AgLA06 said:

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Mr President Elect said:

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texasaggie2015 said:

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Serious question- why the hate towards Gerrit Cole? I've never really understood that. Not being critical, just asking. The way I see it, he pitched his ass off, was rightfully frustrated after the WS loss and then took the bigger contract. No hard feelings there.

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I feel the same. He was lights out from June onward that season and was a lot of fun to watch.

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Eh, it's hard to feel sorry for a guy who supposedly took the money over a better team who isn't getting the support he claimed was the reason going. I'm sure it comes off as Karma from a lot of Astros fans who realized another stud pitcher could mean leading the division today.

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For me it's how he handled the loss. Having to be begged to talk to the media after the game...saying stuff like "I'm not employed by the Astros anymore. Why should I talk to the media? I guess I'll talk, but I'll represent myself" and then coming out in his agent's hat. He just came across as a complete ******. I loved watching him pitch for Houston, but sometimes last impressions make all the difference.

Plus, it's pretty easy to root against anyone playing for the Yankees.

Re Cole "I no longer work for the Astros" or whatever right after game 7 in the '19 WS

texasaggie2015 said:

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Serious question- why the hate towards Gerrit Cole? I've never really understood that. Not being critical, just asking. The way I see it, he pitched his ass off, was rightfully frustrated after the WS loss and then took the bigger contract. No hard feelings there.

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He put on a freaking Scott Boras hat on after we lost the WS and acted like a ***** on his way out. He couldn't make it another hour or two? Nobody likes losing, but come on dude.

Danwell Home said:

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texasaggie2015 said:

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Serious question- why the hate towards Gerrit Cole? I've never really understood that. Not being critical, just asking. The way I see it, he pitched his ass off, was rightfully frustrated after the WS loss and then took the bigger contract. No hard feelings there.

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He put on a freaking Scott Boras hat on after we lost the WS and acted like a ***** on his way out. He couldn't make it another hour or two? Nobody likes losing, but come on dude.

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1,000,000%

Because fck that guy...That's why

Ag_07 said:

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Because fck that guy...That's why

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texasaggie2015 said:

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Serious question- why the hate towards Gerrit Cole? I've never really understood that. Not being critical, just asking. The way I see it, he pitched his ass off, was rightfully frustrated after the WS loss and then took the bigger contract. No hard feelings there.

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Wearing the Boras hat and distancing himself from the team 10 min after the WS loss didn't sit well with me. He was a part of that loss in the locker room after just like everyone else and acted like a ***** afterwards .... No animosity for him leaving, I just don't like him

I hear you and I typically don't but he was completely out of hand and immature when he left then the sticky stuff complaining and his overall whiny attitude has rubbed the wrong way on Cole.

Boo ****ing hoo Gerrit. Sorry you can't get an insane contract AND win championships. No one feels bad for you, your team, or your ****ty fans.

Jose Altuve was named AL Player of the Week.

— Matt Kawahara (@matthewkawahara) August 14, 2023

Kyle Tucker: The Man and his Dream Contract

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The Astros currently rank third in the American League in runs scored not an uncommon sight for a franchise that has only been outscored by the Dodgers and Red Sox over the last decade. But they've done it with a lineup with some pretty big holes, with half of their eight players with at least 300 plate appearances this season posting an OBP under .300. The team's offense has been driven this year mainly by four players: Kyle Tucker, Yordan Alvarez, Alex Bregman, and Chas McCormick, with an assist from Yainer Diaz. A year ago, Houston signed Alvarez to a six-year, $115 million contract extension that ensured he would remain in town until the end of the 2028 season. Tucker, though, does not have a long-term deal and is scheduled to hit free agency after the 2025 season. What would a possible deal look like?

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Really just highlighting an unrelated point. The Astros have been extremely top heavy.

