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Everyone should seriously read the site before posting.
I'll add that that call is the most honest emotion I've ever heard from Buck. His voiced cracked at "at the wall." He truly could not believe what he was seeing.
Neither could I.
As an aside, Buck's had a heck of a recent post-season. The ALCS, World Series, crazy finish to Saints/Vikings.
Your point? I did not say the Astros should not pay. Verlander stayed home with the organization which drafted him and agonized almost too long in August over going to a much better situation. I do not think Keuchel will have the same loyalty Verlander did. “Show me the money.”
I really like Morton a lot in just one season and Verlander, too, because of the person he is. I respect McCullers’ talent and hope he learned something this year, but I doubt i’ll ever like him, homegrown or not. I think he, like Keuchel, will chase the money. I would love to be wrong.
Well, if MLB follows Astros policy at all (to keep it closed if the temps are below 68°F), it should be closed all three nights although Sunday will be a little warmer.
Here's the temperature progression for the duration of the games (8pm --> 11pm)
Tonight: 56°F --> 51°F
Saturday: 56°F --> 50°F
Sunday: 60°F --> 56°F
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=29.7606&lon=-95.3697&unit=0&lg=english&FcstType=graphical
Row 36. Read Bregman’s Interview. He decided late in the regular season after a failed DP and talking to Cora if the situation occurred again he was going home. He was prepared.
Were you there? If so, where. All of my tickets have been in 116.
Corbin Martin now with 28 K's in 20 IP and just 3 BBs. Not bad for a guy who who had his problems hitting the plate as an Aggie (71 walks in 132 innings in his college career).
Also just 6 hits allowed in those 20 innings.
They saw Whitley dominate.
Based on all of Luhnow's recent quotes, I think this is where he's at on trading Tucker, Fisher, or Martes: If he thinks a deal significantly improves this team's chances in a post-season series, he'll pull the trigger, even for a rental. That's a fine line to walk. But when a team is this good, you HAVE to give them every edge possible going into October.
Only that he's doing fine and is still learning to how to be a starting pitcher. They aren't being overly restrictive. He's learning how to be efficient.
Looks like this has gone live. I just opened my MLB At Bat app on my phone and it asked me to authenticate with my TV provider (DirecTV). After entering my credentials it fired up the live stream of the game, no VPN jackassery needed.
I've gone some years recently without looking at the standings. This year I've been looking. There's some weird stuff going on.
1. The Rangers are the Astros' mirror image, and not in a good way. Or in a really good way.
2. Is the American League West weak? I didn't expect it to be.
3. What the hell is up with Toronto? What the hell is up with Baltimore?
4. One can only hope that the American League Central stays at .500 for the rest of the season.
I did notice I seem to hear a lot less about how objectionable Jim Crane is these days...
So in 2016, Minute Maid Park was the most pitcher friendly stadium in baseball, according the Park Factors ranking system. After 2 games in 2017, we're seeing 6 total runs scored.
Yet when describing the new center field dimensions at Minute Maid changing from 436 to 409 feet on MLB Network this week, Harold Reynolds derisively declared, "Minute Maid is already a bandbox ... this is going to take it even further".
From Ron Kruk to Harold Reynolds to countless others, it's frustrating to hear the condescension from them towards Houston's stadium. Does the reputation really stem from Jose Lima's first impression season some 17 years ago?
Good for them. That was fun and all but when do they get back into ST games? Bregman especially. Hopefully by Saturday at the latest.
It will be interesting to see how the MLB WBC participants fare against the rest of the MLB players that are into the last 10 days of ST so are getting very close to gameday ready.
Altuve coming back to Astros camp earlier than anticipated as VEN eliminated as a result of the loss to MEX. Jose did have a couple of singles in the game, but also grounded into a forceout at home with the bases loaded and none out in the 7th and FO'd for the last out of the game with a couple of runners on.
Super jealous RoadRunner! Footer is there doing radio, she said it was louder than anything she has heard.
Speaking of the WBC, maybe it is just me but why is the WBC so much more interesting this year? In past WBCs, I'd watch maybe an inning or 5 for the whole tournament. This year I find myself much more drawn to it. Baseball friends of mine and folks Im friends with through twitter are also talking much more about it too.
That game last night was about as good as baseball gets. Has the WBC always been like this and I just wasn't paying attention?
BTW, the DR lineup is absolutely ridiculous. Even if team USA could get whatever Americans they wanted, not sure they could put up anything better than what the DR is running out there. Incredible.
Is it just because the Astros are exciting again and they have several players playing?
But it sounds like all of these still require you to have a valid cable TV subscription, which really limits the benefit of such an option.
Of course it is, as long as the price you're paying doesn't prevent you from addressing other, more glaring needs. I'm not denouncing this deal - I have no fucking clue how good Charlie Morton is - but I'm saying it makes me go "Huh." And wonder how good the Astros think he can be, because I'm guessing they think he can be better than a #4 or 5 starter.
Not too surprising to find out Rasmus was bothered by more than just the ear cyst thing in 2016:
He underwent a pair of surgeries Oct. 18 – one to repair his core muscle, another to shave down a bone spur and repair the labrum in his left hip – but will be running at full strength by January and healthy for spring training.
