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But I want people HERE...in the GZ, not out in Twitterland. People are trying to kill the GZ, and I'm desperately trying to keep it alive.
I've found that face to face with the restaurant manager works as well, and is much less passive agressive.
Since 1980, so just completed his 36th season. His teams have made 15 CWS appearances.
The three schools with the most CWS appearances without a title...all ACC: Florida State (21), Clemson (12), North Carolina (10).
Congrats to the Cavs.
Except that on Twitter, you can't see who's kept their hat on./golf clap/
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Asbhyism of the night was asking whether he ball over the umpire's head should be ruled a passed ball.
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Luhnow waited until after the league All-Star Game in which Phillips participated. I think that is a nice gesture.
Says the guy who starts a thread to share his thoughts about Twitter.
I don't watch golf, but if I might if I knew there was gratuitous cheesecake.
About $120,000 over slot.
Congratulations and best of luck. Everything will be fine. Your first? I just had a Father's Day surprise...learned I will be a grandpa for the first time.
Velasquez's fastball just doesn't seem to have much movement. It's going to take him 40 pitches to get out of the first inning.
Which was worse... Mays with the Mets, or 2015 Tiger?
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Does McHugh have options left?I think so.
not me. the catcher made the cut/let it go call.
Some coaches want the catcher to say something...never silence. There may also be preferences on the cutoff man cutting on his own. This would be situational...score, inning, outs, etc.
Good thing you didn't bring me in, or might have quickly been 11-8.
Luhnow said as recently as this past Sunday on his radio show that the Astros don't have a true leadoff guy and that Kemp could be that guy next year IF they can find a place to get him into the lineup.
we got the final out of the State Championship game in 1970 with that play.
Oh please...if you tell me that as a pitcher you wouldn't take getting an out without having to throw a pitch, I'd tell you you're a lyin' motherfucker.
I played HS baseball against MosesDusty. he was Dusty Runnels then.
You asked before:
It's some thing Geezerdonk came up with, I think, and I think it's funny because it was such a far reach.
That is a pretty good outfield when it comes to chasing down flyballs.
Like last night?
I'll take Vandy for the win.
Yeah, exactly what do you want instead? Valbuena doesn't even attempt to hit lefties.
There isn't a lot of RH help on the bench.
This assumes that sports agents have a standard of care or a duty to their clients.
From what I read, Aiken and his family were at peace with him not joining the Astros organization the night before the deadline. In the end money was less to do with it.
Assuming he signs for slot, he'll have given up over $2.6MM compared to the $5MM on the table last year.
No secret I'm a Marwin fan, at least as much as one can be of a utility infielder. Villar is currently hitting a little better, but I think Marwin is pretty versatile in his own right, and is certainly more reliable/consistent in the field.
In the Marwin vs Villar conversation it will be interesting to see who the club thinks is more versatile. I would keep Marwin without too much debate but I think that a good case for Villar's versatility could be made. Plus, he is certainly more exciting.
The 25-man decision doesn't need to be done till Wednesday. What it does clear up is who. Villar has options, Marwin does not. Therefore by DFA'ing Dominguez you can assume they are just sending Villar down.
This doesn't clear up the active roster picture. We have 2 in, 1 out so far on the 25 man.
Happy, thanks for the feedback. Looking back, I see he hit about 40 points better as a freshman. Any thoughts on why he hasn't been able to repeat that for the last two years? Injury? The effects of what coaches are wanting from him? Him trying to slug more, and the average suffering?
Yeah, I've seen him enough to think he can stick at short. I see Lowrie level: won't cover a lot of ground but will make the plays he gets to. Other than that however, I'd be very disappointed if he is their pick at #2. Sure, I've only seen about 10 ABs and that is certainly a short sample and I am no scout for sure, but in my experience, if you are going to be a first division regular, much less a potential all star, you will most likely look much better in those ABs against what is A ball arms. If there is so much hype, I am undoubtedly missing something, but a top five pick??
Does Bergman have a strong enough arm to stay at SS? I had not seem him before the Super Regional's. And me and anouther guy both looked at each other right away wondering if he had a Pro arm to stick at SS long term after a few of his throws.
