2023 Houston Astros Thread

[Wulaw Horn 19152]

1 hour ago, HtownHorn said:

So did Dusty.

Normally, I think a manager has almost a moral imperative to get a guy like that am AB almost immediately so if he gets sent down forever he will always have that one shining moment where he got an AB in the bigs, but this dude has 14 AB’s (and a negative 0.3 WAR which seems impossible) in his big league career so I hope he never gets one as an Astro. 

Edited April 24, 2023 by Wulaw Horn

[henrygandorf 29194]

 

[billfromlaketravis 11524]

3 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

I’ll go legit here, we keep Hensley over Julks on the roster because hensley is the only back up 1st baseman. Abreu is playing a lot more than anyone expected 

That would be a horrible beat for Julks. That said, I think Abreu needs a day off every other week. 

[tx 3 putt 77439]

45 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

 

Tale of Two Cities 

[Rip76 4947]

Wow!

[tx 3 putt 77439]

I love this stuff, the machine must keep pumping out home grown players. Maybe some of these guys will turn into something  or be some great trade bait ….

 

[billfromlaketravis 11524]

I’d call France up in September and use as bullpen hammer as Hunter Brown in 2022. Either he’ll pitch well enough to make the postseason roster or he won’t. Doesn’t really matter because the Astros pen is loaded. 
 

Also some Whitley spot starts to give the guys some rest would be awesome. 

Edited April 24, 2023 by billfromlaketravis

[tx 3 putt 77439]

1 minute ago, billfromlaketravis said:

I’d call France up in September and use as bullpen hammer as Hunter Brown in 2022. Either he’ll pitch well enough to make the postseason roster or he won’t. Doesn’t really matter because the Astros pen is loaded. 
 

Also some Whitley spot starts to give the guys some rest would be awesome. 

this is a tough roster to make

the thought of another hunter brown arm (or two) waiting to be called up ….

[billfromlaketravis 11524]

1 minute ago, tx 3 putt said:

this is a tough roster to make

the thought of another hunter brown arm (or two) waiting to be called up ….

They don’t play on Thursday until June, right? Barring injury,  I guess there’s no reason to call up France or Whitley before the Super 2 deadline. 

[tx 3 putt 77439]

1 minute ago, billfromlaketravis said:

They don’t play on Thursday until June, right? Barring injury,  I guess there’s no reason to call up France or Whitley before the Super 2 deadline. 

Correct 

[Guadaloopy 11014]

2 hours ago, UTexasFight said:

We got a lot of streaks to end

13 straight home wins

22 games with a HR

Pete Fairbanks 29 inning scoreless streak

 

Taj Bradley has been impressive his first two MLB starts. Urquidy opposition him

Garcia vs Rasmussen

 Brown vs TBD 

 

[HtownHorn 14782]

Also, Billy's kid is tearing it up in AA. Plays all over the infield except SS. Older guy at 24, so might get a quick promotion. Coming off a strong Winter League and Spring training. Also, key he bats lefty.

[tx 3 putt 77439]

8 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

Also, Billy's kid is tearing it up in AA. Plays all over the infield except SS. Older guy at 24, so might get a quick promotion. Coming off a strong Winter League and Spring training. Also, key he bats lefty.

He's tearing it up 

the system is working

Edited April 24, 2023 by tx 3 putt

[rvm96 1643]

3 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Normally, I think a manager has almost a moral imperative to get a guy like that am AB almost immediately so if he gets sent down forever he will always have that one shining moment where he got an AB in the bigs, but this dude has 14 AB’s (and a negative 0.3 WAR which seems impossible) in his big league career so I hope he never gets one as an Astro. 

Counterpoint, you hope he has multiple games with 1 ab where he's subbed in for regulars in the 8th inning of games we are winning by like 7.

[dr99 560]

4 hours ago, UTexasFight said:

We got a lot of streaks to end

13 straight home wins

22 games with a HR

Pete Fairbanks 29 inning scoreless streak

 

Taj Bradley has been impressive his first two MLB starts. Urquidy opposition him

Garcia vs Rasmussen

 Brown vs TBD 

 

Whenever I see Rasmussen it reminds me of when Blum said on tv "I like his poll. Oh wait, nevermind."