(Interesting that this information is being reported by a Toronto sportswriter and neither of the brilliant Astros' beatwriters).
Although Luhnow at the year-end presser didn't seem to be entertaining the thought of bringing Rasmus back, if I thought he was gonna be healthy I wouldn't mind seeing the Astros re-sign him to a 1 yr/$6-8MM deal. If the Astros were to sign say Josh Reddick as well, a left-to-right Reddick/Rasmus/Springer outfield doesn't look half-bad and brings two much-needed lefty bats to the lineup.
I am not willing to give this owner the benefit of the doubt where payroll is concerned.
you are in Time Out for this: I don't care who wins
They fired him during the season like it was somehow his fault that GC was trying to tank and the team payroll was twelve million. Fire him aftr the season? That seems fine to me. Firing hm during the season was gutless blame deflection, and I would expect nothing less from that guy.
But we've been over this.
Cutting out the buscones (if they're able to actually do that) is a good thing. Putting all 30 major league teams on a level playing field regarding the ability to sign international amateur players is a good thing. But you're naive if you think this isn't more about bonus suppression than anything else. And picking the pocket of dirt-poor kids in the Dominican (and their families) and putting that money in the hands of billionaire MLB owners gives me a bit of heartburn. But the bigger issue for me is the law of unintended consequences. Without the larger financial incentives, I would be concerned that more of those kids will stay with soccer balls rather than picking up baseballs. The talent drain to other sports in the USA over the last 40+ year has been huge. I would hate to see the same thing happen in Latin America.
Since you can't be bothered to research your stance at all:
http://yourkillinmesmalls.mlblogs.com/2012/04/27/bryce-harper-the-asshole-cometh/
How about his coming back out onto the field after having been tossed? How about his altercation with Jonathan Papelbon? How about some of his flip answers to media questions?
How about his temper tantrum after getting punched out in Extra Innings the other day?
Seriously?!
The real one.
I will unabashedly say that Jose Altuve is probably the funnest ballplayer to watch in my Astros lifetime. Maybe not the greatest overall, but man he combines being super talented with having a good time/not being a asshole/Harper.
I'm completely cool with that too.
I was surprised he didn't mention Gurriel playing some 1B, as he mentioned that was a spot that needed addressing, though he did indicate Reed was "here to stay". He didn't sound all that convinced about it, however.
I don't see the point of trying to arbitrarily shorten games.
Might as well sell an ad on it if they are doing this for monetary reasons. And it won't look any worse..
Only speaking regarding Bregman, but I believe he is different than the others. His K rate (prior to last night) was quite low. I have read that he has gotten zero hits out of balls in play that recorded 95+mph; the average on balls in play at that speed is over .500. From the scout statements I've read he's where he should be and that he isn't over matched or just sucks. In essence he needs to quit hitting at-em balls.
I think part of the amplified hype is that the playoffs are more in view right now than they were when Correa was called up. If (big if) Bregman is the piece that gets us over the hump into the AL West lead, the hype will be justified.
No way Gomez is benched full-time. Trade maybe but unlikely. Why would a team want him?
Not so fast on Reed.
Rasmus to center, Gomez to bench or Springer to center, Rasmus to right, Gomez to bench.
I just hope he can.
Giles last 2 outings. 1.1 IP, 0 runs, hits or walks, 2Ks. 12 pitches, 11 for strikes.
I disagree with your assessment of Carlos. Yeah, he's no Trout, but then again, Trout isn't Correa. I think Keuchel is good, whether he is a HOF pitcher will be determined by his pitching.
Well, I don't know how you felt about these players last year, but if you have easily identified these misconceptions, then hopefully the GM would have as well.
Or maybe all the players just aren't as good as we were hoping.
I would add that what made it so frustrating is that he wasn't just a clueless hack dumbfuck like JDJO or a goofy semi-knowledgable flip-flopper like Justice. Drellich was bright enough and insightful enough to have some good things to say or observations to make at times. But for some reason he constantly felt the need to stir up shit and push this cheap-shot click-bait agenda. In that respect it's no surprise to see him go back to Boston to work at the Herald.
I just hope MLB switches to 8-team divisions when the time comes to expand. 4-team divisions would be a disaster.
JdJO is leaving to become a columnist (!) at the StL Post-Dispatch (per tweets). Must reading, there.
What sacrifices to the baseball gods have to be made to get Zach Levine to take his old job back?
Also, he expects to remain the closer.
Consider. The. Source.
Ren had kicked Rey's butt up to the newly created cliff. All he had to do was kick her and she's dead. Instead he offers to train her, giving her time to regroup.
Exactly my thoughts.
Fisher may turn out to be a pretty good OFer but I think he'll be limited to LF.
Luhnow is thinning out the OF core from the MiLs. If Gomez and Rasmus are both gone after this season he is going to have to bring some talent into the organization.
I didn't know that about Buck. I thought he was a genuine fan of the game. I've always thought he does a good job of being quiet and impartial and a pro up there.
Pretty sure the only reason that I don't like wee Buck is that he's on the record as not really liking baseball/thinking it's boring.
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I had this same debate by text last night with a friend. Cain was at first, not second, and he was not running on the pitch. The ball was in the corner. Bautista conceded Cain moving from first to third, and he was trying to prevent second and third with no outs in a tie game. Cain and the coach took a daring, risky gamble that paid off, but I do not think Bautista was to blame except by 20-20 hindsight.