+1
At the risk of repeating myself, Villar's defense is unacceptable. And after the last couple of weeks, I hope there is less disagreement than there was the last time I made that observation.
I think this idea with Close is wildly overblown.
Obie just doesn't have the stuff to succeed at the MLB level. With Hernandez pitching just as poorly, the club needs to do something. There may not be too many options internally, but at some point the rotation needs to be addressed.
This is the kind of thread that makes this site unique. Keep up the good "work".
You're talking about Ryan and I'm talking about Brown with the high 3 ERA. Yes, I remember that Ryan season well. It was so frustrating. He pitched well enough to win the CY except for the fact that W-L means something. I remember he had developed that circle-change pitch around this time and it really made him even more effective.
I'll quite happily take Swanson as the 2nd pick.
The people who give out the MVP award mostly agree with you, but the stat people and the GM's who hand out contracts don't.
well, now there's a revelation.
I've seen some crazy things on baseball diamonds, but I'm not sure I've ever seen a more total entire team collapse in a big game than this.
So they scored 8 runs on 4 hits, 5 walks, 4 errors including a botched pickoff throw, 2 passed balls, and 2 balks. Brutal.
The pitcher is by far the most important player in the game and there is a huge variation on pitching performance, so there are plenty of seasons where a pitcher had the highest WAR. Mike Scott was first in WAR in 1986 for instance.
Right. And then there is the longevity issue...how many years with Houston. Particulary how many good years. J.R. struggled for a while with control before he was the dominant pitcher he was for maybe three years? Had he stayed healthy...I'm convinced Houston wins the WS in '80.
There was a reason, but as there's been no announcement about a promotion it probably has to do with last night's game. From the Grizzlies recap:
"Down 3-0 heading to the top of the sixth, Carlos Correa attempted to lead a rally with a leadoff triple. However, Scott Baker induced a fly out from Alex Presley and then Correa missed home plate on his attempt to score and was tagged out on his way back to touch the plate."
He played defense in the bottom of the 6th but was pulled for the bottom of the 7th.
Interesting... All the usual suspects there, but the order is intriguing.
Oswalt the best* pitcher in franchise history? Terry Puhl more valuable* than Nolan Ryan or Mike Scott? Don Wilson more valuable* than JR Richard?
(* according to WAR, which like most single stats has its issues)
So, I'm trying to see as many of the top guys as possible. Saw some ABs from Bregman last night. The only thing I gathered from limited viewing is that he seems marginal as a runner. I didn't slow the recording to watch any plays as a fielder, but it got me wondering, can he really be a quality shortstop? If he has to move to second, or third (I have no knowledge of his arm), does his bat really project that well?
What's the opinion of those here who have seen him.
He's worse than mediocre. Any one of Straily, Wojo, Shirley, or Peacock would be better at this point. I'd like to see Buchanan given a shot too.
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Didn't impress last night. He ole'd a grounder he should have caught, for one. He made a decent "charging" play to throw out a runner at home, but wasn't anything a MLB 3B shouldn't have made. Didn't help that the whole team was playing like crap and he was playing opposite Beltre, though.
I thought Sandoval's rep was that he's actually a surprisingly good defender at 3B despite his pudgy aura.
Why they signed Hanley at SS/3B money to play LF, when they already had plenty of OFs, is beyond me and most Sox fans I talk to.
Plus, at a certain point you might find most of your righty relievers are as good or better than your 2nd lefty at getting lefties out.
I believe it's possible to be critical about the process and still give credit for the results without being hypocritical. I love the Astros in the abstract sense that transcends who the players are, who the owners are, or their place in the standings. I realized that was the case during the last ownership transition. There were many things that I found distasteful about that change but time heals and so does winning. I have my doubts that the team can continue its winning pace but those doubts fade with each win, same as they appear bolder after each loss. I'm just enjoying the ride day to day and trying not to worry about when "it" comes crashing down. It's been a great season so far.
Evan Gattis needs a nickname.
BA puts Appel on their "Not So Hot" list, noting (among other things) that hitters are batting .379/.413/.530 against him when pitching with runners on base.
