44 million for an inconsistent guy like Hicks. If we had gotten him for 2 years 16 million I would thought that would have been a fair number. I do see why teams would be enamored with his upside though. Certainly a different day and age for reliever paydays. No way the Astros were even in the same stratosphere as that, so calling them "in the mix" seems like the lip service of all lip services.
Outside of Josh Hader and Jordan Montgomery, I don’t see any free agents available who by themselves makes sense for Houston to be willing to go over the CBT threshold. Maybe Yariel Rodriguez, if Houston is just totally sold on him. But as time marches on and some 3rd/4th tier free agents start to get desperate, there are some guys who would make sense on a 1 year 6-7 figure deal that would fit under the threshold: Lefthanded bats: Joey Gallo, Austin Meadows, Jesse Winker, Adam Frazier, Brandon Belt, Travis Jankowski, Dan Vogelbach, Robbie Grossman, Eddie Rosario, Mike Ford, Matt Carpenter, Jared Walsh, Mike Moustakas SP: Alex Wood, Vince Velasquez, Matt Boyd RP: Matt Moore, Keynan Middleton, Scott Alexander Trading Urquidy to free up money for a guy like Matt Moore makes a lot of sense to me.
I would still like to see a corner bat that hits RHP but I am convinced that staying under the CBT is the organization's #1 priority.
I am still not convinced they are quite as close to the threshold as everyone is saying. It would not surprise me at all if they had another $3M-$7M to go. Either way, there’s very likely room for them to swap out Singleton with a guy like Gallo or Frazier or Jankowski who brings more defensive value and/or upside.
Wouldn't mind Gallo. He can play 1st, all 3 OF positions (likely just the corners), and 3rd (in a pinch)
Trade Urquidy and Montero. Sign Moore, Paxton, and Gallo. Roster: 2B Altuve 3B Bregman DH Alvarez 1B Abreu RF Tucker C Diaz OF McCormick OF Gallo SS Pena Bench: Dubon, Caratini, Meyers, Kessinger Rotation: Verlander, Framber, Javier, Paxton, Brown, France Bullpen: Pressly, Abreu, Moore, Graveman, Whitley, Sousa/McCullers, Bielak/Garcia
Very true but I do not think we are disagreeing about the value of the players, rather this seems to be about the hall of fame. An under sized second baseman who can't field his position has no place to hide on a competitive team. He will probably have a good bat but to keep him active would displace better bats. The hall means nothing to me, less than nothing if that is possible. I have no respect left for the press and those unworthies get the only voice on who does or does not get into the hall. It matters even less what hat HOF players wear. The same arguments are true for a starting pitcher and go double for a reliever. To hold HOF induction to be more important than fielding the best team possible is sacrilege. I would prefer to have more wins from younger and more athletic Astros players every time.
I can respect and agree with much of what you are saying. My point is more about Altuve will be here so find the good in it, rather than the logical point that he will not be nearly as good as he is now so should be replaced to win more games.
They went from 7.5 to 9 million a year over two years. Hicks was interested. Red Sox went to 3 years and the Giants eventually went to 4. FWIW Hicks preference was the Astros but the guaranteed money and chance to start was too much to pass up. Not sure how I feel about Hicks honestly. Lots of velocity but don’t like some of his issues.
Thanks Nook. Did they have a trade lined up to clear salary, or were they really willing to go over the CBT for Hicks? The latter seems unlikely.
To add to this, apparently the Yankees and Rangers might be the front runners for him. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024...-potential-frontrunners-for-hector-neris.html
What the hell is Brown doing besides absolutely nothing? Lefty relief pitcher who has been very effective for Colorado, Brent Suter, signs with the Reds for peanuts (2.5 million and a 2nd yr club option for 3.5 million). Brown has been a disaster up to this point.
