2023 Houston Astros Thread

[tx 3 putt 76873]

6 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

Grandma giving Dusty the business, makes him say he's going to play more.

if the next manager doesn’t speak Spanish., we shouldn’t hire him

[Planet Houston 4930]

[tx 3 putt 76873]

6 minutes ago, Planet Houston said:

 

 

[henrygandorf 29189]

bigwin. 

[tx 3 putt 76873]

Astros record through 43 games:

2023: 24-19
2022: 27-16
2021: 25-18
2020: 22-21
2019: 28-15
2018: 26-17
2017: 29-14
 

 

[Wulaw Horn 19068]

If we go 7-2 in our next 9 (A’s @ Milwaukee @ A’s) we will enter Memorial Day on a pace to go win 97 games. 
the expectation around baseball is you should sort of have a good feel for what your team is by Memorial Day. I’d imagine we’d be in first place in our division.  That’d be pretty good. Win the next 3 series and sweep the A’s once. That doesn’t sound like too tall an order. 

[rvm96 1643]

21 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

If we go 7-2 in our next 9 (A’s @ Milwaukee @ A’s) we will enter Memorial Day on a pace to go win 97 games. 
the expectation around baseball is you should sort of have a good feel for what your team is by Memorial Day. I’d imagine we’d be in first place in our division.  That’d be pretty good. Win the next 3 series and sweep the A’s once. That doesn’t sound like too tall an order. 

But I thought we were doomed to 80-85 wins like others have said

[Hank Chinaski 6314]

I think they’re a 85-90 win team, but they’re certainly not “doomed” to it. 

[Wulaw Horn 19068]

29 minutes ago, rvm96 said:

But I thought we were doomed to 80-85 wins like others have said

I’ve maintained the entire season that the astros will win the division and I will win my over on 97 games. 

[kevwun 15764]

It depends if Brown is willing to make a trade for a first basemen.  He will have not have an attachment to Abreu since he didn't sign him, but he'll have to convince Crane.  It's bad now, but in the playoffs with better pitching Abreu is gonna get eaten alive by inside pitches.

[David Dennison 18850]

28 minutes ago, kevwun said:

It depends if Brown is willing to make a trade for a first basemen.  He will have not have an attachment to Abreu since he didn't sign him, but he'll have to convince Crane.  It's bad now, but in the playoffs with better pitching Abreu is gonna get eaten alive by inside pitches.

And do what with Abreu?

[kevwun 15764]

Eat his salary unless you want to watch him struggle for the next 2+ years.

[Wulaw Horn 19068]

3 minutes ago, kevwun said:

Eat his salary unless you want to watch him struggle for the next 2+ years.

It’s a sunk cost. You have to pay him either way. Having him be the worst player in the league doesn’t make it better. 

[Hank Chinaski 6314]

If Brantley ever makes it back, he’ll probably get some time at 1B. But I doubt they’ll acquire a 1B in 2023. Maybe a defensively versatile guy who can play 1B some, like Diaz could last couple seasons, but I’m not even sure who fits that description. We’re stuck with Abreu for a while. It would be nice if he could just be an average hitter.

Edited May 18, 2023 by Hank Chinaski

[kevwun 15764]

Crane can take it as an expensive lesson on why it's good to have a GM during free agency and why analytics still matter.

Edited May 18, 2023 by kevwun

[texashorne 1177]

I'm hoping he's injured and has been hiding it. Holy crap this signing is starting to look really bad

[Welch 635]

1 hour ago, Wulaw Horn said:

It’s a sunk cost. You have to pay him either way. Having him be the worst player in the league doesn’t make it better. 

No podcast this week?

[tx 3 putt 76873]

Milwaukee is a solid road trip 

[Make em eat Taco Bell 1549]

OF - Julks, Tucker, Chas

1b - dubon, 2b - altuve, ss - pena, 3b - bregs, DH- Yordan, c - shoulda kept Vaz, but go with Maldo

don't play Montero.  Go Neris, Pressly, Abreau, Maton. Play the starters through 7 if they are doing well, pitch count to 125 max. 

