2023 Houston Astros Thread

[Rimbo 26418]

[Wulaw Horn 19231]

The more I think about it the more beside myself I am that we lost   I HATE losing on opening day. I’d rather dominate on opening day and lose the next three of the series then lay a turd on polling say and win the next 3. Yes- I know that’s not rational. 

[Native Horn 3516]

16 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

The more I think about it the more beside myself I am that we lost   I HATE losing on opening day. I’d rather dominate on opening day and lose the next three of the series then lay a turd on polling say and win the next 3. Yes- I know that’s not rational. 

Pig Latin says whuuuuttt??

[Wulaw Horn 19231]

6 minutes ago, Native Horn said:

Pig Latin says whuuuuttt??

Lay a turd on opening day. 

[texashorne 1178]

Meh. Don't make this more than what it is. We lost 1 game, going to lose another 55 or so. The sequence doesn't matter.

[Make em eat Taco Bell 1549]

did Vasquez want a guarantee of playing every game? 

[kevwun 15943]

12 minutes ago, texashorne said:

Meh. Don't make this more than what it is. We lost 1 game, going to lose another 55 or so. The sequence doesn't matter.

This is true, but that 6-7-8-9 Dusty trotted out yesterday isn't going to work.  You can't have 4 auto outs in a row and expect to be a great team.

[Hank Chinaski 6324]

6 minutes ago, kevwun said:

This is true, but that 6-7-8-9 Dusty trotted out yesterday isn't going to work.  You can't have 4 auto outs in a row and expect to be a great team.

It sucks, but not sure there’s much Dusty can do about it.

And add in that Pena is a totally average hitter until he proves he’s not (postseason small sample didn’t prove that)…and that’s 5/9 of the lineup that is average to terrible offensively. Not great, Bob.

Losing Altuve for 1/3 of the season is a fucking disaster. Signing Brantley never really made sense to me, given his likely (and now realized) unavailability. Maybe actively choosing to not have a GM for most of the off-season wasn’t the best idea.

I just don’t see all the “depth” this team supposedly has, at least offensively. I don’t see it in the rotation either. And bullpens vary so much from year to year, who the fuck knows.

[kevwun 15943]

He can play Chas everyday and let Hensley play 2nd.  Chas is the best hitter of that group and it's not close.  They need his bat in the lineup because it removes 1 of the black holes.  Hensley will at least work the count from what he's shown so far.  Then he can move Diaz down to 8 or 9 until he shows something.

Edited March 31, 2023 by kevwun

[Hank Chinaski 6324]

12 minutes ago, kevwun said:

He can play Chas everyday and let Hensley play 2nd.  Chas is the best hitter of that group and it's not close.  They need his bat in the lineup because it removes 1 of the black holes.  Hensley will at least work the count from what he's shown so far.  Then he can move Diaz down to 8 or 9 until he shows something.

Agree on Chas. Not sure about Hensley, but there are things to like with him. No idea if he’s a viable defensive option at 2B though. 

[kevwun 15943]

I watched him play short in the minors a couple of times.  He can play 2nd.

Edited March 31, 2023 by kevwun

[Gourmand 7774]

20 minutes ago, Hank Chinaski said:

It sucks, but not sure there’s much Dusty can do about it.

And add in that Pena is a totally average hitter until he proves he’s not (postseason small sample didn’t prove that)…and that’s 5/9 of the lineup that is average to terrible offensively. Not great, Bob.

Losing Altuve for 1/3 of the season is a fucking disaster. Signing Brantley never really made sense to me, given his likely (and now realized) unavailability. Maybe actively choosing to not have a GM for most of the off-season wasn’t the best idea.

I just don’t see all the “depth” this team supposedly has, at least offensively. I don’t see it in the rotation either. And bullpens vary so much from year to year, who the fuck knows.

dude take a breath and watch some asmr videos. 

weren't you the one on the other thread bemoaning Yordan not being available the first couple of weeks?

[TonyTexas 10567]

Hensley will probably start at 2nd base 60% of the games. Dubon was there last night for defensive reasons because Framber was pitching. 

[Guadaloopy 11039]

Buncha doom and gloomers round here.  

I just killed one of the best chorizo burritos I've ever eaten and Javier is going to the bump tonight.  It's gonna be a great day.

[Hank Chinaski 6324]

2 minutes ago, Gourmand said:

dude take a breath and watch some asmr videos. 

Don’t know what that is and am hesitant to google it.

