I was spoiled on this because I found it being solved on Youtube, but this looks like a ton of fun and potentially extremely frustrating. It's based on the NYT Connections game but for MLB. You select the 4 players that have some sort of connection whether it be an award, a stat, or something else. Once you get 4 right they're removed from the board and it gets a little easier. Lots of Astros on the first puzzle.
Is the market for Chapman not nearly as big as originally thought? MLBTR originally had his FA projection at 6/150. Fangraphs had 5/120.
But the latest poll (site visitors) shows some people thinking he may be more in the 76-100 M range. The median crowdsource on Fangraphs was 4/80.
I could get down with 4/80 or even a 5th year at a slightly lower AAV (5/90). He's a clear downgrade from Bregman offensively, but he's also a clear upgrade defensively. It could help out guys like Framber, McCullers, & Brown. MMP could have a significant impact on Chapman's offense. Per Savant, he would have had an extra 36 (5 more a year) HRs at the juice box. While it slightly hurts our chances in 2024, it could help keep the window open longer since we know we can't afford Breggy long term & trading him would bring back a couple of decent pieces (nothing huge).
26 Guesses RoY (3rd Guess) , 200 K Seasons (had the right idea fairly quickly but kept redoing the same guesses for some reason), Batting Champ (took a few guess, did not know McNeil, MVP Runner Up
Signing Chapman and trading Bregman was something that was actually talked about over the offseason.
I'd be for it, depending on the trade return. My main issue with Bregman is that he is streaky as hell. His OPS is 150 points higher in August than the average of other months. His annual frigid start is a constant. Most concerning is that his OPS in team wins is 260 points higher than in losses. I'm not exactly sure what to make of that last data point, but it seems that either the Astros go as he goes, or he goes as the Astros go. I don't like that, whichever it may be.
I think Dana can extend the window by making a move like this. I would just hate to lose these guys one at a time with no return.
And the return for Bregman isn't going to be epic. He's on a 1 year deal set to make 30 M. I believe the team who trade for him will be able to slap a QO so they'll get a draft pick. I'd guess take what the Yankees gave up for Soto and cut it down by half.
◼️ Let's go crazy! Off-the-wall predictions for 2024 ◼️ Key dates coming up on baseball calendar ◼️ Kanzler leaves coaching staff, won't be replacedhttps://t.co/1PtWADEAelpic.twitter.com/yFpbUFDLFF
Framber Valdez made a promise to give back to the community in a tangible way when he was growing up in the Dominican Republic. This past December he kept that promise as he inaugurated his second church, this one in his hometown, Sabana Grande de Palenque. pic.twitter.com/k5lhS6PmSc
Framber Valdez made a promise to give back to the community in a tangible way when he was growing up in the Dominican Republic. This past December he kept that promise as he inaugurated his second church, this one in his hometown, Sabana Grande de Palenque. pic.twitter.com/k5lhS6PmSc
85 days until opening day. It's easy to wonder how the '86 Astros came out of nowhere after a pretty ho-hum stretch from 82-85. A look back at the 85 seasons reveals the foundation of the 86 champs.
On Monday, August 26th, 1985, the Astros lost their third straight game to fall to 56-67, 17-1/2 games behind the Dodgers. They proceeded to go on a 20-3 rampage over, reaching a hihg-water mark of 76-67 on September 19th at which point they had moved into third place and cut LA's lead to 9. They ultimately went 18-11 in September and 5-1 in October for a 23-12 closing stretch to finish 83-79.
I guess the Braves REALLY believe in Sale to already extend him. It seemed non needed with an option for 2025 already on the table. I do like him as a weapon in the playoffs to face Ohtani, Freeman, Harper, Schwarber, Carroll, etc.
Left-hander Chris Sale and the Atlanta Braves are in agreement on a contract extension. The new deal starts this season and is for two years and $38 million, with an $18 million club option for 2026. Sale's previous deal was for 2024 with an option for 2025.
Jake Meyers with a better arm signed with the Mets.
Centerfielder Harrison Bader and the New York Mets are in agreement on a one-year, $10.5 million contract, a source tells ESPN. @martinonyc was on the news.
84 days until Opening Day takes us to a dark day in 1984.
