December 10, 20205 yr Today is the last day of the winter meetings and it's been quiet. Today is also the rule 5 draft. Will be interesting to see what comes from that.
December 10, 20205 yr This off season will be worse believe it or not. Springer is gone, Verlander is done as an Astro, Osuna is done as an astro, Brantley is done as an astro. Not sure click has been made aware, but he has no outfielders who are plus fielders at the moment with Reddick also done as an astro. Correa should have been traded last year when he had some value. We have no draft picks due to the suspension. It's going to be a graveyard for the foreseeable future.
December 10, 20205 yr 23 minutes ago, pepper brooks said: This off season will be worse believe it or not. Springer is gone, Verlander is done as an Astro, Osuna is done as an astro, Brantley is done as an astro. Not sure click has been made aware, but he has no outfielders who are plus fielders at the moment with Reddick also done as an astro. Correa should have been traded last year when he had some value. We have no draft picks due to the suspension. It's going to be a graveyard for the foreseeable future. Meh. It's not as dire as that. The A's are only slight favorites over us to win the ALW in 2021. As for trading CC last year, did you forget that we were 1 game away from going to the World Series?
December 10, 20205 yr 1 hour ago, pepper brooks said: This off season will be worse believe it or not. Springer is gone, Verlander is done as an Astro, Osuna is done as an astro, Brantley is done as an astro. Not sure click has been made aware, but he has no outfielders who are plus fielders at the moment with Reddick also done as an astro. Correa should have been traded last year when he had some value. We have no draft picks due to the suspension. It's going to be a graveyard for the foreseeable future. That would have been true if not for all the young arms in the Astros organization. Their window looked to be closing, but now it looks wide open again because of the pitching depth.
December 10, 20205 yr 3 hours ago, pepper brooks said: This off season will be worse believe it or not. Springer is gone, Verlander is done as an Astro, Osuna is done as an astro, Brantley is done as an astro. Not sure click has been made aware, but he has no outfielders who are plus fielders at the moment with Reddick also done as an astro. Correa should have been traded last year when he had some value. We have no draft picks due to the suspension. It's going to be a graveyard for the foreseeable future. Kyle Tucker is a plus outfielder. He was up for a gold glove last season.
December 10, 20205 yr 5 hours ago, Mo Horn said: Today is the last day of the winter meetings and it's been quiet. Today is also the rule 5 draft. Will be interesting to see what comes from that. Looks like Stros lost: Jose Rivera RHP Andrew Ferguson CF Chuckie Robinson C And picked up Joe Record RHP from the Twins and Seth Martinez RHP from the A's in the minor league phase
December 10, 20205 yr 3 hours ago, TonyTexas said: Meh. It's not as dire as that. The A's are only slight favorites over us to win the ALW in 2021. As for trading CC last year, did you forget that we were 1 game away from going to the World Series? Yeah. Bregman/Altuve/Correa/Alvarez/Tucker is still a strong 1-5 in the lineup (about as good as there is, assuming Altuve's 48-game regular season in 2020 was a fluke, and he's somewhere between his regular season and postseasons performance). Add a couple of OFs who are offensively capable (Puig, Rosario, Dahl, Bradley - someone like that maybe?), and should still be a really good offense. Not an all-time offense like they've been, but it should be among the league's best. Greinke/McCullers/Urquidy/Valdez is still the foundation of a good rotation. It's not complete, and the pen needs some bolstering...but far from a disaster. The window isn't as wide-open as its been, but this should still be a playoff-caliber team. Now after 2021 and the probable loss of Correa, Greinke, McCullers...we'll worry about that in a year.
December 10, 20205 yr Greinke/McCullers/Urquidy/Valdez is still the foundation of a good rotation. It's not complete, and the pen needs some bolstering...but far from a disaster. ehhh. The disaster may not be the next street over but that is still definitely within the fallout zone. I’ll give you that’s a solid 2 through 5 rotation and you can build on that to piece together 162 games in a weak division, but that is going to hurt come the postseason (with next to no bullets left in the chamber to fire at 7/31)
December 11, 20205 yr 2 hours ago, UTexasFight said: ehhh. The disaster may not be the next street over but that is still definitely within the fallout zone. I’ll give you that’s a solid 2 through 5 rotation and you can build on that to piece together 162 games in a weak division, but that is going to hurt come the postseason (with next to no bullets left in the chamber to fire at 7/31) Yeah, I don't disagree. It clearly lacks an ace.
