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2018 Houston Astros Season Thread

Planet Houston

By Planet Houston
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TexArcher
TexArcher

Bregs is going Crawford Boxes right here.

ERhine
ERhine

Prior to the footage being edited by Bender:

wesleywest
wesleywest

Two Diamond Club tickets available for the Sunday night game.  Free.  Need to pick them up from me in 77027. Rules: Poster must be a big contributor to this thread/last years shag thread.  No gue

Dutchrudder

Dutchrudder 11247

Posted
Posted

Nsiap:  http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/page/powerrankings0702/ranking-mlb-teams-week-13

1. Houston Astros

Record: 55-31
Week 12 ranking: 1

The official halfway point of the season came this past week, and the Astros' pitchers broke their own MLB record with 853 strikeouts through 81 games, according to Elias Sports Bureau research. The Astros' plus-173 run differential through 81 games ranks fifth in AL history and best since the 1939 Yankees. Houston had won 11 straight road games, tying the franchise record, before losing three in a row at Tampa over the weekend. The Astros lead the majors with a 30-14 record on the road this season. -- Jacob Nitzberg, ESPN Stats & Information

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Guadaloopy

Guadaloopy 11139

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I like Jake, but...

 

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WBT

WBT 20997

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Yeah, sending down Jake instead of Kemp is interesting to me.  Springer is now our only right hand hitting OF.  Marwin is a switch hitter but much better from the left side.  Jake is also a much better late inning defender/pinch runner option than Kemp.  Kemp can play 2B which may be a factor especially right now with Correa out.  

I think the hope would be that Ted starts hitting right away and the almost full time outfield becomes Tucker, Springer, and Reddick.  Marwin would see his LF starts go way down and slot more into the utility role.  I don't see where there is much playing time for Kemp which again makes me think that roster spot could be better used having Jake as a defensive replacement.  

Certainly nothing is set in stone yet though and how these guys perform between now and the end of the season will weigh heavily into who ends up on the playoff roster.

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BornOrange

BornOrange 1441

Posted
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24 minutes ago, TonyTexas said:

I’m pleasantly surprised at this news. I thought it would take an injury for this to happen.

 

19 minutes ago, Hank Chinaski said:

I'm a little surprised that Jake was sent down rather than Kemp...but excited to see Tucker...

 

5 minutes ago, patrickdrinksbeer said:

not that it would be a reason to not make this move, but i am very curious how this plays in the clubhouse. jake seems to be very well liked and has been playing a lot better recently.

I agree with all of these 100%.

Excited to see Tucker with the Astros and hope he makes any concerns irrelevant. 

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UTexasFight

UTexasFight 9819

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Get MLB.TV and then use a service like unlocator to spoof your location. I’ve been doing this for the past few years with an Apple TV

Yeah. This.
It’s slightly annoying but works like a charm
If you can hold out until maybe the all star break there may be a good deal. They seem to do some special prices around this time of year
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Fozzz

Fozzz 152

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, WBT said:

Yeah, sending down Jake instead of Kemp is interesting to me.  Springer is now our only right hand hitting OF.  Marwin is a switch hitter but much better from the left side.  Jake is also a much better late inning defender/pinch runner option than Kemp.  Kemp can play 2B which may be a factor especially right now with Correa out.  

I think the hope would be that Ted starts hitting right away and the almost full time outfield becomes Tucker, Springer, and Reddick.  Marwin would see his LF starts go way down and slot more into the utility role.  I don't see where there is much playing time for Kemp which again makes me think that roster spot could be better used having Jake as a defensive replacement.  

Certainly nothing is set in stone yet though and how these guys perform between now and the end of the season will weigh heavily into who ends up on the playoff roster.

Marisnick will make the postseason roster irrespective of how Tucker performs. They might have sent Jake down at this point given that Kemp only has one option left. 

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UTexasFight

UTexasFight 9819

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From before the call up but a good article summarizing all of the recent moves and what Luhnow is positioning for:


At the Class AAA level, the Astros face a roster crunch. They have four outfielders who warrant everyday playing time in Kyle Tucker, Derek Fisher, Yordan Alvarez and Myles Straw. The idea of simply rotating them as designated hitters is complicated by the team’s glut of corner infielders who already absorb many of those at-bats.

It’s still expected that Tucker — Houston’s best position-player prospect — will debut in the majors this season. But until he gets the call, the Fresno Grizzlies will have a crowded outfield.

That’s partially why the Astros have resorted to experimentation.

Straw, an outfield prospect with elite speed and a strong arm, is at least for now also a part-time shortstop. He made his debut at the position in the final four innings of Fresno’s loss Thursday against Las Vegas. If he proves to be a viable infielder, he will not only alleviate the Astros’ temporary Class AAA playing-time issue but also increase his value and potential to contribute in the majors.