T2:
Astros have runners at 2B and 3B with one out and strand them both. But they grab a 1-0 lead.
Springer at leadoff both today and yesterday. I guess trying to protect Altuve?
I think we need to get used to players succeeding on other teams. There is a ton of talent in this system and the rules won't allow them all to stay.
Hey Hap, I've been meaning to ask you, do you know Roger Cador? You must have crossed paths at some point I would think. Do you know him?
I'm actually kinda rooting for DDJ to do well, when he's not playing the Astros. It seems fairly likely that his "lack of effort" and "bad attitude" problems were over-exaggerated or over-emphasized by scouts, maybe due to some combination of race and background (having a famous MLB relative and being a very high draft pick - something scouts have never forgiven Colin Moran for, for instance). The couple interviews I've seen with him, he's seemed like a decent, intelligent kid.
And who knows, maybe his success and the continued success of JD Martinez (and to a lesser extent Paredes) will force the Astros FO to think twice in the future before cutting loose young high-ceiling players in favor of roster-filler or utility types like Hoes and Torreyes.
That makes sense. Does Bryan Price like booze and hookers?
What do you mean? He got his man.
Haven't seen Tucker that much, but Rasmus is a very good leftfielder.
Man, I don't ever remember Altuve looking this bad for this long. He may have, but I sure don't remember it.
Tigers tie it up in the bottom half of the 3rd...leadoff infield single by Inglesias on a ball that traveled well over 20 feet, rides home on a 400 ft double by Gose.
Hasn't his strike zone always been expanded?
I watch him pitch. I look at all of non-verbal language. My view is that his goal is to have good mechanics and throw strikes. After that he hopes for the best. The problem as I see it is that his goal should be to get the batter out. The means to that goal should be good mechanics and throw strikes. When the goal is getting the batter out I would expect a higher quality of strike than when the goal is just throw a strike. This view explains a great deal to me about why batters make good contact against him more often than you'd expect with his level of talent.
I remember that label, but since that was an accurate description of a number the relievers, I guess I didn't link it to him.
I seemed out to have blacked out the two years Rodriguez pitched for the Astros.
I thought he looked good too. I thought Harris did a really nice job last night too, even if he did give up a single that scored what ended up being the winning run. That inning could have gotten out of control, but he put a lid on it nicely, I thought.
By the time he got to Houston, Ryan had a good change up too.
I'm just saying that the simple formula of a third pitch works a lot of the time, but is a little simplistic. A starter can go with two pitches if one or both are dominant.
I'm wondering if Appel is having problems adjusting to the tandem system (again). He is no fan of this schedule, and I wonder if he just needs to be promoted to Fresno to get some longer starts.
I understand the concern as everyone assuredly expected more consistency from him, but I don't think one can judge a developing minor league player on their body of work. Some develop in fits and starts, and the in between struggles become irrelevant.
I'd be more likely hold a negative view if he already hadn't proved me wrong once. Last year, I assumed he was a mental midget destined to become a giant bust, but I was dead wrong. He also looked pretty decent in the few innings I saw in spring. So, I'm going to give him some slack before I write him off again.
I'm no expert mind you but I imagine if a guy has a filthy curve you would just take a strategy of sitting on the fastball. A plus change would seemingly destroy that strategy.
What happens if he comes up cold and sulky?
Altuve's defense seems to have gone from decent to outstanding. He's a hard worker so no surprise.
So glad we protected Torreyes... So we could trade him for a ptbnl
Is Castro dinged up?
Bruce Chen DFA'd by Indians.
C'mon, somebody needs to pick him up--just two more teams and he'll catch up to Dotel.
This is unfair to Mr. Happy, but what the hell. I remember him grousing about Altuve's lousy defense a couple of seasons ago, but that little guy has turned into a really good defender. His range is a bit limited, but he's getting *really* good on the turn at second base.
Which is?
Brad Mills is back in the news for pulling Kluber in the ninth following 8 scoreless, 18 strikeout innings ( 1 hit, no walks, 1 HBP). Mills took over when Francona was ejected in the fourth.
totally agree. he has been an everyday player to now. not sure where HH is coming from.The ranch?
