Post for a Sunday - Things that make you go hmmmmm.

First, anyone else hate the college football commitment process.  I absolutely hate it.  Top prospects commit to colleges early, only to back out later, sometimes as late as national signing day.   How can you rejoice in your college getting a commitment from a 5-star or 4-star two years out and then spend the rest of the time waiting for the guy to de-commit even though he keeps saying on social media how solid his commitment is.  I mean, coaches change, programs go on probation, they sign guys from the portal who play your position.   There are valid reasons to de-commit.  But 'I changed my mind'.  Really?  Then wait until you won't change your mind to make your FIRST commitment.  Geez!

Second, does it really matter what any team does if the Astros keep getting better?   Yes, I know the Guardians got better by signing Bell and, hopefully, better by signing Zunino.   They still have problems in their division as Chicago gets better by signing Clevinger and Benitendi and even better by Anderson getting healthy.  They may not even lose much ground if Vaughan takes off after going to first base full time even though they lost Abreu.  Minnesota got Vazquez and if they backfill with solid ML hitters where they have weaknesses, they are going to give us trouble, as well.  But, still.  Houston gets Abreu to play 1B and gets Brantley back?  I mean, looking at it objectively, Houston was 25 meters ahead of us in a 100 meter dash and this offseason we may have cut 10 meters off that.  They are still 15 meters ahead and if they don't fall on their faces, they are going to win the race easily.

Finally, so far this off-season here is the Guardians' scorecard:

Gained

Josh Bell

Mike Zunino

Ross Carver (#30 prospect in Guardians top 50)

Juan Brito (not listed in MLB Pipeline's top 30 Guardians prospects)

Lost

Owen Miller

Bryan Shaw

Carlos Vargas (#17 in Arizona top 30)

Nolan Jones (#11 in Colorado top 30)

Tanner Tully

Kirk McCarty

Nic Enright (contingent on him staying in the majors)

Kevin Kelly (contingent on him staying in the majors)

Thoughts

We still have almost all of our top 30 prospects still intact.   I hope we sign someone like Brandon Drury and a quality lefty reliever.   

Interesting quote on the Mets: From MLB Trade Rumors, talking about why the Mets are content with a $350+ million payroll and the $100+ million penalty that involves: "...as the Mets want to win but aren't interested in trading from their farm system."  Hmm, where have I heard that one before (hint: from me).  Simplistic?  Yes.  But when billionaires are saying and living it, putting their own money where their mouths are, makes you think, doesn't it?  As I said: You can go to the bank to get more money but you can't go to the bank to get more prospects.  The days of buying the Babe Ruths of baseball for a hefty sum where they are young major leaguers are long gone.  Now you pay the big bucks and get Babe Ruth in his prime.