2022 Team

C Lee / Garneau / cheap FA
1B Taylor
2B Altuve
3B Bregman
SS Correa (mega deal)
LF Brewer / Barber / Tanielu / cheap vet FA (maybe too early for the first 2 guys)
CF Straw
RF Tucker
DH Alvarez

Bench - Diaz, Toro,

1 Syndergaard
2 McCullers
3 Framber
4 Urquidy
5 Javier / Garcia / Whitley???

Closer - Pressly
Set Up - Paredes
BP- Taylor, Bielak, Perez, Castellanos, Armenteros, whoever doesn't make the rotation, cheap FA

It'll be hard to spend top dollar on an ace and keep Correa. It'll probably be one or the other. However, something like this doesn't seem too farfetched and still looks to be a competitive team is things stay somewhat on track.

Ag_07 said:

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Farmer1906 said:

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astros4545 said:

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I'm excited to see Garcia pitch again

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Me too.

Between Framber, Javier, Urquidy, & Garcia we may just have a decent rotation for the future. We still need someone to emerge to be the ace though. JV & Greinke can't live forever.

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Enter Whit...OK you got me. I couldn't even finish typing it.

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Don't me my next post. I reluctantly added him to the plan.

Farmer1906 said:

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2022 Team

C Lee / Garneau / cheap FA
1B Taylor
2B Altuve
3B Bregman
SS Correa (mega deal)
LF Brewer / Barber / Tanielu / cheap vet FA (maybe too early for the first 2 guys)
CF Straw
RF Tucker
DH Alvarez

Bench - Diaz, Toro,

1 Syndergaard
2 McCullers
3 Framber
4 Urquidy
5 Javier / Garcia / Whitley???

Closer - Pressly
Set Up - Paredes
BP- Taylor, Bielak, Perez, Castellanos, Armenteros, whoever doesn't make the rotation, cheap FA

It'll be hard to spend top dollar on an ace and keep Correa. It'll probably be one or the other. However, something like this doesn't seem too farfetched and still looks to be a competitive team is things stay somewhat on track.

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Jeremy Pena could make his way to the roster at some point in 2022 as a utility infielder

bearkatag15 said:

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Farmer1906 said:

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2022 Team

C Lee / Garneau / cheap FA
1B Taylor
2B Altuve
3B Bregman
SS Correa (mega deal)
LF Brewer / Barber / Tanielu / cheap vet FA (maybe too early for the first 2 guys)
CF Straw
RF Tucker
DH Alvarez

Bench - Diaz, Toro,

1 Syndergaard
2 McCullers
3 Framber
4 Urquidy
5 Javier / Garcia / Whitley???

Closer - Pressly
Set Up - Paredes
BP- Taylor, Bielak, Perez, Castellanos, Armenteros, whoever doesn't make the rotation, cheap FA

It'll be hard to spend top dollar on an ace and keep Correa. It'll probably be one or the other. However, something like this doesn't seem too farfetched and still looks to be a competitive team is things stay somewhat on track.

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Jeremy Pena could make his way to the roster at some point in 2022 as a utility infielder

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In 2 years a lot could change. Pena, Leon, Nova, Brewer, could all crack the team for position players. Then Ivey, Abreau, Brown Solis, and a bunch of others for arms.

Yeah we should go 5-2, I'm just basing it on 4 games on the road and we suck on the road at this point. Win 2-1 at home and then split the last 4 on the road because dusty rests people.

Javier getting some recognition in rookie rankings:

Quote:

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10. Cristian Javier, RHP, Astros (No. 4)
Previous RPR: NR
After pitching to mixed results in August, Javier, 23, has bounced back to post a 1.98 ERA and .130 BAA in 13 2/3 innings this month, appearing in two games as a starter and another in relief. For the season, the right-hander has worked to a 3.22 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and .173 BAA over 10 appearances (8 starts), during which he's compiled a 42/16 K/BB in 44 2/3 frames.

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No love for Toro?

Honestly, I might have more faith in Javier in a game 3 winner take all over LMJ.... as crazy as that would have sounded a few months ago.


LMJ did start game 7 of the World Series... so he's got that going for him.

