As much as I’d love to have GC on this team, the way things played out was completely predictable and close to inevitable.
Of course the Yankees/BoSox/Dojers saw a player they coveted, and of they activated the conveyor belt of gold bricks to secure that player.
That model was never the Lunhow model because he knew that if the Astros could offer $30M over 3 years the Yankees would offer more money at triple the years.
Astroball’s goal has been to create sustainability by being smarter, not richer. We’re probably at the first dip after a freaking awesome crest (3 ALCS appearances, 2 pennants, 1 WS title). But that dip could easily include more division titles. The lineup is still fearsome. The braintrust is still toiling to find contributors.
As sweet as the WS title was, this is the ultimate test of the teardown.
We won a World Series without Cole. The lineup has taken down some pretty good opposing pitchers along the way. I think the lineup can handle Cole too. Maybe we can add one more good arm and make another run.
The Astros have holes to fill this offseason, but I trust Lunhow to fill them. I firmly believe, even without Gerrit Cole, there will be enough talent on the 25-man roster and within the entire organization to have a good chance at making it back to the World Series and potentially win another championship.
I think that is more blind faith, David, than realism, and I worry about all this anti-Astros venom’s being an impediment to Luhnow’s ability to rebuild the roster. I am more pissed than sad about Cole, and I am eager for Luhnow to start filling the holes, especially in the rotation. Madbum would be a good addition, I think, but I have not seen any article linking us to him. You guys who are smarter than I (everyone), need to tell me who is out there and possible for us to get.
My faith is because the Astros have a smart general manager and an owner that not only understands baseball, but wants to put a championship caliber product on the field this season. Perhaps all the cheating allegations steer players away from the Astros and causes rival GM’s to not deal with Lunhow, but until I see some proof of that, I’m not going to lose my faith in Lunhow and Crane. This is the same tandem that pulled Greinke and Verlander out of their hats at the last possible second of the trade deadline. It’s also the same tandem that signed off on a trade for Gerrit Cole and signed Michael Brantley. As long as Lunhow is in charge, I believe the Astros will field an elite team.