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2023 Houston Astros Thread

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henrygandorf
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FartingDreamer
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Am I the only one that can't stand the sight of Altuve, Bregman or Tucker?  Something about each one of them just pisses me off.  

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closetojumping

closetojumping 62132

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8 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Wtf was he doing?  Why? 

If Diaz keeps hitting, that presents a problem for the continued playing of the jugbutted slothtard team mascot and that would hurt Baker’s heart. 

That lineup last night is why this team is headed to 25-30 or worse by the time Altuve is back. They’re being coached like they’re about to win 100 games again just … because. Julks’ last at bat made me laugh out loud in a sadistic manner. Any of you drunken slobs could have been pulled from the stands, given a paper towel cardboard roll, shoved into the batter’s box and told to “swing away” and have been just as effective. He might as well have been trying to bat with his penis right there. 

If Mauricio Dubon is your leadoff hitter as a major league baseball team, something has gone horribly, inexorably wrong. Christ. 

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Hank Chinaski

Hank Chinaski 6310

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1 hour ago, closetojumping said:

If Diaz keeps hitting, that presents a problem for the continued playing of the jugbutted slothtard team mascot and that would hurt Baker’s heart. 

That lineup last night is why this team is headed to 25-30 or worse by the time Altuve is back. They’re being coached like they’re about to win 100 games again just … because. Julks’ last at bat made me laugh out loud in a sadistic manner. Any of you drunken slobs could have been pulled from the stands, given a paper towel cardboard roll, shoved into the batter’s box and told to “swing away” and have been just as effective. He might as well have been trying to bat with his penis right there. 

If Mauricio Dubon is your leadoff hitter as a major league baseball team, something has gone horribly, inexorably wrong. Christ. 

It’s all true. It’s also why nobody should expect it to change that drastically when Altuve does come back. He should be worth about 3 wins over 60% of a season (which is great, but it’s not going to turn this team into a real contender).

This team will be in a dogfight for a wild card spot. Hopefully.

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Wulaw Horn

Wulaw Horn 18963

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1 hour ago, closetojumping said:

If Diaz keeps hitting, that presents a problem for the continued playing of the jugbutted slothtard team mascot and that would hurt Baker’s heart. 

That lineup last night is why this team is headed to 25-30 or worse by the time Altuve is back. They’re being coached like they’re about to win 100 games again just … because. Julks’ last at bat made me laugh out loud in a sadistic manner. Any of you drunken slobs could have been pulled from the stands, given a paper towel cardboard roll, shoved into the batter’s box and told to “swing away” and have been just as effective. He might as well have been trying to bat with his penis right there. 

If Mauricio Dubon is your leadoff hitter as a major league baseball team, something has gone horribly, inexorably wrong. Christ. 

Look man- I have to tone it down about maldy and Dusty for the sensitivities of some on here. I loathe both of them. I know exactly what he’s doing, being the paint chip eating strategic moron he’s always been, except when he’s not allowed to bring his clown show to the playoffs and has to do essentially what he’s supposed to, which is okay his best team for that night (well, his best team plus St. Maldonado). 

I guess what I’m holding onto is that once Altuve and Chas and Brantley (ha haHahaha) are back it’s almost impossible to screw up this lineup in a meaningful way. 
 

we’ve had bad injury luck and bad sequencing so far. Hitter and pitchers are both top 10 in WAR and reinforcement is on the way. But yeah- Dusty is a clown and hopefully accountability will be taken sooner rather than later. 

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Seasick Sailor

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Yanier Diaz, on the Astros roster to hit, has found at-bats hard to come by.

By Chandler Rome

Quote

HOUSTON — Yainer Diaz did not seem to be himself, and almost all of the Astros took notice. Hitting coaches saw a young player pressing during his first extended chance to establish himself. Manager Dusty Baker, juggling a lineup missing two linchpins, tried to let the 24-year-old prospect work through it. He started Diaz twice in the team’s first four games, including on Opening Day against the Chicago White Sox.

In the 10th inning of the fifth game, Baker summoned Diaz to pinch-hit with two outs and the winning run at third base. Houston included him on its Opening Day roster for this precise purpose: late-game at-bats in place of starting catcher Martín Maldonado. Diaz saw six pitches, swung at four of them and struck out against Tigers reliever Trey Wingenter. The Astros lost the game one inning later.

