I'd say the Astros made choices because they were good. Getting less picks than most every other team over the last decade, not nailing the picks the Astros made, trading prospects for players for over a decade, and not having any random off years that the Astros can trade players for prospects just takes its toll. Brown probably could have been better. While I think Click's prospect hoarding helped extend the contending window, I don't know if he nailed one pick. It just boils down to the Astros were great for a really long time, and being great makes it difficult to maintain/build a farm in a variety of ways unless a team just uses money to fill holes. Some of it is self-inflicted, but for the most part, I've enjoyed the ride.
Yes, no arguments there. (until I read another post suggesting to trade Yordan or Pena to the Yankees or Dodgers... for boat-loads of "can't miss" prospects for teams that have also been contending for the same amount of time the Astros have, along with signing more free agents than the Astros have... and yet they have they types of surplus of MLB projectable guys that the Astros are still struggling to develop).
The Astros just don't make as much money as the Yankees or Dodgers. This is more Dodgers than Yankees, but they just keep signing players. More than they need. Then they have to flip a surplus player every couple of years for prospects. Lux, Matt Kemp (1st one from Dodgers), Dustin May, backup catcher they sent to the Rays a couple of years ago are a few examples. This isn't getting them a ton of prospects, but every little bit helps while the Astros farm was bled. I've joked in the past that a team can't buy a World Series, but the Dodgers have weaponized money more efficiently than other big-market teams. The Yankees in the early 2000s just flat out spent everyone else. I won't enjoy the trade speculation this year. Hoping that the Astros conjure up some pitching.
Do they buy better scouts and minor league coaches to? (Serious question, not trying to be facetious…). The Rays also still seem to have the foundational aspects of developmental systems that has them getting consistent production out of promotions… the just can’t retain anybody that isn’t a sex offender or sign any prime FA’s. always felt that if the big market teams outspent everybody at the development levels as well, there really isn’t much to counter that in the CBA. Other than money, no team has a true competitive advantage via the underlooked or undervalued aspects of baseball.
The only reasons the Stros suck right now are Espada threw Hader, Brown's shoulders out and Imai, Burrows didn't workout. Plus Abreu fell off of a cliff. Dumb managing and a GM who struck out on his pitching acquisitions.
The pitching they have needs to get healthy and Dana needs to find a quality SP2-3 in a trade to bridge the gap until the pitching gets healthy. Trouble is do you trust Dana to be able to do this? What they really need is for Burrows to be who they traded for and Pearson to comeback soon and be an effective 5-6 inning pitcher. In other words they need luck.
The Stros used to be cutting edge and now they aren't. They used to have a MLB system dtocked with 5-10 great pitching prospects and even if some of them didn't workout they were still deep. They also used some of those pitching prospects in trades to help bolster the MLB roster. Tell me who in the minors is on a level of the prospects that Luhnow had pitching wise? Remember Luhnow didn't s[end a ton of draft capital on pitching and when he did, (Appel/Bukaskus/Schroeder) and they didn't appear to be working out he included them in trades to help the MLB team. Also who are the next great Caribbean pitching prospects in the pipeline? This is where management after Luhnow has failed IMHO.
I suspect the Dodgers spend more on scouts. Not sure if better on a per person level, but think they likely get a lot more value by having more people, better tools. The Rays basically do the best thing a small-market team can do. They just focus on having players through their club control and maximum club control years. Anyone beyond club control years was signed to an early extension. Basically, they just go for the best bang-for-buck players they can get. This basically limits them from getting the best bag players unless they draft them and then only have them for club control unless they sign a team-friendly extension. They would not bat an eye about trading Alvarez or Pena if it got them more years of control. Long term, this type of system is much more sustainable than how the Astros performed, but caps the ceiling. The Astros are kind of in between the Dodgers and the Rays in terms of salary. I think the Astros wanted to be like a slightly richer Rays, but then won a World Series. The Astros prioritized trying to win a World Series in the short term at all costs. I think most of the time, most of the teams should try to operate like the Rays. I think Click wanted to get the farm more sustainable like the Rays, but the owner had different ideas, and the Astros really didn't have many surplus players they could trade, while great.
I don't trust any GM to try to trade for a SP2-3 to bridge the gap until the pitching gets healthy with what the Astros have available, and the status of the Astros.
You might be right wrt what the Dodgers spend on scouting ... but ... I suspect the bigger difference maker for the Dodgers and the Rays is that they organizationally have better outcomes from their multi-year player development programs. The Astros also do well in their player development (since they consistently produce MLB talent from their minor leaguers) but perhaps a notch below the Dodgers and the Rays. I agree. Spending money on player development might be an overlooked market inefficiency that all MLB teams can exploit.
Time to dump this guy...I don't trust him for another draft and especially don't trust him to handle the deadline if the Astros are sellers..
I don't know how good brown is, but luhnows teams were built on the back hitting on a lot of high picks.
This year Burrows - bust Imai - huge bust Weiss - bust Dubon - gave away for nothing (and spare me on salary dump, there were other ways to save $$$) Last year Sanchez - bust Correa - nice story, but bust Refused to trade for starter at deadline He’s fortunate Walker has turned it around. Jury still out on Cam Smith Got nothing for Valdez or Bregman Farm system is trash. Need to blow out up and trade Walker, Paredes, & Pena, but how can you trust this guy to rebuild!
If Crane is imposing limits on $$$ for FAs, that will be the teams limiting factor and not the GM. It’s easy to say we should have signed Cease but if the $$ is not approved you move to a riskier option 2 which has not worked out. If Dana is let go the Astros need a GM who’s capable of operating and winning with tight budgets. Something the TB Rays have done well
When you look at it like that it just gets worse and worse. He really should be the first to go. I’m not sure what Crane is waiting for right now with regard to Dana or Joe or even other coaches. This organization has become a shell of itself. Letting Luhnow go was an awful decision. Letting Click go off a WS win might even be worse. Truly asinine decision making.