[henrygandorf 29194]

 

[runthebone 8047]

This may be a good time to trade Maton to Atlanta to be their new closer.

[tx 3 putt 77439]

3 minutes ago, runthebone said:

This may be a good time to trade Maton to Atlanta to be their new closer.

 

mr 0.00

[Gourmand 7774]

2 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

the system is working

My only concern is the lack of winning. I realize prospect development is not predicated on the W-L records of minor league teams but there is definite value to having these guys learn how to compete in a winning clubhouse environment. 

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, Gourmand said:

My only concern is the lack of winning. I realize prospect development is not predicated on the W-L records of minor league teams but there is definite value to having these guys learn how to compete in a winning clubhouse environment. 

All we need to do is clone some Altuves throughout the organization.

[tx 3 putt 77439]

9 minutes ago, Gourmand said:

My only concern is the lack of winning. I realize prospect development is not predicated on the W-L records of minor league teams but there is definite value to having these guys learn how to compete in a winning clubhouse environment. 

 

im not as concerned, we have a winning vet heavy clubhouse 

[tx 3 putt 77439]

Astros probable pitchers vs the Rays:

Monday: Urquidy

Tuesday: Garcia

Wednesday: Brown

[Fudge Nuggets 19225]

More on Framber's movement vs pitch velocity...

Kind of hard to get a definite read on things, but it does appear the movement on his sinker peaks in the range of ~95.5 - 96.0 mph.

[Wulaw Horn 19152]

13 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

More on Framber's movement vs pitch velocity...

Kind of hard to get a definite read on things, but it does appear the movement on his sinker peaks in the range of ~95.5 - 96.0 mph.

I’d love to know the physics on this. Anyone know that?  

[Snake Diggity 4627]

15 hours ago, Mo Horn said:

So when Brantley comes back, and Chas is back, who gets sent down. I'm guessing Hensley. Everyone else is doing well right now. A week ago I would have said Meyers, but he's hot right now. 

Bannon goes down first when Brantley comes back.  When Altuve comes back I think they’ll send down Salazar and Diaz will shift into a traditional backup C role.  When McCormick comes back it’ll be either Julks or Hensley.  One thing to note is that Julks did see quite a bit of time at 3B in AAA last season, and can probably handle 1B when Abreu needs a rest once every 10 games.  For now the way Julks is playing, you can’t send him down.  A bench of McCormick (CF/RF), Dubon (SS/2B/3B), Diaz (C) and Julks (LF/1B/DH) is pretty sick.

[Wulaw Horn 19152]

11 minutes ago, Snake Diggity said:

Bannon goes down first when Brantley comes back.  When Altuve comes back I think they’ll send down Salazar and Diaz will shift into a traditional backup C role.  When McCormick comes back it’ll be either Julks or Hensley.  One thing to note is that Julks did see quite a bit of time at 3B in AAA last season, and can probably handle 1B when Abreu needs a rest once every 10 games.  For now the way Julks is playing, you can’t send him down.  A bench of McCormick (CF/RF), Dubon (SS/2B/3B), Diaz (C) and Julks (LF/1B/DH) is pretty sick.

Woah woah woah… I think it might be premature to pencil in Jake as the starting CF over Chas. Chas has been awesome so far this year. I had a lot of Meyer stock and sold some of it for sure, but Chas has been way too good to consign to the bench. 
mine thing for sure- Brantley has no business starting against LHP of both those guys are going this well. 

[Scraps 13581]

If Julks gets sent down over waste of space Hensley the front office will receive a strongly worded letter from me 

And don't give me this....well he can play everyday in AAA, he won't be able to in majors.....fuck that he can play enough 

Edited April 24, 2023 by Scraps

[Snake Diggity 4627]

15 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Woah woah woah… I think it might be premature to pencil in Jake as the starting CF over Chas. Chas has been awesome so far this year. I had a lot of Meyer stock and sold some of it for sure, but Chas has been way too good to consign to the bench. 
mine thing for sure- Brantley has no business starting against LHP of both those guys are going this well. 

It’ll be interesting to see how they handle the OF.  They have 6 guys who seemingly deserve to play everyday and only 4 everyday spots.  But who knows how McCormicks injury will affect him, and Meyers is playing very well right now.

[Fudge Nuggets 19225]

51 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

I’d love to know the physics on this. Anyone know that?  

