2018 Houston Astros Season Thread

[Guadaloopy 10989]

2 minutes ago, AtticusFinch said:

There is really no reason for Keuchel to be on 25 man roster.   He will be but it's a wasted spot because they have far better options.  He will not start a game so would you trust him to pitch in relief?

This take is worse than mine about the basepath.  

[ckhorn 208]

3 minutes ago, AtticusFinch said:

There is really no reason for Keuchel to be on 25 man roster.   He will be but it's a wasted spot because they have far better options.  He will not start a game so would you trust him to pitch in relief?

Gagreed. It might piss off some of the veterans.

[WBT 20642]

lulz, the m's keep flashing the leather

Didn't realize that bounced, I thought it poppep up off of seager's glove straight over heredia

Edited September 20, 2018 by WBT

[Tommy Nobis 905]

Just forfeit the rest of this game

[Seasick Sailor 3747]

 

[ckhorn 208]

For all the excuses I hear about our issues hitting at MM. Seattle loves hitting hear.

[Scraps 13570]

For all the excuses I hear about our issues hitting at MM. Seattle loves hitting hear.

Hear hear!

[Mez2 4025]

Get Seattle the fuck outta here and let their season die somewhere else. 

[Mez2 4025]

1 minute ago, Scraps said:

10 minutes ago, ckhorn said:

For all the excuses I hear about our issues hitting at MM. Seattle loves hitting hear.

Hear hear!

Dilly dilly?

[Seasick Sailor 3747]

Fucking terrible game. 

[ckhorn 208]

12 minutes ago, Mez2 said:

Dilly dilly?

CRAY CRAY

[ckhorn 208]

We can add Oakland to that liest. Glad we wont have face a AL West team in the play offs. WAIT

[Tommy Nobis 905]

Devo pitching in the 9th in garbage time. Doesn’t bode well for him making the playoff roster. Him and peacock have been major disappointments this year.

[David Dennison 18940]

Yuck.

 

[ckhorn 208]

The box score tonight will probably tell you the pitchers who don't make the post season roster. With the exception of Kuechal, not sure he makes it either. As Atticus posted earlier. We can't afford to get down 3-5 runs in the 1st inning and he doesn't fit the relief profile.

Edited September 20, 2018 by ckhorn

[Stros 153]

Yuck.
 

Yep

[Guadaloopy 10989]

Keuchel is going on the playoff roster.   Go ahead and wrap your heads around that fact.   

[Gourmand 7774]

Keuchel pitched like shit tonight and I'm as pissed as all y'all but any talk of leaving him off the playoff roster is straight up fucktard nonsense.

[UTexasFight 9517]

Devo pitching in the 9th in garbage time. Doesn’t bode well for him making the playoff roster. Him and peacock have been major disappointments this year.

Or major surprises last year?

[AtticusFinch 155]

6 minutes ago, Gourmand said:

Keuchel pitched like shit tonight and I'm as pissed as all y'all but any talk of leaving him off the playoff roster is straight up fucktard nonsense.

I know he wont be left off but he is a liability.  1/2 of his starts are shit

[DaysOff 7961]

This was a fuck

[UTexasFight 9517]

Keuchel has had a couple of rough starts in September. The previous 2.5 months though, he was the best starter in the staff.
Hopefully he finds July Keuchel in his last two starts of the year.

[UTexasFight 9517]

Granted, without twitter probably only the 5 people that still look at a newspaper saw this, but a class move:

[Pimphand 5812]

Thank god the fucking Mariners cannot play at MMP again in 2018 holy dumpster fire batman....

[Rimbo 26019]

losing still sucks

[perfectchaos007 6677]

So where will our AAA affiliate be next season?

[Chuckie Finster 22702]

So where will our AAA affiliate be next season?

Round Rock

[cabowabo 4492]

Keuchel will be on the playoff roster (unfortunately), but I take comfort knowing he won't be around next year. 