I am not fascinated with him, but I think he is a really good player.
Tough week for Futile Gesture: Alex Cobb getting TJ surgery, Hanley Ramirez runs into the wall and takes himself out for most of the week, and now Drew Smyly goes to the DL with shoulder stiffness. And Brock Holt is out because of a death in the family. And Rougned Odor sucks.
I seem to remember Lidge doing pretty well as a Phil.
I had many flashbacks of pujols killing us when he was stepping to the plate. Namely a certain HR that broke brad lidge.
This will be my last post on this. Your ability to exaggerate what someone has said knows no bounds, It was just an opinion that I felt he should be hitting a pitch like that the other way. I was and am still happy with the result. I am truly sorry I stated my opinion on this.
I guess you could argue that any ball put in play with runners on base has the potential to end in a double play, but yeah...Tucker squared it up and drove that ball. Not sure what's not to like about it.
Mr. Happy breaks down for you why this was an important win.
Someone may want to mark this date, but I agree with Mr. Happy's assessment.
Sphinx is wondering about those around him.
Maybe contractual obligations?
Yessir, I saw the Happy one's post, and while I wouldn't mind stronger pitching, I thought having the heart of your batting order hitting at a cumulative .176 clip is probably a bit more concerning to me. I mean hitting home runs and all is pretty nice but the success probably isn't sustainable while 3,4,5 are so far below Mendoza.
I think Budgirl has it right, the Astros aren't close enough to perhaps mortgage the future just to add another starting pitcher.
I have lots of faith in this front office and its decisions.
After Luhnow says "“There’s a good chance we’ll get him up (to Class AAA) this month”, Drellich has it all planned out:
Yeah but I don't think you can "option" a Rule 5 player without him going through waivers and the original team declining to take him back. And when the original team gets him back he is no longer on a 40 man roster and thus I don't think "sending him down" counts as an option either.
Rob Neyer wants the Astros to bring up Preston Tucker and Carlos Correa.
One good thing about a win streak is that the busiest posting isn't in the Bus Ride. I've never know so much stuff about the
Astros' minor league teams.
a very wise strategy.
That's when they went 0-20 to start the year, I believe. Did Sr. only last the first 6?
I wonder what is the quickest hook ever?
Q makes a bad throw.
You are fucking crazy. I agree with you about 6 innings, but you want "swing and miss stuff" from a #5 starter. Hernandez was great today.
if the stros had trailed 3 nothing after one people would be walking out. just saying
Scored from 2B on a sac bunt, with no error charged? Damn. Whoever was covering 1B must've had Krazy glue on his throwing hand.
If your not gonna hit Marisnick 9 then why not 2? 7 seems a strange play to put him in an AL game.
meant to say this earlier, glad you are back posting.
I read a little of his parting shots at LAA. addict still in denial.
Some Angels fans' thoughts on Hamilton. It has since been deleted.It's all true. Baseball has enabled the guy; there's no question about that.
OUCH.
https://twitter.com/KennyDucey/status/593051176502824960
I think they really don't like the guy.
So did Berkman.
I can't think of a single position player I would hate to lose for an extended period of time than Lowrie. He is usually in the middle of anything good happening with this team on this streak.
I would imagine it would take Lowrie being out the entire year for Correa to be called up at any time this year.
Correa really hasn't needed an adjustment at any level. He's about as good of a candidate to make the jump straight from AA in stride as there is.
He can play the field.
On the latest game results, it says there is a in-season draft on the 29 th. Is this true?
Springer with a 4-pitch walk, but then is picked off before the next pitch. So he kills the rally on a base on balls.
I think he's pretty locked in at 9.
Love marisnick
Melvin trying to get run. Ump refuses.
Lowrie. He's the obvious.
With the guys in the lineup today Idk who else you put there. Marwin maybe?
Good grief, is there a worse possible 2-hole hitter imaginable than Springer?
T2:
Carter grounds out 5-3
Rasmussen flies out F9
Marwin doubles down RF line
Castro strikes out
Still no score.
There's a ridiculous amount of foul ground at that park.