I like Reynolds, but if the observation was insightful, it was probably Verducci. Reynolds saying that you can't fault the defense for Cain scoring on a single. Seriously? Hit the cut off man.
For me it has to be the Springer catch, with Lowrie's HR against the Angels a close #2
Also, the emergence of the Congerbot. I hope he sticks around just for that. I don't mind keeping 3 catchers.
Okay, I freely admit to being a fan who pays no attention to the financial minutiae of the sport. Can someone explain the Astros' options in regard to the $15.8mil qualifying offer? And where did that number come from?
Papelbon is now my second favorite player.
Harris has not been sharp of late. He might need a break from the high pressure scenarios for a bit.
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The Springer jersey fan? That was my tell that it went out. Had to be a great feeling for someone to endure 8.2 of that and see the winning hit drop nearby in a sea of the enemy.
Lowrie > Gattis straight up even before you take the matchup into account.
Back to the show, I'm still enjoying it. Maybe it's the editing, but O'Brien seems to be walking a very solid path between being a disciplinarian and being lighthearted. There are still multiple crack-up lines every episode. Watt is the least interesting player on the team; Charles James should stay on the roster if only for entertainment value.
Also, Mallett is a whiny bitch and would be the #3 QB (and traded/cut if another QB comes available) if I was in charge. Skipping practice the day after getting told he wasn't the starting QB - on a team that started 4 QBs last year - was a bitch move. He's 27, btw, a point that O'Brien made when he was told that someone was on the way to Mallett's home to find him once he failed to show and failed to answer any calls; O'Brien told them to turn (the fuck) around.
That was bad. Coming in the next day, and blaming the whole thing on forgetting to set an alarm and a dysfunctional phone, was worse. Oh, and his dog ate his playbook too. Skipping practice showed a lack of commitment; not taking responsibility for it shows a distinct lack of maturity. How can you lead the team in the heat of an NFL game when they see you behave like a spoiled baby?
Also, Savage has looked a more composed and effective QB anyway.
It's the rare post that can simultaneously second-guess the manager, the general manager, and reality.
he squared up the foul HR on Sunday off Kershaw.
I think it's "or something". Trying to prove his worth and value to his new team. He seems to have gelled with the team, personality-wise, so I imagine the desire to produce and be a contributing part of the fun this team clearly is having is immense.
This is just not true. Outside the PR blunders and Conger trade I don't recall any harsh criticism on this board.
The front office hasn't done so. They are operating with much more information than we have. Because I trust Luhnow to get the job done, I for one disagree with you.
Thank God. I didn't flip to October. That makes me feel a lot better.
Kind of mean of them To pick on stupid people
It's not a service time game. The 40-man is full. Several guys that need to be added at the end of the year and White isn't one of them. That being said, if you think he can do better and you don't call him up it doesn't make sense. Why trade Phillips for Gomez if you aren't willing to lose the weakest off your 40 man to fill a gaping hole in the 25-man.
His tone on his radio call-in the other day seemed to suggest that he's not getting a shot this year.
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From BP's "What scouts are saying" column:
From BP's "What scouts are saying" column:
I just think that coddling pitchers is a principal reason why pitchers have arm injuries.
As soon as they found out what he did, they fired him.
My goodness, why would you want to do that? Put him in QC and if succeeds then jump him to CC if you want to fast track him. No pitcher should have to start their career in Lancaster
As was previously announced, recent draftee Riley Ferrell was assigned to the River Bandits. C Trent Woodward was also moved up from Tri-City.
MWL Transactions Page
The NFL is pushing for teams to fix this problem. The few other than Reliant that I've been to, have no problem. But the NFL is going to eventually make this a requirement, so hopefully the Texans get on board sooner rather than later.
I *should*? Glad to know I'm keeping up my end of the bargain. 1% of his tweets would be a lot. That would be checking twitter once an hour.
My point is, I can't keep up with McTaggart, how the hell am I supposed to keep up with more people?
Dude. The Astros guys fucking re-used their old Co-ards passwords. The Co-ards kept trying down the list until they got a match. That's it. No one was pinging anything, no one was doing anything that my mother couldn't do
If the hill is a remotely good idea, why does no other ballpark in the world have one?
It works for me either way. If the team loses or otherwise fails it definitely confirms my various prejudices. If the team wins I can enjoy the successes of favorite players.
In the MLS the Dallas team now has two Panamanians. They've had one, an important goal scorer, for a few years. This other one is a recent signing. Now, I don't care about the Dynamo one way or the other. I do like them more now that they rid themselves of that racist coach. But like any self respecting person I hate Dallas.
So what can a poor boy do? I root for the players, not the team. The singer, not the song.
1-1 MT We're playing pretty well.
The bullpen's miracle run was bound to end at some point. The offense's problems of course will eventually be exposed. It will be interesting to see what Ground Control spits out once the team thuds back to earth.
1-1 twenty minutes in. It has been quite an active game.
The Aiken compensation pick is use it or lose it this year. If we don't sign whoever we pick at #5, that pick would be compensated.
