2023 Official Astros World Champs Offseason Thread

[runthebone 7932]

I would make them all coaches now, then, and play other guys in the field.

[wood 11121]

Just now, runthebone said:

I would make them all coaches now, then, and play other guys in the field.

You wouldn't want Brantley back on the field if healthy?

[Seasick Sailor 3747]

1 minute ago, wood said:

You wouldn't want Brantley back on the field if healthy?

The biggest problem with that, imo, is you likely won't know whether he's truly healthy and can meaningfully contribute until the spring. 

[Frank Drebin 5616]

Yuli really can only play first at this point.  Not sure why we would carry a backup first basemen who is 39 and had a 647 OPS last year.

I also would be concerned Dusty, who I do really love, would play him too much.  Get a versatile utility guy who can play all positions. Hell, someone like Eric Bruntlett was for us 20 years ago.  Or Diaz.

[Issiecol 2]

SIAP: Long ass podcast with Peña shooting the shit with his hometown boys. They cover his entire baseball history, how he feels about Correa (all good), how he’s handling fame etc. He’s always seemed likable but kinda shy and this is the most open he’s ever been so it’s a good watch if you don’t need to focus on work much today.

[Murfdogg21 4412]

7 hours ago, WBT said:

If you signed Contreras with the idea of him being the starting catcher in 2024...why wait?  Besides the fact that Maldonado has somehow brainwashed the organization and most of the fanbase into thinking he's the only competent defensive catcher in the world.

I seem to recall Vazquez catching the ALCS shutout at Yankee Stadium and the WS no hitter at Philadelphia. 

[tx 3 putt 76314]

 

[elguapo 4583]

Any guesses on what this is about?

 

[Pablo 494]

He recently posted it’s not roster or free agency related. 

[Fudge Nuggets 19146]

If we need a backup catcher, then go sign the catcher from the Cuban national team.  I have no idea who he is, but I bet he can mash and kicks ass.

[elguapo 4583]

1 hour ago, elguapo said:

Any guesses on what this is about?

 

Speculating but a friend pointed out that Sig Mejdal left the Astros 4 years ago…

[Hank Chinaski 6310]

1 minute ago, elguapo said:

Speculating but a friend pointed out that Sig Mejdal left the Astros 4 years ago…

[runthebone 7932]

14 minutes ago, Hank Chinaski said:

The FTX fucker?

[Make em eat Taco Bell 1549]

any word on reworking that pitifully low Javier contract ? The man deserves the biggest raise in baseball history. Respect. 

[LebongJames 1782]

26 minutes ago, Make em eat Taco Bell said:

any word on reworking that pitifully low Javier contract ? The man deserves the biggest raise in baseball history. Respect. 

He will get a bump to about 3.5 million. He isn’t a free agent until 2026 they still have a couple of years to work out a longer term contract. 

[Make em eat Taco Bell 1549]

42 minutes ago, LebongJames said:

He will get a bump to about 3.5 million. He isn’t a free agent until 2026 they still have a couple of years to work out a longer term contract. 

that makes me sad given that Montrero signed for $11.5 million a year , more than 3X that 3.5 million figure.   Javier's agent isn't going to appreciate the low money, will he sit out asking for more? We have to keep everyone who was a major factor, absolutely have to make them paid well.  

[Scraps 13540]

Sit out? Lol

[UTexasFight 9376]

16 minutes ago, Make em eat Taco Bell said:

that makes me sad given that Montrero signed for $11.5 million a year , more than 3X that 3.5 million figure.   Javier's agent isn't going to appreciate the low money, will he sit out asking for more? We have to keep everyone who was a major factor, absolutely have to make them paid well.  

Dude…..

 

 

can’t tell if trolling or needing a crash course in Baseball for Dummies.

 

If the latter, spend some time here:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Collective_bargaining_agreement

[Make em eat Taco Bell 1549]

38 minutes ago, UTexasFight said:

Dude…..

 

 

can’t tell if trolling or needing a crash course in Baseball for Dummies.

 

If the latter, spend some time here:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Collective_bargaining_agreement

i watch sports for the sport itself, not the financial matters under the surface.  Anyway, Javier should be rightly upset if teammates are making 3X or other top SPs are making 5x-10x.  It's grossly disproportionate. 

