I am an optimist and happy with the Yuli/JV proposals, but I don’t think I would commit to Brantley through 38. He is trending towards a platoon or part-time DH, he has no positional utility, and the Astros have a number of good outfielders. I would offer 15 with a 10M second-year team option or a straight 2/20.
There is a little history there. I hope it doesn’t happen this year but he is 2 years older now. If we continue with this comfortable lead, I would pitch him less innings down the stretch for sure.
Dusty and Click are big about rest days for the position players. Might need that philosophy with the starting pitchers and they could be in an excellent position to do that with Odorizzi and McCullers. Management can come up with some rotation of the starters skipping a turn.
If Verlander gets to 20 wins, I think you can expect to him to skip a start and the rotation to be stretched to 6 or 7 players, depending on the Astros' division lead in September.
No way they should do that for Brantley. He simply can't play everyday in the field anymore, has lost his power, and will need IL time every year. He is a great 4th or platoon OF for about 100g for the next couple of years and then becomes a hitting coach. I would do 1/$8 plus incentives and an option. I think Barber is the LF of the future for this team but won't be ready until 2024 or so. Brantley is a good bridge to him. For 2023 bring up Leon and mix n match them with Meyers and Tucker with Yordan playing occassionally. LF: Brantley 40%, Meyers 40%, Alvarez 20% CF: Leon 60%, Meyers 40% RF: Tucker 90%, Leon 10% DH: Alvarez 75%. Brantley 20%, Tucker 5%
I think there is no doubt that him getting 32+ starts and pitching regularly on 4 days rest would fatigue him. It's happened before. But this team has rotation depth and division lead to prevent that. And they have a "rest the player" philosophy. I would expect him to have an extra day of rest every couple of turns ( at least) during July and August and maybe every turn in September. Even if a starter gets hurt or is traded and/or McCullers does not come back this isxeasy enough to do. With Lance, the team has 7 very viable starters who would be top 5 in any team's rotation. Plus Solomon and Bielak are sitting in AAA and have a bit of MLB experience and can be brought up for a spot start to keep things on schedule. The division lead also allows this.
One thing working against the case to bring Gurriel and Brantley back is that Houston has a TON of guys who projections say will be average to slightly above average hitters as soon as this season. Steamer/FGDC projects all of these guys as having a wRC+ of at least 90: Matijevic Jones Yainer Diaz Enmanuel Valdez David Hensley Corey Julks Siri Wilyer Abreu Ross Adolph Justin Dirden I would imagine that between those 10 guys (plus Leon if he takes a step forward with his k rate) they’d be able to find at least 1 guy ready to get a shot in the everyday lineup.
I don’t see Leon getting 70% playing time in 2023. The team feels strongly enough about Meyers to send down both Siri and McCormick. I think Meyers owns the position outright in 2023 with some of our ml depth coming up to help.
Pena had himself a game. I am going to enjoy this man's career. Every time I think he is settling back to a league average to slightly below average hitter he does something special.
I just can’t imagine not batting Peña second in the order even when everyone is healthy. Would love to see Brantley further down in the order with more chances to drive guys in. And the way Bregman walks and the power Altuve generates, I would also be down for Dusty shuffling those two. Yes, I know it’ll never happen. Bregman Peña Alvarez Altuve Tucker Brantley Gurriel Meyers Maldonado
Should be a lot more wins upcoming. 13 straight vs under .500 left to go at the moment. Also have a stretch of 20 vs under .500 at the end of Aug into late Sept.
I would approach him NOW and include a waiver of this years IP minimum while extending him an additional year. 2023 guaranteed at $37M with a $12M signing bonus paid this season. 2024 Payer Option for $25M with same terms $1M Bonus each year for 3rd in Cy, $2M for 2nd and $4M for Cy Win. Now my preference is a 2 Year extension with the same terms or a team option for 2024.