I saw somewhere that he would have been the leading #1 overall candidate in this year's draft.
Interesting to see Nola being so dominate. He was my dark horse candidate for #1 last year.
Big win!
Don't have access to the article but BPs mock today has:
1. Whitley
2. Swanson
3. Rodgers
edit:
The letters came off the finger tips but in the wrong order.
So that's what broke the streak. Once Justice got on board, the boat started leaking.
I personally don't get the Drellich hate. The "you're either with us or against us" mindset seems to blur objectivity.
According to Dr. Drellich the Astros should have diagnosed him quicker, and added a 14th pitcher to the roster.
He looks like he could slide into the closer role if need be.
The stadium was in downtown St. Pete...on the waterfront...but the plans were to squeeze it into a pretty small place and actually build out into the water. The lack of a good plan for parking, etc. shot that deal down.
The spite flows over to the Rays as well. They are refusing to negotiate with anyone in St. Petersburg until the city allows them to negotiate with Tampa as well. That's where the impasse is.
Leveraging for better conditions is not supporting the move to Montreal. You did not say why you "love the idea of Tampa moving to Montreal."
What was wrong with the Altuve move. Worked out pretty well.
They did not support the Expos.
You're probably right. However, Altuve skipped AAA, so there is some precedent for it.
Why?
I'm strongly against 4 team divisions.
Having a DH is the same thing as taking your pitcher out of the game for a pinch-hitter, then being allowed to put him back in. Multiple times.
If people want to watch a sport where offense and defense use different players, there's football. In baseball, you're supposed to do everything, and let the team deal with your weaknesses as best they can.
I don't have a strong opinion on the DH, but I stopped reading after a few paragraphs as I was hoping for something a little more persuasive. The argument was: pitchers can get hurt while batting, but since they can get hurt in other ways, ignore that point. By the way pitchers suck at hitting, so.........
so they just lost 3 straight?
If he hits .270 that's a big improvement over his previous major league work. I'm reporting what his minor league history suggests.
No, I'm not kidding. The division is weak, IMO, and around 500 ball puts a team in contention. I see no reason the Astros can't stay near 500.
As to Appel, I understand that he is a long way (hopefully) from what he will be, but the question is whether where he is now is better than the other options, and whether the call up would hinder his development. I think he is arguably better than all the AAA options, and might be as good as Wojo and possibly Feldman and Hernandez. So, if someone gets hurt and they're in the race, why not?
As to whether his call up would hinder his development, I'm not a big believer in that concept ( for guys he have stardom potential), but Luhnow and Co. presumably have a good read on that. I see Appel kind of like Scherzer: a guy who for years lived off his stuff and mediocre command to be a decent to good pitcher. Once his command improved, he was an ace. Appel can compete with his stuff; whether he ever improves his command is unknown and will become apparent after many, many innings. Most of those innings might as well be at the major leagues.
Terrible call in our favor this time to ring up Cano
Singleton already knows how to play 1B and is .310/.408/.619.
Judging by the stands, the sea scum fans embrace the rivalry as much as the Astros fans.
Also, Leon Bridges is the ghost of Sam Cooke. It's eerie.
McDonald also had some interesting things to say about Aiken. I won't post all of it here, but here are some of the highlights:
This gels with Law's chat where he echoes the rumblings that it may not have been a routine surgery.
I doubt very seriously that Nix is some ignorant fuckwit who is unable to see what you are able to see with respect to the transaction. He knows exactly what the Astros did and why they did it and he knows that it was fucked up and he's pissed. You guys can hide behind Aiken's TJS if you want to, and that does indeed provide convenient cover for these fucks. But I keep trying to tell you necks that the Astros have pulled some extremely egregious things on their players and prospects in the Luhnow era, and that shit gets around. Given the team's reputation around the league it does not surprise me at all that Nix would still be furious at the club and would literally rule out playing for the team in the future. As long as Luhnow is in charge you will see more and more of this.
Now, for all I know the McKinsey handbook tells you to hustle your employees like they'd come into Men's Warehouse broke to buy a funeral suit. Maybe Biz can shed some light on this. But you need to understand that the team has a terrible reputation, a reputation for being total fucking slime to their players, and what you're seeing with Nix is the direct result of that.
There is one team, though, that won’t have him on its draft board. Nix did not sign the papers that would allow Houston to redraft him. “I hear nothing but good things about 29 teams,” he says. “I just want to get in and start my career.”
I think what the reaction of Drellich and some others boils down to at this point is basically "Ok, so maybe the Astros had good reason to to do what they did, but... they still, potentially, might have sort of been jerks about it. Ok, maybe not jerks, but at least slightly too business-like and computer-y, and not super-nice warm fuzzy touchy-feely guys like we seem to believe every GM and executive should be."
Would I prefer to have strong reason to believe that the members of the Astros FO are all super-nice, compassionate and considerate guys who go out of their way to treat every player and employee well no matter what? Sure.
Do I need to believe that in order to enjoy rooting for the success of the Houston Astros baseball team? No.
Would them being occasionally less than super-nice, compassionate and considerate, and perhaps a little too focused on conducting business in a business-like fashion make them different from the vast majority of upper-level management people in America? I doubt it.
