how did kershaw get his hat so dirty already?

07ag said:

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how did kershaw get his hat so dirty already?

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From what I hear, a lot of players don't want new hats so they just sew the patch onto their old hats. A lot of guys are superstitious like that

To be fair it wasn't just Lance. The entire staff should've never thrown him anything but a fastball.

It would have been interesting to see how our players would react to the fans being in the ballpark for the WS. No doubt there would be a lot of astros fans ... but the Dodgers fans there would be brutal. I'd imagine some fights in the crowd too

tjack16 said:

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I think the Dodgers would beat us fairly easily in 5 or 6 games if we were there. But dang I'd be okay with that if it meant we made it to the World Series.

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Naw, I don't they would have.

Mathguy64 said:

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Rays string of amazing luck may be running dry. This could be a short series.

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Yep Rays played with fire all series against us and found the holes in our lineup to get out of jams. Dodgers way too consistent up and down the lineup.

CFM prevents the sweep but this only goes 5

Just listened to the fourth Ben Reiter Edge podcast. Mostly focuses on the bad will brought to the Astros by the Osuna trade and the Taubman incident. He did offer a little bit more detail around three cheating incidents we accused other teams of in 2018 though:

1) Indians live video feed next to their dugout
2) Yankees bullpen HD camera pointed at catcher with user texting signs (see Michael Schwab twitter)
3) Rangers fan relaying signs to Rangers dugout (Taubman confronted the fan)

Luhnow said he was involved in the investigation of each incident and reported them to the commissioner's office (mostly to deaf ears). When Reiter followed up with each of those three teams about the incidents, they all played them down or flat out denied them. Obviously. No one cheated except the Stros.

Sounds like episode five next week is when it starts to get into the nitty gritty of Drellich's story, Fiers and MLB's reaction.

Not Astros related but I thought this was funny.

https://instagr.am/p/CGlIh55FshF

Anyone heard anything new on the new Cuban stud? Are we still in on him? What's his prospects, is he going to be a quick/instant impact guy? Few years out?

He could be a big help with out OF deficit....someone have him start eating chicken breast and doing push ups

Lonestar_Ag09 said:

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Anyone heard anything new on the new Cuban stud? Are we still in on him? What's his prospects, is he going to be a quick/instant impact guy? Few years out?

He could be a big help with out OF deficit....someone have him start eating chicken breast and doing push ups

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Don't think we will hear anything until the INTL signing period starts. I think it was delayed through like december or something

This is interesting. I would think both would get QO. 2 quick draft picks for us.

What is the total for a QO? Especially with Brantley that could be difficult if too high and he accepted

Some info on the draft picks we would receive.

Quote:

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For teams who lose qualified free agents

• A draft pick after Competitive Balance Round B will be awarded if the team losing the free agent did not receive revenue sharing or if the free agent in question signed a contract worth less than $50MM in guaranteed money.
• A draft pick after Round 1 will be awarded if the team losing the free agent received revenue sharing and the free agent in question signed for more than $50MM.
• A draft pick after Round 4 will be awarded if the team losing the free agent paid luxury tax penalties in the preceding season.

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Springer will net us Competitive Balance Round A (between 1st and 2nd). Bratley will likely net us Competitive Balance Round B (between 2nd and 3rd). This would essentially negate the penalty we received for sign stealing in the 2022 draft.

Brantley might accept the Q.O. ---- that's a 15% raise from his 2020 salary

W said:

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Brantley might accept the Q.O. ---- that's a 15% raise from his 2020 salary

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Then that's fine. It's just one year and is a stop gap for us.

Guarantee you Brantley is looking for multiple years.

W said:

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Brantley might accept the Q.O. ---- that's a 15% raise from his 2020 salary

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He might but I think it's reasonably likely he is offered 2 years, $30 million. That's a lower average salary but at his age he has to take the multi year deal.

Regardless I agree $19 million isn't a bad deal for Brantley in isolation. I just fear Click's comments means they are going cheap this offseason.

Farmer1906 said:

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Some info on the draft picks we would receive.

