Houston Astros 2024 Season Thread

[Rockethorn1978 6072]

Rangers then Braves. I’d be happy with 3-3 after those series but it could get worse.

[tx 3 putt 76871]

3 minutes ago, Rockethorn1978 said:

Rangers then Braves. I’d be happy with 3-3 after those series but it could get worse.

[Pimphand 5733]

11 minutes ago, Rockethorn1978 said:

Rangers then Braves. I’d be happy with 3-3 after those series but it could get worse.

Shit 3-3 seems like a miracle right now.

[runthebone 7967]

Hopefully Hunter Brown didn't peak in 2022.

[David Dennison 18850]

42 minutes ago, Pimphand said:

Shit 3-3 seems like a miracle right now.

[Snake Diggity 4619]

3 hours ago, WBT said:

His stock is down based on 14 games?

Edit - didn't mean to be critical, I appreciate the exercise overall.

It’s probably down a bit.  The return I listed doesn’t reflect a huge drop in value, but he hasn’t done himself or the Astros any favors in the early going.

3 hours ago, Chuckie Finster said:

I appreciate the thought behind this, but many of these (IMO) are overvalues rarely seen outside the confines of texags.  Outside of absolute superstars, sure feels like the prospect return on baseball trades is almost always less than anticipated.

Meh.  You’d have to give me specifics.  Otherwise you’re just being a dick.  A lot of the returns would be market dependent and obviously hinge on how each of those players perform between now and the deadline.  But really I only listed Tucker (a borderline MVP caliber player with another year of control) and Valdez (an ace with another year of control) as realistic trade candidates even bringing back Top 100 prospects.  The Org Top 10/30 types would just be guys like Pedro Leon, Joey Loperfido, Arrighetti, Whitley, etc.; those prospects aren’t that valuable and saying a player isn’t worth that is basically saying they don’t have surplus value.  Dylan Cease had less value than Framber (and a smaller market given the spring financial constraints) and he brought back 3 of SD’s top 10 prospects (from a very good farm), one of which was a Top 100 guy.

Edited April 11 by Snake Diggity

[TejasPedro 1857]

Which Brown has been a bigger disappointment so far this season?

[Slacks 6819]

21 hours ago, Snake Diggity said:

What do you expect Dana Brown to say?  “We’re fucked!  Our rookie manager is cursed with every move he makes blowing up in his face, our payroll is maxed out with bad contracts put in place by our meddling owner, our farm system is trash due to cheating punishments and trades forced by the meddling owner, and we have 9 pitchers on the injured list!  WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO?!?!?”

The 9 losses have come from an array of causes.  Early on it was elite relievers melting down.  Lately it’s been starters not giving the team a chance, and all along the offense has been hitting extremely well but not scoring runs in the highest leverage situations.

The team could get a big morale boost if/when Verlander comes back healthy.  But so far this is an expected 7-5 team that had luck fuck em in the ass.

Blame Dusty.

[MirrOlure 14760]

Hunter Brown needs to get a real estate license, dental assistant certification, whatever.

The fact that he gets paid to play baseball makes about as much sense as me get paid to do so. My God…

[tx 3 putt 76871]

26 minutes ago, Slacks said:

Blame Dusty.

dusty needs to send over some ‘this is it’ banana pudding to the clubhouse 

 

asap !

[Macklemore 2876]

26 minutes ago, TejasPedro said:

Which Brown has been a bigger disappointment so far this season?

Dana without question. Good article from Chandler Rome about the poor decisions and incompetence shown by Dana Brown and his chosen manager.

Fourteen games into the season, his starting pitchers have posted a 5.05 ERA across 66 innings. Houston’s rotation finished the second half of last season with a 4.74 mark. The team exhausted its last piece of promising depth by promoting Arrighetti on Wednesday for a start some wondered if he was even ready to make.

Brown spent six weeks of spring training in West Palm Beach praising depth that did not exist. He supposed that Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. would solve shortcomings when they returned after the All-Star break while putting faith in unproven internal bullpen options.

