Pancake Bear

No it means the Astros are going to let someone else overpay him.

Yes. There is no chance he goes back to Houston. Zero. Zip. Nada. 

So you picked the Lakers and Pats? How’d you come across the Angels? 😉 

I know I shouldnt say this around here, but in terms of non angels I have a hard on for, its definitely Altuve. Loooove that guy.
Badass 9th inning. 
WS is gonna be badass for real fans. Pitching matchups are gonna be cool as hell.

Chapman and Osuna are both shitbags. 
Altuve is awesome. 

Why exactly aren’t you a Dodgers fan? 
(I’ll bet you’re a Pats fan, too.)

Chapman and Osuna are both shitbags. 
Altuve is awesome. 

9th inning battle of the wife beating closers goes to Astros!!!!!

SMH. Should’ve brought Cole in to pitch the 9th. 

Meh...  teams change how they do things once the postseason starts in order to to take advantage of the off days but, can you imagine the reaction from the usual suspects if it was the Angels that had spent nearly 60 mil on a bullpen only to see them give up 3 runs in the first inning of an elimination game?
"Pathetic" would be the nicest thing said.

And this is something people need to realize. Fans, media, etc.
Arte is RICH. Rich people still dont like losing money. Any more than you or I do.
Hamilton, CJ Wilson, Wells and Pujols werent cheap. They were like a boat.... fun when you bought it, had tons and tons of problems, finally sold it at a loss. And your wife and kids keep telling you to buy a new one.
Again, Im all for him spending this winter. Its time. But people need to cut some slack on why he hasnt spent his way out of this the last few years.

I think if Arte had confidence that those guys would be the difference makers, he would be much more likely to go all in. 
Missing on Pujols and Hamilton hasn’t given him a lot of confidence. Spending that much money can put the team in a really tough position for years if the contract goes south. 

I wouldn't. A couple years ago, Fangraphs mentioned Correa as one of the contenders for replacing Trout as best player in the majors - that was after he had two 5 WAR seasons in a row at age 21-22. Since then he's accrued 4.8 over two sesons, age 23-24. Still a really good player, but he hasn't played in more than 110 games in the last three years, meaning no mater how good he is, he has a hard time staying healthy.
Adell could be as good as Correa, and Marsh almost as good. 

Correa is hurt too often...

My guess is that the Astros traded for Greinke in part to be Cole's replacement.  If they really were ready to go all-in on Cole, they would not have taken Greinke's contract.  Given all their salary commitments, I think it is very, very unlikely he returns there.
Likely, they are hoping Whiteley takes a step up, and that they have a new dominant trio next year - Verlander, Greinke, Whiteley.

I wouldn't.

It was time for him to leave. He’d been here too long. He was a good manager, but it’s hard to stay effective for that many years in the same place. 

I've mentioned this in some of the Bumgarner discussions, and think it applies to the Dodgers situation...someone like Gerrit Cole doesn't really fit their needs. 

Yes, obviously, every single team would love to have Gerrit Cole slot in #1, and the Dodgers have the means, but do they need to go that far? They have a solid rotation already, a shining star in Buehler, young arms like Urias, Gonsolin, and May ready to play, a still effective Kershaw and Maeda...why do they need to commit $200m+ when they already have a great rotation to work off? They could drop down and spend $60m on Odorizzi or $100m on Wheeler or $125m on Ryu or $40m on Pineda and Wood or any number of smaller, cheaper, less risky SP acquisitions if they want to make an already dangerous rotation even deeper and more effective, without drawing up payroll even further. They have a pitching-friendly stadium and division, so they can afford to roll the dice a little more on less-talented arms and still get plus-production. Plus, they're great at finding that talent. They're better off continuing to round out plus-plus depth than they are needing a big, expensive #1.

The lone argument that makes sense would be if they're just totally frustrated by their postseason chokes and feel they need a dominant #1 to get them over the hump, but their problem hasn't really been SP pitching in the playoffs...it's been the pen, the offense, some bad luck and decisions, and maybe an overreliance on Kershaw, which, yeah, could play up the need for someone like Cole, but could also be mitigated for a lot less money by just relying on him less in the biggest moments. 

I could see them being more interested in Rendon, especially since he seems to want a short-term deal. 

Sure - but he has been incrementally increasing the payroll, so we can expect it to continue to a degree.  Arte also does have an impulsive/impatient side, as we have seen.
Friedman is incredibly measured.  Again, watching him more than double his previous contract high would surprise me a lot.  People thought last year he'd be a slam dunk to sign Harper for similar reasons (superstar player who is still young, they reset their LT, etc).  In the end, he didn't make much of an attempt to do so.
Maybe he'll do it this year, who knows.  It's just I have seen people say, for multiple offseasons, "the Dodgers will buy this FA because they always spend," but I think people who say that are thinking of past regimes, not Friedman.  Friedman operates the team in a much different way than Colletti and others did.

Well, Wheeler could be added as well as Odorizzi for roughly the price of Cole. That leaves the door wide open to sign Grandal.
Buuuut I'd rather have Cole. We haven't had a pitcher of that caliber in the rotation since Ryan.

Let's go Astros finish the Yankees in NY.

The Yanks have a tough road if they want to win. A tough comeback and two legitimate aces. They’re screwed.