re: DAT Thread, The Off-season Edition

I’d be interested to know what the longer term contracts might have looked like. He clearly took this structure to re enter the market next year hopefully after a good rookie season and still only being 28.

Could be as simple as he’s unproven with some question marks (size, command) and not a slam dunk Yamamoto level prospect, and there’s a lot of uncertainty with a potential labor stoppage. I love the deal as an Astros fan

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They also need to find a backup catcher maybe

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So is Caratini totally out of the picture to re-sign?

In general, I’m excited about the pitching acquisitions, and understand we had to withstand the loss of Framber and can’t expect the patchwork crew of 2025 to overachieve again.

However, it’s a bit disconcerting that we were bottom half or third in most of the important hitting categories, while top 10 in most pitching categories, yet our big acquisitions have been pitching.

Dubon could be infuriating at times and I get it was a salary dump, but they got literally one of the worst hitters in MLB in return and also dumped Urias. That’s our big offensive moves so far.

A healthy Yordan is a big deal, but I expect regression from Jake and even if not, he’s not hitting for power. The guy I am hoping for more from is Sanchez. I’m hoping that his horrendous few months with us are a result of the now departed clown hitting coaches. Even then though he can’t hit lefties. I think we have to hope Cam can pick it up or perhaps ZDZ.

McCullers would be behind Spaghetti, Blueballs, Costanza, Gordon, France, etc. I don’t expect him to have a meaningful contribution for the Astros again.

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I think Imai is betting on himself with the help of the Astros pitching coaching success to try to cash in after a big season.

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So you think there were bigger and better offers but he chose the short offer with lesser AAV and opt outs so he could cash in bigger while he's still relatively young? And that the Astros pitching infrastructure is the best path to that?