“We wouldn’t have put him out there if we didn’t think it was at least a possibility down the road,” Astros president of baseball operations Jeff Luhnow said. “He has really good tools that we think are applicable potentially in the infield as well as the outfield. And if you look at a player with his type of skill set — the speed, the contact, the fielding — the more versatile he becomes the more likely we are to be able to find a spot for him on next year’s team here as a guy that can (play) infield, outfield, run, hit, et cetera.”

Straw was back in right field for Fresno’s game on Friday, a night when Alvarez made his Class AAA debut in left field, Fisher manned center and Tucker had a night off. Alvarez can play first base — the position usually manned for the Grizzlies by AJ Reed or Taylor Jones — but the Astros seem to like him better as a left fielder.

Straw is the best defensive center fielder of the four Fresno outfielders but has also played a lot of right field and some left field. Outside of instructional league, the former 12th-round pick from St. Johns River State College in Palatka, Fla., hadn’t played shortstop since high school until the Astros asked him recently to take grounders on the dirt.

The Astros bumped Straw to Class AAA just last month. His contact-oriented approach from the right side had produced a .346/.433/.462 slash line in 90 Pacific Coast League plate appearances entering Friday night’s game. He had also stolen 10 bases in 11 attempts to go with the 35 in 41 attempts while in Class AA earlier this year.

“Right now, we’re trying it out. We’ll see it how it goes,” Luhnow said of Straw playing shortstop. “But certainly all indications from his physical abilities are that he should be able to do it. Now, not having done it for his entire life, he’s going to be a little bit behind.

“These days positions are a little different, too. The shortstop isn’t always standing where he used to stand. He’s standing in the outfield a lot, and he’s making different throws. A versatile athlete in today’s baseball world should be able to play almost every position out there, maybe with the exception of catcher, because they’re running after the ball, they’re catching it, they’re throwing it regardless of where they’re standing.”

Friday was a busy day for Luhnow, who made a couple of minor trades. Jon Kemmer became a victim of the aforementioned roster crunch when the Astros dealt the Class AAA corner outfielder to the Twins for cash considerations. They later moved Class AAA reliever James Hoyt to the Indians for Tommy DeJuneas, a Class A right-hander.

The Hoyt move brought the Astros’ 40-man roster back down to 38 players. They have several players in Class AAA and Class AA who could debut this season and are not yet on their 40-man, a list highlighted by Tucker and top pitching prospect Forrest Whitley but also including Straw and catcher Garrett Stubbs. (Straw and Stubbs are among a slew of Astros minor leaguers who will be eligible to be picked in December’s Rule 5 Draft if not added to the 40-man roster beforehand.)

Oh, and there’s also that non-waiver trade deadline that looms on July 31.

“It’s been challenging for a lot of our upper-level players not getting an opportunity to come up here or coming up and then going back down and waiting for the next shot,” Luhnow said. “We’ve had a relatively healthy group of players up here, and we have another group of players right behind them that are pushing their way up — Yordan Alvarez, Myles Straw, Corbin Martin. There are just guys that we need to continue to develop. So, there comes a time in the year when you have to make these decisions. Are these players that we feel are going to get a chance up here? And if not, if they have major-league value for another team, it might make sense for us to do some trades.”

The Hoyt trade was interesting in that the Astros dealt him to a fellow AL contender they could meet as early as the Division Series. The right-hander was part of the Astros’ bullpen in 2016 and 2017 and made one appearance for them this season — in April during Tony Sipp’s brief DL stint — but had been passed over by the team for recent promotions in favor of left-handers Reymin Guduan and Cionel Perez.

“We’re very right-handed up here in the bullpen,” Luhnow said. “The guys we’ve brought up this year — Guduan, Cionel — have been left-handed pitchers. We don’t know if he would’ve gotten a chance up here, but it seemed like a better opportunity for him elsewhere and allows us to get a younger player who we feel has major-league upside who’s not on the roster and sort of push the timeline back a little bit.”

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UTexasFight

UTexasFight 9819

Posted
Posted
Marisnick will make the postseason roster irrespective of how Tucker performs. They might have sent Jake down at this point given that Kemp only has one option left. 

So remind on options...
Based on your post, you expect Kemp to be up the rest of the year? Or at least expect Astros to push out the decision to lose Kemp’s last option year?... possibly making kemp more valuable in a trade if he maintains that last option that his new team can decide what to do with?
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Fozzz

Fozzz 152

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Posted
3 minutes ago, UTexasFight said:


So remind on options...
Based on your post, you expect Kemp to be up the rest of the year? Or at least expect Astros to push out the decision to lose Kemp’s last option year?... possibly making kemp more valuable in a trade if he maintains that last option that his new team can decide what to do with?

If they send Kemp down now and Tucker gets his ass kicked, requiring Kemp to be brought back up after like a month or so, then the Astros would not be able to send Kemp down again without putting him through waivers, which Kemp likely would not clear. 

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Fozzz

Fozzz 152

Posted
Posted

Wait, disregard that post above. I forgot that you lose an option when you get sent to a minor league affiliate at the end of spring training, so he’s already used his option for this season. 

Not sure why then they kept Kemp up. 

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