So in summary, Less than 3 weeks into the season, the Astros should have given up on Hensley, who had a 1.000+ OPS for them last year and instead played a guy who the Astros and the player said was having mechanical issues (and who had a 0.640 OPS in April) and needed work with the hitting coaches to correct. And they would have been magically way better. Astros should also have have quickly put their star acquisition into a platoon, despite the fact that he was batting 0.340 a week into the season. Also, Dusty should have played Chas while he was on the IL in order to find him some of those 150 extra ABs that were "stolen" from him. And you think these changes would have resulted in 3 more wins. For someone who claims to love analytics, you don't do very well with this WAR stuff. Of course, they could also have listened to your demands that they spend all their money in the offseason and have gotten a 0.660 OPS Wilson Contreras as their catcher for the next 5 years, have no financial flexibility, have had a pitching staff revolt, and have Diaz in AAA or traded since he's positionally blocked for 5 years. But at least the front office could say they spent money.
You are so obtuse. Will you ever admit the organization doing something stupid? No. Even when the organization shifts track showing they knew they were wrong. Awesome you are going to give him credit for Diaz now because he brought him along slow or fast now or whatever the voices in your head say. His 660 OPs was the profit of bullshit small sample size bad luck. Looks at his prospect pedigree and expected stats and this was always the most likely outcome for him. I hated and consistently b****ed and moaned incessantly about Brantley and Montero, to the point I had to shut up before I got kicked off the board. They’d have done better listening to me than what they did. Yes- it was always stupid to give maldy 80% of the AB’s. Yes- it was incredibly stupid to play Abreu 57 of the first 58 games hitting 4th. Yes, it is stupid every time Chas doesn’t play in favor of a lesser player. I’m fully aware Chas missed 2 weeks. That’s 12 games and 50 PA. He’s roughly 150 behind full time from where he should have been. his lineup decisions, day in and day out are unjustifiable by the numbers. A 250 point difference in OPs over 250 or 300 AB’s probably works out to 20 or 25 runs which probably works out to 3 wins. That’s accepted fact not something I’m pulling out of my ass. his lineups are absurd and have cost us games in the standings, no ifs ands or buts. Contreras is currently going poorly and is also on pace for roughly 2 WAR. He makes 16 million? 17? At 10M per War that makes his value absolutely neutral. We could have him and still have Diaz bat in the lineup every day and be a better team for it.
But yeah- we chose not to spend that money at all, so it goes directly to Cranes bottom line while we are busy blowing out revenue marks and earning like a big market team. So glad we did that. Helps my enjoyment as a fan to know Cranes got 25M large in his pocket.
LOL ... wait... what!?? You can't be giving him the credit for those accolades... c'mon man!!! Its almost as if the MLB front office required the org to take Dusty to the promised land (after the trash can shenanigans)-- "Hey Jim & co., this manager deserves to get his... yall gonna carry him until he does" not withstanding we had the best team in baseball for 5+ years. Dusty Baker was GIFTED that ring, not "eARnEdhiSToRy"... thats ALL on Lunhow/Click and the career years of just about our entire ball-club peaking at the same time. The dude is clearly just a fan of baseball and I highly doubt any of his decisions actually carry any weight these days... I'm afraid/confident the man has early onset Alzheimer's and/or dementia. None of his pressers make a lick of sense. Damn, can you imagine having Baker / Biden at podiums during a debate (***not a political post nor am I endorsing any party/candidate)-- just think its bonkers that people can listen to either one and not scratch their head. So yeah, winning or not-- fire that motherfvcker. That said, I'd still kick back w the dude and talk ****- smoke cigars and throw back some good bourbon... but that about reaches the threshold. There's another stigma in baseball-- managers MUST be a minimum age of 50-60 in order to still be in the driver's seat. Yeah, thanks no... your time's come gone.
Damn, you are dumbass. If you don't think playoff Dusty was a big reason for that success, then there is no point in arguing with you. You are just a dumbass.
Are you fckin blind, ignorant or stupid, friend... THAT TREND WAS ALREADY IN PLACE & HAPPENING BEFORE DB could stake claim / get cred for it. You're telling me that bc DB was brought it-- we never would've made it to the ALCS and/or WS (W/L) those years without him and that he turned this club around took them to the next level as contenders-- the path they weren't on already...?
