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UTexasFight

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Posts posted by UTexasFight

  1. Agree, gives him even more value. Might be able to pry Realmuto for Bregs and a pick. 

    Screw Bregs for Sale.
    I won’t settle unless Eovaldi is included too.
    Hindsight 20/20, yeah, yeah but I and others (hg comes to mind) really wanted him around the trade deadline.
    The fact Boston only had to give up their #15 prospect doesn’t help.
  2. Some dumbass on my Nextdoor feed was talking about all the trouble she went through to boil multiple pots of water just to rinse her dishes after washing them in her dishwasher... when all you need is to use the dishwasher heat cycle. 

     

     

     

    You call someone a dumbass... yet you too are on next door

    (Boiling) pot calling kettle black?

     

  3. If this chart is to be believed, we should be off this conservation bullshit in a couple of days..... This is absurd.
     


    Thank god.
    My vehicle hasn’t been washed since beginning of September and we have finally have a stretch that’s longer than 3 days of no rain.
    Won’t someone think of my truck!
  4. Re: Tucker. Give it a rest. He’ll be fine. He knows what he needs to work on. I have no doubt he’ll make good on figuring out how to recognize and hit pitches down and in (without sacrificing everything else).

    Re: White. I can’t help but think he is the 2018 offensive equivalent of 2017 Peacock.
    He may be serviceable but you can easily do better.
    ....and a part of me can’t help but wonder how much of his July/August was aided by a certain Kyle McLaughlin, et al. (Yeah, I went there... sorry)

  5. Kaplan on the Astros FAs
    A lot of good stuff here but still more questions than answers

    Their uber-talented position player core remains intact, but after the World Series ends free agency will hit the Astros harder than it has in any previous year of general manager Jeff Luhnow’s tenure.

    Their list of players set to hit the open market includes two members of their major league-best rotation, their invaluable switch-hitting super utility man and their top two catchers from 2018. Six of their free agents were members of the franchise’s first World Series title team in 2017, and two have been in Houston since 100-loss seasons were the norm.

    “It was a tough night the other night on a lot of levels because you’re watching another team celebrate on your field,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said on Monday. “It’s a tougher one when you look around the clubhouse and (realize) the threat of ‘That guy might not be here. Dallas (Keuchel) might not be here. Marwin (González) might not be here.’ ”

    When the offseason begins, the Astros will focus most of their attention on filling out their rotation behind Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole and acquiring a catcher to guide their pitching staff.

    They will undoubtedly explore reunions with some of their free agents, but it’s probably not reasonable to expect they will retain more than a couple of them, if any. Keuchel, González and Charlie Morton are their candidates to receive a qualifying offer, a one-year, $17.9-million contract that if declined would allow the Astros to recoup draft-pick compensation if they sign with another team.

    Naturally, some reunions are easier to envision than others. Factoring in the expected demand for their players on the open market and the Astros’ needs, let’s run through the seven free agents in order of the likelihood they return to Houston.

    Charlie Morton

    Here are the most recent comments from Morton, who in the past openly discussed the possibility of retiring to spend more time with his wife and four kids:

    “I’d love to keep playing. I’d love to be an Astro. I’d love to be part of this again. But ultimately, it’s not really up to me. It’s not solely up to me. Because I don’t dictate a lot of factors that are going into this. So, we’ll see where we’re at.”

    Morton made these remarks late Thursday night at Minute Maid Park after the Astros’ season-ending loss to the Red Sox in Game 5 of the ALCS. It’s far from the first time he’s spoken about his desire to return to Houston, where he revitalized his career.

    But Morton has also made it clear he considers his career to be winding down, and his apparent willingness to sign a shorter-term deal combined with his 2017-18 performance should make him attractive to a lot of teams. His value on the open market will never be higher, so the Astros must weigh how far they’re willing to go to re-sign the soon-to-be 35-year-old, even if it is only for perhaps another two-year deal.

    The free agency situations of Morton and Keuchel and the uncertainty about Lance McCullers Jr.’s health renders a need for the Astros to acquire at least one starting pitcher this offseason. They could move Collin McHugh back to the rotation after his year as a reliever, but even then their other two spots would fall to unproven options like Josh James and Framber Valdez. Prospects Forrest Whitley, Corbin Martin and J.B. Bukauskas could debut in 2019, but counting on rookies would be risky.