I like Wojciehowski and all, but I imagine the A's offense is going to wake up a bit today.
Lowrie 1-run double.
I thought Gattis got one, but ball doesn't seem to be carrying well.
I'll take the silence as "I'm not in the Bay Area", rather than "I don't want to watch a game with you".
sometime in the late 1930s.
The in-week stats matter. They are a factor in the performance of your simulated players. The number of innings played matters, too: if your real guys don't play enough innings, your simulated guys won't play all of the innings, either. Then they'll be replaced by your bench guys, or by generic AAA sims.
The strategy is to pick a set of players who will perform well in the simulated games of the upcoming week and assign them optimal roles on your line-up card. The strategy is employed by researching the stats of the players and upcoming opponents they are playing against, making your line-up card appropriately and submitting it on Monday morning (or Sunday morning).
So if Correa keeps on keeping on. And gets called up late this year. Does Lowrie just slide over to 3rd?
Why isn't the media frying Close over an open flame?
What a lively Game Zone. Now most everyone can watch the Astros but apparently most of you have sense enough not to.
Did OWA have a magic 8-ball at one time?
I'll have to defend Carter here. Yes, that was a catchable throw, but Thatcher didn't make it easy on him by throwing a submarine tailing fastball low and outside from 60 away. You just make a nice, easy, accurate throw on that play, you're not trying to fool anyone or strike someone out.
And Carter has been fine at 1B. He's not great, but he hasn't been a liability over there either.
I suppose he's giving Gattis a day off to "clear his head," because I can't imagine he needs a rest from the rigors of DH'ing. And maybe he genuinely needs it, I dunno. It just seems a bit of an overreaction, perhaps, to be putting your SS at DH because he's hit 2 dingers already, and bench your DH because he's hitless in 4 games, replacing him with Marwin Gonzalez.
(not that I don't love Marwin).
Is this a no-hitter? There seem to be lots of 0's under H in the box score.
Wojo looks pretty unhappy on the mound.
It's taken wojo 2.1 innings to reach 54 pitches.
Should be at 59 now after just 2 innings.
But how well is he framing pitches?
Was some pretty epic flailing on Conger's part. Talk about embarrassing.
Conger, are you fucking kidding me?
Is it too soon to complain about Valbuena batting third?
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Easy for you and BudGirl and Andy Zipp to say.
You would think that as part of the shift-to-the-AL shi(f)t we would be relieved from having that asshat work our games for a few years.
I loved the "mlb.com" telecasts of the exhibition games against the Royals over the weekend, where they used Ford and Sparks' commentary as the audio. Those guys blow Ashby away in virtually every facet of announcing.
And he is. Entered the game in B7 in CF and caught a routine FB in that frame. Got an infield hit in first MLB at bat in T8.
Just in case anybody is still wondering, the little guy arrived this morning at 12:44am (45 minutes earlier and the two of us share birthdays), and I'm officially a grandfather. He came in at 7 lb 7oz and 20 1/4", with only slightly more hair than I have. As I mentioned to my wife as we were walking to get some dinner last night, 41 years ago when I first laid my head down on a pillow in Houston, I certainly wouldn't have imagined that my first grandchild would be born only a few hundred yards away.
They'll be posted on the website Monday of each week, both in summary and in PBP mode. You can also see the box scores in your email on those days.
No reunion but he will be on view in Round Rock as he signs a minor league deal with the Rainjizz.
? Is he making any particular point there other than "I'm smarter/know better than almost every MLB front office"?Consider. The. Source.
Well a 1-hitter is almost as satisfying. Lose 8-zip.
I think Valbuena will be ok at third.
Wasn't the second out a fly to right?
Seconded. If there's any interest in "passing the hat", would love to contribute.
3 of us at Spanish Flowers now. I guess the other guys were set on a beer down the street.
It's noon, and I am at the Tall Texan. They have decided to open at 1pm. I'll stick around here for a little while.
Maybe wanting Wojo's first MLB game to be at home, instead of the Rangers' home opener?
McHugh not getting a start in the first three games? Seems odd to me.
Looks like tapatalk is working with OWA.
