Our 2015 payroll was $70,910,100. Good for 29th in the league

Based on 2015 numbers 83M would put us at about 25th. Still in the bottom 3rd of the league.

But nope we can't afford anything but a minor league contract for Wandy Rodriguez.

I trust Luhnow.

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Our 2015 payroll was $70,910,100. Good for 29th in the league

Based on 2015 numbers 83M would put us at about 25th. Still in the bottom 3rd of the league.

But nope we can't afford anything but a minor league contract for Wandy Rodriguez.

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The front office has never been about spending for the sake of spending. Every move is calculated and planned 2-3 years ahead into the future. That's why Correa came up when he did, and why we aren't likely to see Reed until mid to late May.

Who out there would you have wanted? Cespedes on an overpaid basis, whose contract could be bad 3 years down the line and who plays a position that we are stacked st with current and future players?

Davis who strikes out as much as Carter and doesn't add the type of value to warrant that kind of many at first?

I doubt our front office is done, but I like that they don't run around paying everyone. We have 4-5 guys and maybe more on our team that we are going to do everything in our power to lock up over the next couple of years. That money has been allocated and budgeted. We are playing with what's left over after that.

Yes I would have no problem paying Cespedes 100M on a 5 year contract.

I get that we're looking ahead and building within, but you also can't build without bringing in solid FAs. Plus you can't assume that all these players are gonna stay. Go after it and take advantage of what we have in front of us RIGHT now.

This regime has brought in no one via free agency and it's a matter of being tight.

You guys know how I feel on the subject so I won't rehash it all, but until Crane shows me otherwise I'll be convinced he's just a penny pincher in it to make his millions. He has no problem dumping money into redoing the club level and Tal's Hill but when it comes to putting the best possible team on the field we can't afford anyone? C'mon...

He'll continue to tell Lunhow to make it happen with what we have and they'll keep up with pulling off 2 for 1 deals for decent players that fit their mold.

Trade deadlines will be a blast but FA will a bore full of lip service, high hopes, and dashed dreams.

How many more days until pitchers and catchers report? [/RantOver]

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Yes I would have no problem paying Cespedes 100M on a 5 year contract.

I get that we're looking ahead and building within, but you also can't build without bringing in solid FAs. Plus you can't assume that all these players are gonna stay. Go after it and take advantage of what we have in front of us RIGHT now.

This regime has brought in no one via free agency and it's a matter of being tight.

You guys know how I feel on the subject so I won't rehash it all, but until Crane shows me otherwise I'll be convinced he's just a penny pincher in it to make his millions. He has no problem dumping money into redoing the club level and Tal's Hill but when it comes to putting the best possible team on the field we can't afford anyone? C'mon...

He'll continue to tell Lunhow to make it happen with what we have and they'll keep up with pulling off 2 for 1 deals for decent players that fit their mold.

Trade deadlines will be a blast but FA will a bore full of lip service, high hopes, and dashed dreams.

How many more days until pitchers and catchers report? [/RantOver]

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So what has been in front of us to take advantage of? Overpaying Cespedes?

We traded for the best up and coming closer in the game, our number 1 need. Instead of going free agency, we brought Rasmus back. We weren't ready to trade away our future for Freeman who was the only proven 1st basemen worth any value that was realistic to go after.

And we're still not done. So hold your whining until it's over at least.

But you have to realize that we're going to have to bring out the HUGE bucks to keep guys like Keuchel, Correa, Springer, Altuve, and Reed (if he pans out) in the next few years. I'm ok with not pursuing a big name right now. And 07, we made the playoffs with one of the lowest payrolls last year. We'll be just fine. Luhnow seems to have mastered the art of winning without breaking the bank...technically, 2016 was the first year the Astros were supposed to contend. I'm perfectly ok with not pursuing cespedes.

Yeah I know.

Part of it is residual filth left behind by Uncle Drayton being a cheapskate for a while. Just hoping it doesn't happen to us again. We've got a really good core that while it's fun to watch and they're coming along nicely they do have weaknesses and needs.

I just hope we build off of it and don't stay content because we made the playoffs one year.

One saving grace is that we're still a year ahead of schedule and it's only one off-season into our playoff birth.