Edited May 18, 2023 by Make em eat Taco Bell

[tx 3 putt 76873]

Milwaukee is a solid road trip 

[hornmpa96 2618]

11 minutes ago, Make em eat Taco Bell said:

OF - Julks, Tucker, Chas

1b - dubon, 2b - altuve, ss - pena, 3b - bregs, DH- Yordan, c - shoulda kept Vaz, but go with Maldo

don't play Montero.  Go Neris, Pressly, Abreau, Maton. Play the starters through 7 if they are doing well, pitch count to 125 max. 

Nobody is going to come close to 125 pitches in a start.

[tx 3 putt 76873]

Montero has been great his last two appearances 

 

[Wulaw Horn 19068]

29 minutes ago, Welch said:

No podcast this week?

Was at game last night during normal recording. Will record and have it up tonight. Thanks for asking!  

[tx 3 putt 76873]

8 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Was at game last night during normal recording. Will record and have it up tonight. Thanks for asking!  

can you spoiler tag the link ?

for some reason my browser automatically jumps to your link while scrolling the thread 

[Make em eat Taco Bell 1549]

28 minutes ago, hornmpa96 said:

Nobody is going to come close to 125 pitches in a start.

and that's how bullpens lose games.

[runthebone 7967]

32 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

Milwaukee is a solid road trip 

Um...hopefully that's never.

[tx 3 putt 76873]

Just now, runthebone said:

Um...hopefully that's never.

Hopefully. He signed a ton of items and the buzz there was great. Watching kids get their Altuve card, glove, cap signed was great. Lot of people took Altuve art. Saw him take a second with special need adults. He’s a great ambassador for the Astros 

[tx 3 putt 76873]

5 minutes ago, Make em eat Taco Bell said:

and that's how bullpens lose games.

Curious to see BP usage this year v last year. Our BP was great last season because they were well rested. Get back into first, then avoid that first round

[Felix 607]

Let's just say I'm glad Make em eat Taco Bell is not in charge.

[TexArcher 37770]

3 hours ago, rvm96 said:

But I thought we were doomed to 80-85 wins like others have said

Two off-seasons ago a lot of people said the run was over.  I said we were halfway through a 10-year run.  The injuries got us off to a slow start, but I wholeheartedly believe this is a 95+ win team on paper, even without Uncle Mike and LMJ, because I never expected to get much from either. 

I still think the Astros are going to be playing a lot of postseason games.

[Scraps 13561]

Let's just say I'm glad Make em eat Taco Bell is not in charge.

Yeah i think we all are

[Make em eat Taco Bell 1549]

23 minutes ago, Felix said:

Let's just say I'm glad Make em eat Taco Bell is not in charge.

who is in charge around here? Which one is Dusty Baker?

[tx 3 putt 76873]

36 minutes ago, Felix said:

Let's just say I'm glad Make em eat Taco Bell is not in charge.

Taco Bell post game meal would probably be pretty popular 

[Scraps 13561]

Taco Bell post game meal would probably be pretty popular 

Maybe for when they lose. That would be the punishment.

[tx 3 putt 76873]

[Snake Diggity 4620]

Abreu isn’t going anywhere.  If he continues to be this bad, they’ll add a bat like JD Davis or CJ Cron who can backup 1B/DH/LF during the regular season and replace Abreu in the playoffs; otherwise they may add a C and then Diaz can replace Abreu in the playoffs.  Abreu is going to have to totally and completely suck thru at least June of next season before they just cut him loose.

[kevwun 15764]

He finishes out the year sucking and I think they'll find another first basemen before next year.  As Wulaw said, it's a sunk cost.  They gain nothing playing someone that bad every day and there's no fixing father time.

Edited May 18, 2023 by kevwun

[David Dennison 18850]

9 minutes ago, kevwun said:

He finishes out the year sucking and I think they'll find another first basemen before next year.  As Wulaw said, it's a sunk cost.  They gain nothing playing someone that bad every day and there's no fixing father time.

I might be wrong, but I don't think they're going to pay someone that much to sit. 

[kevwun 15764]

He's on pace to have a season that would make Machete blush.  You can't run that out there every day for multiple years if you care about winning.

Edited May 18, 2023 by kevwun

[kevwun 15764]

He can't swing fast enough to hit inside pitches anymore.  There's no fixing that and pitchers aren't going to stop using it against him.

[Wulaw Horn 19068]

32 minutes ago, kevwun said:

He finishes out the year sucking and I think they'll find another first basemen before next year.  As Wulaw said, it's a sunk cost.  They gain nothing playing someone that bad every day and there's no fixing father time.