[WBT 20642]

Bunch of miserable fucks on this thread.  I'm sad that was probably DK's last regular season home start.  He was a huge part of bringing the franchise back from years of wandering the desert and his 2015 was about as good as it gets: starting the All Star game, Cy Young, winning the wild card game in Yankee stadium.

He's still been very good for long stretches this year and I don't see how anyone can think there are 4 better options to start in the playoffs.

 

[Hank Chinaski 6315]

Keuchel is what he is - a pretty good mid-rotation starter. His CY season was great, but not his norm. I'm not a huge fan of the guy because he says lots of stupid shit to reporters that serves no purpose. But he's a reasonably good pitcher. Of course he'll be on the playoff roster. 

[Guadaloopy 10989]

Kid Keuchel has been a huge part of this franchise’s rise from the ashes.   I’m a huge fan despite the ocassional big mouth and egg laid.  He’s got another playoff gem or two in the quiver, and I think he’ll make a few of you in here look pretty dumb.

[WBT 20642]

Oh and despite his up and down year, among qualifiers he's 9th in the AL in pitching WAR, 14th in ERA, and 10th in FIP. 

[David Dennison 18940]

42 minutes ago, Guadaloopy said:

Kid Keuchel has been a huge part of this franchise’s rise from the ashes.   I’m a huge fan despite the ocassional big mouth and egg laid.  He’s got another playoff gem or two in the quiver, and I think he’ll make a few of you in here look pretty dumb.

It's going to be weird seeing him in another uniform.

I just hope he signs out of division.

[Scraps 13570]

He gets a lifetime pass for me. Even when he leaves here and inevitably says something "bad" about the front office/organization.

[Mez2 4025]

you fuckers blaming Keuchel are ignoring the real problem.

@UTPhil2006 keeps going to home games and everyone he goes to, we've lost. I say we don't allow him to go to any more home games. 

[kevwun 15811]

We may have to sacrifice just to be safe.

[Seasick Sailor 3747]

 

[clapclapclap 9000]

37 minutes ago, Mez2 said:

you fuckers blaming Keuchel are ignoring the real problem.

@UTPhil2006 keeps going to home games and everyone he goes to, we've lost. I say we don't allow him to go to any more home games. 

Send him to the remaining A's home games.

[UTPhil2006 3807]

48 minutes ago, Mez2 said:

you fuckers blaming Keuchel are ignoring the real problem.

@UTPhil2006 keeps going to home games and everyone he goes to, we've lost. I say we don't allow him to go to any more home games. 

To be fair my record is 9-7.  8-7 if you take out the game in Arlington.  4 of the last 5 have been L's though.  Like Didi Gregorioius I lost my early season magic

[Mez2 4025]

you're an A's fan now

[Storm the Field 5297]

Boss and I took some clients to last night's debacle. By the end we were basically saying "Hope you guys at least had fun drinking beer tonight, sorry for bringing you to the single worst home game of the season."

Always fun when you're about 5 minutes late for first pitch and it's already 3-0 before you get to your seats.

Edited September 20, 2018 by Storm the Field

[Mo Horn 8852]

Hope the Angels put up the same kind of resistance when they're in town this weekend as they are against the A's. 

[Seasick Sailor 3747]

Just win:

 

[FondrenRoad 4378]

Angels going after our run differential too.

[UTexasFight 9517]

Angels going after our run differential too.

Jesus Oakland...
Payback for the Rams beatdown of the Raiders opening week?

[henrygandorf 29194]

he's already dead.jpg

[UTexasFight 9517]

No quick fix for Correa’s slump:

 

After two straight 5+ fWAR seasons, Carlos Correa came in with lofty expectations. Unfortunately for him and the Astros, he has fallen well below his projections.

Through the first 33 games of the season it looked like we were going to watch yet another fantastic season from Correa as he opened the year with a .311/.379/.529 slash line. Since May 5, Correa is “hitting” .207/.298/.343. He has been the worst hitter on the Astros during that time and it’s not particularly close. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that this is the worst Correa has ever looked in his brief career.