4 minutes ago, Gourmand said:

weren't you the one on the other thread bemoaning Yordan not being available the first couple of weeks?

Probably, that sounds like me. Though I think my expectation was a couple of months (not necessarily the first couple though).

[Gourmand 7774]

1 hour ago, texashorne said:

Meh. Don't make this more than what it is. We lost 1 game, going to lose another 55 or so. The sequence doesn't matter.

Against the AL Cy Young runner-up on the mound. 

[Wulaw Horn 19231]

1 hour ago, texashorne said:

Meh. Don't make this more than what it is. We lost 1 game, going to lose another 55 or so. The sequence doesn't matter.

I mean- I admitted it wasn’t rational. I just really hate losing opening day. Have since I was a little kid. 

[Wulaw Horn 19231]

36 minutes ago, Hank Chinaski said:

It sucks, but not sure there’s much Dusty can do about it.

And add in that Pena is a totally average hitter until he proves he’s not (postseason small sample didn’t prove that)…and that’s 5/9 of the lineup that is average to terrible offensively. Not great, Bob.

Losing Altuve for 1/3 of the season is a fucking disaster. Signing Brantley never really made sense to me, given his likely (and now realized) unavailability. Maybe actively choosing to not have a GM for most of the off-season wasn’t the best idea.

I just don’t see all the “depth” this team supposedly has, at least offensively. I don’t see it in the rotation either. And bullpens vary so much from year to year, who the fuck knows.

Springer going 5/6 and Contreras going 2/4 doesn’t ease the pain of those issues you are talking about. Those were the no brainer signings of the past 3-5 years on guys just not getting deals we should have had a problem with. 
You pass/let enough guys walk and it becomes death by 1000 cuts eventually. But, the good news is I think you are too gloomy and we are still going to be really good offensively. 

[WBT 20735]

8 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

I mean- I admitted it wasn’t rational. I just really hate losing opening day. Have since I was a little kid. 

Plus the Astros now can't sell beer for the rest of the season... because they lost the opener.

/Ken Hoffman in approximately 15 straight columns around opening day

[WBT 20735]

7 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Springer going 5/6

I went and watched the highlights from that game.  It made me laugh how unimpressive that 5 for 6 was.  George seemed to find it funny too.

[Hank Chinaski 6324]

2 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Springer going 5/6 and Contreras going 2/4 doesn’t ease the pain of those issues you are talking about. Those were the no brainer signings of the past 3-5 years on guys just not getting deals we should have had a problem with. 
You pass/let enough guys walk and it becomes death by 1000 cuts eventually. But, the good news is I think you are too gloomy and we are still going to be really good offensively. 

Yes, but it didn’t even have to be those guys. I’d much rather have retained Diaz than Dubon in a utility role. Why didn’t we have interest in Profar, who could be plugged in at 2B right now with his .330-ish OBP? Most of all, if you want to punt on offense at C, you can’t also do it at DH and CF. We basically made the decision to fucking skip the off-season by not having a GM; that has consequences. 

Maybe I’m too gloomy; I just see an offense with one great hitter, 3 good ones, and then a bunch of hot garbage. I see a rotation with 2 really good starters, a decent one, an average one, and a totally unproven one. And bullpens are schizo. I dunno, take the names away and that sounds like a solid WC team to me.

[Gourmand 7774]

3 minutes ago, Hank Chinaski said:

Maybe I’m too gloomy; I just see an offense with one great hitter, 3 good ones, and then a bunch of hot garbage

calling everyone outside of Yordan, Tucker, Bregman and Abreu "hot garbage?"...ain't no maybe about it. 

[Wulaw Horn 19231]

13 minutes ago, WBT said:

I went and watched the highlights from that game.  It made me laugh how unimpressive that 5 for 6 was.  George seemed to find it funny too.

Just saw the box score. Interesting. 

[IDIOTsavant 8522]

[Gourmand 7774]

Aledmys Diaz drove in the winning run for the As last night as well. Off our good friend Ryan Tepera to boot. 

[Wulaw Horn 19231]

12 minutes ago, Hank Chinaski said:

Yes, but it didn’t even have to be those guys. I’d much rather have retained Diaz than Dubon in a utility role. Why didn’t we have interest in Profar, who could be plugged in at 2B right now with his .330-ish OBP? Most of all, if you want to punt on offense at C, you can’t also do it at DH and CF. We basically made the decision to fucking skip the off-season by not having a GM; that has consequences. 

