Greinke to the Stros...

[Lou]

Ha. I thought people were pissed off here. I just heard from a couple of dodger fan buddies of mine. 

Not happy. 

[Claude]

Astros are making another serious run at a championship. That’s how it’s done son. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

18 minutes ago, Kevinb said:

You have to respect it. Good for the Astros going after it. Doesn't guarantee them a WS title or anything but all you can do is give your team the best chance to win. They are better today than they were yesterday and that's all you can hope your ownership and management does for your big league club. Good luck to them.

It literally comes down to Grienke making an already very good team even better. The Astros already had a legit shot at another ring, this gamble makes sense.

For us, it would have been fun... but it would have been making an average team better. Even had we landed him, we wouldnt be favorites to take the division, let alone the series.

Lets hope this prices them out of Cole this winter.

[ten ocho recon scout]

12 minutes ago, Lou said:

Ha. I thought people were pissed off here. I just heard from a couple of dodger fan buddies of mine. 

Not happy. 

That was one of my first thoughts. 

[Troll Daddy]

45 minutes ago, Stradling said:

And Greinke minus everything we’d have to give up to get him doesn’t put us in the World Series discussion. 

I think everybody gets that ... 

[fan_since79]

1 hour ago, Make Angels Great Again said:

The rich get richer.

There should be socialism in baseball so the poor (us) can have a fair chance.

[krAbs]

Dear god...

[Angels_Make_Me_Drink]

Maybe I’m weird; but I don’t have an issue with the Astros and I find them enjoyable to watch. I like this move for them and like that it might give them the edge over the Dogs. 

I would have loved to be in a position to make a run at him but doesn’t make sense for us. Throw whatever we can at Cole and hope Ohtani comes back healthy as a P and Canning, Barrie, Suarez are solid 3-5. 

[Jay]

2 hours ago, Calzone 2 said:

Astros are making another serious run at a championship. That’s how it’s done son. 

Championship teams usually have a strong starting rotation.

For some reason the Angels don't see it that way.

 

[Claude]

Just now, Jay said:

Championship teams usually have a strong starting rotation.

For some reason the Angels don't see it that way.

 

They’ve had some serious bad luck with pitching injuries and death. Ohtani’s injury was known about before he threw his first pitch last season. They need some good luck to change all of that. Signing Cole would be a huge help if Ohtani comes back 100% That would give us two no 1’s to go with Canning and a few others. It just might happen. 

[Second Base]

I notice the Astros like to make all the trades I push for.

Also, this is really disappointing. The Angels had a chance to get the ace they need, on a short term deal, and they failed.

[Jay]

Astros weren't on Greinke's no-trade list.

 

 

[Pancake Bear]

2 hours ago, Second Base said:

I notice the Astros like to make all the trades I push for.

Also, this is really disappointing. The Angels had a chance to get the ace they need, on a short term deal, and they failed.

It’s hard to know if this deal would’ve been possible for the Angels. Would Arte want Greinke back? Would he approve a Greinke with less salary retained by AZ than Houston did? Could we have afforded Greinke in prospect currency with what Houston paid? It was a pretty decent prospect haul and they’re still paying him like 25 a season, if I’m not mistaken. That doesn’t even get into whether he’d approve a trade to the Angels. The Astros didn’t have to worry about that. 

I’m disappointed, too, but I don’t feel like we have enough info to determine if it was Eppler’s fault or not. 

[Troll Daddy]

Great trade for both sides imo. Greinke for $53M for 2 yrs and 2 months is a risk worth taking ... especially going into the playoffs. The Angels blew $30M on pitchers this season and got nothing in return. 

The prospects are just prospects until proven otherwise. 

This deal wasn’t right for the Angels ... especially if they’re serious about making a run for Cole this off season. I just hope Boras doesn’t drag it out to the last second as he has a history of doing. 

[Tank]

7 hours ago, Hubs said:

I would've have given up Suarez and Barria, but say Suarez and Sandoval back...

I also liked the AAron Sanchez move, if only because I could've called him A-A-Ron.

[Tank]

5 hours ago, fan_since79 said:

There should be socialism in baseball so the poor (us) can have a fair chance.

free field box seats for everyone! 

wipe out all concession stand debt!

green energy in all clubhouses or sports will die in 12 years.

[Docwaukee]

I totally get why the Astros did this.  

Frankly, this is good for the Angels.  We aren't competing with them right now.  The more long term resources they spend for short term gain is something I'm all for them doing.  

