Farmer1906 said:

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This would be good. It would seal the deal for Straw or similar in center, but I'd be ok with that. Comparing it to the 2020 offense, you'd swap Alvarez for Springer at-bats, and Straw for Reddick (as an example). You expect Yuli to decline a bit, maybe, while Bregman and Altuve both revert close to their usual production levels. The Astros would still have one of the best offenses in baseball. Your weak point would be CF. No one really has a great hitting catcher, so that's not what you would call a comparative deficit.

Shore up the bullpen with a veteran arm, and maybe find a #5 on the cheap. It could work.

I'm not so sure Brantley precludes is from another CF. JBJ is provably still a potential signing. There are a few other options too. We'll still need another body that can play OF besides Brantley, TED, & Straw. We don't exactly have a stocked farm center for OFers.

Marvin said:

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Farmer1906 said:

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This would be good. It would seal the deal for Straw or similar in center, but I'd be ok with that. Comparing it to the 2020 offense, you'd swap Alvarez for Springer at-bats, and Straw for Reddick (as an example). You expect Yuli to decline a bit, maybe, while Bregman and Altuve both revert close to their usual production levels. The Astros would still have one of the best offenses in baseball. Your weak point would be CF. No one really has a great hitting catcher, so that's not what you would call a comparative deficit.

Shore up the bullpen with a veteran arm, and maybe find a #5 on the cheap. It could work.

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I think a trade for a cheaper CF is more likely in that scenario. I just can't see Straw as your opening day CF.

Straw has no arm and takes horrific routes to balls. He actually negates his own speed in the OF. Leaving aside his lack of any offensive ability right now, his defense alone is a scary proposition. I can stomach a plus/plus CF with a weak bat. I'm happy with a plus/plus bat and a weak/weak defensive CFer. I want no part of a weak defensive and weak offensive CFer. Straw full time is a hard pass.

There are going to be a lot of cheap CF options. Some good defensively, some not. Basically nothing all that great offensively after George. JBJ is the next group. After that, it's guys like Keke Hernandez, Jake Marisnick, Kevin Pillar, Billy Hamilton. Then it actually gets worse. It might be smart money to spend at CF with so few good options.

I'd def sign up for JBJ/Brantley right now and make sure I have tickets for Springer's return to MMP so I can give him a standing o.

Brantley + Marisnick/Pillar isn't terrible either. Agree that Straw ideally shouldn't start.

The Astros should be able to another outfielder in addition to Brantley, IMO.

Wrote this article this morning about the news
https://climbingtalshill.com/2020/11/09/houston-astros-former-gm-luhnow-sues-astros/

Or maybe they have a plan to sign Brantley and George by dumping Greinke? Who knows.

Sign Uncle Mike with an incentive payout for convincing George to take a deal.

Mathguy64 said:

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Straw has no arm and takes horrific routes to balls. He actually negates his own speed in the OF. Leaving aside his lack of any offensive ability right now, his defense alone is a scary proposition. I can stomach a plus/plus CF with a weak bat. I'm happy with a plus/plus bat and a weak/weak defensive CFer. I want no part of a weak defensive and weak offensive CFer. Straw full time is a hard pass.

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I agree that he's not the answer (yet) in CF, but he doesn't have "no arm". Maybe someone else can verify this, but I know he pitched in college and on a radio broadcast last year I remember them saying he had a 93-94 mph fastball. He had some bad throws, but you're basing that opinion on a small sample. He most definitely has a plus arm. If he had "no arm", do you really think they would have moved him to SS? It doesn't make any sense. He doesn't have a Vlad Guerrero (or Carlos Correa) cannon, but he's got a good arm.

First off obviously he had a terrible year, offensively and defensively...but it was 82 ABs! He had a very solid 108 ABs the year before and everyone was ready to pencil him in the starting lineup! The truth is probably somewhere in between.

He did take some horrible routes to balls this year, for sure - it was frustrating. But he's blazing fast and that's half the battle in the OF. It doesn't help that the club has shuttled him from CF to SS and back in the span of 200 ABs. I'm not sure what his deal was this year, but he's certainly capable of, at very worst, being a solid CF.

Now he has to hit for that to even be a consideration, and I agree that he hasn't shown enough to deserve more than a 4th OF/UTIL/PR roster spot but he obviously has enough potential that a club that's up against the wall budget-wise doesn't need to give up on him just yet.