Quote:

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For teams who lose qualified free agents

• A draft pick after Competitive Balance Round B will be awarded if the team losing the free agent did not receive revenue sharing or if the free agent in question signed a contract worth less than $50MM in guaranteed money.
• A draft pick after Round 1 will be awarded if the team losing the free agent received revenue sharing and the free agent in question signed for more than $50MM.
• A draft pick after Round 4 will be awarded if the team losing the free agent paid luxury tax penalties in the preceding season.

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Springer will net us Competitive Balance Round A (between 1st and 2nd). Bratley will likely net us Competitive Balance Round B (between 2nd and 3rd). This would essentially negate the penalty we received for sign stealing in the 2022 draft.

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Just read a Baseball America article over the weekend that discussed draft success... I'll have to find it. Bottom line, 1st round draft picks eventually made it to the majors at a 70% rate. Second rounders were 50%, and then it fell off a cliff. Only about 10% of players drafted ever achieve a WAR above 0.1 in their careers.

As the Tampa roster showed, it's often best to stockpile drafted talent and trade it off for surer bets. Or do as the Astros did and nail the high first round picks.

tjack16 said:

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Lonestar_Ag09 said:

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Anyone heard anything new on the new Cuban stud? Are we still in on him? What's his prospects, is he going to be a quick/instant impact guy? Few years out?

He could be a big help with out OF deficit....someone have him start eating chicken breast and doing push ups

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Don't think we will hear anything until the INTL signing period starts. I think it was delayed through like december or something

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Article in the Athletic today said something like "Astros are just waiting until the first of the year to announce the signing of Leon"

Conversation with some buddies yesterday before Game 1

iamtheglove said:

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tjack16 said:

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Lonestar_Ag09 said:

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Anyone heard anything new on the new Cuban stud? Are we still in on him? What's his prospects, is he going to be a quick/instant impact guy? Few years out?

He could be a big help with out OF deficit....someone have him start eating chicken breast and doing push ups

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Don't think we will hear anything until the INTL signing period starts. I think it was delayed through like december or something

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Article in the Athletic today said something like "Astros are just waiting until the first of the year to announce the signing of Leon"

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Its January 15th

MaxPower said:

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W said:

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Brantley might accept the Q.O. ---- that's a 15% raise from his 2020 salary

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He might but I think it's reasonably likely he is offered 2 years, $30 million. That's a lower average salary but at his age he has to take the multi year deal.

Regardless I agree $19 million isn't a bad deal for Brantley in isolation. I just fear Click's comments means they are going cheap this offseason.

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yes, the 'stros might not offer the Q.O....because they're afraid he would take it.

don't know if Brantley is more interested in 'years' or 'dollars per year' or 'total dollars' in his next contract.

for a 10-year vet, his career earnings are not that overwhelming. Especially since he made about $6 MM in 2020 due to the COVID. He's only played 2 seasons (2018 & 2020) where he made over $10 MM

I think he would accept and play 1 year being overpaid then hit FA once the market is better

Typical market he may not accept it and hold out for something bigger but this year I think he'd take that in a heartbeat.

MaxPower said:

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W said:

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Brantley might accept the Q.O. ---- that's a 15% raise from his 2020 salary

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He might but I think it's reasonably likely he is offered 2 years, $30 million. That's a lower average salary but at his age he has to take the multi year deal.

Regardless I agree $19 million isn't a bad deal for Brantley in isolation. I just fear Click's comments means they are going cheap this offseason.

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In isolation I completely agree. The problem lies in that it would kill any hope of signing George...which in my opinion needs to be priority #1. Therefore it is considered a bad deal to me

Lonestar_Ag09 said:

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MaxPower said:

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W said:

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Brantley might accept the Q.O. ---- that's a 15% raise from his 2020 salary

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He might but I think it's reasonably likely he is offered 2 years, $30 million. That's a lower average salary but at his age he has to take the multi year deal.

Regardless I agree $19 million isn't a bad deal for Brantley in isolation. I just fear Click's comments means they are going cheap this offseason.

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In isolation I completely agree. The problem lies in that it would kill any hope of signing George...which in my opinion needs to be priority #1. Therefore it is considered a bad deal to me

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I really canny see us resigning George because I think he's going to find a team willing to get him 5 year 125 M.

So Brantley can perform at at least 85% of what he has been the last 2 years then he is 100% worth 19 M for 1 year.

Snell is dealing tonight.