All in the Family
Down, the gauntlet has been laid! Jeff Lunhow and company made two very important splash moves for the off season to shape the 2017 Houston Astros ball club yesterday. It is the most active this front office has been this quickly to keep the proverbial "hot stove" cooking up something delicious for fans to look forward to.
The first move was one that has brought veteran catcher, Brian McCann over from the New York Yankees. The ball club also paid 10 million dollars off of his salary over the next two seasons, where BMac will average now around $11.5 million over the next two seasons, with a third club option year worth $15 million. In return, the Astros sent over two minor league right handed pitchers in Albert Abreu and Jorge Guzman to the boys in pinstripes.
The second move came an hour later, when free agent outfielder, Josh Reddick was inked in for a 4 year and $52 million dollar deal. No word yet on if the physical came back clear, but it's looking good so far. Reddick provides more left hand power to an outfield almost certain to be comprised of him, George Springer, and the newly waiver claimed Nori Aoki, another left hand bat.
With these new acquisitions, the Houston Astros now put themselves in a really legitimate spot for post season contention. Perhaps even, dare I say it, a run at the world title. And with these new additions do come the speculation as to what that means for other players. That happens to still include, for some odd reason, your people's champion and mine, Evan Gattis.
But as part of some ongoing social media and message board rants and pet peeves, let me save you folks out there the trouble and tell you what is NOT going to happen to El Oso Blanco because of these moves:
1. He's NOT getting traded!: I hate to break it to those fan boys of other teams in the league that are prematurely salivating that this move to get McCann all of a sudden means that Gattis is gone. Well, STOP! Please! Before you make yourself look anymore foolish. There is no one in the Astros' farm system even remotely ready to handle the backstop duties at the major league level, and Castro is as good as gone. The sooner you come to grips with that reality, the better off we will all be.
2. He is NOT batting at the bottom of the order!: Some of the sports media analysts on television that have already tried to push him even further down in the order are really starting to aggravate me to no end! Gattis hits better in the middle of the order. Always has and always will. His stat splits by batting order prove this point I've been trying to make for some time now. The sports media world needs to accept this already.
3. He is NOT going to be a bench player!: I hear this one way too often, and people need to get over themselves on this one. Gattis never has been, and never will be, a player coming off the bench. While it is true that Evan will return to his backup catcher/DH hybrid role next season, the same could possibly be said for McCann, only as a starter. To put it bluntly, whichever player is not behind the dish will be penciled in as the team DH. Some have even speculated that, given any new circumstances that may arise, McCann and Gattis could be doing an even 50/50 split. We'll just have to wait and see what happens with that.
Of course, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows for the spacemen yesterday. Jose Altuve came in 3rd in the AL MVP vote. Once again, Mike Trout won the award. You can't see the sarcastic shock on my face right now but it is pretty grueling. I think we all can still agree, Jose deserved it way more. But congrats on getting the nod anyways, Altuve. You will forever be Houston's MVP!
In spite of that one piece of bummer news, I already feel rearing to go for 2017 baseball. All in all, these acquisitions made just yesterday will breathe new life into a team that just missed the playoffs last year. But are, however, poised to make another solid run for the post season and the world series trophy. Get yourselves ready, H-Town! We're in for quite the ride!
The first move was one that has brought veteran catcher, Brian McCann over from the New York Yankees. The ball club also paid 10 million dollars off of his salary over the next two seasons, where BMac will average now around $11.5 million over the next two seasons, with a third club option year worth $15 million. In return, the Astros sent over two minor league right handed pitchers in Albert Abreu and Jorge Guzman to the boys in pinstripes.
The second move came an hour later, when free agent outfielder, Josh Reddick was inked in for a 4 year and $52 million dollar deal. No word yet on if the physical came back clear, but it's looking good so far. Reddick provides more left hand power to an outfield almost certain to be comprised of him, George Springer, and the newly waiver claimed Nori Aoki, another left hand bat.
With these new acquisitions, the Houston Astros now put themselves in a really legitimate spot for post season contention. Perhaps even, dare I say it, a run at the world title. And with these new additions do come the speculation as to what that means for other players. That happens to still include, for some odd reason, your people's champion and mine, Evan Gattis.
But as part of some ongoing social media and message board rants and pet peeves, let me save you folks out there the trouble and tell you what is NOT going to happen to El Oso Blanco because of these moves:
1. He's NOT getting traded!: I hate to break it to those fan boys of other teams in the league that are prematurely salivating that this move to get McCann all of a sudden means that Gattis is gone. Well, STOP! Please! Before you make yourself look anymore foolish. There is no one in the Astros' farm system even remotely ready to handle the backstop duties at the major league level, and Castro is as good as gone. The sooner you come to grips with that reality, the better off we will all be.
2. He is NOT batting at the bottom of the order!: Some of the sports media analysts on television that have already tried to push him even further down in the order are really starting to aggravate me to no end! Gattis hits better in the middle of the order. Always has and always will. His stat splits by batting order prove this point I've been trying to make for some time now. The sports media world needs to accept this already.
3. He is NOT going to be a bench player!: I hear this one way too often, and people need to get over themselves on this one. Gattis never has been, and never will be, a player coming off the bench. While it is true that Evan will return to his backup catcher/DH hybrid role next season, the same could possibly be said for McCann, only as a starter. To put it bluntly, whichever player is not behind the dish will be penciled in as the team DH. Some have even speculated that, given any new circumstances that may arise, McCann and Gattis could be doing an even 50/50 split. We'll just have to wait and see what happens with that.
Of course, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows for the spacemen yesterday. Jose Altuve came in 3rd in the AL MVP vote. Once again, Mike Trout won the award. You can't see the sarcastic shock on my face right now but it is pretty grueling. I think we all can still agree, Jose deserved it way more. But congrats on getting the nod anyways, Altuve. You will forever be Houston's MVP!
In spite of that one piece of bummer news, I already feel rearing to go for 2017 baseball. All in all, these acquisitions made just yesterday will breathe new life into a team that just missed the playoffs last year. But are, however, poised to make another solid run for the post season and the world series trophy. Get yourselves ready, H-Town! We're in for quite the ride!
Original Photo Credit: Stephen Dunn of Getty Images
A lot more of these handshakes and high-fives are about to ensue in 2017!!!!
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