Exactly - the decision to lower the price was about taking on additional risk. They felt he had a higher risk to need TJ and that recovery could be different because of its size. Investment is about risk & returns, plain and simple. DD in all deals, whether baseball, energy, or healthcare often has an agreed price which can be adjusted by DD and perceived risk.
On another note, I can't believe (actually I can once I thought about it) how the national press continues to dig in and defend their trash talk of the Astros management last summer.
For BP subscribers:
BP previews the top 50 draft prospects.
I know this has been covered but.....what's amazing to me is the advice he received to NOT take the $5 MM offer. To get that number again, he'd likely have to get picked in the top 5 picks. He had to know if he didn't sign that the Astros would be likely to have 2 of those 5 picks (or 2 of 6/7). Anyway, that really leaves only 3-5 teams who would have to take a chance on him having seen one ML team already show extreme concern. And even then, what's the upside? Another $1 million? Geez. Even if you KNOW you are healthy and can prove it, why take that chance? And now he's got the perception he has an injury of some sort? Many GM's will be frightened by the smoke.
Big sis wasn't happy:
Reports today that Aiken left his first start with a trainer after throwing just 13 pitches.
https://twitter.com/adamdberry/status/578659038747107328
https://twitter.com/johnmanuelba/status/578658925274337281
Well I'm sure that when the Cubs keep him in AAA for the first few weeks of the season to delay his FA clock, Olney, Gammons, Rosenthal etc. will all give them just as much shit for it as they gave the Astros for doing the same with Springer last year.
It really is a great deal.
FYI.
The excitement of the upcoming season is really...
This is actually the first time I am really looking forward to the season since, 2009ish. Really excited to be able to watch the games on TV and not some crappy internet stream.
Back to Spring training, is there no way to listen to live Spring Training games any longer? 790 isn't carrying the games, and the only internet option I can find is the monthly subscription on the MLB at Bat app.
Saw that the West Virginia coach, apparently among others, is pushing hard to move the start of the season back to somewhere around April. Paraphrasing "What the hell are we doing playing baseball in February?"
So, if Jon Singleton gets busted for a "drug of abuse" is he also outside the usual sets of rules that would otherwise apply?
Thanks for all the info. Is Hinojosa eligible, and is the second round the current projection? I was very impressed by him last year, and was curious what round correlated to his level of talent. Second round seems about right, but I would think mid to low 1st round is still possible.
Compared to the those voicing opinions in the article, I have only seen a tiny fraction of college baseball, but I enjoyed the low scoring last year.
I don't know if its worse that I have come to accept the AL Astros or that I agree with roadrunner.
I confess... I've come to accept this.
You don't get any revenue for games you don't broadcast, either.
Been thinking about the Vogelsong situation. I wonder if the Astros philosophy regarding shifts (and their propensity to use them more than most other teams) was the factor that freaked him out? He said he felt uncomfortable after meeting with Hinch and upper management.
It sure doesn't. Perhaps he will end up throwing a HS season's worth of innings by June, but it wouldn't surprise me if he ends up being limited to much less than that. I suspect Close's petulance has cost his client a couple million bucks or more.
I wish I had a better understanding of whom Moncada compares to at this stage of his development. I've seen things along the lines of "best young Cuban since Jorge Soler"... well, Jorge Soler is a good-looking player who had a great 2014 in AA and AAA, but is he a guy you regret not throwing $80 million dollars at 3 years ago? If Moncada were in the 2015 draft, would he be a Harper/Strasburg-type lock to go #1? Would he go #1 if you combined the 2012-15 classes all into one?
It's just hard for me to imagine that, with the inherent bust rate of 19-year-olds, spending $80m on a signing bonus for this one teenager would be a sound investment. Maybe it's not realistic to think your alternative is to spend $8m apiece on 10 teenagers, but if you look at it from that basic standpoint, I just have a hard time seeing how it's smart to drop that much coin on one kid.
his brother is the one that muffed the onside kick?
I haven't studied this, so this is not a smart alec question: Who is better Fowler or Rasmus? Aren't they both on one year deals for about the same money ($9 m.)? Help me out here.
I agree but would add Springer to that. Marisnick's offense won't be the difference maker.
Wouldn't Lowrie be a reasonable leadoff guy?
Gattis does come cheap (at least from a dollars standpoint)--under club control for another 4 seasons.
At QB, the Texans don't have a really good option, and are extremely unlikely to get one through the draft. I don't see how bringing in Manning for a year or two delays a program that doesn't exist. Also, I think holding Manning's clipboard and watching him play might be the best possible coaching for a young QB.
"Fix" it? There's nothing wrong with it. You've divided the league into divisions. Your playoff system states that division winners compete in the playoffs. That's what's happening. I get that you don't care to see Carolina, but the system is not broken.
Have team six and team seven play a thirty minute game to determine who advances and then figure out how to make the Pro Bowl affect the Super Bowl and then I think we'd have story lines a-plenty.
You're right. It would be far better and more accurate to have a committee of a dozen or so informed members evaluate all the teams based upon their enlightened criteria and decide who should make the playoffs.
Two days before Christmas and three days before his birthday. Another left handed point of light for this kinder, gentler front office.
Justin Upton
Football commentators have A LOT of dead space to fill. Hence the need to use 30 words when 5 will do.