[formermav43 4599]

8 minutes ago, Make em eat Taco Bell said:

i watch sports for the sport itself, not the financial matters under the surface. 

“I admittedly don’t have any idea what I’m talking about, but here’s my opinion anyway.”

[Make em eat Taco Bell 1549]

1 minute ago, formermav43 said:

“I admittedly don’t have any idea what I’m talking about, but here’s my opinion anyway.”

I do understand talent and value and that's the point.  You should follow along.  It's a massive injustice to Javier to get paid so little for being so great. Easy to understand. 

[APMP 685]

Sitting out is not much of a thing when major league contracts are guaranteed. But in theory, if a guy was unhappy with his deal, refusing to play is probably the only real option he has...not sure what the CBA says about that.

[tx 3 putt 76314]

[David Dennison 18652]

48 minutes ago, Make em eat Taco Bell said:

I do understand talent and value and that's the point.  You should follow along.  It's a massive injustice to Javier to get paid so little for being so great. Easy to understand. 

"If the club and player have not agreed on a salary by a deadline (typically in mid-January), the club and player must exchange salary figures for the upcoming season. After the figures are exchanged, a hearing is scheduled (typically in February). If no one-year or multi-year settlement can be reached by the hearing date, the case is brought before a panel of arbitrators. After hearing arguments from both sides, the panel selects either the salary figure of either the player or the club (but not one in between) as the player's salary for the upcoming season."

https://www.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/salary-arbitration

[Pimphand 5594]

19 hours ago, WBT said:

If you signed Contreras with the idea of him being the starting catcher in 2024...why wait?  Besides the fact that Maldonado has somehow brainwashed the organization and most of the fanbase into thinking he's the only competent defensive catcher in the world.

THiS.... ALL OF THIS.

For fucks sake I love machete and am deeply thankful for all of his contributions the past few years but he should be the backup catcher.

[Wulaw Horn 18972]

7 hours ago, Make em eat Taco Bell said:

I do understand talent and value and that's the point.  You should follow along.  It's a massive injustice to Javier to get paid so little for being so great. Easy to understand. 

How about Hunter brown making $650k next year while he wins the Cy Young- how does that rank in the following injustices of the world:?

The condition of woman in Iran;

@Scrapsunable to get laid on a Friday night;

Javiers year 1 arbitration contract;

the continued existence of Baylor;

people living on a dollar in a world where other people are worth billions;

Hunter Brown- CY young winner making 650k?

 

it’s a collectively bargained union gig my dude. Don’t be obtuse. Salary is not based on performance for new employees, it’s curtailed for moderate level employees and real lucrative for tenured employees. They chose to do that. As a result they have free health care for life, a great pension system, absurd fringe benefits, and a high floor of minimum contracts, along with guaranteed money. You can argue it was a dumb negotiation but that’s the deal they negotiated for themselves. 
If Javier wants certainty I bet he could call Crane on the phone and ask for something like 5/60M tomorrow and probably get it. 

[LebongJames 1782]

As other have pointed out it’s a collective bargaining agreement. On top of that he will be 28, 29 in March when he is a free agent. If he continues as the 2022 Javier he will probably get something around $30 million a year and he will make another $10-15 million over the next 3 seasons. He’s not sitting out.

[kevwun 15622]

I did not know that Sig used to work for NASA.  That is a hire that would make me feel warm and tingly.

Edited December 1, 2022 by kevwun

[Seasick Sailor 3747]

13 hours ago, elguapo said:

Any guesses on what this is about?

 

This is the dude who makes hype videos. You have likely seen some in this thread. My guess is it has something to do with that and not that he has any inside info about a FO hire. 

[texashorne 1177]

The GM search is going to be very interesting. The new guy will be tasked with keeping the well oiled machine humming.. They won't get to build or rebuild a franchise, their challenge will be unique in that so much that the organization already does works extremely well. That requires a special type of person and not necessarily a "builder." Crane's insistence on taking his time with the hire should give everyone here a great deal of comfort.. He knows this is the case and I have confidence he'll get the right guy. In all honesty, he's 2 for 2 on GM hires so there's that too.

