Is looking like one of the best bargains in baseball for years to come. A combination of his love for Houston and his injury history, factored into his decision not to “bet on himself”, like Correa. Could you imagine Mccullers hitting the open market after the year he had, his talent, playoff experience, etc. Teams have broken the bank for far less talented pitchers. Glad to have Lance on this squad for years to come… and at a very team friendly price. I hope if Lance clearly outperforms his contract that he gets rewarded. Dude is so HTOWN and wants to be here, loves this city, and plays the game for the name on the front of the jersey just as much as the name on the back of his jersey.
These are the type of contracts that help you sustain greatness. Gerit Cole ($36 million) 30 Starts 181 IP 16-8 3.23 era Lance McCullers ($17 million) 28 Starts 162 IP 13-5 3.16 era
Click extending McCullers and Gurriel were genius moves. McCullers would be looking at something like $140M/6yrs, Gurriel would be in line for something like $40M/3yrs.
No question McCullers would have gotten close to what you said. So yes it was a bargain based on his performance this year, but he still needs to perform the next 5 years to keep it a bargain.
Besides pitchers just being naturally injury prone/unpredictable relative to position players, I think LMJ is in a much better place as far as maintaining his performance than he was earlier in his career when he was just bashing people over the head with his high-velo knuckle curve. He now has essentially three out pitches he can draw from with his slider, KC, and changeup. I think there's also some additional performance he can unlock if he can better develop the cutter he's been playing with.
If LMJ stays healthy, he's going to continue to be great. It was a risky move for health reasons offering the extension when Click did, but health willing, it looks like it will be a steal. The slider has given him a weapon against RHBs. So far, the cutter has been a pitch he only uses against LHBs as his slider moves too much to throw inside to LHBs without hitting them. I'd like to see him grow confidence in using his cutter inside against RHBs as I think he could get some called strikes on the inside corner with it as hitters would expect it to tail off the plate.
McCullers is really so talented he came up before he learned how to be a pitcher. He said in his postgame he feels more like a pitcher now, and Altuve said he excepts McCullers to be great in big games. Super glad we locked him up for his prime because if he stays healthy, I think he’ll get even better.
I hope the Astros know that McCullers did them a solid by giving them an extremely team friendly deal. So when McCullers is due another contract, or if struggles with this contract; because whoever signed him this offseason was going to pay at minimum 50% more than what he signed for the Astros. And that’s not chump change… McCullers could have gotten more, he didn’t have to settle for security (McCullers is a smart guy represented by a smart agent who knows this too) McCullers chose to be a part of something great and fun. Because he knows that extra money brings added stress. Because the new fan base doesn’t care about (or was invested) in the player and the growth, they hired themselves a hired gun for max dollars. And the expectations can be unforgiving and excessively taxing. Look at Cole, he is being roasted in Yankee land for being elite amongst average MLB pitchers. Folks wanted the sub 2 ERA that tickle’s the fancy of historical greatness. And hence Cole is sick to his stomach for failing to meet expectations. Go for the money and lose a sense of the human touch, the world becomes a lonely cold place. Astro fans, should always remember who McCullers is and what he did for the Astros, because as far as I can say, he is a joy to watch pitch, and we are extremely lucky that he wants to be a part of a team vying to be a great amongst great teams. I am pulling so hard that McCullers becomes the Ace and Cy Young recipient that he deserves to be! He’s on course to becoming a true Astros legend and face of the franchise.
I love McCullers and have followed his instagram for quite some time now and, based on his account, he loves Houston and the Astros. That probably played into his decision to get an extension done and stay on the team/city that showed him love ever since he came into the league. That being said, the Astros also did him a solid by giving him an generous extension a year and half after he had Tommy John surgery. Looking back at the free agent signings since 2017, the only pitchers that have gotten big money were Cy Young / Ace level ones: 2017: Arrieta 3 years $75 million Darvish 6 years $126 million 2018: Corbin 6 years $140 million 2019: Bumgarner 3 years $85 million Cole 9 years $324 million Keuchel 3 years $55 million Hyun Jin Ryu 4 years $80 million Strasburg 7 years $245 million Wheeler 5 years $118 million 2020: Bauer 3 years $100 million Hendriks 3 years $54 million If we just look at the extension itself (5 years, $85 million), McCullers was getting a competitive contract and he rightfully took it. Basically, I don't think he took a huge discount just to stay with the Astros.
And McCullers and Correa are best friends. Maybe CC should look at what his friend did resigning with the 'Stros because he wants to be here in Houston, loves his teammates and loves the city.
another factor to the McCullers extension was that his Dad was in the bigs, he grew up with generational wealth so his values are probably different. In his mind he’s probably factoring in fun to go along with money. Carlos didn’t grow up in similar circumstances so I could see why he would want to max out his earning potential.
Right but neither of them are coming back at the same pricetag as 2021. JV maybe at the QO to prove his comeback. Grienke is not eligible for QO. Those guys are taking $58mil off our books.
At the time he definitely didn’t take a discount. Had he taken a risk, he would have gotten a bigger contract this season, but that would have been a big risk. I think people overestimate how much money he left on the table. This year was about the best case possible and he still only pitched 160 innings. He’s not gonna get paid like guys who pitch close to 200 each year with a track record of health based on one season. Morton pitched 194 and 185 in 2019 and this year and is only getting 15 million per on short term deals.
McCullers started Game 7 of the 2017 World Series and gave us 2.1 scoreless innings to set the tone early. He's been a key part of the core of young talent that has given us 4+ years of amazing baseball.
True, but Morton was 34 when he hit FA, McCullers would at 28. I think McCullers left a considerable amount, considering the contracts given out to other good-not-great pitchers like Darvish and Corbin.
Nope, his dad was in the bigs for 7 years in the mid 80-90's and made nothing remotely close to "generational wealth", which didn't even exist back then
This choice is an individual one. McCullers chose security with the Astros accepting the downside risk and Correa chose to max potential earnings by accepting the downside risk when the Astros made a similar offer to him. I do not fault either for their choice nor do I fault the Astros for including injury and performance risk factors into their calculations when making their offers.
