Good Major League Baseball organizations manage to keep their players who have been developed for the long term. For example? Atlanta Braves.
Quebecer Alex Anthopoulos mostly manages to keep his players at a good price, which helps create a corporate culture.
If there’s anyone who learned from that, it’s Dana Brown. The new GM of the Houston Astros has worked on recruiting hopes with Anthopoulos.
In fact, the guys worked together in Montreal, Toronto and Atlanta.
What we have seen in recent years is that the Braves win with their core. Brown therefore wants to reproduce the whole thing in Houston.
The Astros GM may have to deal with his owner asking him to trade prospects for Justin Verlander (although that wasn’t the plan), but ideally Brown wants to keep his youngsters.
And when I say his young people, I don’t mean JUST the young people. He also wants to keep Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and Framber Valdez, to name a few.
And to this group, we must add Kyle Tucker. The young veteran is an underrated star in MLB and Brown wants to make sure he’s in Texas to stay.
The 2015 fifth overall pick has two more years of control in Houston. Presumably after his 2023 contract got messy, the Astros will want to talk to him long term.
This is the thing to do in the case of the 26-year-old Floridian.
Tucker, in the shadows, is still having a great season. His .296 GAA, 84 RBI, 24 stolen bases, .894 OPS and 21 home runs make him a batting threat.
And defensively, he’s also very good (usually), so the club doesn’t exactly have to miss.
- Trea Turner has been on fire since the fans’ tribute.
- Bryce Harper has back pain.
- Bruce Bochy will be back in San Francisco.
- Nice outing for the former Rays prospect.
- The end of the special defense helps regular players avoid fatigue.
