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Houston Astros off-season thread

Wulaw Horn

By Wulaw Horn
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Txslnghrns
Txslnghrns

Hey. Fuk you and fuk the astros.

Txslnghrns
Txslnghrns

Nope. Need help finding your pennant?

Txslnghrns
Txslnghrns

No. I think I’m on the right thread. Your off-season begins……now

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UTexasFight

UTexasFight 9787

Posted
Posted
10 hours ago, Mitch Hedberg said:

What will Verlander do now? 

This post actually got my blood pressure up again…

Does Espada have the balls the stop that nonsense? Has he addressed that?

 

my guess is he’s going to feel dubon needs regular ABs so might as well start him on JV days.

 

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WBT

WBT 20880

Posted
Posted
23 minutes ago, UTexasFight said:

This post actually got my blood pressure up again…

Does Espada have the balls the stop that nonsense? Has he addressed that?

 

my guess is he’s going to feel dubon needs regular ABs so might as well start him on JV days.

 

That was all Dusty.  JV doesn't give a shit.

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uoftorange

uoftorange 1391

Posted
Posted

I have no basis in fact here, but for some reason I think Pena is a hard enough worker and coachable enough that he's going to be decent this season.  Not 2022 ALCS/WS great, but a solid, borderline All Star.  

Maybe it's just hope, but just a feeling I have.

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Guadaloopy

Guadaloopy 11129

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, uoftorange said:

I have no basis in fact here, but for some reason I think Pena is a hard enough worker and coachable enough that he's going to be decent this season.  Not 2022 ALCS/WS great, but a solid, borderline All Star.  

Maybe it's just hope, but just a feeling I have.

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uoftorange

uoftorange 1391

Posted
Posted (edited)
6 minutes ago, UTexasFight said:

Remind me who our DH is when Yordan is in left and Chas in center?

That's the only real hole I see on the team.  Yes you can always upgrade spots if you have infinite money and prospects.  But a hitter on the bench that can play adequate OF/1B would be nice.  Just don't really think that guy is out there outside of maybe Soler?  I don't know if he's ever taken a ball at first in his life though.  He turned down the 13mm option he had, which seems crazy to me for him.  So he's either looking for just a longer term deal or way more money.  I don't think the Astros would be interested in either

I also have no idea why Joc is a 12.5 mm player either.  

Edited by uoftorange
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formermav43

formermav43 4607

Posted
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4 hours ago, uoftorange said:

I have no basis in fact here, but for some reason I think Pena is a hard enough worker and coachable enough that he's going to be decent this season.  Not 2022 ALCS/WS great, but a solid, borderline All Star.  

Maybe it's just hope, but just a feeling I have.

Pena put up 3.8 bWAR, 2.8 fWAR last season. 4 is basically considered All-Star level, so he’s already in that borderline category. That’s just not the perception because the 22 playoffs raised expectations unreasonably.

 

1 hour ago, tx 3 putt said:

Im all for signing soler to he the starting LH and DH when yordan plays LF 

find a straw type package for chas, maton and diaz 2.0

 

Stop trying to make the team worse, Dusty. 

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WBT

WBT 20880

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4 hours ago, formermav43 said:

That’s just not the perception because the 22 playoffs raised expectations unreasonably.

That's part of it but he also hit less than half as many HRs in the regular season.  His BB% and K% both improved in 2023, so I'm still hopeful he can improve in 24.

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UTPhil2006

UTPhil2006 3909

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Just now, formermav43 said:

Why? Is it just because he’s a lefty? He’s not an upgrade over anyone on the roster in terms of production.

Bc if we’re insistent (Dana, not me) on getting a LH bat I’d rather have the cheapest decently productive option vs 11 mil for a scrub like Belli 

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formermav43

formermav43 4607

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4 minutes ago, UTPhil2006 said:

Bc if we’re insistent (Dana, not me) on getting a LH bat I’d rather have the cheapest decently productive option vs 11 mil for a scrub like Belli 

That’s fair. I agree that it’s silly to get a lefty just because.

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tx 3 putt

tx 3 putt 78469

Posted
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There are a handful of older and/or defensively limited sluggers who aren’t likely to sign anywhere that doesn’t have substantial DH at-bats available. That’ll be the focus here.