December 11, 20205 yr Author 10 hours ago, pepper brooks said: This off season will be worse believe it or not. Springer is gone, Verlander is done as an Astro, Osuna is done as an astro, Brantley is done as an astro. Not sure click has been made aware, but he has no outfielders who are plus fielders at the moment with Reddick also done as an astro. Correa should have been traded last year when he had some value. We have no draft picks due to the suspension. It's going to be a graveyard for the foreseeable future. This is overstating things my man. Nothing was going to be WS bad as losing the architect and the manager last off season. And the national pile on. And the Rona. And the uncertainty on everything playing. Everything you are talking about relates to on the field shit. That’s all a bed of roses compared to last off season imo.
December 11, 20205 yr Author 5 hours ago, UTexasFight said: ehhh. The disaster may not be the next street over but that is still definitely within the fallout zone. I’ll give you that’s a solid 2 through 5 rotation and you can build on that to piece together 162 games in a weak division, but that is going to hurt come the postseason (with next to no bullets left in the chamber to fire at 7/31) That could be an outstanding 2-5 with continued development and I’m still pretty intrigued by Javier. But yeah- miss having Cole or JV to hand the ball to. mid they deepen the bullpen instead though maybe that will work just as well in the playoffs. It wasn’t like Kershaw, JV, Cole or any other ace other than MadBum hasn’t been cracked on the post season stage.
December 11, 20205 yr You guys writing off the stros are way off base. They have 5 of the top 120 hitters in the league (Bregman, Alvarez, Correa, Altuve, Tucker) plus another good hitter (Gurriel) and a stud defensive C (Maldonado). They had half a dozen young pitchers break out last season and still have Greinke, McCullers, and Pressly on their staff. By Fangraphs depth charts projections they are currently the 3rd best team in MLB and favored to win their division. They have 1 gaping hole (LF), 1 obvious area for improvement (CF), and 3 other spots that could use an upgrade (SP, RP, C). And their farm is below average. BUT they should still have $20-30M to spend to fill those holes and have a good amount of upper level pitching prospects they can use to trade. Losing Greinke and Correa after this season could change things, but for this season they are a surefire playoff team, a likely division winner, and assuming they make modest moves to fill their holes and have a little luck, are again a World Series contender.
December 11, 20205 yr Assuming the market is as weak as people think it will be, it should favor the Astros. As mentioned above they still have plenty of offense with the core that is still here. They should be able to sign 2 OF, a closer and a mid tier SP for under 30 million this offseason. They may not do that but I think Click and Crane have to know they could make another WS run with those type of moves. if the Phillies are interested, I think they should look at moving Correa for Wheeler. If you do this you could still add a closer and 1 OF and still be around 28 million.
December 11, 20205 yr 18 minutes ago, Scraps said: no What no to Correa idea or you don’t think they can bring in multiple FA’s for under 30 million?
December 11, 20205 yr I’d want someone younger, cheaper and better for CC. Wheeler is a middle of the pack #2 with 4 years and $96mm due.
December 11, 20205 yr Author 7 hours ago, Snake Diggity said: You guys writing off the stros are way off base. They have 5 of the top 120 hitters in the league (Bregman, Alvarez, Correa, Altuve, Tucker) plus another good hitter (Gurriel) and a stud defensive C (Maldonado). They had half a dozen young pitchers break out last season and still have Greinke, McCullers, and Pressly on their staff. By Fangraphs depth charts projections they are currently the 3rd best team in MLB and favored to win their division. They have 1 gaping hole (LF), 1 obvious area for improvement (CF), and 3 other spots that could use an upgrade (SP, RP, C). And their farm is below average. BUT they should still have $20-30M to spend to fill those holes and have a good amount of upper level pitching prospects they can use to trade. Losing Greinke and Correa after this season could change things, but for this season they are a surefire playoff team, a likely division winner, and assuming they make modest moves to fill their holes and have a little luck, are again a World Series contender. Yessir. And here's what fans don't get about the WS contender thing. The badass team we had in 2019 was probably one of the better regular season teams ever, basically, and we went in to the playoffs with like what- an 18% chance of wining the world series. Way more likely than not to not win it. Which is what we accomplished in agonizing fashion. IF you are right and we go in as something like 3rd most likely to win the WS we will have like what 10 or 12% odds of making that happen. The playoffs are just a fucking crapshoot. Period. End of story. It's buy a ticket, take a chance type shit more often than not. We should have our ticket and our chance. I'm not really all that worried about it. In some ways- going in as a 95 win team that had a really really good season and as good a chance as anyone to win is preferable for me- b/c man- when you win 109 games and have an all time team and don't get it done it is fucking gutting and agonizing, and as Washington showed the 95 win team is just as likely to win 4 out of 7 as the 109 win team. or the 90 win team is more or less as likely to win 3 out of 5 as the 109 win team in the first round. It's brutal.
