2023 Official Astros World Champs Offseason Thread

[tx 3 putt 76912]

dark horse cy young candidate

 

 

[Guest]

7 hours ago, Guadaloopy said:

I’ll probably make the trip to finally catch a game at Busch.  From Tulsa, I’m in striking distance of games in KC and Arlington as well.  I’ll also make the trip to Houston for a game once they announce the dates for replica WS rings.  

I liked the Drillers park when I went there in 2021...until I realized they were affiliate of the Dodgers.  Boo!!!!LOL.

[uoftorange 1386]

Profar makes a ton of sense. Not sure why he hasn't been mentioned more lately.  He was earlier in the off season.  He can play pretty much everywhere competently and can still hit okay

[Chuckie Finster 22694]

12 hours ago, rvm96 said:

Abreu is a reliever. 

 

If you ignore his 43 starts in the minors, sure.

12 hours ago, rvm96 said:

Javier was never ranked in by any of the major sites for their top 50 or 100. Valdez wasn't ranked by any of the major sites. Chas wasn't ranked by any of the major sites.

Well shit.  Guess there are a lot of Keith Laws out there that need to reevaluate their ranking systems.

 

Edited February 1, 2023 by Chuckie Finster

[runthebone 7978]

To be fair, Chas was a "player to watch" on futureamazingworldseriescatches.com

 

[Guadaloopy 10962]

2 hours ago, slorch said:

I liked the Drillers park when I went there in 2021...until I realized they were affiliate of the Dodgers.  Boo!!!!LOL.

I always root for the visiting team. 

[closetojumping 62621]

17 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

A’s in Oakland in July you can get good seats cheap and SF is a pretty cool tourist attraction, but the ballpark sucks. That would be my #1 choice. And it will be nice and cool in the middle of the worst time of year for our weather. Yankees would be choice #2. Best game/team and NY is obviously a great town for visitors. 
Rockies in July would be fun. That would be my 3rd choice. 

I was a young guy working for a startup and nervously ran a launch meeting with Comcast NoCal (then AT&T Broadband) at their offices in front of like 20 execs. Their GM took a liking to me and invited me to join him in their seats at Oakland Coliseum that night for an A’s game. 

We sat right behind home plate. Pedro Martinez and the Red Sox faced off against Mark Mulder or Hudson or Zito and I think the Red Sox were the winners in a 1-0 pitching gem on both sides. It was awesome except for one thing - Oakland Coliseum is perhaps the shittiest stadium at any level above JR high that I have ever visited. Just absolutely terrible in every way. I cannot believe it is still in use. If I was the A’s, I’d leave as well. 

[YChang 3443]

23 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

It was awesome except for one thing - Oakland Coliseum is perhaps the shittiest stadium at any level above JR high that I have ever visited. Just absolutely terrible in every way. I cannot believe it is still in use. If I was the A’s, I’d leave as well. 

Al Davis really screwed over the A's and their fans as well. Their stadium is shitty. But I've always enjoyed going to games there, I think their fans are pretty fun to chat with. I really hope they can work something out with the city and get a new stadium build near Alameda or Jack London Square. That would be a fantastic site right by the water. 

[Scraps 13561]

Shep - 

if you go to Oakland then at least one game sit front row 104/105 section because it is directly behind the Astros BP and Lil Shep can talk to all the RPs and Bracamonte.  Will probably get shit given to him also by all of them lol.   

 

 

[runthebone 7978]

I love taking my kids to Astros games in Oakland.  Tickets behind HP available last minute, easy parking, easy in/out.  The stadium sucks and there is no food, but they let you bring in whatever you want.

[RGBIII 22840]

The fucking drums kill me. Even on TV, just completely unenjoyable and that stadium is truly an absolute shit hole, shocked it hasnt been condemned 

[Wulaw Horn 19069]

2 hours ago, closetojumping said:

I was a young guy working for a startup and nervously ran a launch meeting with Comcast NoCal (then AT&T Broadband) at their offices in front of like 20 execs. Their GM took a liking to me and invited me to join him in their seats at Oakland Coliseum that night for an A’s game. 

We sat right behind home plate. Pedro Martinez and the Red Sox faced off against Mark Mulder or Hudson or Zito and I think the Red Sox were the winners in a 1-0 pitching gem on both sides. It was awesome except for one thing - Oakland Coliseum is perhaps the shittiest stadium at any level above JR high that I have ever visited. Just absolutely terrible in every way. I cannot believe it is still in use. If I was the A’s, I’d leave as well. 