    Morton, when healthy, is a proven commodity.

    Martín Maldonado

    The Astros have a gaping hole at catcher, where Max Stassi and Garrett Stubbs are their best internal options. (Stubbs, who has yet to play above Triple A, will require protection from December’s Rule 5 Draft.) Maldonado, despite his issues blocking balls in the ALCS, will be among the top options on the open market.

    Though acquired in only July to share time with Stassi and Brian McCann, Maldonado quickly earned the trust of Hinch and the Astros pitchers and was the team’s starting catcher in six of their eight playoff games. Pitchers lauded the 2017 Gold Glove Award winner for his preparation for games, and his cannon arm neutralized potential base stealers.

    “(Catcher is) definitely an area of focus for us this offseason,” Luhnow said. “No question.”

    Marwin González


    (Troy Taormina / USA TODAY Sports)
    González has made himself a lot of money with his performance the last few seasons, a dynamic that could have him in a different uniform next year. What team planning to contend in 2019 couldn’t use a player like González, who can handle every infield position plus left field?

    Among the biggest questions the Astros face in the next two weeks is whether to extend a qualifying offer to González, who like Maldonado and Keuchel is a client of agent Scott Boras. González’s second-half and postseason performance this season suggest he might be worthy of one.

    Tony Sipp

    Sipp probably earned himself at least a one-year contract somewhere with his bounce-back 2018 after two terrible seasons to begin his three-year, $18-million deal. And while that one-year contract certainly could come from the Astros, the veteran left-hander is more likely to end up elsewhere.

    With Sipp’s contract off the books, perhaps this will be the offseason when the Astros target another lefty for their bullpen. While Valdez and Cionel Pérez are internal options to fill that role, the team might continue to develop them as starters until they prove they should be deployed otherwise.

    Dallas Keuchel


    (Kelvin Kuo / USA TODAY Sports)
    It has long appeared a fait accompli on both sides that 2018 would be Keuchel’s final season in Houston. The 2015 AL Cy Young winner and two-time All-Star seeks his big payday, and this Astros front office has never signed a starting pitcher in free agency for more than three years and $30 million (Scott Feldman in December 2013).

    Despite his regression in 2018, Keuchel will be one of the top starters on the open market regardless of whether Clayton Kershaw exercises his opt-out clause. Keuchel is coming off a healthy season in which he logged 200 innings for the third time in five years and will be 31 at the start of his next contract.

    It’s expected the Astros will extend a qualifying offer to Keuchel so they can at least recoup draft-pick compensation in the event of his departure. He could find a home with one of the big-market teams that miss out on Bryce Harper and Manny Machado but saved money in anticipation of signing one of this free-agent class’ marquee players.

    Brian McCann

    While he’s beloved in their clubhouse, it’s difficult to envision a path back to the Astros in 2019 for the starting catcher on their 2017 World Series title team. McCann will be 35 next season and coming off an injury-marred year in which he had a career-worst .640 OPS in only 216 plate appearances, his fewest since his rookie year in 2005.

    As of September, McCann maintained that he wanted to continue to play beyond this season, and he certainly could provide value to a team as a left-handed hitting platoon partner and a veteran leader in a clubhouse. An American League team that could give him some playing time at designated hitter might be an ideal fit. It seems unlikely to be Houston, though.

    Evan Gattis

    The Astros will look to upgrade at the designated hitter spot from Gattis, whose .736 OPS in 451 plate appearances in 2018 marked his worst in his four seasons with Houston. In his tenure with the team, he provided 96 home runs and a .769 OPS but his lack of a defensive position in 2018 hindered roster flexibility.

    Tyler White, who supplanted Gattis at DH in the second half and in the playoffs, might get the first crack at the job in 2019. He will enter spring training having exhausted his three minor-league option years. The Astros could also look to acquire another position player via free agency or trade to absorb at least some DH at-bats. It probably wouldn’t be another DH-only type, though.

     

  6. 7-2 assist to gun down Bird
    Game 2 HR off Jansen
    Single through Darvish’s 5 hole
    Probably my top 3 Marwin moments

    9cfe1067385e54d5ab7cc0479129c5b3.gif

    e699b13adf8a51e21c8b39a0c9047df0.gif

    I have the gif on my phone of him blowing the smoke from his pistol after gunning down Bird but appears to be too large to upload to tapa

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