Astros and Bad Idea Jeans

Back in the days when I watched SNL and when I thought it was actually funny, there was a classic ad parody called “Bad Idea Jeans”

Bad Idea Jeans – Saturday Night Live – YouTube

For those who don’t want to click there, the ad featured key players from one of the best eras of this classic TV show, including the late Phil Hartman, Mike Meyers, Kevin Nealon, and David Spade.

It was a series of vignettes which went like this:

[Open on group of guys sitting on a bench on a basketball court, laughing ]

Guy #1: Hey, we’ve got our apartment. We ripped up the floors, pipes, wiring, and having everything completely redone.

Guy #2: You’re renting, right?

Guy #1: Yeah.

[ image on screen: BAD IDEA ]

And in the end, it was an ad for the imaginary brand “Bad Idea Jeans”.

The vision of this spoof came to my head when I read the following:

“No Traction” Between Cardinals, Astros In Nolan Arenado Talks – MLB Trade Rumors

It feels like there have been too many bad idea moments in the last few seasons, especially since the period of time when the Astros did not have a General Manager – for when you have like 5 or 6 people doing a job, you have no one doing a job.

Now the Astros are a team that was born and formed out of a series of “bad ideas”.

• Trading future near Hall Of Famer Le Grand Orange, Rusty Staub to the Montreal Expos for Jesus Alou and Donn Clendenon (Clendenon refused to report and was replaced by Skip Guinn and Jack Billingham)
• Trading future Cy Young winner and multiple 20 game winner Mike Cuellar and jetsam for Curt Blefary and flotsam.
• Trading future near MVP John Mayberry (who hit almost 250 HRs and knocked in 750 RBIs after leaving) for reliever Jim York.
• And of course, trading future Hall of Famer Joe Morgan and four other players to the Reds for Tommy Helms, Lee May and Jimmy Stewart (no not that one).

Over the years the Astros made other booboos like not protecting future slugger Nate Colbert and future 2470 hit man Bobby Abreu from expansion drafts.

It is not clear whether offering GM James Click a one-year contract he has to turn down for his self-respect was a bad idea after the 2022 championship but not replacing him until some bad moves occurred seemed to be.

• Truth in advertising – this writer supported the Jose Abreu signing when it occurred before the 2023 season. But….a real GM might have been wondering why Abreu fell off the map the second half of 2022 including practically no power. Result – $59.5 million gone.
• The Rafael Montero signing seemed an overreach in both seasons – 3 and money $34.5 million for a 7^th inning reliever who had one good season out of ten.
• While the $12 million they gave the injured Michael Brantley that got them 15 games in 2023 was not the end of the world – there did not appear to be any reason to make a quick move on him as he was injured and not ready coming away from the 2022 season.

And now some of the moves or at least rumored moves in this off-season that are at least making us wonder.

• First, there can be arguments for and against giving Alex Bregman the original 6 years / $156 million offer. It would likely have given the Astros three good and three questionable seasons.
• But the supposed decision to revive the negotiations after signing Cristian Walker and trading Kyle Tucker for 3B replacement Isaac Paredes and two others seemed weird. If you were going to make that Tucker trade knowing you were serious about Bregman wouldn’t you pick up an OF instead of a 3B?
• Then there is this latest thing about maybe resuming the negotiations for a Nolan Arenado trade. That’s picking up some part of his remaining $74 million ($10 million paid by the Rockies) obligations, giving up assets the other way and then moving Paredes to 2B where he has a little experience and Jose Altuve to LF (though that may happen anyway).

I feels like the team needs to stop teasing with the Bad Ideas before they end up with a Bad Ideas Team.