Snake Diggity

Suicide really has very little to do with how objectively well or poorly a person’s life is going. It just has to do with how much they want to kill themselves.

Mark kent larry johnson weaver shedrick who else is there locked in for next season? Anamekwe? Pryor? Codie?

Hader, Abreu, Montero, Graveman, and McCullers will earn almost $80M this season. Cool for them.

They need to put Jose Abreu in a batting cage and tell him “hit a ball 103+ mph or you’re hurt.” He is clearly not a major league caliber player and the team is disrespecting the fans by running him out there.

Singleton and Meyers need to be in the lineup every day for the time being. At least until they show they have lost momentum.

Considering Bregman and McCormick have been affected by injuries and Abreu is dead, that’s a very solid performance as a whole. (Caratini has a 174 wRC+.)

Singleton’s wRC+ now stands at 103, which means so far this season he’s been an above average offensive player. Usually a 1B is expected to be 120+, but he’s not been bad this season, especially considering the context of his opportunities. I really hope he is allowed to continue to play almost every day over the next 3-4 weeks.

Sugar Land is 9-4. Loperfido has been historic. Cabbage, Leon, Hensley, and Bastides (who?) have all hit like studs. VanWey and Gaither have been extremely good in their pen. Blubaugh was lights out in his first start. Whitley gave up some runs but his stuff has looked great. There’s talent there. Their High A and A ball teams are .500 or better and have some really exciting young guys. It’s their AA team that is the main place their overall weak farm is exposed. Corpus is 1-7.

Singleton has a 4 game hitting streak.

That might’ve been Jon Singleton’s last gasp there. Up twice with bases loaded and couldn’t do shit.

McCormick hamstring, Bregman undisclosed illness.

His k rate is too high to project him to mlb success but goddamn 9 hr in 12 g shows a pretty high level of dominance in AAA. I say give Singleton 2-3 weeks of consistent time and if he doesn’t hit well and Loperfido keeps hitting them out then you make the move.

This series sets up as a potential rebound. Nothing about the pitching matchups favors the Rangers very heavily. France/Dunning, Blanco/Heaney, and Javier/Eovaldi all seem winnable for Houston. They need gutsy performances from those guys and more timely offense. A sweep this weekend would put them at 7-10 and 0.5 games back in the division. At that point all would be well. Getting swept to go to 4-13 and 6 games back would be fucked up. I want to see Singleton play every day for the next couple of weeks. He looked good yesterday and Abreu is clearly hapless. Espada can spin it that he’s just giving Abreu a reset; if Abreu comes thru with a clutch pinch hit or if Singleton sucks shit, they can always go back to the $20M black hole.

It’s probably down a bit. The return I listed doesn’t reflect a huge drop in value, but he hasn’t done himself or the Astros any favors in the early going. Meh. You’d have to give me specifics. Otherwise you’re just being a dick. A lot of the returns would be market dependent and obviously hinge on how each of those players perform between now and the deadline. But really I only listed Tucker (a borderline MVP caliber player with another year of control) and Valdez (an ace with another year of control) as realistic trade candidates even bringing back Top 100 prospects. The Org Top 10/30 types would just be guys like Pedro Leon, Joey Loperfido, Arrighetti, Whitley, etc.; those prospects aren’t that valuable and saying a player isn’t worth that is basically saying they don’t have surplus value. Dylan Cease had less value than Framber (and a smaller market given the spring financial constraints) and he brought back 3 of SD’s top 10 prospects (from a very good farm), one of which was a Top 100 guy.

I don’t think the season is lost. I’m speculating about if this continues. It’s damn hard to win 100 games when you start 4-10. The odds of Houston making the playoffs have gone from like 85% on opening day to like 60% after today’s shitshow. When that gets down to 40%, it’s time to start talking seriously about the season being lost.

Trade values: Diaz: multiple Top 100 prospects Abreu: would have to buy down $30M just to get rid of him Altuve: don’t even think about it Pena: a Top 100 prospect plus a couple org top 10 types Bregman: at this point it’s probably one org top 10 type; hopefully he turns it around Tucker: a top 100 prospect plus a couple org top 10 guys, his stock is doen since he started slow Meyers: an org top 10 and a throw-in McCormick: 2 org top 10s and a lotto Alvarez: don’t even think about it Dubon: 2 org top 30s Caratini: 1 org top 30 plus a lotto, may have to throw in some money Kessinger, Singleton: no value Framber: 1 top 100 type assuming his medicals clear; if he comes back healthy this could increase Verlander: 2 org top 10 types assuming his medicals clear; if he comes back healthy this could increase, could also increase if Houston covers salary Javier: 1 top 100 type plus 1 org top 10; could get another org top 10 by adding money France, Brown, Blanco, Garcia, Urquidy, Martinez: value unknown McCullers: they’d have to throw in $25M just to get rid of him Bielak, Mushinski, Scott, Coleman: one lotto Montero: one lotto; they’d probably have to throw in some money Abreu: 3 org top 10 types Pressly: one org top 10, assuming Houston pays in some money Hader: Houston could get a big haul but it wild depend on how much money they paid down If the season is lost and they do rebuild, it will be much quicker than 2011-2014 and if it goes well they should contend again in 2026.

Is Brown tipping? Wtf

What do you expect Dana Brown to say? “We’re fucked! Our rookie manager is cursed with every move he makes blowing up in his face, our payroll is maxed out with bad contracts put in place by our meddling owner, our farm system is trash due to cheating punishments and trades forced by the meddling owner, and we have 9 pitchers on the injured list! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO?!?!?” The 9 losses have come from an array of causes. Early on it was elite relievers melting down. Lately it’s been starters not giving the team a chance, and all along the offense has been hitting extremely well but not scoring runs in the highest leverage situations. The team could get a big morale boost if/when Verlander comes back healthy. But so far this is an expected 7-5 team that had luck fuck em in the ass.

They pretty clearly aren’t using Kessinger, although the Altuve/Bregman/Pena will need more frequent days off than they’ve gotten so far. But if (BIG if given he has a 38% k rate in AAA) the FO believes in Loperfido, they could bring him up to replace Singleton and have him in a strict 1B platoon with Abreu, but also give Loperfido time in LF and RF, which would make him closer to an everyday player. Dubin would be the backup at the other 4 spots which over the 2nd half would also be a near-everyday role. Kessinger would continue to rot on the bench.

No one with any integrity is attending that piece of shit’s funeral. His damn kids probably won’t even attend.

I know this might make me pathetic, but the day Donald Trump dies might be the best day of my life that I have to look forward to. I am already married and have had all the kids I’m going to have. My children are wonderful and I’m sure will often do things over the next 2 decades that will bring me much joy, but nothing that will make me happier than knowing Trump is gone forever. I don’t really care if they get married and I don’t expect to live long enough to get grandkids. I don’t expect to complete any personal or career achievements that will eclipse Trumps death in terms of how happy it will make me. I hate that motherfucker so much. His existence is akin to having sticker burrs lining my asshole.

Fuck Hunter Brown. Could be the man but isn’t. Fuck.

Brown, Blanco, and France all have options. They could be optioned to skip a turn in the rotation and get another relief arm once JV comes back and the prep to switch to a 6 man rotation.

Martinez and Mushinski both have options remaining. My guess is either Mushinski will be sent down or they’ll DFA Diaz and hope he passes thru waivers.

Anecdotally, there is only 1 RFK sign in my neighborhood, and it replaced a Trump sign.