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McCullers really does have great stuff. First time I've seen him. I'm not the least bit qualified to say whether he can stick as a starter, but I sure hope he can.
Stefan?
You guys know that I'm alive and can read your posts, right?
Only if you disagree with him.
Quite shocking New Orleanians are Yankee fans. Given they hate the North
The Mr. Pinks are starting the year off right with 3 Tommy Johns (Darvish, Stroman, and Christian Vazquez) and now Verlander will join Chris Taylor on the DL. Should be a fun year.
I'm just wondering if he gets as long of a leash as Carter did.
Chuck is right about one thing. Nix knew exactly what was going on. Of course, chuck is completely whacked on every other point. The Astros did nothing egregious, nothing wrong in these negotiations. They were completely, 100% above board with Nix the entire time, and he knew this. No one who wasn't trying to squeeze as much money out of the Astros as fast as possible thinks they did anything remeotely wrong here, and they do not have a tainted reputation within baseball circles.
They'll still need one more 40-man move I think....Dominguez?
Don't rule out trade possibilities.
Huh, Dominguez gad an option. well that was easy
Oh, come on Mr. Happy: I've been waiting 33 rounds to pick Ruggiano, and now you pluck from the list immediately before my turn.
Cool. Was just wondering if I had missed the fact that it was televised. I've only caught one game this spring.
How to set your pitching and defense.
How to set your lineup and offense.
That should be against some law somewhere. Certainly against the limits good taste.
My accounting of the starting pitcher usage from last year has enough starting pitchers to make tandems at each level without having to add pitchers who were exclusively relievers to the mix. Are they the highest end talent? No. Did the Astros think enough of them to have them in the tandems? Yes. The depth remains quite impressive.
Wait a second now. I'm not saying Pots is wrong, but it is entirely possible that the present pitching depth in the minors is every bit as "good" as it has been; it's just they have changed their philosophy.
Yeah, it means they have less starting pitching talent. The tandem made a lot of sense when you had many more pitchers than spots in the rotations. Between the trades, promotions and the recent drafts, all of a sudden finding a spot in the rotation for players is easy
Fuck the disclaimers. Well done!
Well, he is an A-ball pitcher.
I can see where a bad hip would hinder a pitchers' delivery. I'm hoping it makes a difference for him.
Lakey saw him while we were out there. said 96-97.
Wow kind of shocked at this. He seemed to be doing okay.
Did you grow a new sarc metre or was that one just so obvious?
There will only ever be one Hondo.
Damn, Happy. Escobar was my next pick.
Rangers train in Florida.
They tried offering a new hamburger called the Jon Single Ton, but it struck out with patrons.
Joc Pederson is good
If Wojo hadn't gotten hurt last spring I think he would have been in Houston. I think he goes. I'll give up the Hernandez for DeDuno though.
Per Twitter, Appel, Aplin, and Straily were sent to the minors this morning.
If that means Grossman is in, then I suspect Pressley might be out. Dominguez seems very unlikely to stick as a backup, IMO. My guess would be Villar out of those four.
Looking back, it feels like Close (Aiken's agent) reacted too emotionally to Luhnow leaking that there was something wrong physically with Aiken. But...Luhnow really had no choice. The media (mainly Drellich and Buster Olney) built up the narrative that Luhnow and the Astros FO as an evil organization that is trying to squeeze every little bit of value out of players using whatever leverage possible, so when this whole issue came up there is no way Luhnow could remain quiet - that just feeds the narrative and continues to damage their image even more.
Maybe Close trashing the Astros in public convinced the Astros to increase their offer and maybe Close at the end of the day recommended to Aiken that he take the $5M deal. All he can really do is feed his client the information and advice he needs to make a decision. Unfortunately for Aiken, it looks like he might have made the wrong one - and that's why I think the argument is that Close should have handled this differently.
And Wandy has apparently won the #4 spot in the Braves rotation.
I completely missed this last week; but I didn't think it should pass without mention.
The Link
Sad news, indeed. I hope Jaye P. Morgan and The Unknown Comic, et al, are still with us.
