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LCHorn

LCHorn 2612

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

What should Dusty have done differently last night that would have made up a 7-run deficit?

Win game six?  I would have not pitched two rookies, one a 28 year old rookie who survived on smoke and mirrors all season (and you have to imagine the Astros nerd team knows how risky it is to pitch him).  I wouldn't have even had France on the postseason roster. 

 

9 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

I also wonder if he didn't bulk up too much last offseason. 

I don't know if you've repeated this twice or if another poster said this and I don't see it; he was pretty muscled up coming up.  I think he made swing adjustments that have sapped his power and he really needs to improve his eye. 

I don't know that I want Brantley back (I'd need to know cost and overall plan first) but I'd like the Astros to get back to finding guys who can work counts and don't strike out so frequently; the best Astros teams had very talented hitters but they also just wore out the other team making every at bat an ordeal for the pitcher.  When you've got Julks/Dubon, Pena, and Maldonado all sandwiched together it puts SO much more pressure on the rest of the team. 

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Txslnghrns
Txslnghrns

Hey. Fuk you and fuk the astros.

Txslnghrns
Txslnghrns

Nope. Need help finding your pennant?

Txslnghrns
Txslnghrns

No. I think I’m on the right thread. Your off-season begins……now

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tx 3 putt

tx 3 putt 76862

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17 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

Oh, I'm in the camp that we definitely don't want to get rid of him at this point, but by end of next year we should have a better idea of what he's going to do long-term.  I also wonder if he didn't bulk up too much last offseason.  Sometimes guys get too swole and it restricts flexibility in ways that hurt overall performance.  It will be interesting to see how he looks when ST starts.


SS needs flexibility, not bulk 

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Storm the Field

Storm the Field 5291

Posted
Posted (edited)

Had some time to collect my thoughts and get the mourning out of the way.

Despite once again making it to the ALCS, this season just wasn't all that much "fun", IMO.

1. 90 wins is far less than we've gotten use to since the dynasty run started. We were in 1st for just 19 days this entire season. Spent 90% of the year chasing. 

2. The awful home record. I looked back at the schedule and the Astros won just 5 of the 15 games I attended at MMP. It got noticeably worse in September and October. 

3. Lack of clutch factor. We went 1-8 in extra innings and were under .500 in 1-run games. I don't know how many times we went into the 9th down by 1 or 2, put multiple runners on with less than 2 outs, and scored 0. We only had 4 walk-offs all year long. 

4. Fucking injuries. Had to do without Altuve for 45% of the season and Alvarez for 30%. Lost 2/5 of our starting rotation in a 24-hour period. 

5. Dusty's hardheaded nonsense and too many AB's taking by scrubs.

Apart from his jackass refusal to play Diaz for no justifiable reason or hating Chas, nothing pissed me off more this year than when Dusty would make some incomprehensible decision based on a hunch or dream he had and then try and explain it with some made-up statistic. You'd look it up and he'd have the numbers ass backwards. Like he'd pinch hit somebody "I feel like he had a better chance against (insert lefty pitcher)" and the numbers would be 2-12 lifetime with 8 k's vs that pitcher and a career 0.458 OPS against LHP. 

Corey Julks got 323 plate appearances and put up 0.3 WAR. Hensley got 93 for -0.7. Kessinger, Madris, and Singleton got another 150 and were worth -0.8. That's 550+ PA accounting for -1.2 WAR.

 

Edited by Storm the Field
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tx 3 putt

tx 3 putt 76862

Posted
Posted (edited)
12 minutes ago, Storm the Field said:

Corey Julks got 323 plate appearances and put up 0.3 WAR. Hensley got 93 for -0.7. Kessinger, Madris, and Singleton got another 150 and were worth -0.8. That's 550+ PA accounting for -1.4 WAR.