[Beau Vine 54207]

1 hour ago, TejasPedro said:

Which Brown has been a bigger disappointment so far this season?

Abreu definitely.

[Rimbo 25911]

 

[David Dennison 18850]

1 hour ago, Macklemore said:

Dana without question. Good article from Chandler Rome about the poor decisions and incompetence shown by Dana Brown and his chosen manager.

 

Fourteen games into the season, his starting pitchers have posted a 5.05 ERA across 66 innings. Houston’s rotation finished the second half of last season with a 4.74 mark. The team exhausted its last piece of promising depth by promoting Arrighetti on Wednesday for a start some wondered if he was even ready to make.

Brown spent six weeks of spring training in West Palm Beach praising depth that did not exist. He supposed that Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. would solve shortcomings when they returned after the All-Star break while putting faith in unproven internal bullpen options.

Who should we have signed?

[billfromlaketravis 11448]

I don’t know what the fix is here. Framber was a surprise. They knew damn well JV and Urquidy wouldn’t be ready and they should have signed a veteran. 

[David Dennison 18850]

2 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

I don’t know what the fix is here. Framber was a surprise. They knew damn well JV and Urquidy wouldn’t be ready and they should have signed a veteran. 

So Montgomery or Snell.

Is that a Jim Crane decision or a Dana Brown decision?

[Mez2 4023]

2 hours ago, TejasPedro said:

Which Brown has been a bigger disappointment so far this season?

You guessed it... Frank Stallone!

[We’reTexas 1473]

1 hour ago, David Dennison said:

So Montgomery or Snell.

Is that a Jim Crane decision or a Dana Brown decision?

[txduck87 985]

Super excited my one and only game at MMP this year is next Tuesday with Brown starting. Definitely want to get to the seat by first pitch to see all the fireworks. Unreal.

[UTexasFight 9429]

7 hours ago, Storm the Field said:

A rather dubious record to own.

 

Did somebody fact check this?

I’m actually a bit surprised by this. but the more I think about, the more I think it shows Espada is also “1 of 1”. This says every other manager in the history of baseball has either 1) pulled a guy in the first inning before he gets to that point when he thinks his team still has a chance to come back and win or 2) says  “f it. Bullpen is toast. I’d forfeit if I could, but you’re wearing it until your arm falls off” and the guy at least gets through the first. The fact that he didn’t do #1, and decided to do #2, before bailing on that idea is not great. (But granted, his hands were tied. I get at some point you have to cut bait and go get him).

 

 

 

I will use this opportunity to reminisce on the only other Astros game that I can remember being this bad (worse) in the first inning. 7 year old me actually remembers where I was listening to Milo on the radio and blown away that  a team could give up 2 TDs (with the extra points) in the first inning.

August 3, 1989 at Riverfront. Starter (Jim Clancy) didn’t get an out giving up a leadoff walk and then 6 straight hits, all who would eventually score…(including a 3 run jack by Papa Griffey), before Art yanked him for Bob Forsch. Who proceeded to give up hits to 10 of the next 11 batters (only out of those 11 was the pitcher, Tom Browning) before retiring the leadoff and 2nd guy in the order on their THIRD plate appearances in the inning for the final 2 outs of the inning.

add it all up, we go to the 2nd:

Astros 0 0 0

Reds 14  16  0

(Epilogue: tip of the cap to the Big Bopper who, after all that, led off the top of the 2nd and smashed the first pitch he saw from Browning over the left field wall). (And lol at Browning getting the complete game on 87 pitches.)

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN198908030.shtml
 

https://www.mlb.com/video/reds-1989-14-run-1st-inning

 

[patrickdrinksbeer 788]

Did somebody fact check this?
I’m actually a bit surprised by this. but the more I think about, the more I think it shows Espada is also “1 of 1”. This says every other manager in the history of baseball has either 1) pulled a guy in the first inning before he gets to that point when he thinks his team still has a chance to come back and win or 2) says  “f it. Bullpen is toast. I’d forfeit if I could, but you’re wearing it until your arm falls off” and the guy at least gets through the first. The fact that he didn’t do #1, and decided to do #2, before bailing on that idea is not great. (But granted, his hands were tied. I get at some point you have to cut bait and go get him).
 
