It's easy to say now because we've seen what he's become. But he sucked his first 1.5 years in the majors and no one would have wanted to extend him at that point. And then he had a great half season and was an ace and it was largely too late. The Astros did do similar extensions with guys like McCullers and Javier when they had the chance and now everyone thinks it was a terrible idea.
Yeah that's fair. I guess the most realistic window for an extension for Brown would've been immediately after the 2024 season where he had a real strong second half. You're right in that there was no reason to extend him prior to that, and we're clearly not able/willing to now.
I understand this view. However this is when you must decide: 1) trust the scouting and extend guys before they prove they are good understanding there will be growing pains. Once they have been consistently good its too late. 2) Simply don't try to extend anyone and use the Rays model of trading away everyone after 4-5 seasons.
Arrighetti might be a similar situation if he continues pitching well. He was mediocre until now but then the window might already be closed at the end of this year.
Agreed - you have to extend people when they still suck but you believe they won't. That's when you can get them at a rate discounted enough to make it worth all the risks (especially with picks). It just won't be popular with fans.
That’s a wrap folks. This firmly shifts the club into a rebuild. Walker, Pena, Paredes, Meyers, Vazquez, Brown, Hader, Okert, Lambert, and Abreu should be traded in the next 8 months. Extend Yordan if you can. Option Diaz to take another crack at maxing him out. Keep Altuve rested and healthy, but help him get easy hits to march toward 3000. Hope Correa actually recovers. Hope Imai pitches well so you can trade him. Develop Arrighetti, Burrows, Pecko, Mayer, and Ullola as your core long term rotation. Give as many young pen arms like Alimber Santa a shot as possible. No sense in carrying valueless rentals like Okert, De Los Santos, and Pearson. Go ahead and let McCullers play out the string. Option Smith if he doesn’t heat up, get that extra year of control. Otherwise get that young OF as much experience as possible, mix Matthews in at 2B occasionally, give Dezenzo and Loperfido a few games at 1B.
The most likely outcome a complete or partial tear down is ... not all that. Teams that keep tearing down and rebuilding struggle to make the playoffs and/or maintain a winning record. Royals, Pirates, Rays, Orioles, Diamondbacks, Twins etc. The best of the bunch is the Rays: 2021: 100-62 2022: 86-76 2023: 99-63 2024: 80-82 2025: 77-85 2026: 23-12 (so far so good)
Sucks for Correa. With average injuries he could have been a hall of famer but his body just can’t hold up for prolonged periods of time.
Astros fans are spoiled into thinking that anytime you want, you can gut the team and magically rebuild into a contender a few years later. But what the Astros did was unique and relied on a whole combination of things like luck, genius, talent that all came together, a one-of-a-kind pitching coach/philosophy, etc. They also did it at a time when no one else was doing it. Lots of teams have since tried this same philosophy with middling results and the current Astros would likely be no different. Trying a rebuild likely means many years of medocrity, likely followed by a little good - not another dynasty, which is what people seem to expect. The Orioles or Tigers might be good examples of likely outcomes - and both are under 0.500 right now.
August-Sept Roster: CF Matthews RF Smith DH Alvarez 2B Altuve LF Cole 1B Dezenzo 3B Whitcomb SS Shewmake C Salazar Bench: Price, Loperfido, Allen, Trammell SP: Arrighetti, Burrows, Imai, McCullers, Pecko RP: Hader, King, Santa, Sousa, Teng, Bolton, Javier, Weiss Optioned: Diaz, Blubaugh, Murray, Gordon, Ullola, Alexander IL: Correa, Walter, Blanco, Wesneski, Walter, Javier Traded: Vazquez, Lambert, Brown, De Los Santos, Abreu, Okert, Walker, Pena, Paredes
Because Correa is out for the yr you want to throw in the towel at the beginning of May? This seems like an over reaction IMHO You always seem to be wanting to rebuild, I was with you about making surec that Brown had as many high draft picks in the upcoming draft as possible to help rebuild the farm. But I'm not ready to give up on this season yet. Lets see how they are doing a the deadline and go from there.
Trade everyone you can including Yordan. I give it a 1% chance there is a 2027 season so that means Astros have Yordan for 1 more season in 2028. Minor League season would still go on in 2027 so the prospects obtained in trades will get a year of development.
Agreed mostly I do think everyone you listed starting at meyers should definitely go . With our big 3 bats , I think you look at the market . Especially for paredes and walker . Pena I would shop , but maybe he really loves Houston . Walkers next contract might be cheaper . Paredes has a lot of park-fit value and may not get a good package considering control left . If you don't like what you are getting for pena / Isaac/ and walker then you can keep them and put them on the market during the winter . Then you can play both sides a bit better since you should have CC coming back and still have yordan . Can I cross my fingers and hope Imai starts to look like an ace in June and July and you have a team that will give us 2 top 100 for him ?