There is nothing more intoxicating and sometimes more painful in sports than to imagine what might have been. What if the Cubs hadn't traded Lou Brock for a sack of crap? What if the Mets hadn't given up on Nolan Ryan and gone through the 70s with him and Tom Seaver?
For the Astros, the biggest what-ifs are the most painful ones, none more so than what happened on April 8, 1984, when the Astros hosted the Mets and we wonder, what would have happened if Mike Torrez hadn't lost control of a pitch?
But he did. And it hit Dickie Thon in the face, breaking the orbital bone around his left eye and causing him to miss the rest of the season. He remarkably played 10 more years, but never came close to the player he had been.
The Astros got him from the Angels in a trade for Ken Forsch in 1981. He played 49 games in the strike season and hit .274, then beat out Craig Reynolds for the starting shortstop job in 1982. In 136 games, he hit .276 with 37 steals, 31 doubles, and a league-leading 10 triples while hitting .276. In 1983, he was the best shortstop in the NL, hitting .286 with 20 HR, 9 3B, 79 RBI, 81 runs scored, and 34 steals. He was an all-star, won the Silver Slugger Award, and finished 7th in the NL MVP voting. His WAR was 7.4 for the year and he finished 7th in hits, 4th in total bases, 5th in triples, 9th in steals, and first in shortstop assists.
Prior to the injury, he had started 1984 going 6 for 17 (.353) in his first 5 games.
Mike Torrez was devastated. "Please tell his family that I hope everything is OK," Torrez said. "The time before, I pitched him away and I struck him out. So I wanted to start him off inside. He was looking outside and he started out over the plate. My fastball took off and he didn't have time to get out of the way.
He returned to the Astros in 1985 hitting .251 in 84 games. He hit .248 in 1986 and hit .182 in the NLCS.
He eventually found a good bit of success with the Phillies in 1989 when he hit .271 with 15 HR.
His son Dicke Joe Thon was a minor leaguer for the Blue Jays in the 2010s.
I met Dickie Sr. a couple of times when I worked at Rice in the late 1990s. His daughter Soleil was an insanely hot setter for the Rice volleyball team and I was their SID, a job with a few fun stories for a rainy day.
Over the next 10 to 24 months, the Astros will have to decide the fate of four absolutely crucial players: Altuve, Bregman, Valdez, and Tucker. They'll probably have to replace Verlander and Pressly as well. There isn't really a right or wrong answer in terms of sentimentality (though it'd be a shame to see Altuve finish his career in another uniform over a petty fallout), or even the value of empirics. The whole point is to make the decision that puts the Astros in the best position to win.
It's snuck up on us, but 2024 might actually be the last hurrah for this iteration of the Astros.
It's technically possible this is the last hurrah, but I think the odds of it are extremely slim. Altuve is going to be kept. Alvarez, Tucker, Valdez, Javier, McCormick, Diaz, McCullers, Brown, Pena, & B Abreu are going to be here in 2025. If there is no Bregman, Verlander, and Pressly, then the Astros have 60+ M coming off the books to keep things moving.
I agree with you. The writer raises some important questions -- but it's not all doom and gloom.
The fact is: the Astros will have to get younger and rely on younger players to fill in the gaps.
They've shown they have been able to do it in the past, and there is nothing to indicate they won't do it in the future.
The farm system is nowhere close to what it's been in the past unfortunately. 2025 or 2026 (depending on how 2024 plays out) will be the years the soft rebuild will start. I've been told this is what the plan is. If you read up on the backgrounds of some of the recent front office hires (a lot of scouting experience) they want to reload the farm system as fast as possible.
I'm not saying the farm system has no talent. There's some guys who very well could turn out to be excellent big league players, but the majority of prospects in the system project to be average big leaguers at best. Which is fine... but not ideal when your farm system lacks star power.
That's why Dana Brown drafted the way he did. Brice Matthews and most of the other first few picks have tremendously high ceilings but also very low floors. Most will ultimately not pan out. But if you hit on one or two.. you're in business.
The next couple years are going to be really interesting. The part that scares me is the brains that built the machine have left the building. Brown played a large part in building a monster in Atlanta- and he can absolutely keep it rolling here- but the blueprint that built the dynasty is no longer in place.
(Not trying to be a Negative Nancy, but trying to be realistic with what I'm hearing/seeing)