Just a wild ass guess, but it's probably something to do with spin rate eventually leveling off or at least not increasing as much per extra velocity at the higher pitch speeds.  Combine that with the ball not having as much time to go from the pitcher's hand to the plate due to increased velocity and that might explain it (or at least some of it).

Edited April 24, 2023 by Fudge Nuggets
Removed the one off low spin rate pitch

[UTPhil2006 3814]

38 minutes ago, Snake Diggity said:

It’ll be interesting to see how they handle the OF.  They have 6 guys who seemingly deserve to play everyday and only 4 everyday spots.  But who knows how McCormicks injury will affect him, and Meyers is playing very well right now.

Salazar needs to go down when Chas is ready. Zero reason to carry 3 catchers when Dusty only plays 1 80% of the time 

[Wulaw Horn 19152]

22 minutes ago, Snake Diggity said:

It’ll be interesting to see how they handle the OF.  They have 6 guys who seemingly deserve to play everyday and only 4 everyday spots.  But who knows how McCormicks injury will affect him, and Meyers is playing very well right now.

Vs LHP it’s one or the other depending upon how you feel about Meyers if what we’ve seen in the last 2 weeks is the real him v a mirage 

Tucker/meyers/Chas/Yordan (dh); or

Tucker/Chas/Julks/Alvarez. 

if Tucker or Yordan are ever going to get an off day it needs to be against LHP even though they both hit lefties just fine.  It’s not about them it’s about the guys behind them hitting so much better against LHP than RHP that you don’t want to ruin it. 

 

Against RHP it’s really simple- Tucker/Chas/Yordan/Brantley interchangeable in Lf/DH whoever is feeling it. Julks is the PH off the bench for Brantley against a LHP or for Maldy late in the game. 
 

roster becomes: 

maldonado (ugh)/diaz/Abreu/Altuve/Peña/Bregman/Dubon- dirt players 

DH/OF- Brantley/Alvarez/Tucker/Julks/Chas/meyers. 
 

In a sane world Diaz catches 60% of the time (give Maldy to Garcia and Framber) and plays 20 games at 1B to give Abreu rest. Abreu doesn’t need to play DH when we are back to full health unless he stops sucking. Brantley and Yordan (against LHP) have that spot locked down. 
Dubon plays 8 times a month for Peña, Bregman and Altuve. If Peña doesn’t get his head out of his ass I’m fine with it being 14 times a month on the backup IF. Dusty is informed Dubon lost his OF glove and isn’t an option out there because of our 6 OF. 
 

staff is simple: Framber/Javier/Brown/LMJ/Garcia/Urquidy

bullpen- Presley/Abreu/Montero/Nerris/Maton/Stanek/blanco as the swing man. 
 

If France keeps dominating AAA he’s a candidate for Blanco spot as long relief guy that wears it for 3 or 4 innings in a decided game. 
If Whitley stays healthy he’s you spot start guy if someone goes down for 1 or 2 turns and you want to stay on a 6 man rotation. 
 

That is a team that only has holes in it if the manager chooses to create holes (playing Maldy all the time, hitting Brantley against LHP, playing Dubon 20 times a month, playing Jake too much if this early season is a mirage, trotting Abreu out there 158 times if he’s old and washed.  You should be able to hit a credible lineup every night. 

[Fudge Nuggets 19225]

DIrect comparison of spin rate and vertical movement

[formermav43 4606]

2 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Vs LHP it’s one or the other depending upon how you feel about Meyers if what we’ve seen in the last 2 weeks is the real him v a mirage 

Tucker/meyers/Chas/Yordan (dh); or

Tucker/Chas/Julks/Alvarez. 

if Tucker or Yordan are ever going to get an off day it needs to be against LHP even though they both hit lefties just fine.  It’s not about them it’s about the guys behind them hitting so much better against LHP than RHP that you don’t want to ruin it. 

 

Against RHP it’s really simple- Tucker/Chas/Yordan/Brantley interchangeable in Lf/DH whoever is feeling it. Julks is the PH off the bench for Brantley against a LHP or for Maldy late in the game. 
 

roster becomes: 

maldonado (ugh)/diaz/Abreu/Altuve/Peña/Bregman/Dubon- dirt players 

DH/OF- Brantley/Alvarez/Tucker/Julks/Chas/meyers. 
 

