2019 Houston Astros Thread

[smwhorn 485]

1 hour ago, David Dennison said:

Then you're going to be scared. He's the closer. He's one of the best in baseball.

Well call me scared then.  He's looked shaky over the last month.  We fucking need him.

[Wishbone 4,958]

Well, she did have some extended time off hanging with hubby a couple of months ago. 

[UTPhil2006 3,930]

1 hour ago, HtownHorn said:

Bullpen is the only thing that keeps this team from winning the WS. No lefties, which torched the Astros this weekend.

Sipp is available. 

[UTPhil2006 3,930]

She’s not pregnant. 

[rvm96 1,643]

 

[clapclapclap 9,000]

2 hours ago, Wishbone said:

BTW. Is Strom back? What was the issue for his surgery? If that’s been discussed or published then I missed it.

I think he got a thumb stomach.  Weird timing, though.

[Wishbone 4,958]

3 minutes ago, clapclapclap said:

I think he got a thumb stomach.  Weird timing, though.

Ok, I’ll bite. WTF is a “thumb stomach”? 

[tx 3 putt 78,677]

https://www.espn.com/chalk/story/_/id/27369444/orioles-upset-astros-one-biggest-15-years

 

The Baltimore Orioles pulled off one of the biggest MLB upsets in the past 15 years Sunday.

The Orioles, who were listed as high as +420 underdogs at some U.S. sportsbooks, knocked off Justin Verlander and the Houston Astros 8-7.

[kevwun 16,438]

Was listening to the game on XM and it was the Baltimore broadcast.  They were pretty sure Bregman was hit on purpose and the color guy was expecting the Astros to retaliate, just not in the situation they did.

[Spoetzl 189]

Today sucked.  But this season will be remembered by me for last night.  Yordan hits his second bomb and Mcnelly looks over and says “seen further on campus.”

[UpperWestside 6,274]

9 hours ago, Scraps said:

11 hours ago, Mez2 said:

Can you imagine if we played the Orioles as much as the yankees? Hell even the blue jays.
Today will be a squeaker because baseball gonna baseball

Doubt it. We are gonna take them down to pound town again

Good call. 

They are horrific and do not deserve to be a major league team, much like Houston should have been relegated when they lost on purpose for 5 or 6 years straight, but they can put it together every few days. You guys have the tanking M's and the Angels whenever they decide to stop trying to be not quite so mediocre.

[UpperWestside 6,274]

59 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

https://www.espn.com/chalk/story/_/id/27369444/orioles-upset-astros-one-biggest-15-years

 

The Baltimore Orioles pulled off one of the biggest MLB upsets in the past 15 years Sunday.

The Orioles, who were listed as high as +420 underdogs at some U.S. sportsbooks, knocked off Justin Verlander and the Houston Astros 8-7.

I do not know who sets MLB odds, but that is a hard job. 

[ERhine 1,938]

Good call. 
They are horrific and do not deserve to be a major league team, much like Houston should have been relegated when they lost on purpose for 5 or 6 years straight, but they can put it together every few days. You guys have the tanking M's and the Angels whenever they decide to stop trying to be not quite so mediocre.

[Scraps 13,799]

Great dipshit followed me in here. I apologize to the rest of you.

[ERhine 1,938]

Its such a dumb take. Not even worth the time.

[Hank Chinaski 6,359]

22 minutes ago, UpperWestside said:

Good call. 

They are horrific and do not deserve to be a major league team, much like Houston should have been relegated when they lost on purpose for 5 or 6 years straight, but they can put it together every few days. You guys have the tanking M's and the Angels whenever they decide to stop trying to be not quite so mediocre.

The Orioles' problem isn't that they are rebuilding, it's that they waited too long to rebuild. They should have never gone into the 2018 season with Machado - they could have gotten much more for him if they traded him with 1 year+ of team control. That they are now doing the right thing doesn't mean they don't "deserve" to be a MLB team. 

And the Astros only "lost on purpose" for 3 years, not 6. I guess it is semantics, but this phrasing implies that the objective was to lose; the objective was to systematically get rid of organizational liabilities (bad contracts) and invest in assets with a reasonable probability of producing surplus future value. It was absolutely the most likely and efficient path to turning the organization - with its ineffective, aging roster and its decrepit farm system - into a winner.