December 11, 20205 yr 11 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said: Yessir. And here's what fans don't get about the WS contender thing. The badass team we had in 2019 was probably one of the better regular season teams ever, basically, and we went in to the playoffs with like what- an 18% chance of wining the world series. Way more likely than not to not win it. Which is what we accomplished in agonizing fashion. IF you are right and we go in as something like 3rd most likely to win the WS we will have like what 10 or 12% odds of making that happen. The playoffs are just a fucking crapshoot. Period. End of story. It's buy a ticket, take a chance type shit more often than not. We should have our ticket and our chance. I'm not really all that worried about it. In some ways- going in as a 95 win team that had a really really good season and as good a chance as anyone to win is preferable for me- b/c man- when you win 109 games and have an all time team and don't get it done it is fucking gutting and agonizing, and as Washington showed the 95 win team is just as likely to win 4 out of 7 as the 109 win team. or the 90 win team is more or less as likely to win 3 out of 5 as the 109 win team in the first round. It's brutal. Exactly. Field a contender, which I am confident Jim Crane will do year in and year out.
December 12, 20205 yr Yeah. Bregman/Altuve/Correa/Alvarez/Tucker is still a strong 1-5 in the lineup (about as good as there is, assuming Altuve's 48-game regular season in 2020 was a fluke, and he's somewhere between his regular season and postseasons performance). Add a couple of OFs who are offensively capable (Puig, Rosario, Dahl, Bradley - someone like that maybe?), and should still be a really good offense. Not an all-time offense like they've been, but it should be among the league's best. Greinke/McCullers/Urquidy/Valdez is still the foundation of a good rotation. It's not complete, and the pen needs some bolstering...but far from a disaster. The window isn't as wide-open as its been, but this should still be a playoff-caliber team. Now after 2021 and the probable loss of Correa, Greinke, McCullers...we'll worry about that in a year. Mark Dahl off....signed with Rangers today. I thought about him when he was let go, but then after i did better research on him I wouldn't want him starting in the OF for us.
December 12, 20205 yr 9 minutes ago, Scraps said: On 12/10/2020 at 2:19 PM, Hank Chinaski said: Yeah. Bregman/Altuve/Correa/Alvarez/Tucker is still a strong 1-5 in the lineup (about as good as there is, assuming Altuve's 48-game regular season in 2020 was a fluke, and he's somewhere between his regular season and postseasons performance). Add a couple of OFs who are offensively capable (Puig, Rosario, Dahl, Bradley - someone like that maybe?), and should still be a really good offense. Not an all-time offense like they've been, but it should be among the league's best. Greinke/McCullers/Urquidy/Valdez is still the foundation of a good rotation. It's not complete, and the pen needs some bolstering...but far from a disaster. The window isn't as wide-open as its been, but this should still be a playoff-caliber team. Now after 2021 and the probable loss of Correa, Greinke, McCullers...we'll worry about that in a year. Mark Dahl off....signed with Rangers today. I thought about him when he was let go, but then after i did better research on him I wouldn't want him starting in the OF for us. Agreed. But man - 1 year / $3mm ? I wouldn't have minded him at that price...he can hit righties, and platooning would maybe help him stay healthy. There are better options out there, but I wouldn't have hated it if the Astros had signed him for $3mm.
December 12, 20205 yr Oh and useless non Astros related trivia is Dahl was the first hit at the Rangers new park
December 12, 20205 yr 14 hours ago, Scraps said: Oh definitely. I'd sign Carlos Lee right now for 3M lmao We can sign @Mez2 for half that price if he can find his keys
December 13, 20205 yr Wish the Astros had taken a chance on Nate Lowe over giving Gurriel that extension.
