Brantley to the Astros

[Dtwncbad]

3 minutes ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

Depends on how you calculate it. Houston is the 4th largest city in the US, with the top three all having two teams each.. 

I went off ranking the actual "market" not just population.  Demographics, cable deal, etc.

But it doesnt matter.  My only point was no matter how you look at it, the Angels are in a different league market wise.

[AngelsLakersFan]

10 minutes ago, Dtwncbad said:

I went off ranking the actual "market" not just population.  Demographics, cable deal, etc.

But it doesnt matter.  My only point was no matter how you look at it, the Angels are in a different league market wise.

I'm just not entirely sure that's true. The Houston metro is about half the size of Los Angeles in terms in GDP, but the Angels play second fiddle here and are realistically only popular in OC. They get the added benefit of the bulk of the LA market when it comes to their media deals but the OC market on it's own might not be too dissimilar to Houston.

[Angelsjunky]

I didn't realize how consistently good Brantley has been. His triple-slash since 2014: .311/.374/.475, 130 wRC+. Of course he missed a year and a half within that period, but still very good.  In the four of five years he played 90 or more games he hit .327, .310, .299, .309.

 

[totdprods]

4 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

I didn't realize how consistently good Brantley has been. His triple-slash since 2014: .311/.374/.475, 130 wRC+. Of course he missed a year and a half within that period, but still very good.  In the four of five years he played 90 or more games he hit .327, .310, .299, .309.

Yup - when healthy he’s about as good as a hitter as one can be. Great move for Houston as they currently have the depth to absorb any playing time he misses too.

Real curious to see how that club transitions to its next core over the next few seasons. If they are able to pull that off, the AL West will be a real challenge for quite some time.

[Docwaukee]

5 hours ago, totdprods said:

Yup - when healthy he’s about as good as a hitter as one can be. Great move for Houston as they currently have the depth to absorb any playing time he misses too.

Real curious to see how that club transitions to its next core over the next few seasons. If they are able to pull that off, the AL West will be a real challenge for quite some time.

they've move a decent amount of their farm but still have a lot left.  Mostly on the pitching side.  Will be very interesting to see what long term commitments they make with guys like Springer, Cole, etc.  Their core is pretty strong on the position player side.  So it will all come down to their young pitching.  

[totdprods]

5 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

they've move a decent amount of their farm but still have a lot left.  Mostly on the pitching side.  Will be very interesting to see what long term commitments they make with guys like Springer, Cole, etc.  Their core is pretty strong on the position player side.  So it will all come down to their young pitching.  

That's really the biggest challenge for teams though, and what makes a team a dynasty - how efficiently can they continue graduating talent?

It's easy to build a cheap, talented core of high-end talent from 'tanking' but as we're sort of seeing with the Cubs right now, the trick is having that second wave of prospects ease in and contribute that makes the difference. 

[Docwaukee]

3 minutes ago, totdprods said:

That's really the biggest challenge for teams though, and what makes a team a dynasty - how efficiently can they continue graduating talent?

It's easy to build a cheap, talented core of high-end talent from 'tanking' but as we're sort of seeing with the Cubs right now, the trick is having that second wave of prospects ease in and contribute that makes the difference. 

that's actually where Eppstein hasn't been very good.  He's made some very poor free agent decisions.  They had a good farm, but he got very aggressive with a couple trades.  

[totdprods]

1 minute ago, Dochalo said:

that's actually where Eppstein hasn't been very good.  He's made some very poor free agent decisions.  They had a good farm, but he got very aggressive with a couple trades.  

Houston by contrast has been pretty stingy with prospects in trades, and pretty savvy via FA.

Still, graduating a second ‘core’ of prospects five years after a first seems like one of the biggest challenges an MLB GM can have.

It’s hard balancing playing time for those prospects when a team is contending and hard not using too many or the best in trades, or committing to regrettable FA contracts or extensions. 

That’s not a small task for the 2020ish Astros.

[Angel Oracle]

How big can the Astros payroll climb, to retain enough of their own stars?    Verlander is questionable for them to re-sign though, as he would turn 37 after his contract is up.  

[totdprods]

17 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

How big can the Astros payroll climb, to retain enough of their own stars?    Verlander is questionable for them to re-sign though, as he would turn 37 after his contract is up.  

They have plenty of money. They definitely have room to add one high-end contract if they feel so inclined, but it obviously hasn't been a big enough need yet. 

I'd bet they make a move for a frontline SP in trade in the next 12 months to prepare for losing Verlander and Cole.