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2023 Official Astros World Champs Offseason Thread


tx 3 putt

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The Los Angeles Dodgers have had a mostly quiet offseason in terms of player acquisition, and it has been assumed they are trying to reset the luxury tax penalties by staying under the $233 million threshold for the 2023 season.

If the Dodgers were to go over the threshold, they would be considered third-time offenders, which would subject them to a 50% tax on every dollar spent over the CBT threshold. The Dodgers initially were well below, but when Trevor Bauer’s suspension was reduced, L.A. added an extra $22.5 million onto their payroll for 2023.


https://dodgerblue.com/dodgers-payroll-exceeded-luxury-tax-threshold-before-miguel-rojas-trade/2023/01/15/amp/

 

They’ll think twice before handing out a $500mil contract 

 

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28 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

That is really really interesting. I've been operating under the assumption that the Dodgers are going to get under the LT threshold to re-set their number so that breaking the bank for Ohtani isn't near as painful as they will be first time offenders.  Spotrac has them $4M under the tax threshold.  Their offseason makes perfect sense if this is a 1 year- lets eat a little shit and reset this baby before we reload and go wild.  If they aren't going to re-set then it's truly head scratching.  Looking at their budget if they are within 10M at the deadline they could trade Syndegard, JD Martinez or Clayton Kershaw to duck under the cap number if they were wanting to move off money from people in the last year of their deal. My guess is that this ends up like 2020 or 2019 did for the Astros where we were like $10,000 away from the tax threshold but knew we were going to be under it the entire time.  

Edited by Wulaw Horn
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3 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

I don’t think there is any way they deal Kershaw.  He’s about as much Mr. Dodger at this point as Lasorda was.


They need young and cheap arms if betts and ohtani are sopping up all the money 

Edited by tx 3 putt
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4 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

I don’t think there is any way they deal Kershaw.  He’s about as much Mr. Dodger at this point as Lasorda was.

Oh I agree completely.  I was just showing which guys move the needle if they need to clear 8 figures at the deadline and don't want to trade anyone with control longer than this year. 

The good news is the Bauer deal is really fucking them.  What a shame.

Edited by Wulaw Horn
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A local cake shop that we used for our wedding 9 years ago popped up on my feed for making this awesome Astros cake. Lots of other fans in the comments were upset by this cake and the hate it brings, and it was pretty funny to read. It's hilarious that Yankees and Dodger fans will go shit on a Facebook post for a cake store because of their deranged hate for the Astros.

 

FB_IMG_1674840589817.thumb.jpg.a4237f20aa5f843007e2bad54b519e58.jpg

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I agree with everything Granato says in that clip. he's spot on about Altuve, Beltran, the BBWAA, and especially Doug Glanville's take on the the difference between PEDs and sign stealing. I remember that piece when it was published and I've often thought of it when reading the hyperventilating criticisms of the Astros by fans and writers calling 2017 the greatest scandal in baseball history. Not even close, and I say that as a fan who thinks the worst thing about the PED era was the sanctimonious b.s. that came out of it. 

Here's the piece Granato referenced, it's a good read. 

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28850651/i-played-clean-steroid-era-peds-hurt-players-more-sign-stealing-does

 

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Altuve is going to get a TON of push back from bwaa, his HoF vote will be brutal. The East and West coast blocks will be up against him. East coast will remember all the times he killed their beloved Yankees. 
 

Veterans committee will get him in if the bwaa doesn’t break 

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3 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

Altuve is going to get a TON of push back from bwaa, his HoF vote will be brutal. The East and West coast blocks will be up against him. East coast will remember all the times he killed their beloved Yankees. 
 

Veterans committee will get him in if the bwaa doesn’t break 

I don’t think so; I mean, there will be some pushback, but I don’t think it’ll be overwhelming. There’s a lot of time between now and then - let’s say 5-6 more active seasons, then 5-year waiting period. By then, the electorate is probably more analytically-inclined and further removed from the sensationalism of the last few years (which bodes well for Altuve given the evidence that his performance was unaffected by sign stealing). At some point people will realize how silly all of this is, and I think that’s enough time to get there. Agree that it may not be first ballot, but I think he gets in with a few more seasons like his last couple. 

Edited by Hank Chinaski
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3 hours ago, ERhine said:

He could retire tomorrow and he’d be in. This thread is ridiculous sometimes.

This. Now he's working toward being 1st ballot. He'll need 3000 hits. If he gets 3000 hits, that will likely mean several All star games and maybe a silver slugger or 2. Also means he's getting on base for for the rakes batting behind him, leading to more team hardware. 3000 hits is the metric here. 3000 and he's 1st ballot IMO. 

 

 

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8 hours ago, patrickdrinksbeer said:


this post is ridiculous. he’s not even at 2,000 hits yet. i think he’ll get in, but he’s not there yet at age 32 and 1935 hits.

Well, he has 2 rings, an MVP, 3 batting titles, a Gold Glove, and a career BA over .300.  He's definitely got an argument if he quit right now.

If he plays at least 5 more years and crosses 300 HR, 300 SB, 2500+ hits, and probably wins another ring, he's a first ballot lock.  3000 hits is icing on the cake.