Farmer1906 said:

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2022 Team

C Lee / Garneau / cheap FA
1B Taylor
2B Altuve
3B Bregman
SS Correa (mega deal)
LF Brewer / Barber / Tanielu / cheap vet FA (maybe too early for the first 2 guys)
CF Straw
RF Tucker
DH Alvarez

Bench - Diaz, Toro,

1 Syndergaard
2 McCullers
3 Framber
4 Urquidy
5 Javier / Garcia / Whitley???

Closer - Pressly
Set Up - Paredes
BP- Taylor, Bielak, Perez, Castellanos, Armenteros, whoever doesn't make the rotation, cheap FA

It'll be hard to spend top dollar on an ace and keep Correa. It'll probably be one or the other. However, something like this doesn't seem too farfetched and still looks to be a competitive team is things stay somewhat on track.

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A few comments because I'm bored:

-Hope I'm wrong but I don't think Taylor Jones is an everyday major league 1B. At best he'll be a platoon/depth guy. Since we have basically nothing else in the farm at 1B, we'll probably have to sign a vet or retain Yuli on a series of 1-2 deals until he can't hit anymore. Diaz/Tucker could be options for platoon-mates, but OF will be thin too so we can't afford to put Tucker there much (if at all).

-Don't think we're gonna give Correa the mega-deal. He gone. I don't think you think he's gonna get it either though. Good news is that SS is where we're best situated for the future. Hopefully Pena or Nova will be ready. If not, we can find a bridge solution.

-IMO Syndergaard will be replaced in your scenario with JV on a series of short term deals (assuming his current arm trouble isn't more serious than we know about). He stays in good shape and wants to pitch a while longer. Happy to let him do it as a Stro so long as he's top-of-the-rotation capable.

-McCullers will be interesting. A big year next year could put him close to Wheeler range in terms of contract. I anticipate we'll see the same Lance though. Inconsistent. But if we can retain him for 4/$60(?), I'd probably sign up for that.

-With no Correa and no long term ace signing, we'll have plenty of money saved to pay a pretty large upcoming wave of arb raises and extensions. We'll also have a nice pool of money to let Click craft our pitching staff in the Tampa image. We're developing a nice base of young/cheap, productive pitching but they'll need to be supplemented with some experienced guys. Guessing he'll also have some high upside projects he'll want to bring in and groom.

Another player to keep an eye on for the future (if we still end up signing him as we were predicted to over the summer) is Pedro Leon from Cuba. Considering he'll be like 22 next season, I could see him advancing through the minors quickly at debuting sometime in 2022 or early 2023. That Cuba professional league seems to help develop players well. Worked out well for Yuli's little brother.

https://www.mlb.com/news/astros-favorites-to-sign-cuban-prospect-pedro-leon

Quote:

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The Astros might have discovered their next Cuban star.

The club is the front-runner to sign Cuban outfielder Pedro Manuel Leon, 21, to a deal that is expected to be in the $4 million range, according to industry sources. Leon, who defected from Cuba in 2019, was declared a free agent on Dec. 6. He has been eligible to sign since Dec. 20.

The deal is expected to become official during the international signing period that starts July 2, 2020 and runs through June 15, 2021. The 21-year-old enters MLB.com's Top 30 international prospects list at No. 3 behind Jasson Dominguez, 17, and Robert Puasan, 17.

There's a lot to like about Leon. He is a quick-twitch athlete with the potential for five above average tools in the future. He's a smaller guy, but he's muscular and he has a track record of success. At the plate, Leon has a short and compact swing. He doesn't swing and miss much and shows power potential to all fields. He's also a plus-runner with basestealing potential.

On defense, he has the tools to stay in center field and displays a strong and accurate arm. He has also been praised for his makeup. Because of his age, experience and projection, there is a belief that Leon would be considered a top 5 pick if he were subject to the Draft. There is a case to be made that he would be the No. 1 overall selection because he is the age of a college junior.

Leon would be a valuable addition to the franchise if the deal comes to fruition. The Astros will not have a pick in the first or second round of the next two Drafts as part of the penalty for the sign-stealing investigation by Major League Baseball. They were not penalized on the international front.
As for Leon, he sported a .371 batting average with 15 home runs, a 1.220 OPS and seven stolen bases in 33 games for Mayabeque in Serie Nacional, Cuba's top professional league, in 2018. He was named to the 2018 Serie Nacional All-Star Game.

The outfielder was slowed by an oblique injury at the end of 2019, but has been working out privately for teams since January. He had a showcase open to all 30 teams last week in the Dominican Republic.

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Yep, he's a wild card in all this. I've been a little bit concerned recently about whether or not we'll actually get to sign him. If you click on the top 30 international prospects link in that article you posted, he's no longer listed.