 


None of those guys took many at bats away from Diaz. We had a lot of injuries the first 3/4 of the season, Altuve, Alvarez, brantley. It’s a long season, brown had them on the roster so they played. The days of using one line up with the same 8 are gone for us. 

also, none of those guys chocked during the ALCS

I’m not pointing you out, but blasting Julks for being on the roster and taking at bats is dumb. He wasn’t around in sept losing series series and choking in the ALCS. The anger should be at brown, he’s responsible for making up the roster 

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Storm the Field

Storm the Field 5291

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5 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:


None of those guys took many at bats away from Diaz. We had a lot of injuries the first 3/4 of the season, Altuve, Alvarez, brantley. It’s a long season, brown had them on the roster so they played. The days of using one line up with the same 8 are gone for us. 

also, none of those guys chocked during the ALCS

I’m not pointing you out, but blasting Julks for being on the roster and taking at bats is dumb. He wasn’t around in sept losing series series and choking in the ALCS. The anger should be at brown, he’s responsible for making up the roster 

Utterly Irrelevant in a post detailing why the season was frustrating to watch.

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Guadaloopy

Guadaloopy 10954

Posted
Posted
8 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

Arlington likely gets deGrom back August next year.  Yay.

 

5 minutes ago, Rockethorn1978 said:

Degrom sucks so not anything to worry about. 

Second TJ surgeries are a true toss-up with respect to regaining a semblance of previous performance.  Eovaldi is one of the success stories.

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Snake Diggity

Snake Diggity 4619

Posted
Posted (edited)

Offseason checklist in order:

1. Replace Baker with Espada

2. Replace Maldonado with an affordable well rounded backup C (Victor Caratini?)

3. Extend Altuve

4. Add a leverage RP to replace Neris if he opts for free agency (Matt Moore?)

5. See if any other stars bite on an extremely team-friendly extension (Bregman, Tucker, Framber, B Abreu)

6. Be opportunistic on the trade and free agency markets to potentially upgrade other areas that aren’t necessarily weaknesses but also aren’t strengths (CF/LF, SS, SP).

7. Be on the lookout to convert MLB depth into high ceiling prospects (assuming all above tasks are completed)

2024 has a chance to be Houston’s deepest and most talented roster ever, depending on how aggressive/smart Brown and Crane are.

Edited by Snake Diggity
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Pimphand

Pimphand 5732

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, Rockethorn1978 said:

Ok so dusty is out(please). What’s the realistic manager targets? Not surly targets but for real targets we know crane and brown will pursue? 

My target is Mike Shildt I wanted him as soon as St Louis shoved him out the door over "philsophical differences"

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Rockethorn1978

Rockethorn1978 6072

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2 minutes ago, Guadaloopy said:

Baltimore isn't going away anytime soon, either.  It will be one of those three depending on off-season moves.

Every time we see a up and coming team they disappear the next season. White sox two years ago were young and exciting and the mariners last year were young and exciting. Baseball is tough to continue being successful which is why this run has been amazing. Rangers might be great moving forward or they might be the mariners next year regress as the pitching isn’t on a miracle run and they return to being jags again.

2 minutes ago, Pimphand said:

My target is Mike Shildt I wanted him as soon as St Louis shoved him out the door over "philsophical differences"

Ok but who will crane and brown target? I get everyone here has favorites but I was curious who they think these two guys will target.

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Ojo Rojo

Ojo Rojo 1946

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

What should Dusty have done differently last night that would have made up a 7-run deficit?  That was a team effort from the pitchers and everyone not named Altuve, Bregman, J Abreu and Alvarez to get pantsed that bad.

Game 6 is where he lost us the series.

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tx 3 putt

tx 3 putt 76862

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Manager - I’m good with espada, especially if it keeps us away from asmus who I’m sure bagwell is pushing for. We have one more year with this core and only a couple roster spots open. We need to make one last hard push and I think espada is the man. 
 

