Farmer1906 said:

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Just FYI, Max is getting 43.3 per.

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$43.3mm from the Mets

Another $15mm from the Nationals

As much as it hurts the heart to let him walk, as an organization we are better off letting him go and using that money for a DH and/or 1B.

Exactly. For $45m per, we could improve our team a lot more with other moves

BeaumontAg05 said:

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As much as it hurts the heart to let him walk, as an organization we are better off letting him go and using that money for a DH and/or 1B.

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The problem with that is we dont know what Crane's max payroll is. Not knowing that its impossible to say we should spend that money elsewhere.

Let's assume JV is kept and we shop Urquidy. Would Iam Happ make some sense? He only has one year left. He fills the LF need and can play IF. Maybe 2 years of Tyler O'Neil? Not much flexibility, but answers the LF hole.

if urquidy gets dealt, Bryan Reynolds is who they should go for.

garcia may be more likely to go based on his having 1 more year of team control

I would like to sign correa to a deal where he rotates, 2b, SS and 3rd and DH. Hedge against injuries.

Like a premier long term Diaz. Would he be open to ma 5 year deal now?
Ok, ok, I know that would never happen but I wouldn't hate it.

Mathguy64 said:

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BeaumontAg05 said:

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As much as it hurts the heart to let him walk, as an organization we are better off letting him go and using that money for a DH and/or 1B.

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The problem with that is we dont know what Crane's max payroll is. Not knowing that its impossible to say we should spend that money elsewhere.

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We don't, but we do know where it's been.

Payroll per Baseball Cube
2017 - 127 M - 17th (top 3, 178-187)
2018 - 159 M - 11th (186-235)
2019 - 160 M - 8th (208-222)
2020 - 212 M - 2nd (189-214)
2021 - 176 M - 7th (186-241)
2022 - 171 M - 10th (240-285)

For 2022 the top teams in payroll were LAD, NYM, NYY, PHI, SDP, BOS, CHW, LAA, ATL, HOU, TOR, STL, SFG, CHC, COL.

All the top 15 are probably looking to spend or at worst maintain. Jim has shown he's willing to pay to win as well. He's consistently been around top 10. I think it's safe to expect 175-195 M to stay in line with where we've been. Will all of Spotrac's estimates, we have 40-60 M to spend. If we blow 40 M on JV, we might be bargain bin shopping for the rest of the roster.

BMX Bandit said:

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if urquidy gets dealt, Bryan Reynolds is who they should go for.

garcia may be more likely to go based on his having 1 more year of team control

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Pitt is going to want way more than Urquidy or Garcia.

HarryRocket said:

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I would like to sign correa to a deal where he rotates, 2b, SS and 3rd and DH. Hedge against injuries.

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In my dreams, Correa has been working out at CF all off-season...

Hmmmm…. That's interesting.

Anthony Rizzo and Josh Bell are the obvious names thrown around on the first base free-agent market, but the Astros have inquired about Ji-Man Choi multiple times across the past few seasons. If they wanted a cheaper alternative, he would make sense - https://t.co/esxj7iTWzk

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) November 10, 2022

Farmer1906 said:

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Mathguy64 said:

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BeaumontAg05 said:

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As much as it hurts the heart to let him walk, as an organization we are better off letting him go and using that money for a DH and/or 1B.

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The problem with that is we dont know what Crane's max payroll is. Not knowing that its impossible to say we should spend that money elsewhere.

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We don't, but we do know where it's been.

Payroll per Baseball Cube
2017 - 127 M - 17th (top 3, 178-187)
2018 - 159 M - 11th (186-235)
2019 - 160 M - 8th (208-222)
2020 - 212 M - 2nd (189-214)
2021 - 176 M - 7th (186-241)
2022 - 171 M - 10th (240-285)

For 2022 the top teams in payroll were LAD, NYM, NYY, PHI, SDP, BOS, CHW, LAA, ATL, HOU, TOR, STL, SFG, CHC, COL.