 

“When I made the team, there were a lot of other young guys that made the team as well, all very good baseball players,” Diaz said Tuesday through an interpreter. “I think when it first started, I wanted to show that I could be in the lineup every single day, play every single day.”

Diaz struck out during three of his seven at-bats on the Astros’ season-opening homestand. In the middle of the misery, Hazael Wessin pulled Diaz aside. Wessin, one of the Astros’ assistant strength coaches, worked with Diaz at Triple-A Sugar Land and in the Dominican Winter League. The player he saw at both stops did not match the big-league version.

“He told me every time he saw me at the plate, it looked like I was trying to prove something,” Diaz said Tuesday through an interpreter. “That’s something I really don’t need to do.”

“Everyone here knows the potential you have,” Wessin told him, ” just go out there and trust yourself.”

The conversation changed Diaz’s demeanor. Demonstrating it on the field or in the batter’s box is becoming more difficult. Diaz has started three times in the 11 games since Houston’s season-opening homestand, sporadic playing time that’s prompted a plethora of questions surrounding roster construction, player development and whether Diaz can tailor his free-swinging approach enough to earn more regular playing time.

Diaz has taken 22 plate appearances this season. Among his Astros teammates, only fellow catcher César Salazar has fewer. Diaz did not appear in Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to the Blue Jays, with Salazar receiving a pinch-hit at-bat in the ninth for Maldonado. Salazar, who represented the tying run, struck out against Toronto closer Jordan Romano.

GettyImages-1482501950-1-scaled.jpg
 
Manager Dusty Baker has not gone to Diaz in what might seem like suitable situations for the rookie. (Bob Levey / Getty Images)

The team surprised some by passing over former first-round pick Korey Lee to carry both Diaz and Salazar on its Opening Day roster behind Maldonado. Baker and general manager Dana Brown said they prioritized more offense for a lineup missing both Jose Altuve and Michael Brantley.

On Tuesday, Diaz said the team “didn’t really talk to me” about playing time when it finalized the roster. On paper, the roster construction should make it easier for Baker to either pinch-hit for Maldonado later in games or play Diaz at first base, designated hitter or left field. For myriad reasons, neither option has manifested. Diaz has carved out a niche as rookie Hunter Brown’s personal catcher, but otherwise, his performance hasn’t forced Baker’s hand. Hitting Salazar instead of Diaz on Tuesday offered another example of the enigmatic situation — one where a supposed offensive weapon isn’t being deployed at all.

“I think he’s getting some valuable at-bats here,” Dana Brown said before the game. “At some point, we may be able to give him a few more at-bats. Dusty can get a little more creative, whether it’s DH or potentially left field. I don’t think he’s losing development time. I think, at some point, he’ll get over the 300 at-bats that I think we need him to get. I don’t think his development will be hindered at all, but sooner he’ll get in more games, hopefully.”

Diaz’s primary position remains catcher, but the team exposed him to first base and left field in the minor leagues and during spring training. His defense is uninspiring at all three positions — and carrying Salazar at catcher underscores it — accentuating just how much of Diaz’s value is tied to his bat. Corey Julks’ impressive start has stolen some of the time in left field or designated hitter Diaz might have received. Yordan Alvarez will play one of those two positions nightly, too.

Julks is a far superior outfielder to Diaz, while Maldonado is the team’s unquestioned starter behind the plate. Maldonado’s value to the pitchers is so immense that Baker is often reluctant to hit for him late in games — especially when the Astros are tied or leading. Maldonado, it should be noted, entered Tuesday’s game with a .310 on-base percentage, averaging a 90.8 mph exit velocity and a 27.3 percent chase rate. All are better than his career marks.

Diaz slashed .321/.358/.510 in 340 minor-league games, boasted a sub-17 percent strikeout rate and hit his way onto the roster with a strong showing in spring training. His approach is distinct: an almost too-aggressive, free-swinging style that translated well against minor-league competition. The bump up to big-league pitching is proving more treacherous.

Diaz saw just 2.9 pitches per plate appearance in his minor league career and struck out only 208 times. Diaz has seen 127 pitches in 31 career major league plate appearances. He is swinging at 62.2 percent of them. The major-league average swing percentage is 47.1 percent. Diaz has seven strikeouts in 26 major league at-bats. The sample size is far too small to draw any grand conclusions, but it’s clear the Astros’ staff would like him to make better swing decisions.

