2023 Official Astros World Champs Offseason Thread

[uoftorange 1,391]

The more we wait, the more interesting signing Conforto and Brantley (later if he's healthy) seems to make sense

[Mitch Hedberg 2,117]

Heyman reporting Brantley and Astros close on a deal

[Mitch Hedberg 2,117]

 

[runthebone 8,380]

One year deal makes sense for a guy who some people consider a professional hitter.

[TonyTexas 10,785]

16 minutes ago, Mitch Hedberg said:

 

That’s exactly what I thought his deal would be. Now get a backup catcher and LFG

[tx 3 putt 78,742]

[TonyTexas 10,785]

7 minutes ago, TonyTexas said:

That’s exactly what I thought his deal would be. Now get a backup catcher and LFG

His deal also has up to $4M in additional incentive money. So depending on what those are, it’s actually higher than I anticipated. I think Wulaw thought it should be half of that.  

Edited December 18, 2022 by TonyTexas

[Mo Horn 8,939]

If Brantley is healthy there will be almost zero holes in our lineup. Maldonado is really the only real weakness, and I'll sacrifice his bat for his defense

[billfromlaketravis 11,867]

Does anybody have Yordan’s LF/DH batting splits?

If Brantley keeps the big guy healthy, he’s worth every penny of $12 million. 

Are they still kicking the tires in Confronto?

[FartingMonk 3,630]

I like the Brantley deal.  Good for both sides if he stays healthy.  Not much to lose for the Astros if he doesn't.

[HtownHorn 15,231]

6 minutes ago, Mo Horn said:

If Brantley is healthy there will be almost zero holes in our lineup. Maldonado is really the only real weakness, and I'll sacrifice his bat for his defense

His defense is not as good as everyone thinks it is, and it's going to get worse. Now his ability to call a game is top notch, but thinking he's the only one that can handle this pitching staff is retarded.

[HtownHorn 15,231]

3 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Does anybody have Yordan’s LF/DH batting splits?

If Brantley keeps the big guy healthy, he’s worth every penny of $12 million. 

Are they still kicking the tires in Confronto?

He had a 1.035 OPS in LF, and a 1.003 OPS as a DH.

[WBT 20,997]

The continued idea that playing the field or not has fuckall to do with anyone's results at the plate baffles me.

[Mez2 4,048]

Michael brantley is the smoothest hitter on our team and he finna hit 7th in our lineup lol

[Wulaw Horn 19,599]

1 hour ago, TonyTexas said:

His deal also has up to $4M in additional incentive money. So depending on what those are, it’s actually higher than I anticipated. I think Wulaw thought it should be half of that.  

Originally I had 6 or 8. After everyone went crazy this year I’d had it up to 10 mentally. 12 is either an absurd overpay if he’s as broken as I think he likely is (IE- worthless basically) or a little bit of a bargain as if he comes back and it’s normal aging curve shit he should be between 1.5 and 2 and worth 15 or 20 in this market. 

[Wulaw Horn 19,599]

31 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Does anybody have Yordan’s LF/DH batting splits?

If Brantley keeps the big guy healthy, he’s worth every penny of $12 million. 

Are they still kicking the tires in Confronto?

I’d have to think no. 

[Snake Diggity 4,719]

Nice work Crane.  Now go sign Taylor Rogers and trade for Danny Jansen, then find a badass PoBO.

[rvm96 1,643]

52 minutes ago, Snake Diggity said:

Nice work Crane.  Now go sign Taylor Rogers and trade for Danny Jansen, then find a badass PoBO.

Why not Chafin?

[tx 3 putt 78,742]

Don’t sleep on uncle Mike !

 

[tx 3 putt 78,742]

1 hour ago, Mez2 said:

Michael brantley is the smoothest hitter on our team and he finna hit 7th in our lineup lol

we just him to be an elite #7 hitter. Abreu going to see some damn good pitches at #6

curious on mlb #7 hitter stats 

[Limp Brisket 549]

2 hours ago, TonyTexas said:

Wulaw thought it should be half of that.  

Wulaw would be like let’s just move him to SP if his non throwing shoulder is messed up still.

I’m just joking.  Mostly.

[The Dog 44,865]

 

[tx 3 putt 78,742]

11 minutes ago, The Dog said:

 

[tx 3 putt 78,742]

Only thing we ‘might’ need is a veteran bench utility guy. 
 

jake is of #4 ?

dubon is bench guy

Hensley bench guy #2 ?

rookie back up catcher 

[tx 3 putt 78,742]

Stanek talking some off-season stuff ….

https://sportstalk790.iheart.com/content/2022-12-18-astros-reliever-ryne-stanek-joins-brian-lalima-to-talk-offseason/ 

[Wulaw Horn 19,599]

24 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

Stanek talking some off-season stuff ….

https://sportstalk790.iheart.com/content/2022-12-18-astros-reliever-ryne-stanek-joins-brian-lalima-to-talk-offseason/ 

Thanks. 

[Wulaw Horn 19,599]

I strongly suspect that the 4thbPF is going to get a ton of time. Brantley isn’t likely to play much LF and Incant imagine they actually want Yordan to play 130 games or anything out there. 
I could see Brantley, if he’s not playing (much) in the field, being almost strictly a platoon player. He starts at DH and Yordan in Lf against RHP and Yordan goes to DH and Jake or whoever plays LF against LHP. That means Yordan probably only plays 100 or so games in the field, Brantley plays 110 or so games total (100 for Yordan in Lf and 50 or so at DH- Brantley getting all the DH stuff when Yordan isn’t playing), and Jake or whoever plays 80 or 100 games- 60 at LF and 30 in CF and 10 or so in RF. 
Brantley had slightly better numbers last year against LHP than he previously had but it was small sample size. His numbers against LHP have been in decline for some time, he’s old and coming off an injury. Platooning makes too much sense. 