 
 
I will use this opportunity to reminisce on the only other Astros game that I can remember being this bad (worse) in the first inning. 7 year old me actually remembers where I was listening to Milo on the radio and blown away that  a team could give up 2 TDs (with the extra points) in the first inning.
August 3, 1989 at Riverfront. Starter (Jim Clancy) didn’t get an out giving up a leadoff walk and then 6 straight hits, all who would eventually score…(including a 3 run jack by Papa Griffey), before Art yanked him for Bob Forsch. Who proceeded to give up hits to 10 of the next 11 batters (only out of those 11 was the pitcher, Tom Browning) before retiring the leadoff and 2nd guy in the order on their THIRD plate appearances in the inning for the final 2 outs of the inning.
add it all up, we go to the 2nd:
Astros 0 0 0
Reds 14  16  0
(Epilogue: tip of the cap to the Big Bopper who, after all that, led off the top of the 2nd and smashed the first pitch he saw from Browning over the left field wall). (And lol at Browning getting the complete game on 87 pitches.)
 
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN198908030.shtml
 
https://www.mlb.com/video/reds-1989-14-run-1st-inning
 

i remember watching this as a 9 year old at my grandparents house.

[Guadaloopy 10960]

When the Feds are done going after Ippei for stealing $16M, maybe they can come after Abreu for stealing $58M.  

[Beau Vine 54207]

1 hour ago, UTexasFight said:

Did somebody fact check this?

I’m actually a bit surprised by this. but the more I think about, the more I think it shows Espada is also “1 of 1”. This says every other manager in the history of baseball has either 1) pulled a guy in the first inning before he gets to that point when he thinks his team still has a chance to come back and win or 2) says  “f it. Bullpen is toast. I’d forfeit if I could, but you’re wearing it until your arm falls off” and the guy at least gets through the first. The fact that he didn’t do #1, and decided to do #2, before bailing on that idea is not great. (But granted, his hands were tied. I get at some point you have to cut bait and go get him).

 

 

 

I will use this opportunity to reminisce on the only other Astros game that I can remember being this bad (worse) in the first inning. 7 year old me actually remembers where I was listening to Milo on the radio and blown away that  a team could give up 2 TDs (with the extra points) in the first inning.

August 3, 1989 at Riverfront. Starter (Jim Clancy) didn’t get an out giving up a leadoff walk and then 6 straight hits, all who would eventually score…(including a 3 run jack by Papa Griffey), before Art yanked him for Bob Forsch. Who proceeded to give up hits to 10 of the next 11 batters (only out of those 11 was the pitcher, Tom Browning) before retiring the leadoff and 2nd guy in the order on their THIRD plate appearances in the inning for the final 2 outs of the inning.

add it all up, we go to the 2nd:

Astros 0 0 0

Reds 14  16  0

(Epilogue: tip of the cap to the Big Bopper who, after all that, led off the top of the 2nd and smashed the first pitch he saw from Browning over the left field wall). (And lol at Browning getting the complete game on 87 pitches.)

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN198908030.shtml
 

https://www.mlb.com/video/reds-1989-14-run-1st-inning

 

Rolando Roomes!

[Macklemore 2876]

16 hours ago, TexArcher said:

They should make Abreu pitch an inning.

You're gonna contribute something, you fat piece of shit.

 

[UTPhil2006 3805]

8 hours ago, Guadaloopy said:

When the Feds are done going after Ippei for stealing $16M, maybe they can come after Abreu for stealing $58M.  

Shamelessly stealing this. Well done sir 

3 minutes ago, Macklemore said:

 

Carlos Lee? Edit n/m missed MVP part 

Edited April 12 by UTPhil2006

[UTexasFight 9429]

Can we please get the roof open tonight?