I'm not one to normally jump to the defense of this front office, but that Gammons comment is pretty full of shit. Firstly and most importantly, Rollins hasn't done shit yet in the majors. If he makes the Mariners, miserably fails and gets cut, is Gammons gonna also tweet "Scouts are wondering who in Seattle evaluated Rollins." Secondly, he wasn't that great in the minors. Thirdly, it only makes sense to compare him to those who were kept on the 40 man. Maybe those guys are still better than an improved Rollins.
The Hawk is a lot worse than Ashby.
Yeah, Astros fans don't have a lot of room to talk smack about other teams' announcers. We got the bottom of the barrel with Ashby.
IT'S BRITNEY, you BASTARD!!!
...unless you were referring to the French province, in which case, my apologies.
And now on and on about the cough button. If I had to listen to the Pirates broadcasters every game I would blow my fucking brains out.
Roberto Hernandez went 3 giving up 3 runs (1BB/1K). Alex White went 2 giving up 1 run (2BB/0K). Straily pitching bottom of the 6th.
Another solid day for Grossman 2 for 2 and a walk. Singleton still slumping, 0 for his last 9 with 5 Ks
the best of the west
Astros flying high into Orbit
as an aside what happens with open carry if it passes
This doesn't add anything to the discussion, but I seem to recall 30-40 years ago it was not unusual to see a starter, even a big time starter, used out of the pen for a short stretch on his third day, or throwing day. If the situation called for it. Seems like that as a semi-regular practice would eliminate the need for a bullpen specialist or two.
Do any of you pitching gurus out there have a theory on this? Is it just dumb luck? Certainly over this period of time there have been many pitching coaches with different philosophies come and go in each organization.
Yes, juliogotay keeps bringing it up. Everyone else keeps saying its not what we're talking about. I refuse to believe you don't get this.
I received the tickets yesterday. Do you want them mailed to you, do you want to meet at Spanish Flower before the game and pick them up there, or some other plan?
Did JD Martinez have a better likelihood of becoming a good hitter a year ago than Dominguez does at this point? Yes, but with his great 3B glove Dominguez doesn't have to hit .290 to be a valuable, starting-caliber player. If he hits .250 with 20+ HR, as he's shown he's capable of doing, he'll be quite useful. That's why some team will pick him up if the Astros cut him loose.
You completely missed the point. Martinez has skills that Dominguez doesn't. It isn't fair to say they are the same.
anyone interested in a bracket challenge among the OWA members? I have set one up, just follow the link
http://owachallenge.mayhem.cbssports.com/e?ttag=BPM15_paste_cbsinv
password: jimsayswfw
Or incredible heartbreak.
Great to here Capps again, stopped listening to the Express games. THAT is an PBP voice.
Well worth the opportunity for a waiver pick-up.
So far, Deduno is getting it done.
Nice to see Wojo healthy. He will probably be needed this year.
Anything interesting from the radio guys?
If Singleton doesn't hit he won't be in the lineup long. Too many options. Carter and Gattis could play 1B and open another OF spot.
You're of course free to believe whatever you like but football experts and people who grade this kind of thing for a living think very differently. The numbers show he was poor in the slot and very good to excellent outside. This is last year, mind you, not the first couple of years when he did indeed suck.
It's the same deal with Newton. He graded out as the team's best lineman last year but lots of fans want to continue to punish him for the shit year he had in 2013.
Sparks said loop in Singleton's swing from late last season is gone.I heard that too. If so, that's a real good sign.
Hey! That's my fantasy team!
So they split the team into offense and defense today?
Get off his back, Neil obviously thought Astro Matt Dominguez, being an Astro, was a better option than Trevor Plouffe, or Conner Gillespie, or Juan Francisco, or David Freese, or Matty's high school teammate Mike Moustakas.
I'm just amazed that Neil drafted someone outside of the Astros organization.
And Bull Durham was a documentary? They didn't even know the "magic word".
Please stop picking my guys.
Well keep in mind that we're only hearing one side of the deal...Andre and his agent. I suspect we won't hear the Texans' side until after Andre lands somewhere, at which time I'd be gobsmacked if they had bad things to say about him.
