re: DAT 10/23: Rangers (Scherzer) vs Astros (Javier) | 703CT

We also have Hunter Brown and France in the mix.

Abreu isn’t going anywhere

And they’re not gonna pay him 20 mil to sit on the bench

quote:

---

IF everyone is healthy, I am still on board with a rotation of

Verlander
Framber
Garcia
Urquidy
Javier

With LMJ possible to contribute, but who knows.

---

Garcia won't be back next season... but Brown and France have MLB value.

Hopefully Neris is back... or if he opts out I'd like to see him brought back on a new deal. He's about as good as you're going to get for a setup man.

I literally prefaced all of that in my post.

I’m not going to doom and say everyone always sucks and I’m going to try and not pump and say everything rocks. The truth is always in the middle and that’s what I was trying to lay out in my post.

Lance is a very effective pitcher when healthy. His most recent stints healthy have been very good. Maybe they cleaned his arm up and he will be healthy, maybe he will always be injured. Trying to avoid all absolutes when prognosticating this team moving forward

Gotta save singleton for crunch time pinch hits.

Astros Go Rangers

quote:

---

This winter, owner Jim Crane spent $105 million on three free agents during his two-month stint as head of baseball operations. Rafael Montero, José Abreu and Michael Brantley combined for negative 0.4 wins above replacement, according to Baseball-Reference’s version of the metric.

---

BAGWELLS ASTROS

quote:

---

If you think he can stay healthy

---

Might as well sign Brantley and see if he can pitch

The only signings the Astros have made that resulted in getting what you paid for were Altuve and Alvarez

quote:

---

I know Bregman is polarizing but so far his deal has been perfectly fine. Pressly and Neris also. There’s more than that if we go before 2021 or so

---

I almost added Pressly and Neris, but decided to stick to position players, mostly b/c I didn't know all the specific contracts of our pitchers, other than to say that LMJ, Montero, and Javier were definitely in the negative

With a juiced ball, Bregman's deal could be, and if averaged out over his career production, postseason included, it is fine. I'm already projecting into next year when I say he is overpaid, but I'm also a fan of what he CAN do, just know that his approach will not change.

quote:

---

Perhaps he is terrible next year and it changes things, but there’s only one year left (though an expensive one). I think it’s already paid for itself. He may be frustrating at times but was still incredibly productive the last two years. It’s fair to wonder whether he’s worth another expensive deal but he’s not been the issue

---

Agreed

I will add that it is more frustrating watching him be patient and not get rewarded for it. The electronic strike zone will benefit him more than any other player in both leagues.

I understand his dilemma as far as it concerns his approach at the plate. He is talented enough to get it figured out for power in the inner and middle third vs contact and average the other way.

His 2 biggest hits were a single to LC in Game 5 '17 and a double to RF Game 2 '17

His HR Game 1 vs Seattle before Yed's game winner being 3rd

Also being fair, I agree with Jwho that I don't think he will age well. I'm hoping he sets his goals more to be a Brantley and less of a dead pull power guy. He might get a better contract the other way, but I don't want the Astros paying for it.