[tx 3 putt 76314]

He’ll have a Heavy focus on the farm system 

[tx 3 putt 76314]

Hopefully they don’t do too much damage burning a cross. They need to take their hoods with them after the concert. These concerts during the season are a beating 

 

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by tx 3 putt

[henrygandorf 29174]

2 hours ago, Seasick Sailor said:

This is the dude who makes hype videos. You have likely seen some in this thread. My guess is it has something to do with that and not that he has any inside info about a FO hire. 

maybe it's a sig hype video.  ever think of that, smart guy?

[henrygandorf 29174]

2 hours ago, texashorne said:

The GM search is going to be very interesting. The new guy will be tasked with keeping the well oiled machine humming.. They won't get to build or rebuild a franchise, their challenge will be unique in that so much that the organization already does works extremely well. That requires a special type of person and not necessarily a "builder." Crane's insistence on taking his time with the hire should give everyone here a great deal of comfort.. He knows this is the case and I have confidence he'll get the right guy. In all honesty, he's 2 for 2 on GM hires so there's that too.

i think i mentioned this in the other thread probably, but an mlbn radio segment i listened to was all about this. 

it started as a "this is not a real classy move to push click out right after he won a world series, and i don't imagine you'll get top gm types like theo epstein to walk into a situation like this."  about 2-3 min later, the whole thing had shifted to, "this is a pretty cushy landing spot where an up-and-comer, sharp young mind could really thrive in a situation where the infrastructure is already built and prepped for success and i bet they attract some real talent."

same two dudes talked themselves off the ledge and into a totally different narrative.

[Seasick Sailor 3747]

11 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

maybe it's a sig hype video.  ever think of that, smart guy?

[Murfdogg21 4412]

5 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

As a result they have free health care for life, a great pension system, absurd fringe benefits, and a high floor of minimum contracts, along with guaranteed money. 

I was watching Moneyball the other day and it caused me to google Mike Magnante. Billy Beane cut him with less than a week before he hit his MLB pension. According to Art Howe, Howe told them to put him on a 7 day DL and then cut him, but Beane was just a dick and cut him that day. 

[Wulaw Horn 18972]

29 minutes ago, Murfdogg21 said:

I was watching Moneyball the other day and it caused me to google Mike Magnante. Billy Beane cut him with less than a week before he hit his MLB pension. According to Art Howe, Howe told them to put him on a 7 day DL and then cut him, but Beane was just a dick and cut him that day. 

I assume that's full pension b/c Magnante was around forever seemingly.  10 years is full pension. Even the guys who don't get 10 years in do pretty well for themselves.

 

Also- I didn't know this but my buddy told me they basically get 2 free tickets to any game they want to go to in any park for life.  That is kinda cool

 

[tx 3 putt 76314]

Sparky mentioned once he was either 90 or 95 %, he was just short of 10 full seasons 

blum told a story, his wife threw him a party for hitting 10 during the off season. Lot of player / friends. He gets up to thank everyone, out of nowhere edmunds just pops up and walks in. Blum was like, who invited that ahole 

 

correct, they get the best two seats to any mlb game 

[Ojo Rojo 1890]

14 hours ago, Make em eat Taco Bell said:

i watch sports for the sport itself, not the financial matters under the surface.  Anyway, Javier should be rightly upset if teammates are making 3X or other top SPs are making 5x-10x.  It's grossly disproportionate. 

[Ojo Rojo 1890]

On 11/29/2022 at 10:36 AM, Seasick Sailor said:

Fine for the club house. Concerning for the FO. Hopefully Crane is smart about when he chooses to listen to Bagwell. 

I, too, was worried that Bagwell appeared to have too much sway in the front office. Because he was a player, probable PED user and mostly because he got ol' cokehead Dr. Brown's sloppy seconds, I thought he was dumb. In his recent interviews, though, he has shown himself to be a lot smarter than I thought.  I heard him on the SiriusXM baseball channel and he denied that he ever said the Astros rely too much on analytics.  