So what is happening here? I’m about 97% sure the prodigious No. 1 overall pick didn’t get his powers Space Jam’daway from him overnight. Let’s take a look at what has and hasn’t changed this year.

The first thing we should look at is whether pitchers have changed their approach towards Correa. When it comes to location, that answer is no.

Pitchers aren’t changing their location to Correa because they don’t need to. He has shown none of the pop he showcased in his first three seasons. Here are his slugging numbers before and after May 5.

As you can see, Correa has had trouble all year on inside pitches, something I went into much greater detail in here. Earlier in the year, he was able to make up for this lack of success by mashing pitches on the outer half of the plate. Not anymore. He’s regained a tiny bit of pop on the inner third but has lost any semblance of a power threat out over the plate.

Correa has been dealing with a back injury throughout the year. He missed 36 games and has admitted his injury is playing a role in his offensive struggles.

I have a bad back. I have to do weird exercises and sit with a thing on my chair that helps me not cramp up at my desk. Sometimes I have to ask my wife to pick up a sock I dropped because the floor just looks too far away. I know how difficult simple tasks can be when your back hurts, which is why it did not shock me to see how Correa has done at the enormously difficult task of hitting a major-league fastball.

To start the season, Correa had a .407 wOBA against fastballs. That put him in the top 25 percent of the league, beneath his 2017 total of .445, but right around his career average.

Since then, he has tailed off considerably. Since his return from the disabled list on Aug. 10, Correa has a .266 wOBA against fastballs, fourth-worst in all of baseball.

	wOBA against FB	Rank
2015	.381	80 out of 327
2016	.388	75 out of 322
2017	.445	19 out of 324
Through May 5	.407	59 out of 252
After return from DL on Aug. 10	.266	99 out of 102

One common complaint I see is Correa is being too passive, that he is watching good pitches go by, especially on fastballs early in the count. This simply isn’t true.

	% of called strikes	% of FB called strikes on 0-0, 1-0, or 0-1
2015	18.0	7.8
2016	17.5	8.1
2017	18.6	6.3
Through May 5	18.7	6.4
After return from DL on Aug. 10	19.6	6.9

If there is a silver lining here, it’s that Correa has not altered his plate discipline in the wake of his struggles.

The biggest change between Successful Correa and Current Correa is how hard he’s hitting the ball and where. In 109 games last season, Correa put 105 balls in play with an exit velocity greater than 100 mph. In his 74 games this year since May 5, he’s had just 38. It’s hard to get hits when you can’t hit with authority.

Not only that, Correa has essentially vacated left field in his spray chart since his return from the DL.

In the article linked above, Correa said, “I was playing a little hurt trying to swing where it wouldn’t hurt anymore.” That spray chart certainly looks like one of a hitter swinging with a hurt back.

With just 10 games left in the regular season, A.J. Hinch has less and less time to decide what to do with his hampered starter once the playoffs come. Hinch has uprooted Correa from his usual 4-spot in the lineup to the 5- and 6-holes, though it would be hard to see him dropping Correa any further.

The answer to Correa’s year-long slump seems to be a simple and unsatisfying one — wait until he’s fully healthy and work out a few mechanical flaws.

[Mez2 4025]

We'll win the division but with Correa hitting like Ryan White and err'body else with baseball aids, we won't do much. That said, I would hate to play the As in a one game or short series. 

Tomorrow is the biggest game of the season, fortunately utphil is not going. 

 

[Hank Chinaski 6315]

Yeah, only thing that makes sense is that Correa's back issues have screwed with him enough that he's just off at the plate (and unable to produce power). I wouldn't count on him being particularly effective in 2018. 

Still, if Altuve and Springer get hot in October, we figure to be about as good as anyone. 

[kevwun 15811]

Springer is not in one of his slumps, but he's lost his power also.  With 3 out of their 4 best hitters banged up, I am not very optimistic about the playoffs.  That is tough to overcome.

Edited September 21, 2018 by kevwun