Just hope Crane eventually pays up and makes a financial commitment to the on-field product.

I agree.

Mets sign Cespedes for three years at $75M. A three year deal is all I would have given him, too, but $25M per year? Geeze.

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Mets sign Cespedes for three years at $75M. A three year deal is all I would have given him, too, but $25M per year? Geeze.

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Really not that bad when you consider the market right now

Right. The market is ridiculous. Cespedes now makes more than everyone in the NFL and NBA.

Springer, Rasmus, Gomez, Marisnick, Tucker

And I expect an improved Tucker.

I'm happy still.

TLDR - I'm very happy we didn't sign Cespedes at that ridiculous price. It would have been ridiculous and I'm very pleased with management's restraint.

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It's almost insufferable to read the *****ing, 07. It's like when people complain about any one of the 20 NFL franchises that don't have a good QB not drafting a franchise QB when there aren't that many to begin with.

There wasn't anyone to spend smart money on and in 3,4,5 years our payroll is going to be huge to keep our core. This team has more than just one year with a chance to make a deep playoff run. Sure, Crane/Luhnow might be cheap, but at this point it's for the right reasons. If money prevents us resigning Keuchel or something, then ***** away. I will too. Mortgaging the future by signing or trading for over the hill players playing well below their contracts is EXACTLY what got us in the total rebuild mode to begin with under previous ownership. Remember Carlos Lee? Miguel Tejada? Just to name two. Yes, a key FA signing or two will be needed, especially if it's proven SP. Vut signing someone just to sign them at a position of depth for you? I don't see how the current situation looks even remotely like what ever happens under Drayton. I'm struggling to find a single similarity even.

Signing Cespedes for 25M might make us better, but not 25M better. Hell, might not even make us 10-15M better. That's overbuying to try to get ST results over LT longevity. First "major FA" STL has tried to sign in ages was Heyward, and that was a known commodity that had played on their team after they traded for him. Are they not in the hunt every year? They're a franchise to model, not the Dodgers or Yankees.

Our likely payroll had we dropped 25 on Cespedes - 108M, good for about 18th at start of last year (not to mention a Cy Young winner at 525k). Playoff teams last year started the year at:

NYY - 2nd
TOR - 10th
KC - 16th
TEX - 8th (including significant injuries on a lot of that payroll)
HOU - 29th

LAD - 1st
NYM - 21st
CHC - 11th
STL - 13th
PIT - 25th

Seems like we might be spending wisely. I refuse to criticize ownership and management for not spending money just to spend money or act like we are top 10 payroll because we're winning and that's what winners do. 4/10 teams were top 10 payroll and 3 of 4 lost in their first round. None reached the WS. 16th beat 21st.
***In 2014, 7th (SF) beat 19th (KC) in 7 games. Other playoff teams were 1,5,6,9,15,13,25,27 - so 5/10 top 10 teams with 4 out of 5 (all but SF) losing in their first round. Before that WS winners ranked 4th, 8th, and 11th in year starting payroll. Until 2013, 100M got you into the top 10. I'm not saying you don't have to spend money to win championships, but "post hoc, ergo propter hoc" doesn't work with me. Spending money blindly doesn't lead to championships, spending money on good players does. Go look at the stars of those teams and tell me what they have in common. I don't have time but I may do an analysis before the season of how many teams have $20M+ position players (and if they were FA or keeping homegrown prospects) to see success trends of those teams. I do know that not a single WS winner over the past 5 years had one. 4 highest paid players (by far) were: Pence (16M, 2014 Giants), Holliday (16M, 2011 Cards), Ortiz (14M, 2013 Red Sox), and Pujols (14M, 2011 Cards).

You continue to spend money wisely to keep your core and add one or two pieces when your farm system can't deliver at a position. None of the very weak FA class this year was that extra piece to put us over the top.

I challenge you to find a single move that you would have done at the price point they signed and we will revisit it at the end of the season to see production versus price. I'd really like to say we will look at it again in 3-5 years (against what we did), but thats too intense (even though that's what GMs have to do).

