The Astros front office has chosen not more than 5 free agent years. But the market is changing to more long term contracts. Will Jim Crane have to shift with the market?
Eventually they’ll have a huge hole they can’t fill within the organization, maybe Tucker or Valdez, and a decision will have to be made. My guess is they stay status quo. We’re already seeing that to some degree with Aledmys signing with Oakland and filling that role with Hensley and Dubon instead of a more experienced utility player.
The Astros have been able to maintain being a player as an organization in the postseason. They are a marquee organization at this current point in time. But will they continue when they continually have their talent to walk out the door? He has made plenty of money in the postseason, but hasn’t been willing to part with that money. I don’t think Astros fans are going to be very thrilled Knowin we are out of contention of signing free agents, especially our players. As of now, you can’t argue with success. So he’s been able to get by losing Marquee free agents. We can’t be one of the organizations unwilling to go after someone high profile. we’re not going to keep up with the league that way. Hopefully, the analytics department also presents him with these changes in free agency and the length, and that will reconfigure his approach.
As someone who went to sleep in the '60s, Elle, with Gene Elston, Loel Passe, and Harry Kalas play-calling me to sleep on a transistor radio under my pillow (on a jr. high school night!), my dos centavos: Houston has always been a medium (even a small) market baseball team, and it still is, regardless of how many World Series or consecutive postseasons they have or will rack up.
They'll never be the team "unwilling to go after someone high profile." Conversely, they'll also cease to ever be (with any luck!!) the sad-sack loveable losers I, Marty (and possibly you...I don't want to assume your age!) grew up with.
What they WILL continue to be is a team that picks its spots....they'll sign a Cole or Verlander (or any other eye-popping FA), but they know they're not the Yankees, who can just stroll up and down the aisles plopping anyone they want into their basket!
The 'Stros will always have to straddle the line to do both: nurture the baby Astro into a regular starter/star (Tuck, Cristian, even Yordan simply by pulling off that trade, etc...a whole other ace-in-the-hole strategy the Astros need to routinely employ) while always struggling with the sign-THAT-guy/no-not-THAT-guy-with-the-high-$-low-upside dilemma!
Remember, in the Luhnow era, the analytics and spin rate guru, Brett Strom, made monsters out of choirboys (looking at you, Collin McHugh, Charlie Morton, and even turning Cole from good to virtually unhittable)...so, the Astros, out of necessity, lean heavily on player development and scouting to make up for not being the Yankees.
Few other teams toe that line so deftly...most teams are always "small market"/low $ players, or they're on the other end, in the high rent district: Yankees, Dodgers, Mets, Phils, Red Sox, Padres, etc. It'll be interesting to watch Dana Brown and how he leans into the blueprint of how the Astros pretty much are forced to navigate year to year. Enough spring, already! PLAY BALL!!⚾
Eventually they’ll have a huge hole they can’t fill within the organization, maybe Tucker or Valdez, and a decision will have to be made. My guess is they stay status quo. We’re already seeing that to some degree with Aledmys signing with Oakland and filling that role with Hensley and Dubon instead of a more experienced utility player.
The Astros have been able to maintain being a player as an organization in the postseason. They are a marquee organization at this current point in time. But will they continue when they continually have their talent to walk out the door? He has made plenty of money in the postseason, but hasn’t been willing to part with that money. I don’t think Astros fans are going to be very thrilled Knowin we are out of contention of signing free agents, especially our players. As of now, you can’t argue with success. So he’s been able to get by losing Marquee free agents. We can’t be one of the organizations unwilling to go after someone high profile. we’re not going to keep up with the league that way. Hopefully, the analytics department also presents him with these changes in free agency and the length, and that will reconfigure his approach.
As someone who went to sleep in the '60s, Elle, with Gene Elston, Loel Passe, and Harry Kalas play-calling me to sleep on a transistor radio under my pillow (on a jr. high school night!), my dos centavos: Houston has always been a medium (even a small) market baseball team, and it still is, regardless of how many World Series or consecutive postseasons they have or will rack up.
They'll never be the team "unwilling to go after someone high profile." Conversely, they'll also cease to ever be (with any luck!!) the sad-sack loveable losers I, Marty (and possibly you...I don't want to assume your age!) grew up with.
What they WILL continue to be is a team that picks its spots....they'll sign a Cole or Verlander (or any other eye-popping FA), but they know they're not the Yankees, who can just stroll up and down the aisles plopping anyone they want into their basket!
The 'Stros will always have to straddle the line to do both: nurture the baby Astro into a regular starter/star (Tuck, Cristian, even Yordan simply by pulling off that trade, etc...a whole other ace-in-the-hole strategy the Astros need to routinely employ) while always struggling with the sign-THAT-guy/no-not-THAT-guy-with-the-high-$-low-upside dilemma!
Remember, in the Luhnow era, the analytics and spin rate guru, Brett Strom, made monsters out of choirboys (looking at you, Collin McHugh, Charlie Morton, and even turning Cole from good to virtually unhittable)...so, the Astros, out of necessity, lean heavily on player development and scouting to make up for not being the Yankees.
Few other teams toe that line so deftly...most teams are always "small market"/low $ players, or they're on the other end, in the high rent district: Yankees, Dodgers, Mets, Phils, Red Sox, Padres, etc. It'll be interesting to watch Dana Brown and how he leans into the blueprint of how the Astros pretty much are forced to navigate year to year. Enough spring, already! PLAY BALL!!⚾