I was trying to find some video of him pitching and I came across this gem:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/Astros/comments/chckza/miles_straws_devo_impression/

I think you guys are overestimating Crane's target payroll for '21. Maybe I'm wrong, and I have no real info to back it up, but I do not see him spending much money right now. Maybe at the trade deadline if we are back to full capacity and the rona scare is over (and even then we'd need prospects to trade), but I just don't think he'll commit beforehand.

Well, looky here...we have a bunch of cheating going on. Should we just change the rules?

https://theathletic.com/2183861/2020/11/09/pitchers-pine-tar-grip-mlb-time-to-legalize/

Quote:

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Those who are loading up with a "grip enhancement" on the mound are violating Official Baseball Rule 6.02, which states that the pitcher may not "apply a foreign substance of any kind to the ball" or "have on his person, or in his possession, any foreign substance" or "attach anything to his hand, any finger, or either wrist."

But, rather than try to eradicate such a widespread practice, it might make more sense for Major League Baseball to legalize it.

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This is a long article and I haven't gotten all the way through it, yet. But Trevor Bauer is featured. They mention a league wide memo that went out telling teams they are in part responsible for stopping it, but of course no pitcher got in trouble in 2020.

I expect to see some GMs and managers get a year suspension for not stopping their players from cheating.

Pitchers who load up use the excuse "well the batters like it because then they know we have better control"

I agree. I don't see them spending much.

I can see them going with Marisnick or another cheap CF option + Straw as a platoon in CF. It's not ideal, but you give those two guys a chance and if no one has stepped up by the trade deadline, there will be plenty of help available.

Let's put it this way, if we're going to spend that money on either JBJ or relief pitching, I think we can make the playoffs in a full season without Bradley, but I don't think we can have anything like the 2020 bullpen out there in a full season and expect to play in October. There are relief pitchers out there who will improve our bullpen by a mile, but I don't think JBJ is all that much of an improvement over Jake or other far cheaper guys out there.

Marvin said:

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I think you guys are overestimating Crane's target payroll for '21. Maybe I'm wrong, and I have no real info to back it up, but I do not see him spending much money right now. Maybe at the trade deadline if we are back to full capacity and the rona scare is over (and even then we'd need prospects to trade), but I just don't think he'll commit beforehand.

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yes, any organization that spends a bunch of money before mid-January...is taking major, major financial risk. And perhaps foolish risk.

it's impossible to project what the % capacity allowed is going to be for the 2021 season

Mathguy64 said:

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Pitchers who load up use the excuse "well the batters like it because then they know we have better control"

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Which, as the article points out, is BS because hbp rate is going up.

Mathguy64 said:

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Pitchers who load up use the excuse "well the batters like it because then they know we have better control"

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Joe Kelly would disagree

AggiEE said:

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Sounds like a weak lawsuit

Hope he loses, really can't stand Lunhow and how he's acted after this whole ordeal. Hinch took it with class

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You cant stand a guy you've never met? How has he acted that has upset you? He didn't peep a word until after the season was over so as to not be a distraction.

Hinch took it with class because he was guilty. Sorry but if you get fired and you think you were wronged then you would also end up suing like Lunhow has.

You're right...I don't know.

But my opinion is based on what Luhnow said himself during his BS damage control pity party TV interview.

And to be honest that interview changed my opinion of Luhnow to what is now. He should've just kept his mouth shut and filed his lawsuit because based on what he said I don't see any way he wins. Unless his contract has some language that would allow him to get away stuff.

MAROON said:

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AggiEE said:

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Sounds like a weak lawsuit

Hope he loses, really can't stand Lunhow and how he's acted after this whole ordeal. Hinch took it with class

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You cant stand a guy you've never met? How has he acted that has upset you? He didn't peep a word until after the season was over so as to not be a distraction.

Hinch took it with class because he was guilty. Sorry but if you get fired and you think you were wronged then you would also end up suing like Lunhow has.

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Yeah, based on his interviews. The last one really exposed Lunhow and not in a positive way. He tries too much to blame it on anyone else but himself and has absolutely zero humility even if he's telling the truth and was never aware of anything, which I find hard to believe. He comes across as a ******y MBA consultant and surrounded/hired a bunch of ******y MBAs like Taubman that will go to any length to bend the rules.

Obviously the results speak for themselves and he created a phenomenal team, but as a person he really seems like a total narcissist and I'm OK with Click right now and think he's a great replacement.

AggiEE said:

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MAROON said:

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AggiEE said:

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Sounds like a weak lawsuit

Hope he loses, really can't stand Lunhow and how he's acted after this whole ordeal. Hinch took it with class

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You cant stand a guy you've never met? How has he acted that has upset you? He didn't peep a word until after the season was over so as to not be a distraction.