Deluxe said:

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Farmer1906 said:

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2022 Team

C Lee / Garneau / cheap FA
1B Taylor
2B Altuve
3B Bregman
SS Correa (mega deal)
LF Brewer / Barber / Tanielu / cheap vet FA (maybe too early for the first 2 guys)
CF Straw
RF Tucker
DH Alvarez

Bench - Diaz, Toro,

1 Syndergaard
2 McCullers
3 Framber
4 Urquidy
5 Javier / Garcia / Whitley???

Closer - Pressly
Set Up - Paredes
BP- Taylor, Bielak, Perez, Castellanos, Armenteros, whoever doesn't make the rotation, cheap FA

It'll be hard to spend top dollar on an ace and keep Correa. It'll probably be one or the other. However, something like this doesn't seem too farfetched and still looks to be a competitive team is things stay somewhat on track.

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A few comments because I'm bored:

-Hope I'm wrong but I don't think Taylor Jones is an everyday major league 1B. At best he'll be a platoon/depth guy. Since we have basically nothing else in the farm at 1B, we'll probably have to sign a vet or retain Yuli on a series of 1-2 deals until he can't hit anymore. Diaz/Tucker could be options for platoon-mates, but OF will be thin too so we can't afford to put Tucker there much (if at all).

Taylor is still fairly early in his development, but the huge jump he made last year combined with not looking overwhemled in his limited ABs this year bode well. Still a ways to go. You may be right.

Also, I think its time to ditch any thought of Tucker to 1st. He's an above average defensive OFer. No reason to look at first anymore.

-Don't think we're gonna give Correa the mega-deal. He gone. I don't think you think he's gonna get it either though. Good news is that SS is where we're best situated for the future. Hopefully Pena or Nova will be ready. If not, we can find a bridge solution.

I don't either, but money will be there to make a move since we're going uber cheap on pitching. Who knows what it'll be.

-IMO Syndergaard will be replaced in your scenario with JV on a series of short term deals (assuming his current arm trouble isn't more serious than we know about). He stays in good shape and wants to pitch a while longer. Happy to let him do it as a Stro so long as he's top-of-the-rotation capable.

Maybe? Father time catches everyone. I picked Thor because he was the best youngish arm on the market. Lots of old vets we may make work - Kershaw, JV, Greinke, Scherzer, Lester, Arieta, Cueto, Kluber, & Lynn.

-McCullers will be interesting. A big year next year could put him close to Wheeler range in terms of contract. I anticipate we'll see the same Lance though. Inconsistent. But if we can retain him for 4/$60(?), I'd probably sign up for that.

Funny, because that is the exact contract that popped into my mind. 15 M a year over 4 years. Eovaldi may be a good comp. He got 4/68 M.

-With no Correa and no long term ace signing, we'll have plenty of money saved to pay a pretty large upcoming wave of arb raises and extensions. We'll also have a nice pool of money to let Click craft our pitching staff in the Tampa image. We're developing a nice base of young/cheap, productive pitching but they'll need to be supplemented with some experienced guys. Guessing he'll also have some high upside projects he'll want to bring in and groom.

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Its fun to speculate on off days. I reread one from a few years ago on a season thread. We were way off.

Deluxe said:

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Yep, he's a wild card in all this. I've been a little bit concerned recently about whether or not we'll actually get to sign him. If you click on the top 30 international prospects link in that article you posted, he's no longer listed.

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Its an old link.

Try this one.

https://www.mlb.com/prospects/international/

What kind of deal do you think Thor will get?

Deluxe said:

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What kind of deal do you think Thor will get?

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Assuming he comes back heathy and pitches a full 2021 with similar results as 15-18 and not 19, his ceiling is going to be high. Not Cole, but something like Scherzer, Price, Greinke, or Strasberg signed. 6-7 years at 30-32 per. But if he misses time and his ERA stays above 4 like 2019 then I could see something more like 5-7 years at 22-28 M similar to Yu, Corbin, Sale, Wheeler range.

This is all assuming post(?) Covid markets don't fall off.

Mariners coming dangerously close to coming back on the A's after being down 5-0 early

bearkatag15 said:

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Mariners coming dangerously close to coming back on the A's after being down 5-0 early

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And now its a tie game bottom of the 6th.

bearkatag15 said:

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bearkatag15 said:

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Mariners coming dangerously close to coming back on the A's after being down 5-0 early

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And now its a tie game bottom of the 6th.