[WBT 20561]

9 hours ago, UTexasFight said:

Did somebody fact check this?

I’m actually a bit surprised by this. but the more I think about, the more I think it shows Espada is also “1 of 1”. This says every other manager in the history of baseball has either 1) pulled a guy in the first inning before he gets to that point when he thinks his team still has a chance to come back and win or 2) says  “f it. Bullpen is toast. I’d forfeit if I could, but you’re wearing it until your arm falls off” and the guy at least gets through the first. The fact that he didn’t do #1, and decided to do #2, before bailing on that idea is not great. (But granted, his hands were tied. I get at some point you have to cut bait and go get him).

 

 

 

I will use this opportunity to reminisce on the only other Astros game that I can remember being this bad (worse) in the first inning. 7 year old me actually remembers where I was listening to Milo on the radio and blown away that  a team could give up 2 TDs (with the extra points) in the first inning.

August 3, 1989 at Riverfront. Starter (Jim Clancy) didn’t get an out giving up a leadoff walk and then 6 straight hits, all who would eventually score…(including a 3 run jack by Papa Griffey), before Art yanked him for Bob Forsch. Who proceeded to give up hits to 10 of the next 11 batters (only out of those 11 was the pitcher, Tom Browning) before retiring the leadoff and 2nd guy in the order on their THIRD plate appearances in the inning for the final 2 outs of the inning.

add it all up, we go to the 2nd:

Astros 0 0 0

Reds 14  16  0

(Epilogue: tip of the cap to the Big Bopper who, after all that, led off the top of the 2nd and smashed the first pitch he saw from Browning over the left field wall). (And lol at Browning getting the complete game on 87 pitches.)

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN198908030.shtml
 

https://www.mlb.com/video/reds-1989-14-run-1st-inning

 

Clancy was such a disastrous signing

[Snake Diggity 4619]

This series sets up as a potential rebound.  Nothing about the pitching matchups favors the Rangers very heavily.  France/Dunning, Blanco/Heaney, and Javier/Eovaldi all seem winnable for Houston.  They need gutsy performances from those guys and more timely offense.  A sweep this weekend would put them at 7-10 and 0.5 games back in the division.  At that point all would be well.  Getting swept to go to 4-13 and 6 games back would be fucked up.

I want to see Singleton play every day for the next couple of weeks.  He looked good yesterday and Abreu is clearly hapless.  Espada can spin it that he’s just giving Abreu a reset; if Abreu comes thru with a clutch pinch hit or if Singleton sucks shit, they can always go back to the $20M black hole.

[LCHorn 2615]

I know Chandler Rome isn’t one to hold his fire but his Athletic article this morning was SCATHING.

One of the idiot commenters brought up signing Greinke and that’s not the worst idea I’ve seen-at this point, a starter who only gives up a run per inning is an improvement.  

[Chuckie Finster 22694]

14 hours ago, Snake Diggity said:

It’s probably down a bit.  The return I listed doesn’t reflect a huge drop in value, but he hasn’t done himself or the Astros any favors in the early going.

Meh.  You’d have to give me specifics.  Otherwise you’re just being a dick.  A lot of the returns would be market dependent and obviously hinge on how each of those players perform between now and the deadline.  But really I only listed Tucker (a borderline MVP caliber player with another year of control) and Valdez (an ace with another year of control) as realistic trade candidates even bringing back Top 100 prospects.  The Org Top 10/30 types would just be guys like Pedro Leon, Joey Loperfido, Arrighetti, Whitley, etc.; those prospects aren’t that valuable and saying a player isn’t worth that is basically saying they don’t have surplus value.  Dylan Cease had less value than Framber (and a smaller market given the spring financial constraints) and he brought back 3 of SD’s top 10 prospects (from a very good farm), one of which was a Top 100 guy.

Wasn't meant to be rude, although certainly reads that way (my bad), and maybe I was overvaluing in my mind what "org top 10" meant - because this is obviously highly dependent on the org.  My issues were mostly with the position players, as pitching return is always highly driven by what else is out there.  Frankly I just don't think Meyers has any value outside this organization, and as much as I love Chas and Pena, I think their returns would shock (in a bad way) many who are still attached to their postseason heroics.