The problem is that this necessary verbal diarrhea from football has infected pretty much everything else, and now everyone with a mic believes that the sound of their voice is what we tune in for, so they never STFU and let the pictures (worth a thousands words, right?) speak for themselves.
I keep waiting to hear that the Texans have worked out a trade with the Bears for Cutler. It seems so... perfect for the Texans. And by perfect I mean idiotic.
I'm in the extreme minority, but I actually think the NFL as a product has become very trite. What are the notable football-related storylines this season? The Arizona Cardinals success? The shittiness of the NFC South? Aaron Rodgers?
None of those are interesting. The memorable moments are all domestic abuse related.
I still don't understand why the Astros owe him a dime? Does it suck he got caught in the crossfire, sure, but the Astros having to fork out 1.5 mil? There was no signed contract. Surely this isn't the first time under the new rules that do to not signing your 1st round pick, you couldn't afford to sign someone else.
Just puts an exclamation point on what was a total failure by the front office. 2 consecutive bungled drafts now by the Luhnow and team. 2013, Appel was a mistake that could have been avoided and they followed it up with 2 pitchers unlikely to ever see a major league mound. How nice would it be to have Bryant starting at third this year? Suspect there was a reason why Heck was looking at a 17 year old in Puerto Rico instead of the consensus Appel. And though last year's pick Aiken was likely the correct choice, not sure the situation could have been handled worse.
I think it's the length of the deal more than anything that I wish they could decrease.
But they have to pay them both. The Astros can't just pick one to pay.
Then you saw it here first!
Wow, for Gregerson and Neshek, that's over $12MM/year for one inning of middle relief. I guess $12MM doesn't go as far as it used to.
Very possible the end of his career.
Would be two-year deal, according to Bob Nightengale. Fields, Sipp, Qualls, Neshek, Gregerson; I'll start a bullpen with that.
Latest on Clowney...had to have the dreaded microfracture surgery on his knee. Out at least 9 months, more likely all of next year at a minimum. Very possible the end of his career.
Castro + Feliz?
Reds have Chapman available apparently. What is reasonable to give up in trade?
I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't come into play some. But the fact that OSU won one more game than either TCU or Baylor, had a strength of schedule advantage, and won their conference were all very convenient reasons to choose OSU. It also kept the committee from that messy decision of choosing between the two B12 schools. I heard this morning that we may not get an 8 team playoff for a decade or more because of the tv contract now working under.
Threw away 2 million per year if you count sales tax/cost of living. Insane. Have the Astros fallen that far as a ball club that a journeyman like Miller wants nothing to do with you?
Tomas has been compared to Marlon Byrd. Is that what you want? And, depending how you define "fake" or "interest," they've demonstrated some form of one or the other towards Hanley Ramirez, David Robertson, as well as (depending on how you define "big") Brett Andersen, Jason Hammel, maybe Andrew Miller, Kenta Maeda, etc.
I don't really give a shit whom they are publicly linked to, I just hope they actually sign some good players. From everything I've read about Tomas, I don't mind that they didn't join that bidding war.
4 year 88 million dollar contract with a vesting 5th year worth 22 million.
So either 4/88 million or 5/110 if the 5th year vests.
BA first up with theirs:
- Correa
- Appel
- Folty
- VV
- Feliz
- Phillips
- Moran
- Ruiz
- Teoscar
- Hader
Drellich seemed to be going for views of the article with how he wrote it. He only talked from one side of a deal the Astros could have made. He talked about how it would have to be big in order for all of the pieces to fall right with the 40 man and adding or not Feliz. He never surmises that if Feliz were part of a deal that the receiving team might need him off the 40-man at the time of the deal in order to made appropriate 40-man moves after the deal to add Feliz. Which would be why the Astros waited until the last minute to add him.
Breaking on ESPN:
Cardinals acquire Heyward and Walden from Braves for Shelby Miller and Tyrell Jenkins.
Initial reaction: Co-ards totally get over on this one. I don't see much in Miller.
Martinez was let go, given up on. Nothing in return. How does that relate to Bagwell, Lofton, or Abreu?
Just to be clear. I'm not calling for his head. I just used to be a staunch supporter of Mr Luhnow.
And a correction. Conger is under team control for 3 years. I said 2 earlier.
But to be clear on Tropeano, I don't mind trading prospects for MLB players. No problem with the Cosart trade (though that landed more prospects). No problem with Lyles. Both are talented young pitchers. But every article you read about guys like JD and Tropeano made you want to root for them. Made you think they would be more than their talent. You just hate to see these guys go. Especially if good backup catcher is the return. Perhaps Luhnow is trying to set the market for a haul from Castro. To me it really doesn't matter. Because I believe that selling Tropeano now is selling low. And he's a guy I would have rather rooted for.
I'm sorry but Luhnow and his team just don't seem to put a value on work ethic and the intangibles that make one player better than another. I'm officially off the Luhnow bandwagon.
Have you looked at the calendar lately? It's either bitch/rant/overanalyze/moan about this or the new assistant hitting coach.
Pretty good outing tonight by Appel but for some reason I am just now "wowed" when I see him pitch.
With his injury history I'm beginning to wonder if the Astros aren't looking at him as a future big league closer.