Maybe I’m too gloomy; I just see an offense with one great hitter, 3 good ones, and then a bunch of hot garbage. I see a rotation with 2 really good starters, a decent one, an average one, and a totally unproven one. And bullpens are schizo. I dunno, take the names away and that sounds like a solid WC team to me.

1 great hitter, 3 good ones, 2 average ones and 3 hot garbage. Maybe even 3 average and 2 hot garbage (hensley). And Altuve will be back in 3 months he’s not dead. 
mad far as the rotation goes I see 2 cy young types 2 above average types a ROY and an all star if LMJ comes back. That’s plenty good. 
You might be right that this is a 90 win team but I see 100 without even squinting very hard. I’m just sort of pissy bc it could have easily been a 110 win type team and we wouldn’t even be into the Lt. 

[Wulaw Horn 19231]

16 minutes ago, Hank Chinaski said:

Yes, but it didn’t even have to be those guys. I’d much rather have retained Diaz than Dubon in a utility role. Why didn’t we have interest in Profar, who could be plugged in at 2B right now with his .330-ish OBP? Most of all, if you want to punt on offense at C, you can’t also do it at DH and CF. We basically made the decision to fucking skip the off-season by not having a GM; that has consequences. 

Maybe I’m too gloomy; I just see an offense with one great hitter, 3 good ones, and then a bunch of hot garbage. I see a rotation with 2 really good starters, a decent one, an average one, and a totally unproven one. And bullpens are schizo. I dunno, take the names away and that sounds like a solid WC team to me.

And yeah- I’d rather pay A Diaz 8 than Brantley 1/ for sure. I was incredibly against that signing and have been saying he’s washed since last years surgery. Maybe he isn’t but that’s not a read so me bet to make at 12M. That’s confusing cheep with good value. 
also hated the Montero signing as superfluous/buying high. We throw around dumb money in small increments and don’t spend large money on high end guys. I don’t love that approach and it relies on killing it in player development. Which we have, obviously. 

[Gourmand 7774]

I did not get to watch the game last night. Have y'all talked about Megan Thee Stallion's ass in those white jeans????

Obligatory

 

[tx 3 putt 77919]

1 hour ago, Make em eat Taco Bell said:

did Vasquez want a guarantee of playing every game? 

he’s a starter, not a back up 

[tx 3 putt 77919]

Pressley laid a big tied last night 

[Scraps 13598]

Can't wait for Yordan to be on the bench tonight!

[Hank Chinaski 6324]

15 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

mad far as the rotation goes I see 2 cy young types 2 above average types a ROY and an all star if LMJ comes back. That’s plenty good. 
You might be right that this is a 90 win team but I see 100 without even squinting very hard. I’m just sort of pissy bc it could have easily been a 110 win type team and we wouldn’t even be into the Lt. 

 

LMJ has never been dependable when it comes to consistently making his starts. He’s very good when he plays, he just doesn’t play often. He’s made more than 22 starts (about 2/3 of a season) one time in 7 years. Anything he provides in 2023 will be a bonus.

Urquidy is above-average? I like him, but he was as average as it gets last year (98 ERA+). 

Brown has started 2 MLB games. I am excited about his potential, certainly, but he’s more likely to be just-ok than to be good this year. (And that would be fine, you can’t expect rookies to light the world on fire…that’s the point.)

[Wulaw Horn 19231]

3 minutes ago, Hank Chinaski said:

 

LMJ has never been dependable when it comes to consistently making his starts. He’s very good when he plays, he just doesn’t play often. He’s made more than 22 starts (about 2/3 of a season) one time in 7 years. Anything he provides in 2023 will be a bonus.

Urquidy is above-average? I like him, but he was as average as it gets last year (98 ERA+). 

Brown has started 2 MLB games. I am excited about his potential, certainly, but he’s more likely to be just-ok than to be good this year. (And that would be fine, you can’t expect rookies to light the world on fire…that’s the point.)

2 cy young types- Framber and Javier

2 above average types- Garcia and Urquidy-  I think they will both be ERA plus between 100 and 115 this year

1 ROY- Brown

LMJ is a past all star. The word if is doing some work in that sentence when I say IF he comes back. I expect it to happen at some time but I'm also not counting on it/guaranteeing it.   Yeah- I mean I think I've seen anywhere between 4th and 8th for the average rotation ranking by the national guys who typically undervalue us for "reasons". I think the 8th really undersells what it could be.  Also- Whitley is coming.  Nuff said. 