The only piece I would have wanted added was a front line SP, and that just wasn't available. Tough luck. It's been a long few days so I apologize if that's harsh, but your point of view is ridiculous and it set me off since I haven't slept in well over 48 hours. I'm sure you're a nice guy and I'm sure we'd get along IRL, but all the data we have here says you're wrong and that the correct long term moves were made this year (which happen to be good for business). I think you have a sour taste in your mouth from the past few years (and understandably so), but go look at last year's opening day roster to what's projected for this year and tell me management isn't trying to field a perennial playoff team.

Signing Cespedes felt like it would be "spending for the sake of spending" by Astros. Glad they took a pass

The reason Cespedes got 25 a year is because it was only a 3 year deal. He probably actually wanted a 5-6 year deal at around 18-20.

While cespedes may not have been the "perfect" ft, nobody ever will be. At some point we've gotta spend.

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While cespedes may not have been the "perfect" ft, nobody ever will be. At some point we've gotta spend.

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Again, we will have to spend some serious cash to keep altuve, Keuchel, Correa and springer in the coming years. Those guys will have a huge market value when they hit free agency. So spending money on guys like cespedes, who is admittedly a great player, is not the long term best interest of our team if it means we sacrifice letting those guys walk. I think management is making the right decision here.

There is no salary cap... We can in fact do both!

Gonna head out to fanfest in a couple hours with my 6 month old. She will probably hate it but I will have fun... Say hi to the guy pushing the pink stroller!

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While cespedes may not have been the "perfect" ft, nobody ever will be. At some point we've gotta spend.

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Again, we will have to spend some serious cash to keep altuve, Keuchel, Correa and springer in the coming years. Those guys will have a huge market value when they hit free agency. So spending money on guys like cespedes, who is admittedly a great player, is not the long term best interest of our team if it means we sacrifice letting those guys walk. I think management is making the right decision here.

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Stop with that. All those guys would not have been affected by a large three year deal to Cespedes. We could've hugely upgraded our offense AND still had flexibility when it's time to pay our young arbitration players if we made a deal like the Mets did for him.

Again, I get all that I really do.

I just think at the end of the year there were 3 needs that were identified and so far we've only addressed one of them.

I expected a little bit more movement this offseason and it just hasn't happened. As I said earlier it may be a little bitterness from the last regime and I'm just afraid it's going to end up all talk moving forward. And while it may be smart decisions to not spend it's always a bit disappointing to see pieces that would improve the team slip away due to money when we're not spending much.

If we had Giles last year, we're in the ALCS and who knows what happens then. This team was close. Now you get a whole year of Correra and Gomez, as well as McCullers and Fiers on the mound. And maybe just maybe this is the year Springer plays a whole season.

I like our makeup going into the season, and I expect some younger guys to contribute again this year, with Reed and Ferrel being my picks to do the most for us. I'm very thankful we didn't sign Cespedes and I think many will agree after the season when he hits .265 with 25 HRs. That'll be a cool million per home run.

http://mshop.mlb.com/Houston_Astros_Gear/*NEW*_Mens_Houston_Astros_Carlos_Correa_Majestic_Navy_Official_Cool_Base_Player_Jersey


New Sunday unis

Solid

So what is going on with the club/suit/upper deck. New ribbon board?

Gotta be ribbon board

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Fanfest was fun today. Gattis' beard is thinned out.

Towards the end I was walking in the concourse behind CF and McHugh comes strolling by. He was all hipstered out wearing a leather jacket and no ball cap, no one was recognizing him. I pointed him out to the Mrs, it was funny to see him and watch him walk through the crowd undetected

AJ Reed named the top first basemen prospect

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1. A.J. Reed, Astros

Reed had a spectacular first full season as a pro, leading the Minors in runs (113), homers (34), RBIs (127), total bases (320), slugging (.612) and OPS (1.044) while winning the Class A Advanced California League MVP Award and continuing to mash following a promotion to Double-A. With his penchant for making consistent hard contact and waiting out pitchers reluctant to challenge him, Reed could claim Houston's first-base job as soon as he proves he can hit advanced left-handers.

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http://m.rays.mlb.com/news/article/162516062/prospect-watch-top-10-1b-for-2016

The #Astros announced that minor league pitcher Jose Rosario died Sunday in his native Dominican Republic.

Motorcycle accident