 

Edited by TexArcher
I mean, if Scott Rolen is in and people are complaining that Jeff Kent isn't in, then Jose Altuve has to be in.
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8 hours ago, runthebone said:

What really matters to Altuve is that he is in runthebone's Hall of Fame as my favorite Astro--actually, favorite athlete--of all time. 

The single biggest thing that bothers me about Manfred's little scandal of convenience is how Altuve has been treated by baseball( fans) as a whole since 2019.  He is a fucking treasure to the sport and should be beloved for his competitive spirit, tenacity, and the way he plays the game with such joy.

Oh well.  he'll always be in the pantheon of Earl, Hakeem, and Nolan for beloved Houston sports stars, even if it is local-ish.   He has beoucoup objective achievements to go along with the subjective reasons we love him.  He'll always be a giant of baseball to me.

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2 hours ago, slorch said:

The single biggest thing that bothers me about Manfred's little scandal of convenience is how Altuve has been treated by baseball( fans) as a whole since 2019.  He is a fucking treasure to the sport and should be beloved for his competitive spirit, tenacity, and the way he plays the game with such joy.

Oh well.  he'll always be in the pantheon of Earl, Hakeem, and Nolan for beloved Houston sports stars, even if it is local-ish.   He has beoucoup objective achievements to go along with the subjective reasons we love him.  He'll always be a giant of baseball to me.

He has to pass Nolan as most beloved Astro of all time, right?  I mean- Nolin went to the playoffs 2X and never won shit and was here for 8 of his 25 year playing career- I can’t see how Altuve being the face of this generation of Astros isn’t the most popular Astro ever. 
Hakeem and Earl seem pretty unassailable as most popular hoops and football guys ever. 

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3 hours ago, TexArcher said:

Well, he has 2 rings, an MVP, 3 batting titles, a Gold Glove, and a career BA over .300.  He's definitely got an argument if he quit right now.

If he plays at least 5 more years and crosses 300 HR, 300 SB, 2500+ hits, and probably wins another ring, he's a first ballot lock.  3000 hits is icing on the cake.

 

agreed to all, but i really want to see him pass manny for most postseason bombs. dude isn’t even a power hitter. 

zero this year was a bummer. 

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15 hours ago, ERhine said:

He could retire tomorrow and he’d be in. This thread is ridiculous sometimes.

Yeah, no. He’s short of 50 WAR and 2,000 hits right now. There’s no way he gets in if his current numbers are his final numbers. He needs to compile at least 12-15 more WAR and 600+ more hits for voters to support him en masse. I think he gets there, but he certainly isn’t there yet. 

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4 hours ago, TexArcher said:

Well, he has 2 rings, an MVP, 3 batting titles, a Gold Glove, and a career BA over .300.  He's definitely got an argument if he quit right now.

If he plays at least 5 more years and crosses 300 HR, 300 SB, 2500+ hits, and probably wins another ring, he's a first ballot lock.  3000 hits is icing on the cake.

I mean, if Scott Rolen is in and people are complaining that Jeff Kent isn't in, then Jose Altuve has to be in.

 

Rolen is 10th all-time in fWAR among 3B, with nearly identical numbers to Ron Santo, another HOFer. Everyone ahead of him is in, except for ARod (obviously he has the numbers of an inner-circle HOFer) and Beltre, who will be in on his first ballot.

Altuve is 25th all-time in fWAR among 2B. He has work to do. Good news is that he’s coming off an offensive season that nearly matched his MVP year. 12 more fWAR puts him in Ryne Sandberg territory; a few more and he’s right there with Biggio. And he’ll have more hardware than those guys (MVP, batting titles, WS titles). 

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it's a silly argument because players with shortened careers get treated differently.  koufax, puckett, etc.  i'm sure there are others.

if altuve retired at 38-39 with his current numbers as his final numbers, then yeah, it would be a tough call and he probably doesn't get in.  but that's not what we're talking about. 

the only downside to him retiring right now is the "scandal" is still fresh.  when he first appears on the ballot (~2034) it will have been 15 years since the story and 17 years since the year in question. 

 

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When your team owns the off season, you struggle for off season topics 

 

altuve

Bregman

yuli (1000% you retire his number, and tack a little Cuban flag to it)

biggio and bagwell

a lot of the 86 guys - kerfeld, bass, Hatcher, Ryan, Scott, Doran 

Yordan and Javier are shooting up the list 

 

 

 

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16 hours ago, texashorne said:

This. Now he's working toward being 1st ballot. He'll need 3000 hits. If he gets 3000 hits, that will likely mean several All star games and maybe a silver slugger or 2. Also means he's getting on base for for the rakes batting behind him, leading to more team hardware. 3000 hits is the metric here. 3000 and he's 1st ballot IMO. 

Lulz. Biggio got 3K and he wasn't 1st ballot. 

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Biggio

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On 1/15/2023 at 5:59 PM, Dutchrudder said:

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see the point of settling on contracts ahead of arbitration. Is the board ever going to make them pay more than what the player agrees to separately before hitting arb? 

No. I thought it was a one or the other thing 

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7 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

He has to pass Nolan as most beloved Astro of all time, right?  I mean- Nolin went to the playoffs 2X and never won shit and was here for 8 of his 25 year playing career- I can’t see how Altuve being the face of this generation of Astros isn’t the most popular Astro ever. 
Hakeem and Earl seem pretty unassailable as most popular hoops and football guys ever. 

Altuve needed to change his number to 34.

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