LCHorn

Well, he's definitely not a candidate for Dancing with the Stars.

If Whitmire was going to flip parties it would have made a lot more sense to do it 10 years ago. Instead he's stuck in a powerless role in the Senate, each term draining away any hope he might have once had towards a higher office. It's mayor or bust for him, imo. I just don't see SJL as capable managing a diverse Houston set of constituencies, particularly industry and traditional Republican leaning firms, and as a mayor I think you HAVE to do that. I mean, she can't even run her own office with a staff of what 10? 20? Now you're going to make her responsible for 22,000?

Haha, that’s funny. I’m sure Florida’s horrible NIL mishaps from last year has induced caution for all parents of recruits. I think we’re learning that the NIL demands from receivers are probably the highest of any position. The QB’s know if they play they’ll get sponsorship money, same with RB but to a lesser extent. The longer developmental curve for most lineman probably helps keep the old coaching plus facilities pitch in parallel with NIL. Receivers want money yesterday. I haven’t heard this directly but I’d guess Wingo is getting Worthy’s money. I’d also infer from the commitment that Missouri can’t afford Wingo and Burden at the same time (neither could we unless more donors step up).

Dazed and Confused has to be up there for identifying talent before they became leads in other films. Oceans 11 and its sequels but putting together an all star team was kind of the point (not too dissimilar from mad mad world).

Okay, now you have to name names; one of them has to be Oswalt. David Laurilia on fangraphs interviews players and it’s always about their stuff; pitch mix, what are they working on, etc. France (my whipping boy today) had a really great one a few months back and he came off super savvy. I’m sure it’s somewhat emblematic of how much analytics has penetrated the locker room, but it’s nice to hear a pitcher talk about squeezing another 200 rpm on his two seamer rather than the previous generation’s failure to show any understanding of what made them great.

I’m not familiar with their roster-who do you like over there and why? I was thinking taking Contreras in a salary dump might make some sense. Don’t they hate him?

I don’t know why ya’ll think a rookie manager is a good idea…

I don't know why Atlanta would trade him; he's exactly the kind of pitcher you want to baby during the season because he can win a tight game in October (basically the opposite of France).

Win game six? I would have not pitched two rookies, one a 28 year old rookie who survived on smoke and mirrors all season (and you have to imagine the Astros nerd team knows how risky it is to pitch him). I wouldn't have even had France on the postseason roster. I don't know if you've repeated this twice or if another poster said this and I don't see it; he was pretty muscled up coming up. I think he made swing adjustments that have sapped his power and he really needs to improve his eye. I don't know that I want Brantley back (I'd need to know cost and overall plan first) but I'd like the Astros to get back to finding guys who can work counts and don't strike out so frequently; the best Astros teams had very talented hitters but they also just wore out the other team making every at bat an ordeal for the pitcher. When you've got Julks/Dubon, Pena, and Maldonado all sandwiched together it puts SO much more pressure on the rest of the team.

I just reviewed the mlb pending free agents on the position player side, woof.* I don’t think we need to worry about anyone on the farm being blocked by a free agent signing. The upper minors are terrible, for one, and any talent we do have is rawer than a title contending team can afford to mature at the mlb level. I also don’t think we need a DH who can’t play the field-I’d rather preserve the flexibility that rotating that spot provides, particularly since Yordan is injury prone and we have an old 1B who just had his worst season. *on the bright side, it looks like upgrading from Peña will be hard, better to devote that energy elsewhere.

Yeah, I’m not pulling for the Rangers.

I’d love to bring him back as part of platoon or to be the first bat off the bench. Rough game for him today.

You sound way too sober to be suffering through this inning.

Haha, now they put in Diaz. At least he’s rested…

I really don’t think they are that good, at least compared to the last few WS champs. Every time I take a look at their stats on baseball reference I think “THIS team is beating us?!?!” Pretty much everyone is playing better than they did in the regular season. Of course a fucking front runner like Smoltz is anointing them the next dynasty here in the 8th inning.

Oh, I think that, too, but I’m too superstitious to say it out loud.

Is it bad luck if @tx 3 putt starts the off-season thread before the game is over?

I kind of think pretty much everyone has performed mostly like how we should expect them or better with the exception of Tucker. Peña is just not a good hitter. Maldonado’s best use case is leaning into a pitch and then being subbed by a pinch runner. Our bench is Dubon and two minor leaguers. I agree that a new manager offers a huge opportunity to correct who is getting at bats but this whole season has been a reminder of how thin our team is. We don’t have shit in the upper minors so we need to spend. I wasn’t following the thread when France got inserted but he’s a very good example of someone whose “shit doesn’t work in the playoffs”. He doesn’t miss bats and his peripherals are all weak compared to pretty much everyone else available. Just the fact he’s on the NLCS roster is something Luhnow must be smiling about as he sips his mezcal and roots for us to lose.

I think it’s pretty clear that we are going to need to spend some money in the off-season.

Hell yeah! Let’s save Diaz for later…

My God, that Tucker at bat was atrocious.

Home plate camera went from full house to empty seats in one batter.

At least now I can turn it off.

Goddammit

Sborz is a S’bitch