Brady Aiken and Mark Appel back-to-back... 2 of the only 4 1-1 to never make it to the show. Not that they couldn't come back one day.
Sad to see that it hasn't worked out for him. Probably got some bad advice from his agent along the way. Definitely a blessing that he passed up the reduced offer which netted us Bregman.
Ramon Laureano and Max Stassi are the only position players Houston has traded away that project to be in the top 120 in war in 2020. Joe Musgrove, Adrian Houser, Mike Foltynewicz, and Josh Hader are the pitchers who project to be in the top 120 in war.
Whoa, talk about dodging a huge bullet. Aiken’s was seen as a generational talent, Bregman on the other hand was seen as a low ceiling high floor player. Bregman is on the cusp of MVP’s and Aiken hasn’t gotten out of the minors. Hence, taking what the experts analyze is best served with a grain of salt.
Per the Athletic, Miley was tipping his fastball, cutter by holding glove farther from his body than for breaking, offspeed pitches.
I wish him all the best. I heard he was a good clubhouse guy, and known to be great friends with fellow Louisianan Will Harris. Showed great sportsmanship all the way. And probably not a snitch either. He's someone I'll definitely continue to root for.
With all of the Astros advanced technology to detect pitcher tipping why were they not able to detect it on Miley?
Our catcher is the best guy to see these things. Opposing players pick up this stuff despite seeing a starter for 3 at bats. Our catcher sees EVERY at bat.
So I’m a bit salty over how Keutchel disparaged the Astros during last offseason. I know it’s a business, but to blame the Astros qualifying offer so adamantly for his lack of acceptable offer to him was lame. That qualifying offer didn’t scare anyone away from Cole, Rendon, etc... There is no draft pick tied to signing him this offseason, yet he still hasn’t signed. I think clubs are offering him 3 years between 36 and 45 million. I wonder if he is still holding out for the 100 million contract? In 2016 it was reported the Astros offered him 5 years 90 million, an amount he scuffed at as disrespectful. So in 2017 he made 9+ million and 13 million in each of 2018-19. So he’d of penalized the Astros 20 million dollars for showing loyalty. And on top of that he ridiculed them for the 5 year 90 million contract. Keutchel isn’t hurting for money, but he’s cost himself at least 30 million if he get a 2 year 24 million dollar contract. Maybe he gets a 5 year 75 million contract, but I’d assume he’d be all over that type of offer now. I still am a huge fan of his, but it sucks how he helped contribute into making the Astros the evil corporate MLB team, when it’s filled with high quality character guys. Keutchel got the best offer from the Astros he was ever going to get from any MLB team, and he mocked them as not being serious.
He definitely overvalued himself. I agree the $90M/5yrs Houston offered him was likely the largest offer he has seen. He essentially held out, and the result was he threw 1/2 a season where he looked like a #4 starter, and he’s about to turn 32. He will be very lucky to get $50M/3yrs. He showed quite a bit of insolence toward the front office throughout his Astros tenure, which is ironic because had he come up in almost any other organization he likely would have topped out as a AAAA guy.
Keuchel to the White Sox. $55M/3yr with vesting option to get him to $74M/4yr. Great deal for Keuchel, slight overpay by Chicago but not by a ton.
Good for Keutchel. He gets 90 million in 6 years instead of 5. It was definitely worth the gamble. Unfortunately for Keutchel analytics don’t value his workhorse style. But, although I was a bit salty how he attacked the Astros for not giving him the contract he demanded, it was his right. At least Keutchel never went full Fiers on the Astros and accuse the Astros of the worst cheating scandal since the black sox in the 1920’s
Losing a draft pick is not a big deal when you're getting a top-tier guy for 7-10 years. It's a much bigger deal when you're only getting a maybe-not-superstar guy for 3. He and Kimbrel signed a few days after the draft pick compensation went away, so it was pretty clearly holding them up.
He should have just took the astros original offer which was about 18 mil. I don't see how it is an overpay. He is a pitcher who can give you 180-200 inning of 3.5-4 era ball.
He currently projects to a 4.20 era next season. He is entering the period where age related decline usually sets in. He very well could present a good value for that contract but he is extremely unlikely to exceed it by a lot, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see him underperform it. Like I said, it’s not a huge overpay but I pegged him about 10-15% lower.