And on Javier - I have no idea what to make of him.  There was a time when I thought he was a future Cy Young candidate and now I don't know if he's actually any good at all.  He's someone who could potentially fetch a ransom from the right team (if we eat some money) or he could be priced as the lottery ticket that he appears to be.  

All of this only my opinion, obviously.

12 hours ago, David Dennison said:

So Montgomery or Snell.

Is that a Jim Crane decision or a Dana Brown decision?

Reggie Jackson, apparently.

 

 

[Js1 85278]

23 minutes ago, LCHorn said:

I know Chandler Rome isn’t one to hold his fire but his Athletic article this morning was SCATHING.

[Mitch Hedberg 2090]

I’ve had issues with Rome just kind of unnecessarily being a dick when things are going good, but when it’s deserved, he can bring the ruckus to that ass pretty, pretty, pretty good.  

[LCHorn 2615]

2 minutes ago, Mitch Hedberg said:

I’ve had issues with Rome just kind of unnecessarily being a dick when things are going good, but when it’s deserved, he can bring the ruckus to that ass pretty, pretty, pretty good.  

I like him, I think he asks obvious questions and it's around performance. 

It's not Jose de Jesus Ortiz (want some manufactured drama?), McTaggart (I can only hint around stuff because I might piss off the team) or Richard Justice (you guys like Rick Reilly, right?  How about a local version?), so maybe my standards are low. 

[tx 3 putt 76871]

Hopefully they review this …

 

[Pimphand 5733]

1 hour ago, Chuckie Finster said:

Wasn't meant to be rude, although certainly reads that way (my bad), and maybe I was overvaluing in my mind what "org top 10" meant - because this is obviously highly dependent on the org.  My issues were mostly with the position players, as pitching return is always highly driven by what else is out there.  Frankly I just don't think Meyers has any value outside this organization, and as much as I love Chas and Pena, I think their returns would shock (in a bad way) many who are still attached to their postseason heroics.

And on Javier - I have no idea what to make of him.  There was a time when I thought he was a future Cy Young candidate and now I don't know if he's actually any good at all.  He's someone who could potentially fetch a ransom from the right team (if we eat some money) or he could be priced as the lottery ticket that he appears to be.  

All of this only my opinion, obviously.

Reggie Jackson, apparently.

 

 

I have always been a huge Reggie Jackson fan for his fuck you pay me attitude during the 70s but at this point I wouldn't even listen to my own father for advice at his age and he's 7 months younger than Reggie.

[tx 3 putt 76871]

[Macklemore 2876]

This interview with Reggie Jackson should scare the shit of everyone. Flat out, he says that he is on a committee with Bagwell, Biggio and Crane, implying they’re now the true decision makers, not our GM. Confirming our worst fears, Dana is just a yes man and the analytics department no longer drives the decision making process. Crane and the committee of has been players have gutted what made us great. Biggio, Bagwell and Reggie are old school baseball guys — they’re a relic of a bygone day. They’re the worst guys out there to rely on to build a team in 2024.

@Wulaw Horn was the sole voice here crying out in the wilderness during the offseason after we won in the WS. The rest of us were still basking in the glow of the WS win and downplayed the decisions made that offseason that have proven to be a disaster. Bagwell hates analytics — his mindset has infected the entire organization, it’s the reason why the dynasty has crumbled and the championship window is now closed. Crane has become Jerry Jones. Welcome to baseball hell.

Edited April 12 by Macklemore

[UTexasFight 9429]

yeah, scout buddy I know and those I’ve talked to connected to him have been warning about this for a while now.

 

It will but I, for one, look forward to not having to pay $180 for third row seats like I did for tonight’s game.

It does really, really suck that both of my kids are just now getting to the prime age of kid fandom and we’re too young to really experience/remember most of this window.

 

[TexArcher 37767]

I mean, that sounds like an old boys club getting itself paid while paying lip service to the GM and analytics.