In a sane world Diaz catches 60% of the time (give Maldy to Garcia and Framber) and plays 20 games at 1B to give Abreu rest. Abreu doesn’t need to play DH when we are back to full health unless he stops sucking. Brantley and Yordan (against LHP) have that spot locked down. 
Dubon plays 8 times a month for Peña, Bregman and Altuve. If Peña doesn’t get his head out of his ass I’m fine with it being 14 times a month on the backup IF. Dusty is informed Dubon lost his OF glove and isn’t an option out there because of our 6 OF. 
 

staff is simple: Framber/Javier/Brown/LMJ/Garcia/Urquidy

bullpen- Presley/Abreu/Montero/Nerris/Maton/Stanek/blanco as the swing man. 
 

If France keeps dominating AAA he’s a candidate for Blanco spot as long relief guy that wears it for 3 or 4 innings in a decided game. 
If Whitley stays healthy he’s you spot start guy if someone goes down for 1 or 2 turns and you want to stay on a 6 man rotation. 
 

That is a team that only has holes in it if the manager chooses to create holes (playing Maldy all the time, hitting Brantley against LHP, playing Dubon 20 times a month, playing Jake too much if this early season is a mirage, trotting Abreu out there 158 times if he’s old and washed.  You should be able to hit a credible lineup every night. 

I agree with pretty much everything here. Which is why it’s gonna be frustrating to watch Dubon start 3 times a week in CF once Altuve gets back.

[Wulaw Horn 19152]

6 minutes ago, formermav43 said:

I agree with pretty much everything here. Which is why it’s gonna be frustrating to watch Dubon start 3 times a week in CF once Altuve gets back.

Well sure. Like I said- Dusty can create as many holes in the lineup as he wants by being Dusty. 
 

sample bad lineup:

vs LHP: 

Altuve/Brantley/Bregman/Yordan/Abreu/Tucker/Dubon/Meyers/Maldonado. 
 

thats 4 guys that don’t need to play against LHP necessarily and 1 way too high in the lineup in Abreu unless he gets it going. When that lineup happens against a LHP in August I’m going to go murder 3 putt. 

[UTPhil2006 3814]

1 hour ago, Wulaw Horn said:

When that lineup happens against a LHP in August I’m going to go murder 3 putt. 

He’s usually at Luna Pizza on Mondays just saying 

[tx 3 putt 77439]

1. Fuck everyone here, and the rays (best mlb road trip though) 

2. as I sit here drinking my coffee, this is literally the most important game of the season. No idea who’s starting, but when they step over that line in an Astros uni, they’re expected to win. This team is far from being whole and right, but we’re about to give them 3 days of hell. 

[runthebone 8047]

2 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Vs LHP it’s one or the other depending upon how you feel about Meyers if what we’ve seen in the last 2 weeks is the real him v a mirage 

Tucker/meyers/Chas/Yordan (dh); or

Tucker/Chas/Julks/Alvarez. 

if Tucker or Yordan are ever going to get an off day it needs to be against LHP even though they both hit lefties just fine.  It’s not about them it’s about the guys behind them hitting so much better against LHP than RHP that you don’t want to ruin it. 

 

Against RHP it’s really simple- Tucker/Chas/Yordan/Brantley interchangeable in Lf/DH whoever is feeling it. Julks is the PH off the bench for Brantley against a LHP or for Maldy late in the game. 
 

roster becomes: 

maldonado (ugh)/diaz/Abreu/Altuve/Peña/Bregman/Dubon- dirt players 

DH/OF- Brantley/Alvarez/Tucker/Julks/Chas/meyers. 
 

In a sane world Diaz catches 60% of the time (give Maldy to Garcia and Framber) and plays 20 games at 1B to give Abreu rest. Abreu doesn’t need to play DH when we are back to full health unless he stops sucking. Brantley and Yordan (against LHP) have that spot locked down. 
Dubon plays 8 times a month for Peña, Bregman and Altuve. If Peña doesn’t get his head out of his ass I’m fine with it being 14 times a month on the backup IF. Dusty is informed Dubon lost his OF glove and isn’t an option out there because of our 6 OF. 
 

staff is simple: Framber/Javier/Brown/LMJ/Garcia/Urquidy

bullpen- Presley/Abreu/Montero/Nerris/Maton/Stanek/blanco as the swing man. 
 