So people can whine and get sanctimonious all they want about "tanking" while the proof of the strategy's efficacy is in the fucking pudding. It was smart, plain and simple. 

 

 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,730]

I can see why the books (and bettors) had the orioles at such a long shot but one game in baseball can easily swing from one team to another.   Taking the Astros would be a bad bet with those payouts. 

[UpperWestside 6,274]

6 minutes ago, ERhine said:

Its such a dumb take. Not even worth the time.

Good job, good effort. Your team wasted half a decade on tanking. I do not like throwing games intentionally. It's bullshit. Your owner also said he should not have to pay more during said tanking effort because it's his money. This was when AROD made more than Houston's roster.  

I am not even a Yanks fan. I just have no respect for a team who loses on purpose in any sport. I just root for the Yanks because of family.reasons. 

[UpperWestside 6,274]

8 minutes ago, Hank Chinaski said:

The Orioles' problem isn't that they are rebuilding, it's that they waited too long to rebuild. They should have never gone into the 2018 season with Machado - they could have gotten much more for him if they traded him with 1 year+ of team control. That they are now doing the right thing doesn't mean they don't "deserve" to be a MLB team. 

And the Astros only "lost on purpose" for 3 years, not 6. I guess it is semantics, but this phrasing implies that the objective was to lose; the objective was to systematically get rid of organizational liabilities (bad contracts) and invest in assets with a reasonable probability of producing surplus future value. It was absolutely the most likely and efficient path to turning the organization - with its ineffective, aging roster and its decrepit farm system - into a winner.

So people can whine and get sanctimonious all they want about "tanking" while the proof of the strategy's efficacy is in the fucking pudding. It was smart, plain and simple. 

 

 

They were attempting to tank. They have succeeded in being the 76ers. Rob Manfred, if he had any balls, would not let Chris Davis play another game. 

[Planet Houston 4,950]

5 hours ago, smwhorn said:

Go fuck yourself.

0-1 8.10 ERA in last 7 games.  1-3.  4.66 ERA in last 30 games.

Osuna, like I said three weeks ago, scares me.  

 

 

No need for that hostile shit, newbie. 

You’re right that he hasn’t been invincible lately. But he’s still one of the best closers in the game. Let’s not forgot Hinch’s decision to let Miley get two batters on in the 9th before Osuna came in the other day. It’s not all terrible, and this is one of the most talented teams of all time. Chill. 

[Hank Chinaski 6,359]

13 minutes ago, UpperWestside said:

They were attempting to tank. They have succeeded in being the 76ers. Rob Manfred, if he had any balls, would not let Chris Davis play another game. 

 

16 minutes ago, UpperWestside said:

Good job, good effort. Your team wasted half a decade on tanking. I do not like throwing games intentionally. It's bullshit. Your owner also said he should not have to pay more during said tanking effort because it's his money. This was when AROD made more than Houston's roster.  

Sure, we can call it "tanking" if you'd like. And again, it was 3 years. 

(Also - let's not be disingenuous by calling it "throwing games." This wasn't a point-shaving scandal. The players on those rosters tried to win the games. There is a distinction.)

So - given your distaste for rebuilding, would you contend that it would have been a better strategy for the Astros, when the new ownership group took over and inherited an organization with a bad major league roster and a bottom-third farm system, to pursue a "quick fix" and start recklessly overpaying aging free agents - a strategy that was proven to fail - than to rebuild the entire organization from the ground up? How exactly would this have been a better path to success? 

The previous owner tried to keep the team "competitive" in this very way, at the expense of the farm system (future), and all it did was keep the team in the vicinity of mediocre. It is bad strategy, bad business, and nobody should be patted on the back for it. 

Edited August 12, 2019 by Hank Chinaski

[Mez2 4,048]

30 minutes ago, UpperWestside said:

Good job, good effort. Your team wasted half a decade on tanking. I do not like throwing games intentionally. It's bullshit. Your owner also said he should not have to pay more during said tanking effort because it's his money. This was when AROD made more than Houston's roster.  

I am not even a Yanks fan. I just have no respect for a team who loses on purpose in any sport. I just root for the Yanks because of family.reasons. 

Get a new family

[UpperWestside 6,274]

Just now, Mez2 said:

Get a new family

I'm alright watching them play whether they win or lose because I just enjoy baseball. Thanks. 

[Shaggy3.0 1,695]

Has any teammate put a foot up osunas ass and  put him in check?  If not, we’re waiting.

