Astros Sign Michael Brantley - It's Machado, Harper or BUST for the Sox

The rich get richer? This is a very, very nice move for the Astros, assuming Brantley stays healthy.  That little swindler Jeff Lunhow, as much as I personally cannot stand him, has put together a straight up loaded roster.  Their OF next year is going to be Brantley, Springer and Tucker from left to right, and once Tucker gets his feet wet, it’ll be one of the better OF’s in baseball.

But what does it mean for the Sox?  Well Hahn has said it publicly in interviews throughout the last year or so that they were going to start looking to sign more “bridge” players – aka players on shorter 2-3 year (tops) deals that would act as veteran (yet productive) placeholders until guys like Robert, Madrigal, etc. mature enough to crack the 25 man.

Brantley was a name floated by both the media and Sox fans over the last year.  Brantley is a great, great stick when healthy and because of said health issues, would only command a shorter/cheaper deal.  A perfect bridge.  Well he’s gone, and so are players like Charlie Morton (2 years, $30MM with a vesting option for a 3rd year), Brantley, Lance Lynn, Wilson Ramos, Cutch, etc.

So…. it’s starting to look like it’s Machado, Harper, both (lol) or bust for the Sox.  MLB Trade rumors does a great job updating their free agent tracker daily, and you can basically cross all of the good or decent “bridge” guys off the list.

The South Side is waiting for you Manny…