Unless the SS completely botches the throw, Gordon is out by about 30 feet.
Out of curiosity, why is this any more devastating than the hundreds of other people who died on that day? I understand why there is more interest among baseball fans, but how does the presence or absence of baseball talent affect the degree of "devastation" associated with the death?
I am curious as to what is really behind this. It seems like they want to get rid of it, then then try to create justifications; a cart before the horse type thing. First, they promoted the lame injury rationale, now unfocused crap like finding room for an Astros Hall of Fame, gathering spot, or restaurant.
I'm not a big fan of the pole out there, but I also like the uniqueness of the hill.
The shutout innings streak is now at 11 for Appel. 4 scoreless frames thus far today with 2 hits allowed and 3 K's.
ETA:
Make it 12. Final line (5 2 0 0 0 4).
According to a tweet, FB was at 95-96 today.
That's pretty typical coming from you. Jack Buck was a prince. Joe Buck is a spoiled classless prick who's living on his dad's talent and goodwill. The Thompson copy call was pretty predictable and lame.
You mean "The Giants win the pennant"? I thought that felt extremely contrived, myself.
I love playoff baseball.
Aplin doesn’t impress you at first glance, but he does enough things well that he should end up being a major leaguer. He doesn’t hit for much power, but he has just enough pop to keep pitchers honest and walks more than he strikes out. As an up-the-middle player with on-base skills and decent speed, he does enough on a baseball field to help a team.
3/1/0/0/1/2
47 pitches/27 strikes
1 HBP
Ruiz/Aplin/Heineman a combined 0-for-9 through 6 1/2 innings.
And who's fault was it that the Astros fucked up their network?
Only 3 non-pitching-change mound visits per game, including catcher visits? That seems rather extreme.
I don't like the one and done scenario. This isn't football.
That article didn't support what you implied. That article basically said "recent managerial hires show a trend to being less experienced and there needs to be a way to implement SABR knowledge/tactics on the field." There wasn't much focus beyond that, and the article didn't give examples of successful organizations where the clubhouse was an extension of the GM, and not the domain of the manager.
It might be a subtle difference, but IMO, communication feels more free and more productive when there are clearly separated levels of authority, and better communication produces an environment for better performance. It might also be a difference in my conception of a manager, and what I assume is a different conception. If you view a manager's duties to basically be filling out lineups and making in game moves, then this arrangement makes more sense. If you view a manager's duties to bring out the most in his GM given talent, this arrangement seems sub-optimal.
But, I'm often wrong and hope the ever evolving Luhnow experiment succeeds.
Examples?
If your vision is that as a GM you have substantial input into roster construction and usage, you’re not really all that worried about your new manager being inexperienced there. (In fact, you may well prefer it over a manager who wants a larger amount of input than you really want to give him.) In terms of tactics, all of these men have played in the majors and so have seen everything before. And if you have strong opinions on tactics, again, it may be easier to find a manager who doesn’t and provide him with guidance. Or you can find coaches that help supplement a manager’s abilities there.
Come on, man, you're better than this. Whether you disagree with Mike or not I don't see the need to curse at him here. Some of us (presumably most of us, but clearly not you) appreciate the fact that he is willing to answer questions and discuss things here.
This part:
Just as I want the owner to let the GM hire his staff, I want the GM to let the manager hire his staff. I don't think its at all optimal to have the manager as such a direct extension of the GM. Having real separation seems healthier.
This might be the answer that best pulls the pieces together -- the quotes from Altuve and Lawless (that the call came from above), Mike Fast's response here (that the whole story isn't public) and Luhnow's silence (effectively taking the blame for his boss).
This doesn't sound like a good hire. Gardenhire became available today. He's a really good manager; I'd have liked to see what he could have done, rather than the gadfly oddball they hired. Another PR mistake, in my opinion.
The other annoyance is Altuve's quote that the front office told him, "They let me know it’s something I’m not gonna get by myself. There’s a lot of people around who deserve that too."
W T F ? Who exactly are those people? I mean some people deserve some credit like his hitting coach but this is 100% a JOSE ALTUVE award. I'd love to know who these "other people who deserve the award" are. Well maybe Tim Purpura and the scout who signed him deserve some credit too.
Drelich has some quotes that make me wonder if the FO thought there was no way Martinez would be able to catch Altuve unless he went 0-fer so why not let him sit the last day and soak in his glory and not worry about it. IOW, some sort of bizarre reward for a job well done. If that's the case, well intentioned but tone deaf.
Part of what bugs me here is that people are making assumptions about how the discussion went that are not correct. But since I'm not going to reveal how the discussion went, there's not a lot that I can say about that.
However, the larger narratives in this thread are certainly out of whack. How does the narrative of a meddling stat-mad GM forcing things down the throat of his old-school baseball people square with the reality of an Astros organization that had its batting champion on the field today and a Rockies organization that did not?
The team winning is something that needs significant improvement.
There is a certain segment of the baseball world that likes nothing better than to portray a conflict between new school and old school. I'm not sure that's as valid in the wider pro baseball world as it was five or ten years ago.