LF - Lourdes would be great, but he’s going to chase a big contract. Not sure if we can or want to match that. Any other FA suggestions ?  Im also in this boat, IF uncle Mike is healthy and budget friendly, bring him back 
 

back up catcher - no ideas here, go with a shitty internal candidate ?

chas - this is the biggest subject after manager. Do we go all in and he’s the everyday cf ? Possible to find a straw type trade for him ? Is he an everyday player ? I don’t think his numbers hold up as an every day player and he has to strengthen that arm. I haven’t looked at the free agent cf list. In the end, I think he gets a shot at the every day job and I hope he steps up. He’s solid locker room guy

extend Abreu ?

extend dubon ? Gold glove quality off the bench and can play all over. Solid locker room guy 

 

hopefully we Fill the manger spot asap, I don’t crane drags it out 

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formermav43

formermav43 4606

Posted
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17 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:


None of those guys took many at bats away from Diaz. We had a lot of injuries the first 3/4 of the season, Altuve, Alvarez, brantley. It’s a long season, brown had them on the roster so they played. The days of using one line up with the same 8 are gone for us. 

also, none of those guys chocked during the ALCS

I’m not pointing you out, but blasting Julks for being on the roster and taking at bats is dumb. He wasn’t around in sept losing series series and choking in the ALCS. The anger should be at brown, he’s responsible for making up the roster 

Brown built an early season roster specifically constructed to get Diaz playing time at DH/1B/even LF. It’s the whole reason Salazar was on the team, to give Diaz more positional flexibility. Instead, he got 68 PA in the first 2 months of the season, fewer starts at DH than Julks (who had more than twice as many appearances), and exactly 1 start anywhere other than C/DH.

Thats all on Dusty for improperly utilizing the roster he was given. 

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UTPhil2006

UTPhil2006 3801

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

Manager - I’m good with espada, especially if it keeps us away from asmus who I’m sure bagwell is pushing for. We have one more year with this core and only a couple roster spots open. We need to make one last hard push and I think espada is the man. 
 

LF - Lourdes would be great, but he’s going to chase a big contract. Not sure if we can or want to match that. Any other FA suggestions ?  Im also in this boat, IF uncle Mike is healthy and budget friendly, bring him back 
 

back up catcher - no ideas here, go with a shitty internal candidate ?

chas - this is the biggest subject after manager. Do we go all in and he’s the everyday cf ? Possible to find a straw type trade for him ? Is he an everyday player ? I don’t think his numbers hold up as an every day player and he has to strengthen that arm. I haven’t looked at the free agent cf list. In the end, I think he gets a shot at the every day job and I hope he steps up. He’s solid locker room guy

extend Abreu ?

extend dubon ? Gold glove quality off the bench and can play all over. Solid locker room guy 

 

hopefully we Fill the manger spot asap, I don’t crane drags it out 

Trout in CF. 

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formermav43

formermav43 4606

Posted
Posted
9 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

chas - this is the biggest subject after manager. Do we go all in and he’s the everyday cf ? Possible to find a straw type trade for him ? Is he an everyday player ? I don’t think his numbers hold up as an every day player and he has to strengthen that arm. I haven’t looked at the free agent cf list. In the end, I think he gets a shot at the every day job and I hope he steps up. He’s solid locker room guy

This is not only not a big subject, it’s absurd that it’s still even brought up.

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tx 3 putt

tx 3 putt 76862

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Posted
Just now, HtownHorn said:

What is this infatuation with Lourdes Guirrel? We need more Lefty-righty balance in the lineup. Trade from a surplus of pitching to get a younger OF. The perfect fit is the Cardinals. They need pitching and have a shit ton of young controlable OFs.


I get to wear my pineapple outfit again !

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Mez2

Mez2 4023

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Posted

We need to work on situational hitting, too. Jesus Christ that killed us this series and lots of times throughout the season. Guy on 3rd less than 2 outs, and we strike out. Guy on 2nd to start inning, don't advance him to 3rd. 

I tell my son's team the little things matter and add up to the bigs things - abreu up with yordon on 3rd, 1 out, weak roller to 3B now 2 outs.  No runs eventually. Just terribly frustrating

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Gut Wagon

Gut Wagon 8065

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Posted
30 minutes ago, Storm the Field said:

Had some time to collect my thoughts and get the mourning out of the way.

Despite once again making it to the ALCS, this season just wasn't all that much "fun", IMO.

1. 90 wins is far less than we've gotten use to since the dynasty run started. We were in 1st for just 19 days this entire season. Spent 90% of the year chasing. 

2. The awful home record. I looked back at the schedule and the Astros won just 5 of the 15 games I attended at MMP. It got noticeably worse in September and October. 

