It’s irresponsible journalism at its finest. they’ve painted themselves in a corner that there will be zero way to get out of... and when the Astros start winning a bunch of games and putting up huge offensive numbers, they’re not going to look very good after all of this.
We won a bunch of games and went to the World Series after the “cheating”. Media has conveniently not mentioned that.
No... but they've somehow conceptualized that there was still cheating going on then via buzzer systems based on unfounded tweets in the aftermath, despite every single report disputing that claim. The Astros lineup is going to be more dangerous this year. Full year of Alvarez and what I hope is an ultra-motivated Correa (who knows not to do any stupid stunts that fracture ribs). Contract year for Springer. Altuve fully healthy. And Bregman entering his true prime. We really didn't get that fully stocked lineup much last year. By the time Alvarez found his zone, Correa started having the back issues. There's just no way any pitching staff is going to hold up consistently against this group.
The Rays did this to themselves by not paying out. That said, I fully expect our output and production to decline significantly just as it does to every cheater once caught. Wins down. Stats down. And confidence down. It’s an inevitable truth. The crutch is gone. Everything will get harder.
You keep saying this, but do not seem to know the facts very well. The best season in franchise history was 2019. The Astros had one of the 5-10 greatest offenses in MLB history and that was without cheating. The two main culprits that came up and executed the plan were gone and involved with other organizations. The offense may very well be better with a full season of Alvarez, Tucker and a possibly healthy Correa.
Exactly. 2019 was epic. Historic. Once in a lifetime. We agree. Everyone had a career year. Freaking everyone. Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it. It was an offensive orgy baseball has never seen before. It was. That’s been my point all along. 2019 was a cheat. It’s impossible to ignore a smoking gun unless we are all just going to put blinders on.
Ok I'll bite. If we were cheating in 2019, then surely we were in 2018 too - if that's the case then why did Marwin's OPS fall over 150 points from the '17 season? And Gurriel's by 40? And Reddick's by over 130? And Springer's by 100? (excluded Altuve and Correa because they were injured/playing hurt a lot) 2019's production was due to having a healthy lineup, the upgrades at two positions (Brantley and Chirinos), and a rookie phenom -- which by the way, if we were cheating in all of 2019, surely Alvarez was included in that, to which I ask what the **** happened in the playoffs? The home/road splits show that the impact of the sign-stealing in '17 was negligible (some players mentioned in the report that it was more distracting then helpful). The behavior in '17 was shameful and we are paying the price for it, but it's absurd to lump 2019 in with it without any evidence.
The juiced ball was well documented in 2019...it's impossible to ignore this smoking gun unless YOU are just going to put blinders on. Home runs were hit out at unprecedented levels across baseball; offensive numbers we up across baseball. 2019 was a cheat for all MLB hitters.
Except that 2019 was investigated, including siezed communications, and found--by ppl who wanted to bust the Astros--to be clean. You don't have a smoking gun. You have an accusation. You probably think Bagwell's acne is proof of steroid use, too. Those of us who believe BOTH sides of the investigation, who say there was no cheating, may not be there ones with blinders on. But let me not go so far as employing your ad hominem. My point stands without it.
The juiced ball led to .030 increase in ops across the board from 2018, it was real, however, the Astros increased by 0.10 ...Yeah. I know. Crazy. Almost absurd bat shiot crazy. That shows you just in part how epic we were, but also detracts from any argument that it was just the juiced baseball. Again, if it’s too good to be true it probably is. I’m guessing, but we were probably top 5 ops all time or thereabouts, only matched by the 1920’s yankee teams.