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Based on franchise history, being one of Houston's stars doesn't necessarily grant a ton of leverage when it comes to landing big contract extensions. Jose Altuve signed a seven-year, $163.5 million deal before the 2018 season, but that remains the largest contract in team history. The Astros didn't participate in any bidding wars for previous stars like George Springer, Carlos Correa, and Gerrit Cole

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[url=https://www.fangraphs.com/players/gerrit-cole/13125/stats][/url]This would be uncharted territory. Altuve's deal is kind of a good comp. He was on a team friendly deal not too dissimilar from what a player would get in arbitration. He also signed with 2 years remaining. And he would have hit FA at 30 vs Tucker at 29. The new money was basically 5/151.5.

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Tucker has certainly earned a big payday. Since grabbing the a full-time spot in the lineup in 2020, he's hit .280/.351/.516 with a wRC+ of 137. That's good enough to rank fifth in baseball among outfielder in WAR, at 15.1, behind only Aaron Judge, Mookie Betts, Juan Soto, and Ronald Acuña Jr. This year, Tucker's on track to hit the five-WAR mark for the first time.

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TED is very good. In case anyone was confused.

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In my chat last week, I mentioned ZiPS suggesting nine years and $220 million as a reasonable extension for Tucker, but that was also from the start of the season. If he were a free agent, this projection suggests a nine-year, $284 million extension (or $265 million over eight years). Tucker obviously is not a free agent, and his next two years the most likely best seasons remaining in his career will be under team control. ZiPS expects the difference between what he would get in free agency the next two years versus what he's likely to get in arbitration as about $40 million, taking it to a nine-year, $244 million deal. Hurting Tucker's chances of hitting the $300 million threshold is the simple fact that while he's not as old as Judge was when he hit free agency, he's also going to be 29 at the start of his new contract, not a mid-20s phenom like Soto or Manny Machado.

Would the Astros do that deal? I'm not sure, since we're talking an $80 million bump over their largest deal to date, and that's way more years than the team is typically comfortable with. A six-year deal comes out at $176 million, in the same ballpark as Altuve's deal (which runs out after 2024). It's more than Alvarez got, but in that case, the team was able to lock up a deal before the slugger got to arbitration and so had considerably more leverage.

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This is the good info. If I am reading this correctly this would buy out 24 and 25 then add on another 7 years. If we assume 12.5 and 17.5 M for 24 and 25 (taking a stab at arbitration #s) then it would basically be a 7/214 deal when he hits FA. That sounds perfectly reasonable.

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Would the Astros do that deal? I'm not sure, since we're talking an $80 million bump over their largest deal to date, and that's way more years than the team is typically comfortable with. A six-year deal comes out at $176 million, in the same ballpark as Altuve's deal (which runs out after 2024). It's more than Alvarez got, but in that case, the team was able to lock up a deal before the slugger got to arbitration and so had considerably more leverage.

But in this case, I'm not positive that the Astros wouldn't come to such a deal, either, especially if we're talking six or seven years. They've let players walk before, but Tucker's free agency would come a year after Altuve and Bregman reach the end of their deals; even if they stay with the organization, their next contracts will probably cover their declines (almost certainly for the former). That's an awful lot of offensive production to replace quickly. When Springer was in his arbitration years, the Astros knew Alvarez and Tucker were coming; I don't see anyone in the organization right now that fits that role. I think there's a real chance that when Brown expressed an interest in keeping Tucker on the team for the long term, it was more than the usual fan-friendly soundbites that every public-facing front office member knows how to do by heart.

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More good points. 100% agree with not out of the question for the Astros to be more willing to do this deal because the next crop is less of a sure thing. It makes more sense to sign a 29-year-old than it does a 31 or 35-year-old.

FREE YAINER

BadAggie said:

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Hey Dusty, got a game in a couple hours, where's the lineup?

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just fyi, lineup complaints on this thread are usually ~4 hrs prior to gametime.

9 years 244 M?

The Astros better offer that deal

texasaggie2015 said:

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Serious question- why the hate towards Gerrit Cole? I've never really understood that. Not being critical, just asking. The way I see it, he pitched his ass off, was rightfully frustrated after the WS loss and then took the bigger contract. No hard feelings there.

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It would have been no hard feelings but he pulled the whole "I dont have to answer questions, I'm technically a free agent" crap right after game 7 of the WS. Just insult to injury after the most heartbreaking loss in franchise history