If France keeps dominating AAA he’s a candidate for Blanco spot as long relief guy that wears it for 3 or 4 innings in a decided game. 
If Whitley stays healthy he’s you spot start guy if someone goes down for 1 or 2 turns and you want to stay on a 6 man rotation. 
 

That is a team that only has holes in it if the manager chooses to create holes (playing Maldy all the time, hitting Brantley against LHP, playing Dubon 20 times a month, playing Jake too much if this early season is a mirage, trotting Abreu out there 158 times if he’s old and washed.  You should be able to hit a credible lineup every night. 

For brevity, can you please make this a 3 hour podcast?

[tx 3 putt 77439]

This wasn’t bad ….

 

[tx 3 putt 77439]

Blanco and Martinez have barely been used, I don’t think they’re getting sent down anytime soon. Starters are stretching out, haven’t needed as much long relief. It’s a good problem. Maybe they might get rotated down to get some innings 

[TonyTexas 10530]

15 minutes ago, runthebone said:

For brevity, can you please make this a 3 hour podcast?

You really only have to listen to one. If this thread is any indication, each subsequent podcast will simply be a rehash. 

[Wulaw Horn 19152]

11 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

Blanco and Martinez have barely been used, I don’t think they’re getting sent down anytime soon. Starters are stretching out, haven’t needed as much long relief. It’s a good problem. Maybe they might get rotated down to get some innings 

One of them is going down when LMJ is back unless there is another injury. 

[Wulaw Horn 19152]

Just now, TonyTexas said:

You really only have to listen to one. If this thread is any indication, each subsequent podcast will simply be a rehash. 

False.

Format will be:

Weekly recap

Look ahead

On the farm with a prospect report

this week in astros history

Some saber topic germane to baseball as a whole.  

No Replays/reruns/ covering the same topic.  going forward 60 minutes or less.  

[UTexasFight 9528]

All of these “do this when player x comes back” scenarios leave out a very big factor.

they all assume everyone else stays healthy.

that's not going to happen.

these things solve for themselves 9 times out of 10.

and the 10th, usually solves itself too when a guy punches a locker. 

[tx 3 putt 77439]

Hear me out (3rd cup of coffee is hitting me) …….

 

#9 hitter - Jose Altuve 

[Wulaw Horn 19152]

25 minutes ago, UTexasFight said:

All of these “do this when player x comes back” scenarios leave out a very big factor.

they all assume everyone else stays healthy.

that's not going to happen.

these things solve for themselves 9 times out of 10.

and the 10th, usually solves itself too when a guy punches a locker. 

And if it doesn't solve itself with a real injury the team will make something up b/c guys are always a little nicked and it's a loooooooong season. 

[UTPhil2006 3814]

52 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

One of them is going down when LMJ is back unless there is another injury. 

Ronel. Doesn’t do him a favors to stay on a bench. Seth is a known quantity at this point 

[Scraps 13581]

Hear me out (3rd cup of coffee is hitting me) …….
 
#9 hitter - Jose Altuve 

Pour the next cup over your head plz

[Gut Wagon 8087]

1 hour ago, Wulaw Horn said:

One of them is going down when LMJ is back unless there is another injury. 

Unfortunately, based on history, that injury could well be to LMJ. 

[runthebone 8047]

12 minutes ago, Gut Wagon said:

Unfortunately, based on history, that injury could well be to LMJ. 

The key is timing his injury for peak effectiveness.

[Wulaw Horn 19152]

10 minutes ago, runthebone said:

The key is timing his injury for peak effectiveness.

Listening to Brown it sounded like that's exactly what they are doing. Figure LMJ is made out of tissue paper- they are getting no more than 4-5 months out of him, he's pain free now and just extending out longtoss and throwing lazy spinners off flat ground.  Go ahead and let him fuck around with that and get serious about starting season June 1, figure that's a July 1 call up and that gives him 3 months to get his feet wet and for the team to evaluate if he pitches 3rd/4th or not at all in the postseason, while also keeping innings off Brown, Javier and whoever else needs a rest. 

That's a good plan.  Maybe I'm wishcasting that as the plan but it's my sense of what's probably going on.