Those of you who didn’t fall asleep in English lit or have Chat GPT, let me tell you about the story of Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, who at first opposed to raise his banners but eventually joined the the war expedition to Troy to retrieve Helen. A lot of people only remember his lost decade traveling back to his home but not about his idea of The Trojan Horse which ultimately led to the fall of Troy and put him right in the cross hairs of Poseidon for being to clever. After the war, Odysseus embarked on a perilous, decade-long journey to return to Ithaca. Along the way, he faced numerous trials [12 of them], each testing his wit and determination.
There are a lot of similarities from this poem by Homer that are ongoing in my head that I connect to my favorite sports team.
Alas, welcome to the Winter Meetings 2024.
The war has ended, Troy has fallen, and the journey home has begun.
Now let me start with, I understand the basic fundamentals of an asset who is worth a value and understanding that if said asset is going to walk, that you should in theory retain value. I truly get that.
Yet, you haven’t done that ever, actually you have only made moves that reinforced the method of the madness. Trading for Justin Verlander, trading for Kikuchi, paying a closer 95 million when you had two already, extending Jose Altuve to a lifetime contract. Everything you have done up to this point is to fortify your position of strength while mortgaging the future. Pot committed is pot committed even when your holding 7/2 off suit. But as you embark on the 2025 season with the second best odds to win the American League, you want to float a shift in philosophy? Interesting.
Alex Bregman, soon to be handsomely paid from an organization that guarantees the length of a contract which gives him security through his 30’s, leaves you likely replacing a franchise cornerstone. Hell of a back of a baseball card one would say. And now the speculation of moving a cornerstone right fielder and staff ace behind that news, has the fanbase at odds.
Rebuild and Reset or Ball Up Top.
I side with the philosophy of ball up top, run it back and see where the chips fall. Idk maybe keep spending cause everyone else is.
“But DEZZZZZZZZZYYYYY the prospects and MLB players you can get!!! “
I get it, I really do. It makes sense if there is a plan, but from 30,000 feet it feels disorganized and chaotic. That is why I am against it right now.
How many jokes have you cracked about all the trades the GM’s of Astros Christmas past have made of fleecing teams? It’s a fuckton over here on my end. The cleverness of a Trojan Horse worked but at what cost? Poseidon, had other ideas for Odysseus. The Boston Red Sox traded Mookie Betts for a bag of chips, and a Dunkin’ gift card that keeps them warm every October because the Sox sure haven’t, outside of running into the 2021 AL Champs. What about the Royals/Giants? The Tigers? The Rays in that one make believe year? These organizations are all currently trying to escape their own lost decade after a period of success. (The Nationals did it right but also happen to be in the juggernaut of the NL East so all that work to be right and yet will still be at the bottom)
A change of philosophy is fine if it is calculated and dialed, not if it’s being shot from the hip. The odds of hitting another lotto ticket of Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker seem slim to none and if you did by chance, you’re looking at the back half of this decade to have that come to fruition. You don’t pay Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, Josh Hader while also having a stable of young arms for the rotation to hope you hit a lotto ticket. 2026 might be the golden parachute Odysseus didn’t have during his lost decade because the extremely bad contracts begin to fall off the books.
So for me it’s ball up top. The real poem of Homer.