Yep. I’d still rather sit in the George and Barbara bush seats in Oakland (paying very little for them) and do tourist shit in San Francisco than I would go to a game in St Louis in late July as a for example. And I’ve lived both places so I feel qualified to speak on that as a for example.

I think I’ve been to 33 or 34 past and present ballparks and I’d say candlestick and Oakland were probably tied with the kingdome in Seattle as my least favorite. Great seats are great seats though. But I suppose if anyone is immune to that it’s lil Shep who lives the dream. 

[Guadaloopy 10962]

I loved going to games in Oakland when I lived in Monterey.  Pretty easy drive.   Good seats cheap.  Usually great weather.  Fans were always friendly, but this was all pre-2019.  Although, the last series I went to there was the September 4-game sweep in 2017, so fuck that place.

[tx 3 putt 76912]

Also, don’t forget your drum 

[Jshep34 2308]

Think we may do colorado then fly to San fran. Spend a few days doing the tourist deal.

[Wulaw Horn 19069]

1 hour ago, Guadaloopy said:

I loved going to games in Oakland when I lived in Monterey.  Pretty easy drive.   Good seats cheap.  Usually great weather.  Fans were always friendly, but this was all pre-2019.  Although, the last series I went to there was the September 4-game sweep in 2017, so fuck that place.

Any of them every friendly enough to suck you off in the upper deck while you watched the game? 

[Guadaloopy 10962]

Just now, Wulaw Horn said:

Any of them every friendly enough to suck you off in the upper deck while you watched the game? 

No, but I did get flashed from the luxury boxes in RF on Opening Day 1999.

[Js1 85313]

42 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Any of them every friendly enough to suck you off in the upper deck while you watched the game? 

I mean, if someone wants to buy my ticket and airfare

[Wulaw Horn 19069]

1 hour ago, Guadaloopy said:

No, but I did get flashed from the luxury boxes in RF on Opening Day 1999.

Maybe you missed it- it went viral when someone took footage of a girl giving a guy a BJ during an A’s game this summer. In case you didn’t get the reference. 

[Guadaloopy 10962]

1 minute ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Maybe you missed it- it went viral when someone took footage of a girl giving a guy a BJ during an A’s game this summer. In case you didn’t get the reference. 

I got the reference, but I had to feign offense to maintain the façade of being a decent person.

[Wulaw Horn 19069]

1 hour ago, Js1 said:

I mean, if someone wants to buy my ticket and airfare

Don’t threaten me with a good time. 

[uoftorange 1386]

5 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

I think I’ve been to 33 or 34 past and present ballparks and I’d say candlestick and Oakland were probably tied with the kingdome in Seattle as my least favorite. Great seats are great seats though. But I suppose if anyone is immune to that it’s lil Shep who lives the dream. 

I think I counted 43 with the kids the other day of stadiums past/present.  And Yep, that's a who's who list of garbage, only missing Tropicana from my list.  That place is a concrete POS.  

[Wulaw Horn 19069]

6 minutes ago, uoftorange said:

I think I counted 43 with the kids the other day of stadiums past/present.  And Yep, that's a who's who list of garbage, only missing Tropicana from my list.  That place is a concrete POS.  

Never been to Tropicana.  Never heard a good word about it. 
more funny- I think I’ve now been to more dead ballparks than living ones. And I’m only 44 damn it! 

[Scraps 13561]

Trop isn't awesome by any means, but it is still better than Oakland.

Growing up in the Dome it brings back nostalgia of it for me so I am ok with The Trop.

Area around there has a lot of bars/breweries too now

[uoftorange 1386]

I do agree that Trop is better than Oakland, but it's the worst of the active stadiums that isn't Oakland.  I like the city of Tampa quite a bit, but that stadium is just horrible.  And it has awful ground rules too

Outside of those two I haven't been to any of the other current ones that are anywhere near as bad.  I'm not a fan of the White Sox place, but it's not awful.  Rogers in Toronto is just old at this point, but still fine.  Honestly Yankee stadium is down here.  The old one at least was the place Babe built.  But outside of the outfield area and the hall of fame, the stadium is pretty bad.  

[Scraps 13561]

White Sox sucks, Nationals sucks, yankee stadium sucks, A's sucks, and yes overall obviously the Trop is at bottom also even if I enjoy it, out of the current ones I have been to, which is like 16 of them.