Hinch took it with class because he was guilty. Sorry but if you get fired and you think you were wronged then you would also end up suing like Lunhow has.

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Yeah, based on his interviews. The last one really exposed Lunhow and not in a positive way. He tries too much to blame it on anyone else but himself and has absolutely zero humility even if he's telling the truth and was never aware of anything, which I find hard to believe. He comes across as a ******y MBA consultant and surrounded/hired a bunch of ******y MBAs like Taubman that will go to any length to bend the rules.

Obviously the results speak for themselves and he created a phenomenal team, but as a person he really seems like a total narcissist and I'm OK with Click right now and think he's a great replacement.

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As a rather upstanding and only relatively ******y MBA consultant who stays within the rules... I second this opinion. Luhnow hires a bunch of people just like him and the culture and lack of accountability was his fault.

MaxPower said:

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Buck Compton said:

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AggiEE said:

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MAROON said:

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AggiEE said:

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Sounds like a weak lawsuit

Hope he loses, really can't stand Lunhow and how he's acted after this whole ordeal. Hinch took it with class

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You cant stand a guy you've never met? How has he acted that has upset you? He didn't peep a word until after the season was over so as to not be a distraction.

Hinch took it with class because he was guilty. Sorry but if you get fired and you think you were wronged then you would also end up suing like Lunhow has.

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Yeah, based on his interviews. The last one really exposed Lunhow and not in a positive way. He tries too much to blame it on anyone else but himself and has absolutely zero humility even if he's telling the truth and was never aware of anything, which I find hard to believe. He comes across as a ******y MBA consultant and surrounded/hired a bunch of ******y MBAs like Taubman that will go to any length to bend the rules.

Obviously the results speak for themselves and he created a phenomenal team, but as a person he really seems like a total narcissist and I'm OK with Click right now and think he's a great replacement.

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As a rather upstanding and only relatively ******y MBA consultant who stays within the rules... I second this opinion. Luhnow hires a bunch of people just like him and the culture and lack of accountability was his fault.

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Why does it all go on Luhnow and none on Crane? I agree Luhnow should be held accountable. But, he actually was held accountable by MLB. Crane was exonerated in a very bizarre manner within the report.

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Oh, I'm not saying that it's any different for Crane. He is complicit, too. But forcing the sale of a franchise would've been tough if they're going to say he was the mastermind. It was a business move by Manfred and the MLB.

Also fair to point out that the owner is relatively insulated from daily baseball operations in a sports franchise. He had less reason to know, although I can guarantee you he did. That extra layer of plausible deniability is key. I don't know of any emails he ignored, etc.

I wonder if Crane tried to negotiate a settlement with Luhnow...and the sides could not agree on the amount.

that's what is usually done to avoid the things going public (to a further extent)

What Lunhow dosnt get is that he was a scapegoat and it goes with the territory. The GM and HC took the fall for Beltran. They couldnt punish a player directly. They only reason the Mets let Beltran go was that he wasnt in MLBPA any more. Manfred wanted to punish someone so the guys in charge had to take one for the team. Literally. Hinch took it. Beltran did. Cora sort of did. Lunhow needs to do the same.

Luhnow is a perfect microcosm of sabermetrics.

Just like sabermetrics he gets results and is great at what he does. Crunching numbers and analytics and all that good stuff but when it comes to the people side the managing and leading an organization he falls incredibly short. Just like analytics.

He's a typical nerd/engineer type. Phenomenal at the science and numbers but awful with people and the soft skills it takes to lead.

What makes AJ great is that he has those skills. He'll be successful for a long while. Luhnow will not be back in baseball again.

MAROON said:

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You don't have any idea what was going on behind the scenes or what has gone on since then. But everybody is entitled to their opinion

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Agree. None of us do.

All we have is speculation, but Luhnow obviously feels that the process of discovery would be favorable for him and/or damaging to Crane/the organization. Best common sense guess is that Luhnow was culpable or at the very least negligent, but no more so than others who either skated or were able to resume working.

Luhnow's interviews and public statements have gone poorly, but being poor at PR isn't a crime. If he was forced to fall on his sword as part of a deal and is going to have to reinvent himself professionally because of it, there should be a payout that comes with it. I'm speculating, but Crane can't ask him to take one for the team and then be a cheapskate about it.

Obviously I don't want to see the team hurt, but don't hold it against Luhnow for going after it if he was wronged, and we won't know that until the facts come out (if they ever do).