“We would obviously like him to swing less, but we don’t want him to lose his aggression at all,” said Astros assistant hitting coach Jason Kanzler. “The goal would be for him to just compress all of that free aggression into the (strike) zone, or more into the zone. He’s got amazing bat-to-ball skills, incredible power. He’s a really good pure hitter. The stuff up here is a lot better, so if he can just be a little more selective without losing all those good qualities, he’s going to be a good player.”

Diaz bemoaned his propensity to chase sliders down and away, but that’s a problem for almost all young, right-handed hitters. His whiff rate is just 23.7 percent and he’s made great contact throughout his minor-league career. Diaz’s plate coverage and bat-to-ball skills are the least of the team’s worries.

“I do think given his really natural, hitter-ish qualities that he is going to end up being less prone (to swing-and-miss) than most hitters,” Kanzler said. “He is going to cover a lot more of the zone than you would expect from a player as young as him.”

Kanzler and hitting coach Troy Snitker are Diaz’s primary coaches at the major-league level. Their job is a delicate one: trying to discover a balance between the aggression that got Diaz to the major leagues and the control he must show to stay. It is their “main focus” when working with Diaz in the batting cages, Kanzler said, during which the coaches are “more strict with the standards” of plate discipline and pitch selection.

In Brown’s eyes, therein lies the value of Diaz’s time on the major league roster. Debate can rage whether young players benefit more from everyday playing time in the minor leagues or simply being around the major-league team. Diaz graduated his prospect status earlier this month but, entering the season, The Athletic’s Keith Law ranked Diaz second behind pitcher Hunter Brown in his preseason Astros’ Top 20. Law wrote Diaz “just missed the just missed category” for inclusion in his league-wide Top 100.

“I think if you’re far away, you need to play every day,” Brown said. “I think when you’re as close as Yainer is to being an everyday big leaguer, he’s probably getting a lot of value from being around major-league players, facing some major-league pitchers, having some of our hitting coaches go through at-bat sequences with him after the game. I think being here is going to help him.”

 

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WBT

WBT 20397

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2 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Chandler Rome is a cunt and wrong most of the time.  Writing about this is an example of a broken clock being right twice a day.  

I don't know.  Framing 3 strike outs in his first 7 ABs as "misery" and in any way affecting playing time decisions is pretty silly.

I do get that this is a shot at Dusty in his typical passive-aggressive style.

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Wulaw Horn

Wulaw Horn 18963

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4 minutes ago, WBT said:

I don't know.  Framing 3 strike outs in his first 7 ABs as "misery" and in any way affecting playing time decisions is pretty silly.

I do get that this is a shot at Dusty in his typical passive-aggressive style.

The first paragraph is the part about him being a cunt. The second paragraph is the part about him being right occasionally. 

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Wulaw Horn

Wulaw Horn 18963

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1 hour ago, David Dennison said:

Wulaw big mad at Dusty.

I mean- it is what it is and he's always made clownish decisions.  When we were rolling to 100+ wins you just hope he isn't allowed the playoffs.  When you are fighting for your life you wish someone would strangle him.

Not mad.  Just exasperated.  

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David Dennison

David Dennison 18608

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Just now, Wulaw Horn said:

I mean- it is what it is and he's always made clownish decisions.  When we were rolling to 100+ wins you just hope he isn't allowed the playoffs.  When you are fighting for your life you wish someone would strangle him.

Not mad.  Just exasperated.  

Dusty Baker is an Astros legend.

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rvm96

rvm96 1643

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10 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Look man- I have to tone it down about maldy and Dusty for the sensitivities of some on here. I loathe both of them. I know exactly what he’s doing, being the paint chip eating strategic moron he’s always been, except when he’s not allowed to bring his clown show to the playoffs and has to do essentially what he’s supposed to, which is okay his best team for that night (well, his best team plus St. Maldonado). 

I guess what I’m holding onto is that once Altuve and Chas and Brantley (ha haHahaha) are back it’s almost impossible to screw up this lineup in a meaningful way. 
 

we’ve had bad injury luck and bad sequencing so far. Hitter and pitchers are both top 10 in WAR and reinforcement is on the way. But yeah- Dusty is a clown and hopefully accountability will be taken sooner rather than later. 

Arguing with you about Maldonado is the best part of the Astros threads. 

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