How is it fav t9 RP ? It was obvious he was very hesitant or deal would have happened 48 hrs ago. Houston is their Home year round. Can see from his wife X post it was very difficult. Family is still important for many. Kids born here.
Plus when you’re over LTax n want to add 25 mil … the 10-12 mil helps tremendous imo.
I’m not saying it was an ACTUAL favor, but it benefits him way more than it does the Astros.
He didn’t have a job with the Astros, and this is a contract year. He wouldn’t even have been a setup guy this year. Beyond that, the Astros are taking a big haircut on the deal with the light return and having to pay him to play somewhere else.
I know about the home/family angle, but from a career standpoint, staying with the Astros would have been the end of it. If he was planning to hang 'em up after this year, then that’s one thing, but he thinks he has closer stuff still in the tank - this trade gives him the chance to prove it and make some money.
And at the end of the day, he made the choice, so it’s not like the Astros forced him to uproot his family. It was the right choice. If he didn’t think it was to his benefit, then he wouldn’t have approved.
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I see your angle. As far as making a career choice, all im saying he had his Family in the middle of tough decision n from all reports he was very hesitant. Not everyone is chasing the last green bill out there. Imo if he wanted to get out of Houston, he would have made that known to Mgt beginning of last year or during the year. He accepted his new role like a Pro.
All good Coogfan91 just slightly diff opinion on situation.
His dog is named Wrigley, so he obviously wanted to leave. 
Yep aware of that one. The dog won!
I mainly wanted to part with him for salary reasons. Felt like that money could be redirected towards keeping Bregman or adding another piece. I’ll always be grateful to RP for how clutch he was in the 2022 run. He was nails and came through in a ton of big spots.
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This might as well be my post. My exact sentiments. I didn’t want him gone bc I liked him as a player n was my #1 Relief pitcher I rooted for. But from Astros business perspective it would help if he was dealt b4 season began.
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Welcome back, Alex.
Jo, I don’t know if you’re more of a basketball guy, football guy , etc….but what you just did is what baseball guys call a “jinx”….
Unfortunately, you just assured Bregman will not be coming back.
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Reports are that we’re paying $5.5MM (almost 40%). So the “salary dump” was $8.5MM.
This isn’t a feather in the GM’s cap, for sure.
The Chicago Cubs will pay $8.5 million of Ryan Pressly’s
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 27, 2025
$14 million contract and give up Class A pitcher Juan Bello
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I knew Dana wouldn’t get squat. But I don’t have great confidence in the guy. I’m not just concerned about CF. I’m worried about our pitching staff. The franchise ends up paying almost half of the guy’s contract. He must be pretty confident Bregman’s on his way back to the table.
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Even if the Cubs took on all of Pressly’s 14 million contract the.Astros would still would go over the 1st luxury tax threshold if they do indeed resign Bregman. That is unless they’re not done trading additional players to free up more money (Caratini for example).
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What I’m seeing shows the Astros current 2025 payroll to be about $212MM (includes $25MM to RP and to Abreu). The LT limit is $241MM.
If Bregman comes in at $26MM per year, that would put the Astros at $238MM, which is under the limit.
So from that standpoint, the RP deal accomplished what they were after. I could see another move and Caratini makes sense, but I don’t think you move him unless it’s a sweet deal, which Dana Brown doesn’t seem to be able to manage.
We have a lot of expected major contributors making $800K - Arrighetti, Blanco, Brown, Yainer, France.
So who would be the back up catcher?
You’re leaving out a lot of other things that go towards the luxury tax #.
Fangraphs shows the payroll a little over 217 mil but when you add in the other stuff it’s currently a little over 236 mil
Signing Bregman to a 6/156 is 26 mil per which according to this would put them at 262 mil in '25
Yeah, I have no reason to believe your screenshot over what I’m seeing. 
For example, Greinke’s $12.5MM deferred salary does not get counted against the active payroll. But the other numbers I looked at were missing some other expenses - I think the Astros actually have $21.6MM in tax space right now, but there are a lot of uncertainties around the arbitration numbers, and it could be less.
Regardless, it may be that they’re trying to work on some restructuring to make this all work. If Altuve is serious about being willing to “do anything” to get Bregman back, then maybe he’ll defer some money to make it work.
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Salazar showed a great bat last year, so he would probably be the first option.
There are a couple of other guys bumping around in the minors who could come up, but Salazar would be the guy.
All of this is telling me that we aren’t adding an OF or any pitchers of note. We’re more likely to try to trade some out of the group of McCormick, Meyers, and Caratini and roll with rookies to fill in the blanks. Maybe Montero will show up enough to get a team interested in taking him off our hands.
Man, it sucks to look at how badly those Abreu and Montero contracts have hamstrung us, but next year…
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Well, I guess the difference is making the playoffs or being contenders. Relying on the young players can be a risk.
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Relying on old players carries risks, too, as we’ve learned all too well. At least the young players offer low-cost risks.
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I would rather roll with Caratini than Salazar. Also, that Pressly deal is pretty underwhelming.
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