2020. Scandal aftermatch, injuries (No Alvarez, JV), and a bunch of rookie pitchers take the Rays to Game 7 of the ALCS after everyone expected a collapse. 2021: Lost Springer and still no JV, but make to the WS with virtually no starters in the playoffs. 2022: No Correa, but the rise of Pena (Dusty had a part of that) and the team wins 106 games and dominates in the postseason with Dusty making all the right moves. Hate to tell ya, the manager does make a difference.
2019: they should've been able to win that WS. Guess what, your boy DB wasn't the manager of the Nats... he got ran off after the '17 season, after 2 short stints, because #MEDIOCRITY... who was on that roster again...?? 2020: cough-cough-covid... fallout... clubhouse, organization (in the eyes of the media/sponsors/corp MLB outside of Houston) and proud owner needed a PR move to save face... i would've said F-you to the rest of the league... oh wait, we know a guy-- he hasn't done **** the past few years, but he REALLLLY needs a ring (because "optics"... yeah, FU too MLB) "Welcome, DB, to the club that no matter how much you **** it up, we've checked our thoughts and prayers in the coat-room & no matter what we're on a warpath and can guarantee another WS in the next ___ years-- stay out the way!" granted if the guru sensei boss manager was as he was sold/painted, we couldve made the WS that year (4-3 didnt cut it)... a losing season 2021: Springer / JV were not the tandem studs that brought this team to the great heights they've been at (although argument can be made for JV, seeing as the reason he was brought in was to go deep / all-the-way... done. x2. Thank you JV.) We've done extremely well without Springer since he's left... so your argument on 2021 is relative to how "bad" (non-competitive) the other teams were in the AL... if DB is the stud you're painting him to be, he definitely should've nutted the f up and won that series, no...?? Ahh yes, lets not forget DB's comfort zone: 95-67 2022: YES-- WE DIDN'T NEED CORREA...!!! Hello, wtf!? Pena eclipsed all of Correa's post-season performances in ONE (1) POST SEASON (AS A MF ROOKIE!!!) and showed that the move was the right one at the time... and yeah, thank you CC for mentoring this new up-and-coming SS. This was a BUSINESS / CONTRACTUAL move... not a "managerial move"-- how in the hell did DB have anything to do with that substitution...!? But you claim DB was the one who masterminded his unprecedented rise? Johnnie B. Badd-Baker had NOTHING TO DO WITH the WHY'S OR HOW'S OR FOR WHAT'S any of the reasoning of the aforementioned. Lost the series that mattered... last year that team knew whatthe**** it was doing & knew how to perform like the rockstars they were. Wooow. Feel like I'm arguing with a rock or a tree... gonna keep my brain cells as far away from you as possible. Wow. D.Baker is in NO WAY SHAPE, FORM, CONDITION an able-bodied/sound-minded candidate to manage this ball club.
Dusty is the trust fund baby who didn't go broke. He hasn't done anything special in Houston. There's a chance he goes broke this year though. Outside of injuries and a bad offseason, there's too much Maldonado, too much Abreu, and too little Chas,.
Altuve Peña Tucker Bregman Diaz McCormick Abreu Dubon Maldonado That should be the everyday lineup until Yordan gets back. Let Kessinger be the utility player who spells guys. Peña not batting where he’s historically been awesome is…whatever. But continuing to bat Abreu in the heart of the order like it’s 2019 is just flat out detrimental. Dana Brown better have something cooking. But I think Dusty is gone either way in 2024.
Chandler Rome reports that "it's no secret inside Houston's clubhouse that Baker is not a fan of McCormick." Thoughts?
Dusty Fan: Myles Straw Robel Garcia Niko Goodrum Brooks Raley Rafael Montero Martin Maldonado Jose Abreu Corey Julks Dusty Not a fan: Yainer Diaz Chas McCormick Feel free to add.
Yuli is a fan. I'm sure Dubon is a fan also. Ironically, Dubon got more time last season when he sucked than what he is getting currently when he doesn't suck.
Not all Houston media. Chandler Rome will definitely criticize Dusty. You can either pay to read him (and Iko re Rockets), or you can just wait for JR to plagiarize all their posts here, continue to see all their geolocated revenue dry up, then eventually for them to get fired and us to revert to 100% amateur or lickspittle coverage.
Julks or meyers instead of Maldy but yeah, that looks good more or less. Much better than most of what gets posted every day.
