Houston Astros 2024 Season Thread

[kevwun 15759]

That OPS is below league average for 1B.  They need to get better there.

[Guadaloopy 10957]

This is me with a free October:

[elfenix 34223]

19 hours ago, SizzleChest said:

If he shows up October 19th at DKR, Eltife, Hartzell, and CDC need to get kicked in the nuts repeatedly.

Tempted to reply to his spam begging texts that I'll give him $25 on condition he stay the fuck away from the longhorns

[Snake Diggity 4619]

The summary of this season is Jose Abreu fucked them.  His contract on its own is why they didn’t advance further.  Had Houston saved that money (or had Abreu been the player they thought they were getting), Houston doesn’t have to press so hard to win the division and likely wins enough games to avoid the wild card round.  Who knows what happens in the ALDS and beyond, but Abreu is the shortest line to draw to illustrate why Houston’s season is already over.  The bummer is that it could totally bleed over to 2025.

[Focht Up 631]

7 minutes ago, Snake Diggity said:

The summary of this season is Jose Abreu fucked them.  His contract on its own is why they didn’t advance further.  Had Houston saved that money (or had Abreu been the player they thought they were getting), Houston doesn’t have to press so hard to win the division and likely wins enough games to avoid the wild card round.  Who knows what happens in the ALDS and beyond, but Abreu is the shortest line to draw to illustrate why Houston’s season is already over.  The bummer is that it could totally bleed over to 2025.

I really think the team should retire jersey number 79.  No one should have to wear that horrible number and remind us about the abreu abomination. 

[David Dennison 18844]

[Pimphand 5732]

I hope Cleveland continues to perforate AJ Hinch's colon the remainder of this series. Fuck him, fuck Dusty, and most especially fuck Espada.

[Rockethorn1978 6072]

11 hours ago, Pimphand said:

I hope Cleveland continues to perforate AJ Hinch's colon the remainder of this series. Fuck him, fuck Dusty, and most especially fuck Espada.

Sad part is they will outside of the one skubal start. They aren’t that good and we were worse. 

[Dutchrudder 11133]

Watching Clase come into the game in the 8th with 2 on, knowing you fully intend on him pitching the 9th, felt very much like an Espada decision. I know it's the playoffs, but changing things up probably isn't the best idea to do to your closer who only pitched more than 1 inning one time all year.  He proceeded to blow the game, but it reminded me of several instances where they did the same thing to Hader. 

[Snake Diggity 4619]

1 hour ago, Dutchrudder said:

Watching Clase come into the game in the 8th with 2 on, knowing you fully intend on him pitching the 9th, felt very much like an Espada decision. I know it's the playoffs, but changing things up probably isn't the best idea to do to your closer who only pitched more than 1 inning one time all year.  He proceeded to blow the game, but it reminded me of several instances where they did the same thing to Hader. 

Yeah the Astros riding Abreu and Hader so hard all year was odd.  It might be only another 10 pitches, but going down and getting back up is a huge shift in routine, and 40 pitches is a lot more than 30 in terms of % especially including the additional warm up.  A lot of that was dictated by the SP injuries and underperformance early in the season but I felt like they could have managed it better by being more active in shuffling in fresh arms from AAA.  King, Ort, Mushinski, Whitley, Hernandez, Contreras, and Suero should have all gotten more time in Houston and eaten some of those innings to keep Hader/Abreu fresher and more in their standard routine.

I bet we will see a lot fewer multi-inning efforts from Hader next year.

Edited October 8 by Snake Diggity

[kevwun 15759]

You have to figure Hader had at least 10 appearances during the season that he didn't have to make.  That's a lot of extra pitches.

[Dutchrudder 11133]

39 minutes ago, Snake Diggity said:

I bet we will see a lot fewer multi-inning efforts from Hader next year.

I think that needs to come from the top down, it's a pretty obvious issue from a fan's perspective. I hope that Dana or someone in the org can be the adult in the room and squash this issue going forward. You also have to think it rattle's the pitcher's confidence to be put in a jam and fail to get out of it without surrendering runs. It can have a snowball effect that can take a while to overcome. 

[ChickenSandwich 9824]

27 minutes ago, kevwun said:

You have to figure Hader had at least 10 appearances during the season that he didn't have to make.  That's a lot of extra pitches.

Our shitty offense stressed the staff all season. Blow outs were rare and high stress the norm 

[Snake Diggity 4619]

42 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Our shitty offense stressed the staff all season. Blow outs were rare and high stress the norm 

Good point, underrated benefit of a deep lineup is more big leads and more flexibility in pitcher usage.

[UTexasFight 9428]

Yeah.

its really easy to sit here and say they should have used more AAA arms earlier in the season but give me a break.

Hey Espada, why did you put in that AAA trash to try and hold the lead?

”well, you see, I need Hader and Abreu fresh for October.”

Hey Espada, there won’t be any October if you don’t put in Hader/Abreu to close out these close games.

 

[Snake Diggity 4619]

9 hours ago, UTexasFight said:

Yeah.

its really easy to sit here and say they should have used more AAA arms earlier in the season but give me a break.

Hey Espada, why did you put in that AAA trash to try and hold the lead?

”well, you see, I need Hader and Abreu fresh for October.”

Hey Espada, there won’t be any October if you don’t put in Hader/Abreu to close out these close games.

 

King (2.39 era in Houston) and Ort (2.55 era in Houston) easily could have taken almost all of the 6th/7th innings that Espada used Abreu in that caused Abreu and Hader to go more than 1 inning and pitch so frequently.  Neither of those guys is AAA trash.