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And they blew it

tjack16 said:

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bearkatag15 said:

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bearkatag15 said:

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Mariners coming dangerously close to coming back on the A's after being down 5-0 early

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And now its a tie game bottom of the 6th.

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And they blew it

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Bases loaded walk... Jesus

bearkatag15 said:

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tjack16 said:

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bearkatag15 said:

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bearkatag15 said:

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Mariners coming dangerously close to coming back on the A's after being down 5-0 early

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And now its a tie game bottom of the 6th.

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And they blew it

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Bases loaded walk... Jesus

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Who'd we trade?

790 tossed out the idea that the A's might throw their final game against the Mariners on the 27th if it kept the Astros out of the playoffs and they'd send Fiers out there to do it

CFTXAG10 said:

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790 tossed out the idea that the A's might throw their final game against the Mariners on the 27th if it kept the Astros out of the playoffs and they'd send Fiers out there to do it

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We'd have to be tied with the Mariners on that day for that to happen. If we are then we deserve to miss the playoffs based on their schedule vs the Astros' schedule.

Quote:

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The Astros do have this going for them: they hold the tiebreaker on the Mariners because they've already clinched the head-to-head season series by winning six of the seven matchups at Minute Maid Park in July and August. Scheduling is also in their favor. By opponent winning percentage (.424), the Astros have the easiest remaining schedule in MLB: seven games against the Rangers (.362), three against the Diamondbacks (.354) and three against the Mariners (.457). The Mariners, conversely, entered Monday with MLB's most challenging remaining schedule (.538): six games against the A's (.630), three against the Padres (.646), three against the Astros (.489) and two against the Giants (.489).

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A's with another big lead...can they hold it?

6-0 in the 5th

the doubleheader is split.

Astros......23-24
Mariners...22-26

All right, boys. This seems to be the start of the stretch run today. It's almost like a mini-season. No more excuses about youth- they've had time, taken some lumps, and know what it takes to succeed. Veteran bats need to step the hell up and have purposeful at bats. Starters need to be efficient enough to not trash the pen and keep us in games. Dusty needs to wake up, or go to sleep... I'm on the fence with that one.

Time to get it done.

bearkatag15 said:

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Nothing will happen with this but...

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Just checking in on this. I assume MLB took action?

Deluxe said:

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bearkatag15 said:

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Nothing will happen with this but...

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Just checking in on this. I assume MLB took action?

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Maybe there isn't a tv back there. I mean he does come out grabbing himself. It is quite possible that there may have been an actual measuring contest going on.

I was reading some comments and some people were saying the TV broadcast is allowed as long as its on an 8 second delay. Schwab keeps saying the player he spoke to says no video is allowed at all.

bearkatag15 said:

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I was reading some comments and some people were saying the TV broadcast is allowed as long as its on an 8 second delay. Schwab keeps saying the player he spoke to says no video is allowed at all.

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I do recall the 8 second rule being put into effect. What's confusing to me is that kinda conflicts with what Baez was saying (no video at all). Maybe you can only watch a feed that's 8 seconds behind but can't stop/rewind, etc. That seems almost impossible to enforce though.

Also from the Schwab Twitter...

https://dodgerblue.com/dodgers-news-gavin-lux-corey-seager-adjusting-closed-video-room-mlb-rules/2020/07/17/

Quote:

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With the 2020 Major League Baseball season being shortened to 60 games due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the league was forced to make a number of other changes to ensure the safety of players and everyone else involved.

Among those is that the video replay room will not be utilized during games, which of course eliminates the opportunity for hitters to go and review their at-bats between innings. That is going to be a big change for some position players on the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"I crush video. I try to break down pitchers, bullpens, what they're doing, what their pitches look like," Gavin Lux said. "During games I would go in there and watch the previous at-bats, seeing where the catcher was set up and stuff like that. It's a tool that I definitely try to utilize and I know a lot of guys do, so it will be a little bit of an adjustment.

"I think I'll be all right. I always kind of go for feel over what's actually happening anyways, but it is always nice to see what the pitcher is doing. I think it will affect me obviously, but got to find a way around it."

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Lol exactly

This is kinda interesting. Schwab's feed features a guy named Dinn Mann making some pretty noteworthy claims. Long thread with some good info in the comments...

Just for fun, I Google'd Dinn Mann and apparently he's very plugged in with MLB. Seemed like only a matter of time before someone like this spoke up...

https://www.sportico.com/leagues/baseball/2020/mlbam-settles-lawsuit-with-former-vice-president-dinn-mann-1234612005/