I think it's possible that if he finishes the year sucking they bring in an insurance guy or something like that but not a splashy move, and give him the first part of 2024 hoping that it was "an awful season" and he bounces back. At that point in time though I think the rope would be awful short. 

Really what needs to happen is he moves down to 7th in the lineup, the team gets hot and wins 10 of the next 12 and goes into first place, and everyone (including him) can take a deep breath and figure it's all gravy any production from him b/c we "don't need it".

Altuve/Bregman/Alvarez/Tucker/Chas/Pena/Abreu/Diaz/Dubon or Diaz or Dubon (DH), Maldonado.

Maybe they should just make Pena at the 2 hole a month long experimetn

Altuve/Pena/Alvarez/Tucker/Bregman/Chas/Abreu/Diaz/ DH or Maldy.  That's my preferred lineup, probably. 

[HtownHorn 14668]

4 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

Montero has been great his last two appearances 

 

He needs a long break from close and late set up situations. Let him work it out in the 6th innings.

Cloer - Pressley

SU - Abreu

MID Tier 1 - Neris/Maton

Mid Tier 2 - Montero/Stanek

LR - Martinez

[HtownHorn 14668]

1 hour ago, Snake Diggity said:

Abreu isn’t going anywhere.  If he continues to be this bad, they’ll add a bat like JD Davis or CJ Cron who can backup 1B/DH/LF during the regular season and replace Abreu in the playoffs; otherwise they may add a C and then Diaz can replace Abreu in the playoffs.  Abreu is going to have to totally and completely suck thru at least June of next season before they just cut him loose.

J.D Davis would be like adding Castro. He's a great guy to add, I'd give up Meyers for him today.

[tx 3 putt 76873]

6 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

He needs a long break from close and late set up situations. Let him work it out in the 6th innings.

Cloer - Pressley

SU - Abreu

MID Tier 1 - Neris/Maton

Mid Tier 2 - Montero/Stanek

LR - Martinez

It’s a constantly juggling act 

[tx 3 putt 76873]

9 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

J.D Davis would be like adding Castro. He's a great guy to add, I'd give up Meyers for him today.

Surly 2017 and 2018 Astros thread very likely hated Davis. Can we over come those deep rooted feelings ?

[HtownHorn 14668]

3 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

Surly 2017 and 2018 Astros thread very likely hated Davis. Can we over come those deep rooted feelings ?

If he hits like non-Astros J.D. Davis, of course, he would be replacing literally the worst player in the majors, so even his Astros level production would be an improvement.

[Wulaw Horn 19068]

53 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

He needs a long break from close and late set up situations. Let him work it out in the 6th innings.

Cloer - Pressley

SU - Abreu

MID Tier 1 - Neris/Maton

Mid Tier 2 - Montero/Stanek

LR - Martinez

Missing reliever spot/guy that doesn't have a job. I'd ideally like to see Whitley called up or France moved there after LMJ gets healthy. Both those guys (I believe- but I know Whitley for sure) are out of options next year so you need to make a decision on if they are likely to be on the team or if you essentially have to trade them this summer or let them walk with no compensation coming back.  If either of them performs I guess I wouldn't mind seeing Stanek moved at the deadline- he's surplus and it was very clear last year in the playoffs.  But, he's also pretty good.  

[WBT 20561]

Stanek walks too many but is still pretty good.  I got him being low in the pecking order last playoffs but I think they went a little overboard and should have mixed in Stanek and Brown to avoid overexposing the main guys.  Obviously it all worked out.  Stanek's flukish ERA last year made him the Poochie (where's Stanek? where's Stanek?)  of last year's playoff thread.  Him coming back to earth early this year will at least avoid that.

f Thursdays

Edited May 18, 2023 by WBT

[tx 3 putt 76873]

2 hours ago, HtownHorn said:

If he hits like non-Astros J.D. Davis, of course, he would be replacing literally the worst player in the majors, so even his Astros level production would be an improvement.

One bad game, maybe one bad at bat and we’d be forced to throw him to the dogs !

[Ichabod 184]

There are 6 MLB players that have 0 HR’s (qualified AB’s) 

 

 

 

 

 

Two are in our starting lineup everyday