 

[Stradling]

This absolutely shortens the window for the Astros.  

[Docwaukee]

1 minute ago, Stradling said:

This absolutely shortens the window for the Astros.  

not to mention that the two best pitchers they're retaining for next year are going to be 36 and 37.  Now, of course those guys are great and could/already have buck trends for age, but they'll be spending a lot of money on aging players.  that has to catch up to them at some point doesn't it?  

[Stradling]

4 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

not to mention that the two best pitchers they're retaining for next year are going to be 36 and 37.  Now, of course those guys are great and could/already have buck trends for age, but they'll be spending a lot of money on aging players.  that has to catch up to them at some point doesn't it?  

I think it will catch up to Verlander before Greinke.  Greinke seems to have learned to pitch with diminished stuff.  

[Declined]

I think Houston did very well here. They didn't even have to give up Whitley & Kyle Tucker who are pretty close to Mlb ready if I remember correctly. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

1 hour ago, Troll Daddy said:

Great trade for both sides imo. Greinke for $53M for 2 yrs and 2 months is a risk worth taking ... especially going into the playoffs. The Angels blew $30M on pitchers this season and got nothing in return. 

The prospects are just prospects until proven otherwise. 

This deal wasn’t right for the Angels ... especially if they’re serious about making a run for Cole this off season. I just hope Boras doesn’t drag it out to the last second as he has a history of doing. 

To be fair, reference our 30 mill vs the Stros 53 mill, is that houston also gave up a pretty significant amount of prospects.

To put it in perspective for everyone, if today, in July, Cole (Grienke, or anyone similar) became FAs, we would absolutely have tried to sign them. But its not a perfect world.

 

[eligrba]

18 hours ago, Calzone 2 said:

Astros are making another serious run at a championship. That’s how it’s done son. 

 

16 hours ago, Jay said:

Championship teams usually have a strong starting rotation.

For some reason the Angels don't see it that way.

 

Both of you should review the records for the Astros between 2004-2014.  This narrative is such bullshit about "Champions like the Astros do this and the Angels don't." 

[Claude]

4 minutes ago, eligrba said:

 

Both of you should review the records for the Astros between 2004-2014.  This narrative is such bullshit about "Champions like the Astros do this and the Angels don't." 

The Astros have changed leagues, managers and the way they do business. They’re on top of the mountain right now but that can all change with players aging or Tommy John’s or players bolting for more money. That’s baseball. They have a 3-headed monster right now. That can change anytime.

[totdprods]

2 hours ago, Calzone 2 said:

They have a 3-headed monster right now. That can change anytime.

Two are in their mid-late 30s and the third is set for FA. 

The Astros are absolutely in an “all-in” window right now, and the massive amount of talent they traded for Greinke reflects that. 

This is really telling trade for them. I’ve mentioned that Houston is walking a very taut tightrope right now - they’re in the process of graduating their first wave of young, talented core into well-paid extension candidate players while trying to stay competitive and also work in significant playing time for the youth of their next core. And it really hasn’t gone too well. They shouldn’t have had to trade for Greinke, or Biagini or Sanchez, or Maldonado, or sign Miley or Brantley. Or risk trading for Osuna and his baggage. But they did have to. And those deals have worked for them, but also shows their struggles at graduating new talent, especially pitching. 

The Astros know this, and that’s why they’re pushing in all the chips lately. They know they’re relying heavily on arms that could give way at any moment and that the plan to mix in youth hasn’t worked, their next core might not be so good, or at least, might not step in and make a big impact. I think they’ve always been aware of this risk as they were notorious for being very conservative with money and in trades only a few seasons ago, and to see them making big bold moves now hints that they’re aware the window might be more finite now. 

FWIW, this reminds me a lot of the Eppler Angels. We’re seeing now the first days of the Ohtani, Adell, Thaiss, Suarez, Rengifo years just like Houston did when Altuve, Keuchel, Springer, and Correa did. Now, Houston is looking at guys like James, Tucker, Martes, Alvarez, Perez, Rodgers, Armenteros and hoping they keep that momentum going, much like how we hope Knowles, Jackson, Yan, Soriano, Paris, Kochanowicz do in 4-5 years when our current wave starts getting into arbitration and extensions. There’s parallel here, and it’s another reason we shouldn’t be too bummed about standing pat now. The Astros did the same thing about 4-5 years ago.

Edited August 1, 2019 by totdprods