It's also been very popular to portray that conflict as running through the heart of the Houston Astros organization this year. The truth is that there is way more cooperation and way less "schools" or "sides" to a conflict here than anyone on the outside likes to imagine. We are all on the same team and from what I have seen do a very good job of pulling together in the same direction to help the team improve and grow, no matter the background of the person involved. But if you want to read every news story about the Astros in the light of an old-school/new-school conflict, you can do that, and it will skew your understanding of what is happening in the organization. A lot of people choose to do that, and there's not much I can say to convince them otherwise. They will see things and find "facts" that prove me wrong. So be it. Eventually the truth will come out, but there's not a lot of good that PR will do in the mean time.
On the other hand, I do understand, and the front office understands, that sometimes perception is reality. There are things we would do differently if we could do them all over again, at least partly because of the perception that resulted. But at the same time, the larger narratives that have been woven around them are mostly false.
Yes, I read this, and no, you guys don't know what the discussion was in the room. You can make assumptions, but they are off base. Be glad the right choice was made in the end.
I wouldn't touch Ramirez with a 10-foot pole. That's some bad locker room juju, not what we need with a young team. I think you could do a lot worse than Marwin. I'm more curious about the catcher spot: if my catcher is going to hit .220 with little power, I want a lot better defense out of him.
Not that everyone has to agree with me, but what exactly do you not like about giving the job to Marwin? He's hit .273/.321/.394 this year, with 14 doubles and 6 HR in 306 trips to the plate. If you project that out to full-time duty you're talking about a very good defensive SS, switch-hitter, with the potential to rack up 30 doubles and 10-15 HR. And he'll be 26 years old next year.
Sure, his success with the bat this year could be a fluke... or maybe he's turned a corner and can even improve a little more. His last full season in the minors, in 2011, he hit .288/.343/.400, with 30 doubles, in 124 games split evenly between AA and AAA. So it's not completely unprecedented. If you believe his bat can be adequate for a SS, then the only real flaw I can see is he's not as fast a baserunner as you expect from that type of player.
Edit: and here's MLBTR's list of free agent SS:
Mike Aviles (34) – $3.5MM club option with a $250k buyout
Clint Barmes (36)
Asdrubal Cabrera (29)
Stephen Drew (32)
Rafael Furcal (37)
J.J. Hardy (32)
Jed Lowrie (31)
John McDonald (40)
Nick Punto (37) – $2.75MM club/vesting option with a $250K buyout
Hanley Ramirez (31)
Hardy, Lowrie, and Hanley are appealing, but are all likely to get big long deals I'd imagine.
The bottom line is they have gotten awful hitting from 1B and LF, generally the 2 easiest positions to get decent offense from, and 3B, less easy but still typically counted on for run production. If they can turn those spots in the order from huge minuses to pluses or at least something approaching decent, and find 2-3 more good relievers in addition to Qualls, Fields, Sipp and whoever else (Folty, or will he start next year?), then it's not hard to picture this team being decent.
Of course, one could question whether Keuchel and McHugh will be able to replicate their excellent numbers next year, but all in all the rotation looks to be in decent shape.
FWIW, I hope they keep Fowler too (and bat him leadoff, where he belongs, for God's sake).
I keep looking for Drellich's offensive tweets and every "objective" spanking and come away perplexed. It appears that some fans want their reporters to merely parrot and blindly support those they cover.
I'm aware of the Ortiz stuff, and generally dismiss him like I dismiss Justice, but I'm not aware of the Drellich stuff. I mean, I read some criticism of the front office by him, but I'm thankful some reporter has the professional integrity to question an organization that has performed as poorly as this one. What has Drellich said that is so out of line?
Between Tropeano, Buchanan, and now possibly White and Wojo, if they've both gotten back to full strength, they have several candidates to take Peacock's spot in the rotation for the rest of the year. Clearly, the Astros see something in him that says potential good SP, but damned if I know what it is.
One of the things I particularly like about baseball is its leisurely pace and essential to that for me is that there is no official clock of any kind. If someone decided to engage a pitch clock or limit the number of times a catcher can talk with the pitcher or any of the other things that are being discussed the game will lose appeal.
That sounds like a personal problem.
Well, I'm a don't rock the boat sort of guy but I have to say I don't understand why there's so much clamor to speed up the game. I have visions of the baseball's turning into a version of an early motion picture, sepia figures running around at double speed.
Maybe they should just allow greenies again and let the supposed problem sort itself out.
What is the "steroid witch hunt"?
The day before Albers comes back, and two days before Crain.
This article just goes over those who might be added, and assumes that finding room will be difficult. I guess it's a point of contention amongst some people, but finding room on the 40 man for new players seems pretty easy to me.
Not necessarily. Making a number of promotions with a month to go in the minor league season to let players get their feet wet in the leagues they'll be assigned to the following year has been fairly common under the Luhnow regime.
That was a lot of fun, CC stolen base, Grossman HR larceny, inside the park HR and Hoes crowd surfing... this game had it all
M's #2 & 3 prospects on BA's pre-season list
CF Marisnick, originally TOR farmhand
3B Moran, kid who lit up NCAA for UNC last year
clarkspencer @clarkspencer · 7s
Source: #Marlins are sending Collin Moran and Jake Marisnick and a comp pick to Astros according to source.
WOW
I'm gonna guess Marlins wouldn't trade Yelich. Maybe Marisnick, and...?
For nothing?