How Astros GM's latest comments hold major clues for on/off field decisions next season
FRONT OFFICE SHAKEUP
23h
FRONT OFFICE SHAKEUP
While a lot hasn't happened yet in free agency, we did learn quite a bit from Astros GM Dana Brown at the GM meetings. In the video below we'll focus on the offense, and later this week we'll drop a video covering the pitching.
Before we get to the players, we found it interesting that Brown met with both hitting coaches after the season, and basically came to the conclusion that the ineffectiveness of the offense falls more on the players than the coaches. Pointing out that the players have had success in the past under the same coaching.
So both Alex Cintron and Troy Snitker appear to be safe heading into the 2025 season. Houston did make a change with their third base coach. Gary Pettis will not be returning, and he'll be replaced by former Diamondbacks third base coach Tony Perezchica.
Perezchica is considered an infield specialist, whom they hope can elevate the play on the infield. One has to wonder if he's been brought in to improve Shay Whitcomb's play at third base, especially if Alex Bregman leaves in free agency.
Outfield outlook
As far as the players are concerned, it looks like we received some answers for the plan in the outfield, if we read between the lines.
Brown believes Chas McCormick has the potential to bounce back after a down season with the bat. He envisions McCormick as the team's starting left fielder.
Based on these comments, we believe the plan is for Chas to start in left field, with Jake Meyers returning to center. Brown's comments also lead us to assume Yordan Alvarez will be in the DH role most of the time. Which makes sense after several injury scares in his career.
However, Dana also said a move at the trade deadline could be a possibility should McCormick continue to struggle in 2025. The club may also use a platoon in the outfield with a left-handed hitter.
Speaking of which, Houston traded for left-handed outfielder Taylor Trammell recently, and he should get some opportunities this spring. But based on his past performance in the big leagues, we're not expecting much.
And considering Brown's comments about top prospect Jacob Melton, we don't anticipate he'll make the team even if he has a good spring.
Finally, Reggie Jackson and the Astros have decided to part ways. Which makes us wonder, does this move mean Brown will have more authority with one less voice in the room?
And could this also signal that Jeff Bagwell's days as an advisor could be numbered?
Don't miss the video above for the full discussion!
For Astros’ conversation, catch Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo on our Stone Cold 'Stros podcasts!Episodes drop on Mondays and bonus episodes are released on Wednesdays when the news cycle dictates._______________
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For a World Series that was supposed to feature an epic battle between sluggers Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, guys like Mark Leiter Jr., Luke Weaver, Alex Vesia and Anthony Banda sure got a lot of face time.
This year's Fall Classic provided further proof that a great bullpen is essential in baseball, particularly in the postseason. It also has led to concerns from people ranging from superagent Scott Boras to players' association head Tony Clark that the sport is abusing arms.
Regardless, building a quality bullpen remains a challenge.
“You need so many arms over the course of the season, and in the postseason, it’s even more magnified,” Los Angeles Angels general manager Perry Minasian said. “Quality arms, quality strikes. But quantity is a big deal, too. Where do you get it?”
The bullpen is usually an afterthought for casual baseball fans, particularly middle relievers, who don't get the spotlight of the ninth inning. They toil in relative anonymity while getting tough outs in tough situations and are much like NFL offensive linemen — noticed only when something goes terribly wrong.
The Dodgers used Vesia, Banda and Michael Kopech in four out of the five games of the World Series while Blake Treinen and Brusdar Graterol appeared in three games. They combined to throw 15 1/3 innings — often in high-leverage situations — and gave up five runs.
That's a 2.93 ERA.
For a bunch of guys only serious seamheads know, that's not too shabby.
“I have a lot of good players, and they understand that it’s about getting 27 outs a night,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It could be anyone at any given moment.”
Building a big league bullpen is intriguing because cost isn't really the prohibitive factor, making it arguably the most egalitarian position in a sport that doesn't have a salary cap. Banda ($740,000), Vesia ($1 million), Treinen ($1 million), Kopech ($3 million) and Graterol ($2.7 million) made pocket change compared with their teammate Ohtani, who signed a record $700 million, 10-year deal last offseason.
Instead, it comes down to scouting, development and sometimes dumb luck. It's sometimes more art than science.
“I wish we knew,” said Erik Neander, Tampa Bay's president of baseball operations. “We would have won more games last year.”
Boras is among those who aren’t pleased with the way relievers are being used. Clay Holmes pitched for the Yankees in all five games of the World Series and there’s little doubt that pitchers — particularly relievers — are being pushed to exhaustion in October.
“We have got to stop burning up our beautiful young arms by pitching them in a way, in a manner, that we would never do during the (regular) season,” Boras said Wednesday.
Over the past 10 years, the average fastball velocity has risen from 93.3 mph to 95.5 during the 2024 regular season. Injury rates also have skyrocketed, with 484 pitchers going on the injured list this year, nearly double the 2014 total.
Regardless of how GMs feel about bullpen usage, the injury explosion is one more reason that finding consistent relievers is a difficult task.
Using valuable young arms in the bullpen is risky, but pursuing veteran relievers in free agency is also a crapshoot. Take the case of Treinen, a 36-year-old who has had a career that typifies the ups and downs of being a reliever.
He was an All-Star in 2018 with the Oakland Athletics, with a microscopic 0.78 ERA and 100 strikeouts over 80 1/3 innings. The next year, he fell off drastically with a 4.91 ERA.
The Dodgers thought he could bounce back in 2020 and they were right — he had a solid season and helped lead LA to a World Series title. It went so well that the Dodgers signed him to a two-year deal after the season. He was great again in 2021 but suffered a serious shoulder injury and missed almost the entire 2022 season.
He signed an extension but missed the 2023 season with the same shoulder injury and didn't return until 2024, when he bounced back again with a 1.93 ERA and another championship.
Now Treinen is back on the market.
“You can look at it multiple ways,” said Minasian, who was speaking generally and not about Treinen. “You might say: 'Wow, he's taken the ball a ton. He's been used drastically over the last three, four years, so I'm not sure what it's going to look like going forward,' or it could be: ‘Hey, he’s held up. He pitches. He's been consistent and takes the ball.'”
Astros GM Dana Brown weighs in
The Houston Astros are a team that's had a great bullpen over the last several years with pitchers like Hector Neris and Ryan Pressly. General manager Dana Brown said there's always volatility in the bullpen, but that's not all due to injuries.
“It's just the game today,” Brown said. “You have all this information, and sometimes the hitters, they study you. The film — they look at it. They find your weak spots and try to exploit you.”
Brown said one quality he likes in relievers is a sense of humility, understanding that they might have to change their strategy on the mound as their body deals with a long career.
“The guys who don't have a teachable spirit, or the aptitude, they sometimes get lost in the sauce,” Brown said.