Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Astros lose out on Tanaka

So much for my fevered dream that the Astros signed Tanaka. The Yankees benefited from the Alex Rodriguez Witch Hunt, because - for at least a year - they'll off-set what they would have spent on their dumb third baseman by spending it on Masahiro Tanaka with a 7yr/$155m deal (a deal in which Tanaka can opt-out after four years). The Astros were rumored to have interest of varying degrees, but two tweets minutes apart show the level of interest:

This is going to be one of those stories that only serves to reinforce your already-established position. Nobody's mind is going to be changed here.

If you are of the opinion that a new day has dawned on the organization, then this serves as confirmation. After all, the Astros offered Jose Abreu between $50-60m, and he just ended up going to the White Sox for $68m. The Astros offered a ton of money to Tanaka, he just chose the more storied team who also happened to offer $30m more than anybody else.

That said, if you are of the opinion that Jim Crane will never invest a bunch of money into the team, you can look at these and say, "Awww! Crane did to Tanaka exactly what he did in the Abreu sweepstakes!" And that would be to offer (a) enough money to get some press, but (b) not enough to actually land the player. 

Nobody's mind will be changed by this. The Astros are a polarizing team, even to their own fans.


Tiki Owl said...

Spot on!

Jayne Hansen said...

Spending money just to spend money is exactly how we ended up with Carlos Lee. I want Crane to spend, but I don't want him to be stupid about it. And I guess I'm in the minority because I think he will do so.

Lyle said...

Fans who don't think Crane and company will spend some money are stupid, in my opinion.

farmstros said...

James, you make a good point.

Anonymous said...

There is a possibility that the FO has a set value on players and wont "over pay" to get them and risk eating a huge contract.

There is, IMO, a better chance that they know what it will take to land a player and are offering just less so they can be "in on him" but not wind up having to write a check that they probably can't cash.

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Anonymous said...

An opinion is something up for debate. Crane having the worst team in baseball with the lowest salary isn't. Going from $23 to $40+/- million is insignificant. That is still going to make the Astros one of the lowest payrolls in MLB. Again for an owner who RAISED ticket prices last year and raked in money. An opinion would be that you believe at some point he is going to compete and try to win. I HOPE that happens but to date there isn't anything in his actions to indicate he is going to do that.