All the top 15 are probably looking to spend or at worst maintain. Jim has shown he's willing to pay to win as well. He's consistently been around top 10. I think it's safe to expect 175-195 M to stay in line with where we've been. Will all of Spotrac's estimates, we have 40-60 M to spend. If we blow 40 M on JV, we might be bargain bin shopping for the rest of the roster.

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This is what I was referring to. Unless Crane is willing to go over the threshhold and pay the tax, signing JV could lead us to replacements consisting of ji man Choi and Niko goodrum.

I know we are in need of impactful position player acquisitions, but let's look at the moves made by James Click four non pitchers so far in free agency:

Signed Robel Garcia
Signed Stephen Souza
Signed Niko Goodrum

Unless he has a sudden change of heart (or someone else is in charge), don't get your hopes up.

i think he made the move on Baez too

On the flip side - the Montero/Gravemen deal was pretty legit. We gave up Smith and Toro, right?

Up until now we haven't needed replacements as far as position players via FA.

Choi is statically similar (overall value, not how they do it) to Bell and Rizzo. A step-down? Maybe a small one, but he's still a major upgrade from 2022 Yuli.

wRC+ over the last 4 seasons
Choi: 122, 104, 117, 115 - 116 Med
Yuli: 131, 76, 132, 85 - 108 Med
Bell: 135, 76, 119, 123 - 121 Med
Rizzo: 140, 103, 113, 132 - 123 Med

I don't think NY lets Rizzo go anywhere. Bell might command a 3-year deal. Maybe Click isn't willing to give it if it interferes with paying Bregman and Altuve in 2024. Choi would only be a 1 year/4.5 M solution.

Been sayin it. Choi’s a great strong side platoon option who masks Altuve and Peña’s fringy arms, and whose arb number is probably one TBR isn’t willing to pay. https://t.co/qbIo84KbjD

— Ben 🥇 (@midzee4) November 10, 2022

Anyways, Choi, along with very good 1B defense which is pretty much necessary for this roster, would walk and nuke. You are free to dislike that type.

22 damage% (67th percentile)
16.1 BadDecision% (94th percentile)
14 projected HR in 356 2022 ABs
96th %ile chase and walk rates

— Ben 🥇 (@midzee4) November 10, 2022

Farmer1906 said:

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EastCoastAgNc said:

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I know we are in need of impactful position player acquisitions, but let's look at the moves made by James Click four non pitchers so far in free agency:

Signed Robel Garcia
Signed Stephen Souza
Signed Niko Goodrum

Unless he has a sudden change of heart (or someone else is in charge), don't get your hopes up.

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He signed Castro, signed Brantley, picked up Yuli's option, extended Alvarez, traded for Vazquez/Mancini/Dubon. If we're only looking at position player moves, there hasn't been a giant need to get them.

The 3 you listed were all back-end of the roster guys, not meant to be impact players. Dusty has regularly not platooned guys correctly and not played them in their normal position. Some of these moves might have been just fine if Dusty implemented them correctly. But he didn't and Click looks like an idiot.

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Maybe it's just me but this seems silly.

I get it, Peepaw is an idiot. But the Astros aren't really a team that have back-end guys that aren't meant to be impact players. Our back end guys are guys we still want to contribute, especially considering how much rest we give our starters, and/or young guys we're trying to develop.

So what do you think using Niko correctly looks like? We may not have liked the moves made with Niko but Dusty put him in spots to see if he could contribute, he couldn't. So we moved on. Had we just let him ride the pine as a back-end guy not meant to contribute maybe we don't trade for Mancini or Vazquez and instead Niko is our backup first baseman option in the WS when Yuli goes down....

EastCoastAgNc said:

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I know we are in need of impactful position player acquisitions, but let's look at the moves made by James Click four non pitchers so far in free agency:

Signed Robel Garcia
Signed Stephen Souza
Signed Niko Goodrum

Unless he has a sudden change of heart (or someone else is in charge), don't get your hopes up.

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My god you are a miserable human being

I've seen a lot of Rome defenders today on twitter among Astros fans.