Not great, Bob.

[Js1 85278]

Bitch Boy Bagwell, Do Nothing Dana and Cheap Crane

The window is closed. Was fun while it lasted. 

[David Dennison 18850]

1 hour ago, Macklemore said:

This interview with Reggie Jackson should scare the shit of everyone. Flat out, he says that he is on a committee with Bagwell, Biggio and Crane, implying they’re now the true decision makers, not our GM. Confirming our worst fears, Dana is just a yes man and the analytics department no longer drives the decision making process. Crane and the committee of has been players have gutted what made us great. Biggio, Bagwell and Reggie are old school baseball guys — they’re a relic of a bygone day. They’re the worst guys out there to rely on to build a team in 2024.

@Wulaw Horn was the sole voice here crying out in the wilderness during the offseason after we won in the WS. The rest of us were still basking in the glow of the WS win and downplayed the decisions made that offseason that have proven to be a disaster. Bagwell hates analytics — his mindset has infected the entire organization, it’s the reason why the dynasty has crumbled and the championship window is now closed. Crane has become Jerry Jones. Welcome to baseball hell.

Oh, well. It's his team. He can do whatever he wants.

If they suck I'll find something else to pay attention to.

[Guadaloopy 10960]

Fuck.  That Rome article made me sad.  

[Storm the Field 5294]

SIAP, but some interesting offensive stats that eventually have to swing back in our favor.

Astros are 4th in MLB in AVG. 3rd in HR and 4th in 2B. And yet we're mediocre (15/30) at producing runs, with just 52 RBI. 

Our "average" game so far has seen us tally 9.5 hits, 1.2 HR, but just 3.7 RBI. It takes an average of 2.6 hits for us to produce a run. The only team with a worse ratio of hits/RBI are the dreadful White Sox (27 RBI on 81 hits). Vast majority of teams are below 2 hits/RBI.

We're not striking out a ton, with just 96 through 14 games. Only a handful of teams have fewer K's. And we're middle of the pack at taking walks. 

The main culprit is obviously our abysmal .605 OPS with RISP. We've had 145 PA with RISP (5th most in MLB) but tallied just 30 hits. In those 145 plate appearances, we've had a whopping 1 sacrifice fly!  It's simply not possible to be this ineffective with men on base for an extended period of time. Over the course of the last decade, ~.650 OPS with RISP is right at where the worst team in baseball finishes each full season. During the Astros run between 2017-2023, we always finish somewhere between .820 and .845.

Hey, it could be worse, the Twins are currently an impressive .416 OPS with RISP!

 

[Fudge Nuggets 19189]

2 hours ago, UTexasFight said:

yeah, scout buddy I know and those I’ve talked to connected to him have been warning about this for a while now.

 

It will but I, for one, look forward to not having to pay $180 for third row seats like I did for tonight’s game.

It does really, really suck that both of my kids are just now getting to the prime age of kid fandom and we’re too young to really experience/remember most of this window.

 

Sucks for the kids, but they can wait 40+ years like most of us did.  Makes you appreciate shit a lot more.

[tx 3 putt 76871]

Hmmm

 

[mbtex 683]

5 hours ago, Snake Diggity said:

I want to see Singleton play every day for the next couple of weeks.  He looked good yesterday and Abreu is clearly hapless.  Espada can spin it that he’s just giving Abreu a reset; if Abreu comes thru with a clutch pinch hit or if Singleton sucks shit, they can always go back to the $20M black hole.

I want to see them both DFA'd. and Loperfido and Leon brought up.

[UTPhil2006 3805]

Roof closed 

[Slacks 6819]

5 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

Hopefully they review this …

 

[n64ra 1081]

8 hours ago, UTPhil2006 said:

Shamelessly stealing this. Well done sir 

Carlos Lee? Edit n/m missed MVP part 

I still give you credit. The MVP has a * after it so maybe it was optional.

[UTPhil2006 3805]

Kuhnel up Mushi down Suero DFA