LMJ aint doing any bullpen stints unless something seriously went haywire in his rehab (and even then, he would be more of a liability than an asset). And I applaud your conviction to still burn the candle that Whitley will one day be an MLB big leaguer, let alone an actual effective one that can stay healthy. They'll probably bring in at least one more established vet and there's still a possibility that one of Garcia/Urquidy/Javier ends up doing more bullpen work than starting work next year.
The real question is now that they’re over the tax does crane keep going or was this a one-off (or worse, will crane now force Brown to dump salary elsewhere to get back under).
Indeed this is the question. Along with “does this mean Bregman is absolutely gone?” I’m optimistic that on the tax for this year it means he will keep going (the compensatory pick excuse is gone, and I don’t think there is a realistic and non suicidal way to get back under). But I also believe there is no chance for Alex now. 5 years all guaranteed must mean he intends to compete a while longer though … or just assumes he can trade the deal. Any way you cut it, this has huge ramifications for the “window.”
They gave him a full no-trade clause too. This contract is either a sign that Crane is fully committed to competing for at least the next 4 seasons, or Crane is foolish.
Probably Crane wants to stay under the first level. If they do salary dump to get completely under the tax for the year, no reason to do it until close to the trade deadline. Trading graveman gets you almost halfway there. if you plan to sign Bregman I don’t see any reason to stay under the tax. I could see why you’d want to salary dump if you don’t plan to extend him though.
Some more comes off the books going into 2025. They can still sign extensions for players and manipulate the AAV accordingly. And if they don't go deep in the playoffs this year or the starting pitching struggles more, there may not be a lot of reason to keep this going anyways.
This also gives you room to dump Montero at the deadline (and gives you a few months to see what these other AAAA arms have).
LOVE seeing Crane push his chips ALL in!!! They've already seen how valuable it is to have a lock down pen. Pitchers and catchers report to camp in less than a month.
Or you keep him and realize that he actually had decent stretches last year... optimize his mechanics back to where he was in 2022... then you have a very valuable 6th inning guy.
I'm obviously thrilled to add the talent, and see Crane actually spend over the threshold. But, if he was willing to do that I think there were safer investments than this. I will be curious to see how they handle closing games, will it be a true split or will Pressly be reduced to occasional closer. Needless to say Pressly hasn't done a damn thing to lose that role.
He really hasn't... but you also can't ignore his age, the mileage, his previous injury/surgery history, and this is the last year he's signed for. And the team probably knows more as far as his current spin rates or true medicals. As it is, plenty here were speculating that Abreu would be taking over that role at some point. In the end, good teams try to solve or fix a problem BEFORE it becomes a real problem. The Astros being pro-active for the back end of their bullpen now is absolutely a killer-type move.
There is no losing a role. There are 162 games in a season and Pressly pitched in 65 That leaves 97 that he didn't pitch in. There are plenty of innings for both (and Abreu)
The $3 million that Urquidy makes or eating $10 of the 13 million owed to Monteron to facilitate a trade aren't going to be that big of a negative splash if it comes to that...
I agree with that 100% in theory, but we all know being "the" closer is a thing and a dedicated position in the hierarchy. Maybe they split duties, maybe Pressly (or both) is OK dropping down to setup man, but it's naïve to act like all innings are created equal.
Signing Hader puts the CBT payroll at just under $256 or $19M over tier 1. It comes with $3.8M CBT penalty. From $257-277M the penalty is 32%. Now go out and spend another $10M to get a bat who can start at 1B, LF, and DH 3-5 games per week vs RHP and this team could be the best Astros team ever. About $6.3M in penalties but leave about $11M in space to add at the trade deadline before additional sanctions.
