enough to add 2 quality SP, a closer, and another bat.
The Athletic: Is there any juice left in this story? Can we squeeze any more out? "The Astros sign stealing does not just disappear. It's there and they still have to address it."
The Red Sox and Yankees are both implicated, and the Red Sox actually got penalties (sick jokes though they were), yet it's still the "Astros sign stealing scandal". The POS Athletic will never get a dime of my money.
Springer Altuve Brantley Bregman Correa Alvarez Gurriel They will all start mostly every game and will bat 3-4x each per game. There will not be a single inning where one of them doesn't get an AB, with most innings featuring 3 (or more) of them all getting to bat. I don't care what sort of advanced information these guys may or may not have available to them... that's a collective talent level of hitting that remains unprecedented to have in one singular lineup in today's game. They're going to produce. They're going to hit. They're going to score a lot of runs. And scoring a lot of runs leads to a lot of wins. There won't be much of a story once that lineup sees the field everyday... as they did in late 2019. The 2017 lineup, while formidable, was a shell of this one.... and that team still put up record-breaking numbers ON THE ROAD.
The key for us is to stay healthy in the line up. The Astros should be able to get adequate production out of right field as well with Tucker/Reddick and others available. We are weak offensively behind the plate but supposedly we will address that position during the season if necessary. I know a lot of people like the Dodgers line up, but I really like ours........ Getting a right field bat isn't expensive at the deadline if we need one, and there will be an upgrade at catcher.
