It's weird to me because D'Arnaud is virtually the same on offense for 8 million. The metrics I'm looking at says D'Arnaud is a slightly better than average defensive player. I get the improved defense and younger player having a lesser chance of decline. They just paid a big price for it in my opinion...
If you set WAR at 10M per (which is where it looks like it went to this year) I absolutely believe Contreras gets there and is a positive contract. Which is what you are looking for in FA to fill a position of need. And C is that for us. Nimmo looks bad to me. Murphy didn’t end up costing as much as was rumored. If Snake translated the guys going out correctly (and he’s good at that) I’d have done that deal.
Thanks for the info and in general for sharing what you hear. I appreciate your posts, especially when info via the beat or national writers is slow or sometimes non-existent.
Doing it quickly is how we wound up with Click in the first place. I am in no hurry and I hope Crane isn't either.
D'Arnaud isn't as good defensively. I know that metrics may say that, but that isn't how the industry views it. At least he isn't good defensively compared to Murphy. Then there is handling the pitcher as well. Also D'Arnaud has been very up and down as a hitter..... and Murphy is expected to hit a lot better outside of Oakland. I would not be adverse to DÁrnaud for the Astros though - unless he really struggles handling pitchers, which I somewhat doubt because he has been around a long time and doesn't have that reputation.
I would hope he has spent the last 5-6 weeks looking at candidates and doing research. I am not saying he needs a GM in the next few weeks, but the longer this drags out, the bigger the impact on the organization is. Crane and his cronies can handle free agency and contract extensions and even trades. However, they are not qualified to handle player development, the draft and a lot of other things that the GM is in charge of. It is an especially larger issue with the Astros because the Astros lost their top international scout, their GM, their top assistant GM and the person in charge of player development that also was involved with scouting. Right now the person in charge of the draft for the Astros is someone that became very close to the former GM - so I question how much pull he even has. So yes, the Astros need to fill a lot of positions - and the GM needs to be brought aboard to do that.
They should give him a reverse games played clause. If healthy and he starts less than X games, he gets more money.
If we make a trade, it should be for Bryant. He’s the only one that really moved the needle for us and fills most of our holes in a great way. Plus won’t be as expensive because he just has a high salary so it would be just like signing him as a FA. the rest cost too much or don’t move the needle. For me. And it looks like some are both haha. I liked Murphy, if we got him for Whitley and some like someone said compared to Atlanta, but since he’s gone only Bryant makes sense.
Agreed, Now we can stop talking about trading anyone (especially Brown) for Murphy and move on with Vazquez
It appears our limit outside of C is 150 games and C will probably be 120 games. The subtract for injury, etc. Resting players is here to stay barring emergencies.
The question about BRYANT is how they and the Astros feel about his likelihood of performing coming off his injury. They really need to be in a little disagreement for a trade to happen. The outside influence would be if the Astros got word the Brantley situation did not look good. (Either recovery or willingness to return)
The Braves are also set up for the long term with the amount of offensive pieces signed long term. If they decided that Contreras isn't the guy behind the plate, d'Arnaud is getting towards the end of his shelf life as a bat first catcher-- he'll be 34 next season. This past year was his career high in plate appearances and he's had trouble staying healthy his whole career. Flipping Contreras for Murphy gives them a good runway. Heck, they could probably turn around and get something for d'Arnaud if they wanted.