Which brings up another topic I heard the yesteday: who is on Houston's pro sports "Mt. Rushmore". Is Andre on it and why/why not? For me, it's definitely Hakeem Olajuwon, Earl Campbell and Craig Biggio. Not sure who occupies the last spot (and no way in hell is it Nolan Ryan).
We're now in a real run of guys I wanted getting taken.
One of my favorite players, the great Minnie Minoso, has died.
Yes, I'm kidding. I find that site so difficult to navigate that even if there was a way to figure out how to look at everyone else's list, I'd never get there, gentleman or not.
Yeah, it's just as easy to navigate to other people's list as it is to navigate the site generally.
Lock the doors, hide the children: Ausmus is on Twitter
I think there is a large swath of the populace whose TV's are permanently tuned to Fox News.
His melting down over this has been quite spectacular.
Bill O'Reilly is now having his own "Brian Williams Moment" over his claims that he's reported - under fire - from war zones. In order to defend his claims, O'Reilly has split more hairs than he has left on his head but, in reality, he's in the same boat as Williams. It's just that finding out that O'Reilly lied about something to make himself look good is far less of a shock than Williams doing the same.
The risk is his knee, of course, but I think it's worth the gamble.
Thanks WakePhil, I actually wanted Santana and was surprised when Happy grabbed him. I thought he would be someone I could wait for, but apparently he's no secret.
Ok, my turn to start getting pissed at you guys. Sphinx just put a couple of holes in my plans.
Nate Colbert, you are just killing it. Killing it, sir! Thanks!
Wait a minute. San Diego is in the AL? James Shields got picked in an AL only league.
Maybe the introductory rate doesn't apply to lawyers? How come you snuck through?
Maybe they confused me with the another NeilT.
By the way, has anybody figured out how to pay yet? I haven't been asked to pay, and I haven't bumped into any obvious way to do so. Of course, I haven't been looking real hard, either.
I would have liked him back in Houston. He pitched well when he was healthy last year. Seems like he would have warranted a minor league deal.I agree, but c'est la vie.
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 think I have someone.
Same here, but for some reason I don't check the standings as often as I used to.
Regarding NBC suspending him for 6 months:
I did not use a toilet, public or otherwise, in Andorra so I will be unhelpful to any attempt to contrast the respective conveniences of European microstates.
So sorry to burden you with this, Hap; I know this holds no interest for you whatever. But I am going to try to make it for OD although it's too early for me to know for certain.
Not for spring training but we'll almost surely come up at some point this year.
I've never been to Liechtenstein but have always wanted to visit. I have been to Andorra.
It was a granny that was as devastating as it was predictable.
It's time to acknowledge the Giants as a dynasty. Three in this era of free agency is pretty awesome. The funny thing is I never think of them as a great team "on paper".
Maybe that Bochy guy is pretty good, too.
What are the subjects of your speeches MH?
Now kicking the tires on Kevin Correia for the rotation.
Daryl Ward, still active, played in the Mexican Winter League this offseason.
Rasmus has more pop, Fowler is better OBP, but that is the wrong way of looking at it.
Are the Astros better off with Fowler, or with Rasmus, Valbuena, and Straily? That's an easy call, and a good bit of maneuvering by Luhnow, IMO.
Watching some video on Straily...looks like he's got one heck of a breaking ball. If Luhnow could lock up Vogelsong then Straily might fit in nicely as another 7th-8th inning option in the bullpen. Fingers crossed regarding Vogelsong. I haven't been this excited about an upcoming season in years.
I'd be real surprised if Straily approximates Lyles, but I never expected McHugh to be so good either.
I have a buddy from college running in the Marathon tomorrow. He will be wearing a bibb with War Eagle on it. Cheer for this guy if you see him. He is battling MS and is determined to keep running. His name is Jonathon.
So how is this clock going to work when batters are out of the box tying their shoes, adjusting their gloves, and scratching their balls?
I just visited the website for the first time. I'm hooked, sign me up.
Good gravy, check out these ex-Astros versus Angelos:
I believe the amount for Sipp was $2.4MM. Conger was also signed today at $1.075MM.
That leaves Dexter Fowler and Marwin Gonzalez unsigned at this point.
