Few thoughts: Ohtani's contract honestly is crazy...perhaps the Astros could model something similar for Bregs. Would be more bummed losing Bregman over Tucker. Breg's arm is incredibly valuable and keeping a trio of Bregs, Pena and Altuve has been successful - shouldnt break this apart. During the last trade deadline, there was so much chatter about a fire sale in San Diego (mainly due to financial concerns). The Astros were in the mix to land Soto. Sucks that the Yankees picked him up this offseason. Think he would have been a bat that helped this offense. Tucker's situation is really tough, but that's a Dana Brown issue. Not sure what will happen tbh. This may be the last major chance for Forest Whitley. We will see what splash the Astros may have moving forward.
No - they put in $46MM/yr and let it earn interest. Then by the time they pay it out, the value has increased so they can pay out his $680MM while only having put in $460MM.
Alex Bregman is a Scott Boras client. He wants a 10 year $300 million deal. I think the Astros should trade Alex Bregman and get valuable young Prospects to fill in the System. Try to find another C Yainer Diaz, LF Yordan Alvarez trades. Teenage Latin Prospect that is a high average hitter still developing his body.
You only sell when you aren't contending. Astros have 2 more years of contending with the current squad.
Truly amazes me how many people would be ready to sell off Tucker and Bregman if they were GM. You were one win away from the WS last year (and from likely winning the WS if you'd advanced) and it took a fluke 0-4 at home to miss out on that. You don't blow it up when you're again projected to be one of the very best teams in baseball. What message are you sending to the rest of the clubhouse if you trade Bregman or Tucker? "Oh, well we don't think we can really contend this year anyway, so that's why we shipped them off" That's really the message you want being sent to the clubhouse? They went and got JV at the deadline this summer. That wasn't just a 2023 move. That was a 2024 move as well. It would make absolutely no sense to trade Clifford and Gilbert for JV just to turn around and trade Bregman or Tucker just a few months later after missing the WS by one game. People need to be realistic. You keep this team together and you're likely the favorite to win the AL heading into the season. Could things go terribly wrong and the season fall apart before our eyes? Sure. But given their track record of success since 2017 I'm going to say that's very unlikely. What's more likely is that this team is once again playing in the ALCS for a chance at getting back to the WS. And you don't give up on that purely because you want to get a couple of lottery ticket prospects in return for proven star players.
In the sense that it's only happened twice in MLB history, yes it's a fluke. Now of course I don't mean that we should have won those games or that those games had fluke plays deciding the outcome. But I think we can all agree that any MLB team going 0-4 at home in a playoff series is a fluke. The statistical likelihood of that happening is near zero.
It's the grass-is-always-greener effect. Everyone is always looking forward to the next shiny thing. I don't think people realize how rare it is to build a core like the Astros have, and how unlikely it is that they duplicate that even if they trade away a bunch of current key pieces for prospects.
What message are you sending long term guys like Yordan and Javier if you let your stars walk away with no replacements and the team can't compete in 2026+? Are guys like Diaz and Hunter Brown going to WANT to stay or will it suddenly become a revolving door once a player hits 6 years of service like Pittsburgh or Kansas City? The model of trading away young stars before they hit FA to reload has worked OK in Tampa Bay. It's a double edged sword, but letting them walk without getting anything in return except a lottery ticket (ALL draft picks are lottery tickets) is how a team's window is slammed shut. Now I agree it reduces the chances of a title in 2024 and 2025 so it's a sucky choice either way. The key is if either or both are traded, then multiple high ceiling, low-mid risk young players must come back and some of them must be able to step into the vacated spot(s) immediately.
I think the difference is that if players walk in FA it's not solely on the team. However, if you trade Bregman this offseason, it is 100% on the team as far as why he's not an Astro anymore. I think the players would see trading Bregman as much more damning than if the Astros end up letting him walk in FA.
I think it's much more on the team than many feel. I get the player has the choice but I think there are players who would stay if the Astros made the same offer as other teams, and in some cases just got close. I think Bregman is in that boat and so was Correa. (good or bad) Others like Springer, and I suspect Tucker, would leave regardless.
The team let Cole, Springer, Correa, Keuchel, Morton, etc walk away and kept building and competing. Maybe the message you send is that we believe in the system that worked for the last 7-8 years and you don't have to worry about us trading you away in the middle of your contract to somewhere you don't want to be.
You may have been listening too closely to the media reports of the desolation of our farm. In fact we are and have always been much better situated to bring up a top rookie or two every single year than has been reported by them or repeated here. There is no reason to believe our stars will walk away with no replacements nor that the team will not be competitive in 2026+. We have more than one unrecognized prospect set to replace those stars as they go as usual. Have a little faith in the system that has been working very well despite the constant reporting to the contrary.