[Wulaw Horn 19231]

On 3/30/2023 at 9:09 AM, Mitch Hedberg said:

5.2/5/1/5/1

This looks best to me unless I just missed a better one?  Anyone?  
You want the tickets to Monday night they are yours @Mitch Hedberg just let me know.

[runthebone 8131]

Shitty loss, but you know we're going to start the season shitty.  Why change what works.

 

The thing that pisses me off is those fucking Boston Beaneaters toasting each other like the '72 Dolphins.  From the grave, I mean.  Assholes.

[henrygandorf 29199]

1 hour ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Springer going 5/6 and Contreras going 2/4 doesn’t ease the pain of those issues you are talking about.

springer's hits were all dinks and dunks and contreras got hurt.  so did verlander.  if that's the type of shit that's important to you.

it wouldn't be april (cough, march), if we weren't bitching about our offense. 

[henrygandorf 29199]

Quote

Astros general manager Dana Brown said Thursday that Lance McCullers (elbow) is now pain-free. 

We'll take that as good news on McCullers, who is working his way back from a low-grade strain of his forearm muscle. There's no clear timetable for his return, as he was still only playing catch late in Astros' camp. The team placed him on the 15-day injured list on Thursday, which is an indication that they hope he can return before the end of May. That's the best guess right now. 

 

[UTexasFight 9603]

Out of,

Matt Harrison

CC Sabathia

Corey Kluber

Masahiro Tanaka

Felix Hernandez

Cole Hamels

Blake Snell

Marco Gonzales

Chris Bassitt

Shohei Ohtani

Dylan Cease finally got ‘em

[UTexasFight 9603]

Me to my 10.5 yo daughter this morning.

“Are you feeling ok? I know it must be a hard morning for you….the morning after the first time the Astros lost on opening day in your life.”

[Hank Chinaski 6324]

23 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

There's no clear timetable for his return, as he was still only playing catch late in Astros' camp. 

 

Glad he’s pain-free while [checks notes] playing catch, but that doesn’t give me a lot of confidence in his ability to make a meaningful difference this year. 

[Scraps 13598]

Well we won longest homer!

[WBT 20735]

1 hour ago, Hank Chinaski said:

Maybe I’m too gloomy; I just see an offense with one great hitter, 3 good ones, and then a bunch of hot garbage. I see a rotation with 2 really good starters, a decent one, an average one, and a totally unproven one. And bullpens are schizo. I dunno, take the names away and that sounds like a solid WC team to me.

Did you happen to watch last season?

[Hank Chinaski 6324]

1 minute ago, WBT said:

Did you happen to watch last season?

I did. And we’re essentially down an MVP-caliber player and a CY-caliber starter from that team. Yes Abreu is an upgrade over Yuli, but not nearly enough of one to overcome replacing Altuve and Brantley with Dubon and Diaz. It’s almost certainly a worse team than last year. 

[WBT 20735]

Probably worse yes, but only marginally.  Altuve will be back and Brantley was already gone last year.  I think Diaz will hit.

[UTexasFight 9603]

10 minutes ago, Hank Chinaski said:

I did. And we’re essentially down an MVP-caliber player and a CY-caliber starter from that team. Yes Abreu is an upgrade over Yuli, but not nearly enough of one to overcome replacing Altuve and Brantley with Dubon and Diaz. It’s almost certainly a worse team than last year. 

I expect the pitching to be down borderline significantly from last year.

I think we’ll look back and see 2022 was a career year for guys up and down that staff.

[Felix 607]

23 minutes ago, Hank Chinaski said:

I did. And we’re essentially down an MVP-caliber player and a CY-caliber starter from that team. Yes Abreu is an upgrade over Yuli, but not nearly enough of one to overcome replacing Altuve and Brantley with Dubon and Diaz. It’s almost certainly a worse team than last year. 

Dude, I like you as a poster but you're seriously bitching out in this thread.  Smoke a bowl or something and relax.  If it's still shitty in a month then you can lose your shit.

[BrazilHorn 6651]

2 hours ago, IDIOTsavant said:

This. Letting that POS Sox fan on the field unleashed karmic badness. 

[TonyTexas 10567]

I sometimes think that many of y’all subconsciously hope for hiccups so you’ll have something to talk about. 

[Make em eat Taco Bell 1549]

2 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

he’s a starter, not a back up 

so yes? he demanded a starter role but was denied so he left?

[runthebone 8131]

These guys need to get their shit together if they want to get to their customary 7-9 start.