It’s a shame Brice Matthews didn’t make any Top 100 lists this offseason, which makes him ineligible for the PPI. It looks like he has a good shot to make the roster and so Houston could have gotten a 1st rd pick if he’d finished top 3 in the ROY this season. Cam Smith is PPI eligible if he finishes in the top 3 of the MVP voting this season or next season. That’s looking like an extreme long shot.
That seems like a dumb rule. Why should it matter for anything whether random people think a guy is a top 100 prospect? Why not just make all rookies eligible?
Because then they’d be giving out 6 extra 1st round draft picks almost every year. The incentive is in place to encourage teams not to keep top prospects down for service time reasons; to do that they have to define what “top prospects” are. I agree it’s a screwy system but not sure what better alternatives are.
Why would the Astros roster Brice Matthews just to have him ride the bench most days? versus playing everyday in AAA.
If he’s good he could play nearly every day, especially if there’s a trade. But even as the roster stands, he could be the primary backup at 2B, CF, and LF, with lots of opportunities as a pinch hitter, pinch runner, and late game defensive replacement. But most likely if he’s on the roster, a trade would have opened up CF which would create enough opportunity to justify keeping him on the roster.
Gotcha - I see how that makes sense. Still seems unfair to a team that might have had the 101st prospect on some arbitrary list or whatnot. I wonder if doing it by age would be another option - and probably one the union would like if it pushes younger plays up quicker.
For years I have advocated for free agency to be determined by age rather than service time. Similar to how Rule 5 eligibility is calculated. Like somewhere between 8 and 10 years from when you sign as an amateur you reach free agency, regardless of how much time you spent in the majors vs the minors. That would allow them to do away with service time manipulation altogether. It would also allow them get rid of the nonsense around the 40 man roster and minor league options that has fringe guys constantly bouncing around the league, destroying their development and disrupting their home lives. Arbitration eligibility could be determined by age/time from original signing as well.
Episode 126 of breathing orange file is up. It's not great, but neither are the Astros right now. We are back to every week now I'm pretty sure on our pod
They took a gamble hoping they would get the 2022 version of Javier moving forward and lost. Obviously it doesn't help he got injured, but outside of 2022, he's never been that great. Always walked way too many batters and his FIP during his first two seasons was 4.94 and 4.43. Anyone expecting him to be anything other than a 4th/5th type this season is going to be disappointed. There's plenty of guys who have put together a great season that they never replicated moving forward. Would have been like giving Chas a bag after his 2023 season.
I dunno. I thought he was a stud. He’s not though. I thought he would, at worst, be a solid innings eater type. But yeah, his pitch counts get out of control still. Hard to throw a lot of innings like that.. He looked promising before 2022 as well
I liked how good Javier was for us in 2022 but never thought of him as they next guy up. He would always have a few innings of brilliance but could never seem to stay in the game long. He was a super-opener at best for 3 innings or so