[Scraps 13561]

Oh and no lie....Arlington sucks

[uoftorange 1386]

Haven't been to the new one yet.  Have been to old, and it was fine, just way to damn hot and poorly oriented for it.  


PNC is my favorite, I think it's better than Oracle/ATT even though it's more like 1A and 1B than it is 1/2

[henrygandorf 29189]

5 hours ago, Guadaloopy said:

Pretty easy drive.   Good seats cheap.  Usually great weather.  Fans were always friendly

sounds like the dodger stadium experience.

[Hank Chinaski 6314]

I’ve been to:

Retired parks: Dome, old Arlington Stadium, Ballpark at Arlington

Current: MMP, Dodger, Petco, Anaheim, Seattle, Coors, Wrigley, White Sox, PNC, Minnesota

My favs are Wrigley, PNC, Minnesota (is it still Target Field?).

Seattle reminds me a lot of MMP. All the others are fine, enjoyed them all. 

May hit Nats and the new ATL parks this summer (work trips to DC and ATL). 

[Wulaw Horn 19069]

Retired: Kingdome, Astrodome, Candlestick, Yankee Stadium, Shea, Tiger Stadium, Veterans Stadium, Old cardinals stadium, Jack Murphy, Launching Pad in ATL, really old Rangers  stadium, last Rangers stadium, metrodome 

current- Oakland, LA, Anaheim, Houston, KC, Wrigley, the Jake, New Braves stadium, Camden Yards, Fenway  

Damn- way less than I thought. 
The thing that sucks is my dad has a TBI so he’s through going to games and any kind of travel hassle that isn’t mom taking him on a cruise against her will. And my son doesn’t even pretend to like baseball for a minute. Nor my wife and daughters. So, realistically the only new one I will likely add is San Fran. Some wow I’ve been out there like 5 or 6 times since it opened (family lives out there) and the giants have never once been in town. Weird. 

[uoftorange 1386]

Retired: Kingdome, Arlington, Astrodome, Fulton County, Turner, Metrodome (that place was garbage too), Old Yankee, Comiskey, Riverfront, Cleveland, Mile High (thought not for baseball to be fair), Joe Robbie, Milwaukee, Olympic, Veterans, Three Rivers, Shea, old Busch, Candlestick (after Giants left), RFK, 

Current: Truist, Camden, Fenway, New Yankee, Wrigley, Guaranteed Rate, The Jake, Coors, Comerica, Rogers, Minute Maid, Kauffman, Angels, Citizens Bank, PNC, Citi, Petco, Nats Park, Chase, Oakland, Seattle, Tropicana

Ok, with an actual list in front of me it's 42, not 43.  But I'll count Abner Doubleday stadium to get to 43 haha

Edited February 2, 2023 by uoftorange

[Scraps 13561]

Funny this just popped up for me posted 25 min ago

[tx 3 putt 76912]

Retired : dome, old rangers stadium, less old rangers stadium, old angels stadium, old Braves stadium, old brewers 

current : mmp, Wrigley (best road trip in mlb), brewers (very nice stadium, in a boring area), coors, Phillies, the trop (love it)

 

Edited February 2, 2023 by tx 3 putt

[Scraps 13561]

Retired - Astrodome and globe life whatever

Current in order of going to them: MMP, Fenway, Baltimore, Nationals, Giants, A's, Colorado, TB, Reds, NYY, Rangers new shit box, White Sox outdoor shit box, Padres, St Louis, Arizona, Atlanta

Going to Minny, most likely Toronto, and KC this year

[Saint Tacky 1614]

Former

Astrodome; Candlestick; Jack Murphy; Kingdome; Old Busch; Turner Field; Tiger Stadium; Arlington Stadium/GLPark; Comiskey; Old Yankee Stadium;; Memorial Stadium (Baltimore); Veterans Stadium;

Current

Minute Maid; GLField; CitiField; Coors; Dodger Stadium; Great American; Petco; Wrigley; Oracle; Anaheim; Camden Yards; Comerica; Kauffman; Progressive; Rogers Centre; Target; New Yankee; Fenway;

Favorite Former: Memorial Stadium (Baltimore)

Least Favorite Former: Veterans

Favorite Current: Coors, slightly over Comerica, Target, and Progressive

Least Favorite Current: Citi Field

Most overrated: Wrigley Field, now that they’ve renovated it and blocked Waveland. I miss old Wrigley.

