It’s a heady time to be Astros fan
Peter Dawson is a digital data reporter for the Chronicle.
I don’t know him. Don’t really know anything about him.
All I do know is he is like a lot of Astros fans. Joyful, jumpy, jittery.
I envy this generation. I kind of hate them too.
Unlike diehard Astros fans from back in the day, Dawson and his ilk have a crazy interpretation of their favorite team’s expectations.
Clearly, poor Peter grew up in a baseball world where the Astros were perennial contenders. Winners.
On Wednesday afternoon, after the Astros traded for Zack Greinke, Dawson said on Twitter that his confidence level moved from not sure if the Astros were good enough to win it all to it would be disappointing if they didn’t.
Many of us in this town grew up accepting our lot as Astros fans. Being disappointed was a way of life. We dreamed of the day when they would be good enough to have the best record in the league, yet we were not sure they were good enough to win it all.
Welcome, Jim Crane, Jeff Luhnow and the 21st-century Astros.
They’re almost cheating. I mean, they have the best record in the American League and now have three aces in the hole in Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole and Greinke.
Greinke’s 2.90 ERA would fit nicely at the top of any rotation. There is no threesome comparable to Verlander, Cole and Greinke.
Winning the World Series is the goal for most MLB teams. Not every team is willing to do whatever it takes to have the best chance at that.
And even fewer teams have as smart an organization as the Astros, who have not only built an efficient, elite operation but have proved their willingness to spend with the big boys when necessary.
The Astros are the big boys. This was Yankeeesque. Red Sox-ish.
“I think it’s a reflection to Jim Crane’s commitment to winning,” Luhnow said.
On the day he bought the team, Crane promised he was committed. Drayton McLane made that promise too. Talked about winning all the time. But he didn’t know what it took.
It isn’t about money — it’s about baseball intelligence — but the Astros are willing to spend.
Greinke will make $64 million in the next two years. The Diamondbacks will contribute $24 million of that, making this move even more of a no-brainer for Luhnow and Crane.
While the Astros’ fourman starting staff boasts ERAs of 2.73, 2.90, 2.94 and 3.06, the Yankees, who are battling Houston for the best winning percentage in the AL, do not have a starter below 4.00.
A deal involving three of the team’s top five minor leaguers — pitchers J.B. Bukauskas and Corbin Martin, and infielder Seth Beer — comes with risk.
Holding on to those prospects would have been even riskier.
What Greinke can deliver right now is far more than anything the Astros were likely to get from the talented youngsters.
If there is a World Series parade in the next couple years, this move would prove to be worth it.
If there isn’t, this was still the right move.
Unlike Verlander in 2017, Greinke, a six-time All-Star with 11 postseason starts, isn’t the final piece to the Astros’ championship puzzle. Houston had a championship-caliber team before Wednesday’s huge trade.
The Astros’ core of proven position players, arguably the most talented group in all of baseball, was always going to keep them in the hunt. Greinke’s addition makes the Astros a strong favorite to win their second title.
The question entering the season was if the starting pitching could hold up and how losing bullpen stalwarts Brad Peacock and Collin McHugh to the starting rotation might affect reliever depth.
Despite all of the winning thus far, it sure would have been nice to still have Charlie Morton around. Now, the move for Greinke is almost enough to make one ask, “Charlie who?”
OK, let’s not jump the gun. The World Series doesn’t begin until late October.
That won’t keep this generation of Astros fans from talking about it. Their team is a heavy favorite to play in and win it.
Those lucky rascals.