  • Jorge Soler: After opting out of the final year and $13MM on his contract with the Marlins, Soler should be in position for a multi-year deal. The 32-year-old belted 36 home runs with the Fish in 2023 despite the pitcher-friendly nature of their home park, reducing his strikeout rate to 24.3% — the second-lowest of his career. His 11.4% walk rate was the second-best in his career. Soler remained one of the best in the game in terms of strong contact, delivering an excellent 91.3 mph average exit velocity and 48% hard-hit rate. Unlike the others on this list, Soler is both in his early 30s and has a demonstrated history of hitting for top-of-the-scale power in the big leagues. Everyone’s power production was up during the juiced-ball 2019 season, but Soler still paced the American League with 48 homers and finished third in all of baseball that season. The Blue Jays have been most heavily connected to Soler recently. Other suitors like the D-backs (Joc Pederson) and Mariners (Mitch Garver) have signed other DH candidates. Beyond Toronto, the Mets, Giants and Angels have all been more loosely linked to Soler.
  • J.D. Martinez: Martinez had a “down” season by his standards in 2022 when he “only” hit .274/.341/.448 with 16 homers in his final season with the Red Sox. He more than doubled that home run total with the Dodgers in 2023, smashing 33 homers despite tallying just 479 plate appearances. It’s possible that Martinez has begun selling out for power even more than he may already have been at times in the past. Last year’s 31.1% strikeout rate was easily the worst of his career, and his 7.1% walk rate was his lowest since 2014. Even if that’s the case, there’s no getting around the fact that JDM was a legitimate middle-of-the-order presence. He hit .271/.321/.572 overall and posted elite numbers in average exit velocity (93.4 mph) and hard-hit rate (53.4%). He’s entering his age-36 season, but Martinez can still mash.
  • Justin Turner: Turner turned 39 in December but you’d never know it looking at last year’s .276/.345/.455 batting line with the Red Sox. Turner connected on 23 home runs, walked at a respectable 8.1% clip and struck out in 17.6% of his plate appearances — about five percentage points below the league average. Turner embodies the “professional hitter” archetype and can still take the field at any of third base, first base or perhaps even second base in a pinch. Turner hasn’t had a below-average season at the plate since establishing himself as a regular with the Dodgers back in 2014, and there’s little reason to think that’s about to change.
  • Brandon Belt: He’ll turn 36 in April and has battled knee troubles in recent seasons, but Belt can still flat-out mash right-handed pitching. Like Turner, he can still play defense on a part-time basis — Belt logged 29 games at first base last season — but 70% of his games came as the Blue Jays’ designated hitter. Toronto only gave Belt 39 plate appearances against lefties, and he’ll be similarly limited wherever he signs next. But Belt hit .256/.375/.516 against righties as a member of the Jays, and he’s only gotten better in platoon situations as his career has progressed. Since making his MLB debut, he’s a .267/.364/.480 hitter against righties, but those numbers jump to .269/.376/.541 dating back to 2020 (150 wRC+).
  • Mike Ford: The 31-year-old Ford doesn’t have anywhere near the track record of Soler, Martinez or Turner, but he posted eye-popping numbers in a half season with the Mariners last season. The former Yankees farmhand hit 16 homers in just 251 plate appearances. His .228 average was something of an eyesore, but Ford walked at a 9.6% clip and managed to post a .323 OBP while slugging .475. Despite the power production, Ford was non-tendered by the Mariners, who were looking to reduce their strikeout rate and may have worried that Ford’s 32.3% mark in that regard made him a long shot to replicate his success. That he was non-tendered also suggests that the M’s couldn’t find a trade partner for him, even with a modest $1.5MM projected salary. Ford could wind up signing a minor league pact or a very low-cost big league deal. He’s an affordable three-true-outcomes slugger who can be controlled through the 2026 season via arbitration by any team that signs him.
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HtownHorn

HtownHorn 15243

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, formermav43 said:

Why? Is it just because he’s a lefty? He’s not an upgrade over anyone on the roster in terms of production.

This is stupidly incorrect. He's much better than very player on our bench except Caratini. Rangers also signed Walsh to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training. He's a guy that the Astros should have been all over. If it works out you have a real MLB level left handed hitting 1B/OF on the bench. If it doesn't work out, you never put him on the 40 man.

Jankowski can also play decent OF defense, something that Kessinger and Singleton can not do, and let's be honest, Yordan needs to be a full time DH moving forward, the risk of him injury himself is too great to play him in LF anymore.

Edited by HtownHorn
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formermav43

formermav43 4607

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3 hours ago, HtownHorn said:

This is stupidly incorrect. He's much better than very player on our bench except Caratini. Rangers also signed Walsh to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training. He's a guy that the Astros should have been all over. If it works out you have a real MLB level left handed hitting 1B/OF on the bench. If it doesn't work out, you never put him on the 40 man.

Jankowski can also play decent OF defense, something that Kessinger and Singleton can not do, and let's be honest, Yordan needs to be a full time DH moving forward, the risk of him injury himself is too great to play him in LF anymore.

I should have been more specific: he’s not an upgrade over any OF on the roster. I recall someone with a stupidly incorrect assessment recently that he was better than Meyers, for instance.