[HtownHorn 14468]

28 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

Sparky mentioned once he was either 90 or 95 %, he was just short of 10 full seasons 

blum told a story, his wife threw him a party for hitting 10 during the off season. Lot of player / friends. He gets up to thank everyone, out of nowhere edmunds just pops up and walks in. Blum was like, who invited that ahole 

 

correct, they get the best two seats to any mlb game 

I hated that guy, but damn was he a great player.

[HtownHorn 14468]

17 minutes ago, Ojo Rojo said:

I, too, was worried that Bagwell appeared to have too much sway in the front office. Because he was a player, probable PED user and mostly because he got ol' cokehead Dr. Brown's sloppy seconds, I thought he was dumb. In his recent interviews, though, he has shown himself to be a lot smarter than I thought.  I heard him on the SiriusXM baseball channel and he denied that he ever said the Astros rely too much on analytics.  

He was one of the smartest baseball IQ guys to have ever played. I think when he's not coked out, he's got a great mind for the game. He's got a role in the FO, and if he was a big reason for the signing of Abreu, then I don't see the problem, because almost everyone wanted Abreu the day after we won the WS.

[Seasick Sailor 3747]

 

[formermav43 4599]

1 hour ago, tx 3 putt said:

Sparky mentioned once he was either 90 or 95 %, he was just short of 10 full seasons 

blum told a story, his wife threw him a party for hitting 10 during the off season. Lot of player / friends. He gets up to thank everyone, out of nowhere edmunds just pops up and walks in. Blum was like, who invited that ahole 

You sure about that part? I assumed he had to dive everywhere he went.

[kevwun 15622]

Someone tossed him a beer and he unnecessarily dove in to the living room wall to catch it.

[Murfdogg21 4412]

58 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

He was one of the smartest baseball IQ guys to have ever played. I think when he's not coked out, he's got a great mind for the game. He's got a role in the FO, and if he was a big reason for the signing of Abreu, then I don't see the problem, because almost everyone wanted Abreu the day after we won the WS.

A ringing endorsement for a general manager. They should use that in his obituary too. 

[IDIOTsavant 8437]

1 hour ago, HtownHorn said:

He was one of the smartest baseball IQ guys to have ever played. I think when he's not coked out, he's got a great mind for the game. He's got a role in the FO, and if he was a big reason for the signing of Abreu, then I don't see the problem, because almost everyone wanted Abreu the day after we won the WS.

 

1 hour ago, Ojo Rojo said:

I, too, was worried that Bagwell appeared to have too much sway in the front office. Because he was a player, probable PED user and mostly because he got ol' cokehead Dr. Brown's sloppy seconds, I thought he was dumb. In his recent interviews, though, he has shown himself to be a lot smarter than I thought.  I heard him on the SiriusXM baseball channel and he denied that he ever said the Astros rely too much on analytics.  

 

[Mstrat 16]

This Contreras talk has me very worried. Like franchise future worried.

Advantages - pop in his bat at catcher/LF/DH, WS winner

Disadvantages - costs us another draft pick and draft money, limits our ability to develop a catcher in house, will be pissed when dusty has him catch 1-2 pitchers a week, limits ability to resign Valdez, Javier and Tucker(particularly when his value rockets up after rule changes), poor defender in LF - particularly in road games, not good on bases particularly now with rule change

If we wanna add someone before March where we’ll know where Brantley is at, I’d much rather throw in on Benintendi.

Advantages - pop in his bat at LF/DH/possibly CF, gold glove level defense in OF when not playing at the Juice Box, left hand bat in post shift rule change, speed on bases (again rule change), can bat leadoff to relieve Altuve (who doesn’t like to do that), takes a known Astros killer away from Yankees, 28 years old, contact hitter, excellent numbers, WS winner

Disadvantages - costs us some money, not as much home run pop, unsure of his status after wrist injury that kept him out of the playoffs

[TonyTexas 10481]

35 minutes ago, Murfdogg21 said:

think when he's not coked out, he's got a great mind for the game.

Anyone who’s ever done a lot of blow knows it makes you smarter not dumber. I sometimes think Wulaw is a coke fiend. 

[tx 3 putt 76314]

I’m team #don’t give up draft picks