[Wulaw Horn 19069]

1 hour ago, Scraps said:

Retired - Astrodome and globe life whatever

Current in order of going to them: MMP, Fenway, Baltimore, Nationals, Giants, A's, Colorado, TB, Reds, NYY, Rangers new shit box, White Sox outdoor shit box, Padres, St Louis, Arizona, Atlanta

Going to Minny, most likely Toronto, and KC this year

You will probably like KC. Secretly a good park- especially considering it predates the Camden yards boom where parks improved a lot. 

[CycleTex87 2969]

On 1/31/2023 at 1:50 PM, tx 3 putt said:

anyone making any road trips ?

Wife and I are catching one of the Seattle games in late September.  Hopefully the division is well sewed up by then. 

[Guadaloopy 10962]

Retired: Astrodome, Kingdome, Arlington, The Vet, Candlestick, Jack Murphy/Qualcomm, RFK

Current: MMP, Petco, Dodger Stadium, Anaheim, Oakland, Oracle, T-Mobile, Citizen’s Bank, Fenway, Nationals Park, Camden Yard, New Yankee Stadium

Going to: KC, Busch, GlobeLife

Favorite: Petco

[Guadaloopy 10962]

1 hour ago, tx 3 putt said:

Retired : …old angels stadium…

 

Unless you went to Wrigley Diamond in LA before 1966, the old stadium is the current stadium.  It’s the 4th oldest stadium in MLB.  

[uoftorange 1386]

26 minutes ago, Guadaloopy said:

Unless you went to Wrigley Diamond in LA before 1966, the old stadium is the current stadium.  It’s the 4th oldest stadium in MLB.  

It had a huge renovation though.  100mm change.  I think I counted it twice.  

[patrickdrinksbeer 788]

retired: astrodome, le stade olympique, the vet, ballpark in arlington

current: mmp, coors, camden yards, fenway, wrigley, dodger, petco, seattle, new comiskey, nationals, san fran, oakland

[Guadaloopy 10962]

6 minutes ago, patrickdrinksbeer said:

retired: le stade olympique

Damn, I totally forgot about going to this one.  Smoked meat sandwich was solid.  

[UTexasFight 9432]

I’ll play.

retired: Dome. Ballpark in Arlington. Old Busch

current: MMP, Minnesota, KC, Yankee, Fenway, Citi, Truist, Citizens, Nats, new Busch, Reds, Brewers, Dodgers, Petco, San Fran

Wanting to add a couple this year. Need to check off Globe Life. PNC I really want to do. But not in April and not when the bridge it closed. Wrigley I’ve done a tour, but not caught a game. May try for Detroit and/or Baltimore this year.

some thoughts on parks I’ve been to:

Fenway is a dump but monster seats are worth every penny. 
KC is very nice after the remodel a few years back. 
Sorry 3 Putt, but I seriously gotta question your taste in parks. I haven’t been to the Trop but everyone says it sucks. I have been to Brewers stadium and it’s awful. Built the same time as MMP but feels like it’s 20 years older. I’d equate it to the Alamodome. Just feels like it was built at the lowest cost possible.

I’d put Petco at the top of my list with a 3 way tie for 2nd between Truist, Minny and San Fran

 

 

 

 

 

[tx 3 putt 76912]

1 hour ago, Guadaloopy said:

Unless you went to Wrigley Diamond in LA before 1966, the old stadium is the current stadium.  It’s the 4th oldest stadium in MLB.  

well damn I went before the current updated version, around 87 or so 

[tx 3 putt 76912]

Forgot PNC, great stadium 

the trop - cheap flight, Dali museum, sandwich shop by the stadium that’s a 10/10. Lot of bars around there. Cheap seats, has a different feel. Beaches close by and don’t forget the Dali museum. I’ve been 3 times  

[UTexasFight 9432]

1 minute ago, tx 3 putt said:

 

the trop - cheap flight, Dali museum, sandwich shop by the stadium that’s a 10/10. Lot of bars around there. Cheap seats, has a different feel. Beaches close by and don’t forget the Dali museum. I’ve been 3 times  

But what does any of that have to do with the stadium.

Don’t get me wrong. That sounds like a great long weekend but not sold on the ballpark. 

 

[tx 3 putt 76912]

Seats are cheap, weird / different set up n some spots. Walkways are totally different, more like a mall food court. Different vibe 

[Scraps 13561]

You will probably like KC. Secretly a good park- especially considering it predates the Camden yards boom where parks improved a lot. 

Yeah have always heard KC is really nice, especially being an "older" park now

[tx 3 putt 76912]

Olympic stadium is rare one to have on your list