3. Lack of clutch factor. We went 1-8 in extra innings and were under .500 in 1-run games. I don't know how many times we went into the 9th down by 1 or 2, put multiple runners on with less than 2 outs, and scored 0. We only had 4 walk-offs all year long. 

4. Fucking injuries. Had to do without Altuve for 45% of the season and Alvarez for 30%. Lost 2/5 of our starting rotation in a 24-hour period. 

5. Dusty's hardheaded nonsense and too many AB's taking by scrubs.

Apart from his jackass refusal to play Diaz for no justifiable reason or hating Chas, nothing pissed me off more this year than when Dusty would make some incomprehensible decision based on a hunch or dream he had and then try and explain it with some made-up statistic. You'd look it up and he'd have the numbers ass backwards. Like he'd pinch hit somebody "I feel like he had a better chance against (insert lefty pitcher)" and the numbers would be 2-12 lifetime with 8 k's vs that pitcher and a career 0.458 OPS against LHP. 

Corey Julks got 323 plate appearances and put up 0.3 WAR. Hensley got 93 for -0.7. Kessinger, Madris, and Singleton got another 150 and were worth -0.8. That's 550+ PA accounting for -1.2 WAR.

 

Great summary of a "bad" season by current Astros standards. So many shaky decisions were made, starting with roster construction and ending with Dusty's ALCS malpractice. Injuries cost us some wins, but I don't think they're the main reason we lost a lot more games than last year. Ownership, management and the team itself all share in that blame, just as they all get credit for an incredible 2022.

I expect Alvarez to miss quite a few games in 2024. It's just his pattern. Based on age alone, I also could see JV, Altuve and/or J Abreu spending time on the injured list. I expect Tucker to bounce back with a solid year, and we'll obviously need to see continued improvement from Pena, Diaz and Brown. If Bregman and Dubon can tread water, the bench bats improve a bit and our veteran pitchers have their average years, we might reach the 96 wins I predicted for us in 2023.

Yes, nearly all other franchises would have gladly traded places with us this year, but we obviously aren't them. As long as Houston's core stays intact, this is a win-it-all-or-who-cares franchise. At least neither the Yankees nor the Dodgers will be raising that trophy. 

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LCHorn

LCHorn 2612

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Posted
22 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

The perfect fit is the Cardinals. They need pitching and have a shit ton of young controlable OFs.

I’m not familiar with their roster-who do you like over there and why?

I was thinking taking Contreras in a salary dump might make some sense.  Don’t they hate him?

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UTPhil2006

UTPhil2006 3801

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5 minutes ago, Gut Wagon said:

Great summary of a "bad" season by current Astros standards. So many shaky decisions were made, starting with roster construction and ending with Dusty's ALCS malpractice. Injuries cost us some wins, but I don't think they're the main reason we lost a lot more games than last year. Ownership, management and the team itself all share in that blame, just as they all get credit for an incredible 2022.

I expect Alvarez to miss quite a few games in 2024. It's just his pattern. Based on age alone, I also could see JV, Altuve and/or J Abreu spending time on the injured list. I expect Tucker to bounce back with a solid year, and we'll obviously need to see continued improvement from Pena, Diaz and Brown. If Bregman and Dubon can tread water, the bench bats improve a bit and our veteran pitchers have their average years, we might reach the 96 wins I predicted for us in 2023.

Yes, nearly all other franchises would have gladly traded places with us this year, but we obviously aren't them. As long as Houston's core stays intact, this is a win-it-all-or-who-cares franchise. At least neither the Yankees nor the Dodgers will be raising that trophy. 

Dodgers are set for a bit and have shed payroll for some big moves. The Yankees are in several bad contracts and a division that has passed them by. They’re gonna be down for a while 

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HtownHorn

HtownHorn 14663

Posted
Posted (edited)
3 minutes ago, LCHorn said:

I’m not familiar with their roster-who do you like over there and why?

I was thinking taking Contreras in a salary dump might make some sense.  Don’t they hate him?

 

Tyler O'Neill

Brenden Donovan

Dylan Carlson

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