Just for fun: 3 Discussion Topics

The Astros have been obliterating their competition, riding high on a 10-game winning streak. My favorite part of the Crawfish Boxes has always been the community discussions, and I figured we can throw a couple discussion items that are a bit abstract to spark some discussions from the TCB community.

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Topic 1- Craig Kimbrel is still unsigned. Should the Astros pursue him?

Craig Kimbrel has been one of the best relievers in baseball over the past decade. His career ERA of 1.91 is supported with a FIP of 1.96, and he’s only 30 years old. Last year though, Kimbrel “struggled” to only a 2.74 ERA, 13.86 K/9 and 42 saves across the season. While those are some stunning numbers, they are a significant step backwards from his career numbers.

Then the off-season came and Kimbrel’s outlandish demands of 6 years / $120 Million put him outside of everyone’s price range. Theo had written an article about a month ago exploring the possibility of the Astros signing him, but since then MLBTradeRumors has said his asking price has dropped considerably to a much more reasonable 3-year 39-52 Million dollar mark. While still a hefty asking price, if the Astros were able to sign him after the draft and not lose the pick, would you be interested? What if you had to sign him before the draft? What contract would you be willing to offer?

Topic 2 - Yordan Alvarez - Is he ready for the show?

This topic may be worthy of an in-depth analysis, but I figured it’s worthy of a discussion here. Alvarez hit his 7th home run last night, a towering grand slam on a difficult pitch. His .300/.451/.875 line is making a mockery of AAA for a 204 wRC+. So assuming you believe he’s ready for the show, the next question is how do you get him there? The Astros have a roster crunch already coming up. Does he replace the struggling Tyler White? Does he play the OF or simply DH? Do you think he’s the real deal or worried about another Wallace/Singleton/Reed bat-only prospect?

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Topic 3 - How would you improve the team?

Yes, we’re talking about a team in 1st place, on a 10-game win streak, that has the highest odds on Fangraphs for the Playoffs, World Series, number of wins, etc. But there’s always a way to improve. You’re King for the day, instead of In Luhnow We Trust, we have In [Insert TCB Name] We Trust. You have the ultimate control (Crane gave you an open checkbook up to the Luxury tax line and permission to make any realistic trade). What do you do?