[tx 3 putt 78,742]

Mctagart talked this week about Yordan probably playing LF 36 to 40% of the time. If brantley plays 40 to 50% of the time, the rest is way to fill in 

[Guadaloopy 11,139]

Gruntled with Uncle Mike’s return.  

[UTexasFight 9,819]

2 hours ago, The Dog said:

 

I prefer:

1. 8x All Star MVP’er

2. WS MVP

3. ROY

4. 2x top 5 MVP

5. 30/25 Gold Glover 

6. ROY MVP’er

7. 5x All Star professional hitter 

8. Shroud of Philly

9. Catcher

[Wulaw Horn 19,599]

6 minutes ago, UTexasFight said:

I prefer:

1. 8x All Star MVP’er

2. WS MVP

3. ROY

4. 2x top 5 MVP

5. 30/25 Gold Glover 

6. ROY MVP’er

7. 5x All Star professional hitter 

8. Shroud of Philly

9. Catcher

Catcher. I’m rolling at the one. 

[Mez2 4,048]

12 minutes ago, UTexasFight said:

I prefer:

1. 8x All Star MVP’er

2. WS MVP

3. ROY

4. 2x top 5 MVP

5. 30/25 Gold Glover 

6. ROY MVP’er

7. 5x All Star professional hitter 

8. Shroud of Philly

9. Catcher

[tx 3 putt 78,742]

That line up fucks !

[TexArcher 39,077]

Love bringing Uncle Mike back.  

I mean, shit, we landed a .300 hitter to bat 7th, helping Abreu see better pitches and upgrading our defensive outfield.  And he's a great clubhouse guy.  Even if Houston did overpay by a few million compared to what Brantley would've gotten from the market, I think it could be argued that he's worth more to Houston than to most other teams.

[LebongJames 1,921]

You would have to think he is healthy. 12 million is good value if so. Also Chas is a very solid number 8. His OPS is well above average. Pretty much equal to Benintendi

[texashorne 1,195]

I hope they give Chas the starting spot and don't screw around with the committee thing. But who am I kidding we all know what Dusty is going to do LOL. 

Yordan, Tucker, Chas, Brantley, Meyers, Dubon, and Hensley.. Throw in Pedro Leon and I think we are set on OF. 

 

 

[TonyTexas 10,785]

I know that Brantley won’t benefit from the no-shift  as much as many other lefties but has anyone seen expected stats for him under the new rules vs the old?

[Gourmand 7,778]

48 minutes ago, texashorne said:

I hope they give Chas the starting spot and don't screw around with the committee thing. But who am I kidding we all know what Dusty is going to do LOL. 

Yordan, Tucker, Chas, Brantley, Meyers, Dubon, and Hensley.. Throw in Pedro Leon and I think we are set on OF. 

 

 

Another name to keep on eye on for the OF mix is lefty hitter Justin Dirden. Dirden slashed .324/.411/.616 with 32 doubles and 20 home runs in 92 games with CC last year before getting promoted to AAA in August. Not surpisingly he struggled a bit with AAA pitching and slashed .242/.305/.398 with a higher K rate with 4 homers and 8 doubles in 32 games, but at 25 he is one of those players who could make an impression in spring training the way Hensley did last year. 

[Frank Drebin 5,840]

I'd still like to sign a good utility man.  Someone like what Marwin was back in the day or Diaz was a couple years ago.

We will probably trade for a catcher during the season.

[kevwun 16,448]

Pretty sure they are hoping Hensley is that guy and will give him the first half of the season to prove it.

[HtownHorn 15,231]

15 minutes ago, Frank Drebin said:

I'd still like to sign a good utility man.  Someone like what Marwin was back in the day or Diaz was a couple years ago.

We will probably trade for a catcher during the season.

Brandon Drury.

[henrygandorf 29,229]

i'm actually surprised someone hasn't overpaid drury yet.

[tx 3 putt 78,742]

Career .252 hitter, 6 years / $110mil !!!!

[henrygandorf 29,229]

2 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

Career .252 hitter, 6 years / $110mil !!!!

you laugh, but he's 30, plays multiple positions, and is coming off a 28 homer season - the first full season he's played in a while.

wulaw can weigh in here, but it wouldn't shock me at all to see him get 4-6 years at $12-$14mm per.  4-52 or something.

he racked up stats in cincy's cracker jack box so who knows.   

[TonyTexas 10,785]

1 hour ago, HtownHorn said:

Brandon Drury.

 

16 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

i'm actually surprised someone hasn't overpaid drury yet.

Yeah. The Astros are now about $20M under the CBT level. I damn sure don’t want to spend half of that (or more) on a utility guy. 

Edited December 19, 2022 by TonyTexas

[tx 3 putt 78,742]

Yankees, Toronto, orioles, all AL central teams….. all need more bats 

[henrygandorf 29,229]

7 minutes ago, TonyTexas said:

Yeah. The Astros are now about $20M under the CBT level. I damn sure don’t want to spend half of that (or more) on a utility guy. 

a guy can be a "utility" guy and start 4-5x a week if you use him right.

[tx 3 putt 78,742]

Flexibility at the trade deadline will be a very a huge asset 

maybe a rook steps up and we don’t need to make a move ?  

[henrygandorf 29,229]

7 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

Flexibility at the trade deadline will be a very a huge asset 

maybe a rook steps up and we don’t need to make a move ?  

you think a rookie can just step into a team like this and play an important role on offense and defense during the season and potentially in the postseason, ultimately contributing to the team's success?

you dreamin.

[HtownHorn 15,231]

2 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

you think a rookie can just step into a team like this and play an important role on offense and defense during the season and potentially in the postseason, ultimately contributing to the team's success?

you Dreamin.