jkag89 said:

---

Nuke LaLoosh said:

---

I am astonished that we are this high.

---

The only reason I can think of why anyone would make the odds that high is that they think Cole might want to stay with a team that will be in contention for a deep post season run without considering how Luhnow builds and maintains a team. Some what surprised the effin' Dodgers are not mentioned higher, but then I'm not sure where their payroll is in relation to the luxury tax.

---

The only reason is because we may keep Cole? Really.

Why is anyone astonished?

We still have the following players
Altuve
Bregman
Springer
Correa
Verlander
Osuna
Pressly
Yuli
Brantley
Greinke
McCullers
And MF TED

Find me another squad with 12 guys at that level across the board.

Hint, you can't.

How much would Chirinos cost on a 1 or 2 year deal vs Maldonado? I know many want a little more offense at the position, but I think either one is good for a pitching that staff that will likely include 2 rookies.

redline248 said:

---

How much would Chirinos cost on a 1 or 2 year deal vs Maldonado? I know many want a little more offense at the position, but I think either one is good for a pitching that staff that will likely include 2 rookies.

---

I think we're going to be on a tight budget at catcher this winter and think Chirinos will ultimately be looking for more than what we're willing to pay. At this very second, I'll be surprised if Maldy isn't our starting catcher opening day 2020. Assuming we can't come to terms with Chirinos, my guess is Maldy will be next in line and be quick to take a 1 year, $3 million deal to stay like he should have done last winter.

Cole has made it quite clear that he wants his pay day. Do you see Luhnow opening the vault, or Crane OK such a deal if he decided to go against his usual modus operandi?

No. Perhaps if we won this year, but we made a huge gamble with Greinke and it unfortunately didn't pay off.

Just my opinion, but Luhnow has already spoken about how Crane isn't on board with paying a luxury tax.

I'm ok with Maldonado and developing Stubbs. If we need a boost before he playoffs, we can make some noise for a catcher at the deadline. If RF can be improved, people won't care about the black hole of offense at catcher.

0.00001% chance Cole comes back.

jkag89 said:

---

Cole has made it quite clear that he wants his pay day. Do you see Luhnow opening the vault, or Crane OK such a deal if he decided to go against his usual modus operandi?

---

Crane is probably hurting for money, the Astros franchise has only gone up 1.1 billion since he bought them 8 years ago.

mazag08 said:

---

I'm ok with Maldonado and developing Stubbs. If we need a boost before he playoffs, we can make some noise for a catcher at the deadline. If RF can be improved, people won't care about the black hole of offense at catcher.

---

Lol, they'll care the first time the catcher strikes out with 2nd/3rd and 2 outs.

Deluxe said:

---

redline248 said:

---

How much would Chirinos cost on a 1 or 2 year deal vs Maldonado? I know many want a little more offense at the position, but I think either one is good for a pitching that staff that will likely include 2 rookies.

---

I think we're going to be on a tight budget at catcher this winter and think Chirinos will ultimately be looking for more than what we're willing to pay. At this very second, I'll be surprised if Maldy isn't our starting catcher opening day 2020. Assuming we can't come to terms with Chirinos, my guess is Maldy will be next in line and be quick to take a 1 year, $3 million deal to stay like he should have done last winter.

---

1) is 3 million reasonable for Maldonado
2) is Chirinos going to command more than that?

redline248 said:

---

1) is 3 million reasonable for Maldonado
2) is Chirinos going to command more than that?

---

1) Maldy's contract last year was 1 year, $2.5 million. Don't see him making more than that this offseason.
2) Chirinos' contract last year was 1 year, $5.75 million. I think he did enough to demand roughly the same amount, but maybe he'd accept less to stay.

Do y'all think he's worth 2 at 9?

I think in a lot of ways we are improved because of a few reasons:

1. Correa - Hopefully he will be healthy for the season. If he is, that's a big boost. I think his bat was a little rusty going into the playoffs. He needs to work on laying off garbage that's down and away.

2. Tucker instead of Reddick. Big improvement in offense and defense in RF.

3. Alvarez will be back for an entire season, is experienced with MLB and playoff pitching.

In terms of position players, we don't really need to do anything other than get a catcher. Resign Maldy or Chirinos (or both), and be done.

Hopefully Hinch has a LOT of lessons learned during the 2019 WS vs. 2017. He played it right in 2017 - you play your best guys and don't go to the bullpen unless necessary. Hinch got a little TOO comfortable with his bullpen and it killed us. You DO have to manage a bit differently during the playoffs than the regular season because there's less of a NEED to go to your bullpen.

Our biggest hole this offseason is finding a Cole/Miley replacement with years, and hoping some of our rookies can fill in the gaps in our BP.

Aliva would be a better pairing with Chirinos. He's a lefty bat and Chirinos is a lefty killer. There are a lot of mediocre catcher free agents so it should be interesting to see how much money these guys make.

Would you take a flyer on Salvador Perez if the Royals asking price was low level prospects? Considering he's coming off major elbow surgery.

I'd be interested in Perez but he seems the kind of guy KC would value more than other teams given his history with the team. Maybe if they take Reddick to offset some salary then you can justify a reasonable prospect.

Ags #1 said:

---

No way tucker has better defense than reddick. Bat yes

---

Not with his long swing.

Well an Astro won a gold glove, just for what he did on another team though. Congrats Greinke.

Many runner ups though.

ontheedge said:

---

Ags #1 said:

---

No way tucker has better defense than reddick. Bat yes

---

Not with his long swing.

---

Not to compare him to Alvarez, but both have long swings.

MelvinUdall said:

---

ontheedge said:

---

Ags #1 said:

---

No way tucker has better defense than reddick. Bat yes

---

Not with his long swing.

---

Not to compare him to Alvarez, but both have long swings.

---

But only one of them swings at eye-high cheese.

dshedd41 said:

---

---

Yuli, Tuve & Bregs were all runners up at their positions.

The 2019 Gold Glove Award winners are ...

Did y'all happen to see in the Chronicle today that Urquidy's salary this year was $85,000?

willie wonka said:

---

Did y'all happen to see in the Chronicle today that Urquidy's salary this year was $85,000?

---

That's not correct.

willie wonka said:

---

Did y'all happen to see in the Chronicle today that Urquidy's salary this year was $85,000?

---

He wasn't up very long. So that makes sense

According to sporttrac his salary was $555,000 and his adjusted salary was $180,000

willie wonka said:

---

Did y'all happen to see in the Chronicle today that Urquidy's salary this year was $85,000?

---

Actually Spotrac shows that he earned $152k

willie wonka said:

---

Did y'all happen to see in the Chronicle today that Urquidy's salary this year was $85,000?

---

$85k is his AAA salary.

His total 2019 salary should be his prorated portion of $556K for his MLB service time + prorated portion of $85K for his time @ RR.

bearkatag15 said:

---

willie wonka said:

---

Did y'all happen to see in the Chronicle today that Urquidy's salary this year was $85,000?

---

Actually Spotrac shows that he earned $152k

---

Spotrac probably shows his pro rata MLB salary, which is $3,432 per game. Based on his game log it looks like he was on the roster for 44 games, which adds up. I would guess the adjusted salary is this + prorated MiLb salary.

That's not including his playoff share, And he's going to be one of the guys for which the playoff share will make a huge difference. In 2017 each player & staff member got $438k.