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WBT

WBT 20880

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Posted (edited)

Yeah, edited after I looked up the Passan tweet.  Not vesting, changes from team option to player option at 60 appearances.  I agree that's a pretty good deal for him at his age but I think it could still work out well for the Cubs too.

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Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, WBT said:

Neris to the Cubs 1/$9MM with options for another year at $9MM

 

Honestly glad he went NL.  I liked him and his fire.  Did not like the prospect of him being a Ranger, if only for competitive reasons.

 

Dumb question amnesty-  how does the 60 game thing work for a reliever?  60 games on the active roster?  60 appearances?  He averaged like 72 appearances the past 3 seasons, so I guess it doesn't really matter either way.

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Dutchrudder

Dutchrudder 11228

Posted
Posted

So Neris declined an 8.5m option, got the 1m opt out payment, then 9m for 1 year with the Cubs?  Not bad, but now he has to move to Chicago, so he's probably making about the same after taxes than if he stayed with the Astros. Although freeing up that money probably contributed to signing Hader, so it all works out for us.

Neris was fun and will be missed, glad he was here to contribute to the 2022 championship team and to piss off the Mariners! 

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kevwun

kevwun 16269

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Not many relievers have his ability to come in and get out of trouble.  And then when he starts an inning getting in to his own trouble and managing to also get out of it.

Edited by kevwun
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Wulaw Horn

Wulaw Horn 19560

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Getting crazy:

sign bellinger- 6/150

sign Snell- 6/150

sign Soler- 2/25

extend Altuve- 6/110  

Trade Chas, McCullers, Urquidy, Montero and Graveman to someone or someone’s for a couple minor leaguers. Yes I know nobody wants pay McCullers or Montero and Graveman won’t pitch this year and makes 8M, that’s what the big time extra value is for in Chas and to a lesser extend Urquidy heading out. Plenty of teams would be happy to do that deal. 
62.5 million added to the payroll 48M subtracted from the payroll- net 14M still keeps us under tax line number 2. That 14M costs Jimbo 18M total with the tax. 
24 team:

Diaz/abreu/altuve/pena/bregman/soler/bellinger/tucker/yordan

bench: Meyers kessinger, Vic caratini, Dubon 

Rotation: JV/Snell/framber/javier/Brown 

bullpen: France/garcia/whitley/Souza/tons of choices here/ Hader/abreu/presley 

 

25- Bregman walks and our #1 prospect is a 3rd baseman comes up and the Astros shed 30M in real salary and 20 M on the cap and duck back under the tax line to first tax. If you develop a good OF from the minors amongst a ton of candidates you could then trade Abreu and slide Bellinger to first and then be absurdly stacked still. 
after 25 Framber and Tucker, Presley, JV all likely leave and your core through ‘28 is:

Snell, Brown, Javier, Hader, France, Garcia, Bellinger, Altuve, Pena, Yordan. Thats 170M or so for those 10 guys. Thats a playoff team if you develop at all around them all 3 years. If you develop well and maybe make 1 more big FA signing that’s maybe a WS contender below the tax line. 

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David Dennison

David Dennison 19441

Posted
Posted
50 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Getting crazy:

sign bellinger- 6/150

sign Snell- 6/150

sign Soler- 2/25

extend Altuve- 6/110  

Trade Chas, McCullers, Urquidy, Montero and Graveman to someone or someone’s for a couple minor leaguers. Yes I know nobody wants pay McCullers or Montero and Graveman won’t pitch this year and makes 8M, that’s what the big time extra value is for in Chas and to a lesser extend Urquidy heading out. Plenty of teams would be happy to do that deal. 
62.5 million added to the payroll 48M subtracted from the payroll- net 14M still keeps us under tax line number 2. That 14M costs Jimbo 18M total with the tax. 
24 team:

Diaz/abreu/altuve/pena/bregman/soler/bellinger/tucker/yordan

bench: Meyers kessinger, Vic caratini, Dubon 

Rotation: JV/Snell/framber/javier/Brown 

bullpen: France/garcia/whitley/Souza/tons of choices here/ Hader/abreu/presley 

 

25- Bregman walks and our #1 prospect is a 3rd baseman comes up and the Astros shed 30M in real salary and 20 M on the cap and duck back under the tax line to first tax. If you develop a good OF from the minors amongst a ton of candidates you could then trade Abreu and slide Bellinger to first and then be absurdly stacked still. 
after 25 Framber and Tucker, Presley, JV all likely leave and your core through ‘28 is:

Snell, Brown, Javier, Hader, France, Garcia, Bellinger, Altuve, Pena, Yordan. Thats 170M or so for those 10 guys. Thats a playoff team if you develop at all around them all 3 years. If you develop well and maybe make 1 more big FA signing that’s maybe a WS contender below the tax line. 

Six years?

You know better than that.

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