December 13, 20205 yr I appreciate all of you guys arguing the ins and outs of the window for the Astros to win more championships. I truly do. But, speaking as an old guy that watched the Colt 45’s in Colt Stadium as a kid, the 2017 World Series Championship is enough for me. I thought I would die before my team would win it all. They finally did. And it was glorious. It ebbs and flows. The Astros should have won it all in 1980, could have in 1986. If they had, I wouldn’t have been a long-suffering fan for all of those years. I hope you younger guys don’t have to wait as long as I did for the next championship, but, by God, savor the one you have. I sure as hell do.
December 13, 20205 yr 1 hour ago, Victor Lazlo said: I appreciate all of you guys arguing the ins and outs of the window for the Astros to win more championships. I truly do. But, speaking as an old guy that watched the Colt 45’s in Colt Stadium as a kid, the 2017 World Series Championship is enough for me. I thought I would die before my team would win it all. They finally did. And it was glorious. It ebbs and flows. The Astros should have won it all in 1980, could have in 1986. If they had, I wouldn’t have been a long-suffering fan for all of those years. I hope you younger guys don’t have to wait as long as I did for the next championship, but, by God, savor the one you have. I sure as hell do. I go back to 62 with you. I agree with you but I wouldn't mind one or two more World Series Championships. Now I just die a little every week with the Texans.
December 15, 20205 yr 5 affordable free agent targets at each of Houstons positions of need: RF/LF: Schwarber, Rosario, Pederson, Puig, Grossman CF: Bradley, Profar, E Hernandez, Pillar, Marisnick backup catcher: Castro, Flowers, Zunino, Ramos, Avila SP: Odorizzi, Porcello, Quintana, Archer, Richards RP: Hand, Treinen, Yates, Kela, Robertson
December 15, 20205 yr 1 hour ago, Ichabod said: I don't think many teams will do much signing until THIS gets resolved I totally understand delaying the start of the season just to be sure, but why reduce the number of games? Just push everything to the right. But either way I think they should just agree to a delayed season as a contingency. JMHO but I feel pretty confident that by mid-March the number of cases and hospitalizations will have been dropping steadily and dramatically for at least a few weeks, and it’s almost certain that enough people will have been vaccinated to ensure the healthcare systems won’t be strained. By April any unvaccinated person who carries a significant risk of dying from covid and attends a MLB game deserves no sympathy. I agree the reason free agency (especially the top end) is moving so slowly is because of the revenue uncertainty of next season.
December 15, 20205 yr 26 minutes ago, Snake Diggity said: I totally understand delaying the start of the season just to be sure, but why reduce the number of games? Just push everything to the right. Because you don’t want to be playing in open air northern stadiums in November. Edited December 15, 20205 yr by TonyTexas
December 15, 20205 yr 1 hour ago, TonyTexas said: Because you don’t want to be playing in open air northern stadiums in November. They won't be. The 2021 LCSs will be LAD v ATL and HOU v TB.
December 15, 20205 yr https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb-owners-say-there-isnt-a-snowballs-chance-in-hell-of-season-starting-on-time-192218746.html MLB owners say there isn't 'a snowball's chance in hell' of season starting on time
December 16, 20205 yr 1 hour ago, henrygandorf said: damn dude you could've just posted as plain text. i didnt have my glasses on lol
December 16, 20205 yr 15 hours ago, tx 3 putt said: https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb-owners-say-there-isnt-a-snowballs-chance-in-hell-of-season-starting-on-time-192218746.html MLB owners say there isn't 'a snowball's chance in hell' of season starting on time What if I told you that snowballs can survive in hell?
December 17, 20205 yr Author This offseason fucking blows so far. The overall trend lines in hot stove suck and then Clovid is another dick up the ass. I assume we sigh 3 or 4 dioshits off the scrap heap in early February. Sucks.
December 24, 20205 yr 5 hours ago, Pablo said: Thanks for ruining my Christmas Eve! If the Astros signing an adequate backup catcher is going to ruin your Christmas Eve, it wasn't going to be very good to begin with.
December 24, 20205 yr 10 hours ago, TonyTexas said: If the Astros signing an adequate backup catcher is going to ruin your Christmas Eve, it wasn't going to be very good to begin with. Mostly sarcasm, but I remember him being here and do not want to watch him at the plate any longer.
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