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The Houston Astros released Rafael Montero. The move was made soon after they were forced to do the same with Jose Abreu. Both players were on big contracts and making plenty of money to struggle on the field. So the Astros did what not many teams do: cut bait and move on.
This was a costly move as both players had money left, and the team now had to pay for no services. But they did move on from players hampering their success.
Before the move, Abreu had been one of the worst players in baseball with a -1.6 fWAR. Montero was one of the worst relievers in the sport with -0.9 fWAR. One MLB insider John Granato with Houston Radio believes the Astros deserve some credit for the move.
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"I will give them credit for this. Rip the band-aid off. It's not working. They're bad," Granato said (3:00).
They're bad for the organization. It hurts the organization putting them on the field. We'll just eat the money- and that's a lot of money to eat. You gotta give them credit for that. It was poorly, poorly spent."
He added he doesn't remember the Astros missing so badly on signings. However, he again credited them for recognizing their mistakes and moving on.
Houston Astros can ill-afford bad players now
The Houston Astros seemed dead in the water for much of the season. The roster was bad from top to bottom, prompting shocking rumors that they might be sellers at the deadline.
That didn't happen, but when they were that bad, they could afford to try and let former stars like Jose Abreu and Rafael Montero try and figure it out. They had the pedigree and the contract to necessitate that.
However, once the team began to turn it around, they couldn't afford that any longer. Time ran out on these former stars, as the Astros moved into first place (improbably) thanks to a percentage point difference over the Seattle Mariners. Thus, Abreu and Montero had to go, and others might follow them.