[pigmeat markham 135]

3 hours ago, UpperWestside said:

 I just root for the Yanks because of family.reasons. 

Manson family?

[WBT 20,972]

I wonder if Hinch will crack down when the target wasn't his buddy Arod this time

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,730]

i would agree the Astros weren’t throwing games.  But the players were trying to win or not isn’t the argument. The ownership and management were purposely giving up short term wins. I don’t think it was about draft position more than it was to stay away from contracts that would hold then back.  See Carlos Lee.

while this worked well for the Astros, I believe it will be bad for mlb if more than 1-2 teams attempt a similar path at any given time.  We don’t want 5 teams dropping 110 games each and 5 winning that many. 

[Lat22 4,086]

Why are y'all engaging this guy?

[thetruth 149]

If that dude is pissed now, imagine how pissed he's going to be when Elias gets Baltimore turned around and they're in his division. 

[Scraps 13,799]

9 minutes ago, thetruth said:

If that dude is pissed now, imagine how pissed he's going to be when Elias gets Baltimore turned around and they're in his division. 

Dude he isn't a Yankees fan.  He just roots for the Yankees. 

[runthebone 8,376]

1 hour ago, Scraps said:

Dude he isn't a Yankees fan.  He just roots for the Yankees. 

[TonyTexas 10,766]

Yikes

[Mez2 4,048]

that's pretty efficient, though

[Seasick Sailor 3,747]

12 hours ago, UpperWestside said:

Good job, good effort. Your team wasted half a decade on tanking. I do not like throwing games intentionally. It's bullshit. Your owner also said he should not have to pay more during said tanking effort because it's his money. This was when AROD made more than Houston's roster.  

I am not even a Yanks fan. I just have no respect for a team who loses on purpose in any sport. I just root for the Yanks because of family.reasons. 

[YChang 3,569]

Oh geez... look at this baseball purist now telling us what's what. 

[henrygandorf 29,225]

1 helobious is already 1 too many.  no need for another person having to "show his work" to justify rooting for those assholes.  and even that guy knows better than to stumble in here.

the yankees are a cute story this year, and it's impressive they've been able to mix and match with their rag-tag bunch of misfits to scratch and claw and stay competitive for the best record in baseball.  they should be proud.  but it's not gonna happen.  and they won't come out of the al.

but no, they won't tank, and they won't rebuild, they'll pull themselves up by their bootstraps and set a shining example for how baseball games should be won by spending another few hundred million in the offseason.  probably take a run at cole, and god knows who else, to try to keep up with the joneses.  maybe luhnow will start teaching a masterclass in gm'ing and cashman can sign up.

good luck with all that.

[tx 3 putt 78,677]

1 hour ago, Mez2 said:

that's pretty efficient, though

Maybe the strategy was to wear the other team down ?  Batter fatigue ?

[tx 3 putt 78,677]

13 hours ago, UpperWestside said:

I'm alright watching them play whether they win or lose because I just enjoy baseball. Thanks. 

I’m sure it’s tough watching allllllll those games vs the orioles 

[Fudge Nuggets 19,455]

Does anyone know if Josh James is still alive?

[kevwun 16,438]

I saw him in the dugout during a game last week.

[Gourmand 7,778]

Does anyone know if Josh James is still alive?

He'll be back in September.

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[Ichabod 185]

Will tonight's game happen? Weather?

[Seasick Sailor 3,747]

Thread on Osuna's recent struggles:

 

[Jshep34 2,425]

2020

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[texashorne 1,194]

30 minutes ago, Jshep34 said:

2020

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
 

That's a pretty easy stretch from August 3rd to September 20th.. 

[DaysOff 8,209]

Ending the year with inter-league play is hypergay. Of course, we'll be resting everyday players then anyway.

[TonyTexas 10,766]

Will tonight's game happen? Weather?

[runthebone 8,376]

1 hour ago, Seasick Sailor said:

Thread on Osuna's recent struggles:

 

That series of tweets (twats?) is concerning.

[Seasick Sailor 3,747]

Just now, runthebone said:

That series of tweets (twats?) is concerning.

Those are tweets.

Upper Westside and Helobious are twats.  

[DaysOff 8,209]

I'VE ALWAYS BEEN A YANKEES FAN I JUST FORGOT TO TELL YOU.