None of us saw flashes is bull****. Gauging the quality of a trade based on the the historical sucktitude of trades over 50 years is also bull****. No big deal guys, we've made crappier trades before. Okay dude. Who are you not pretending to be lately?
I agree with about 90% of this, particularly the Gomez injury part. Sometimes the best laid plans just dont work out. With that said, Luhnow needs to improve his MLB trade track record. BTW, I still dont think the Gattis trade is as bad as some are making it out to be. While Gattis was slightly below par last yr, he did lead a playoff team in Hr's/Rbi's and had some big hits during the season. Luhnow really didn't give up much to get him. I dont see Folty being a dominant P, Ruiz will do well to make it to the Show and the fact that I cant remember the other P in the deal speaks volumes.
He was a highly-touted prospect - but you'll struggle to find too many - if any - glowing reviews of his performance last year. Again, not only was he mostly mediocre, McCullers was significantly better. In fact, if you go back to the trade thread, there wasn't a ton of consternation that he'd been dealt; it was mostly posters detailing their World Series plans. You're drowning my point in a vat of spewing vitriol. Fans need to stop whining about "the one that got away" as if it's some rare, once-in-a-lifetime occurrence that, "Woe is me - it ONLY happens to my team. Whaaaaaa" It happens to every team in every sport. It's the nature of the beast, ESPECIALLY in baseball, given the sheer number of players in any given organization. Does ANYBODY know what this means?..... Anyone?....
I watched about half the game last night. I noticed the mood of the team seemed quite a bit different. Granted, they were winning the whole game, but it seemed like guys had smiles on their faces and we're generally upbeat and supporting each other. I hadn't really seen that type of mood this season. I think that Kemp brings a lot of enthusiasm and energy, and Gomez (for as competitive as he is) seems to drain energy from the team. Anyway, it will be interesting to see how this shakes out over the next month or so, but I liked the first impression.
And all those triples last year! Few non-scoring offensive plays were as exciting as seeing him trot around the bases last year.
I agree. With Gomez getting benched....I mean being put on the DL and bringing up Kemp, Moran, etc., it appears to have energized the team and given them a shot in the arm. I'm hoping we have seen the last of Gomez in an Astros uniform. The team's play has steadily gone down since he was traded here.
I think it's amusing to listen to wannabe-psychologist fans who think they can read a team's emotions and who's responsible for them through a TV screen.
No one's debating whether Gomez pre-injury was better than Cespedes. What I'm arguing is post-injury Gomez should have never been ****ing traded for in the first place, and we'd have been better off either A. trading for Cespedes or B. staying put. You have no clue what you're talking about, as no one can make a prediction either for or against future production of the talent traded away for Gomez. No, Santana hasn't set the world on fire, but he's got a pretty nice OBP for a guy that really doesn't hit for average. He's got potential, and I certainly wouldn't count him out yet. Brett Phillips hasn't been impressive in his stint with the Brewers minor league system, but anytime you give away your top ranked minor league talent, it IS significant. As for Josh Hader, he's killing it in his 8 games started with a 0.89 ERA and a WHIP of 1.01. He's also got a great strikeout rate and projects to be a solid major league starter. Bravo to you for asking the question and starting the thread, but you obviously haven't done your homework on who we traded away and how they are currently performing. Find me one quote where I've said Crane is cheap. Now, I'm not convinced he'll ever spend money with the big boys, but I've never called him cheap and have even defended him in personal discussions with a buddy of mine. Good for you. I'm not sure why we're arguing then. It does seem like the Astros missed something, and all one has to do is watch Gomez to see he's lost a step. Compare him to his days in Milwaukee just a year ago, and you'll see that pre hip injury and post hip injury he's a different player. Period. Lol. I don't even remember the names of the people involved in the first altercation about Gomez. Perhaps you were one and that's why you're so damm butt hurt over my "winning the internet". The FACT is I complained about the Gomez trade from the very beginning and didn't like what we gave up. I got grilled by some posters on here for being ill informed, and basically that I know nothing about baseball, a sport I have played and watched my entire life. FACT is the Gomez trade is and was a failure. It was stupid to trade for a guy that was injured, and it was stupid to give up your #1 ranked minor league talent for a guy that was injured. You can ignore the "UNLESS" all you want, but that appears more and more by the day to be exactly what happened. No, the trade wasn't and isn't justifiable. Touche.
Did you watch half the game? If not, STFU -- you're not qualified to comment on their psyche. It's a lot easier to smile when you're winning. Lets see them go on a big winning streak and we can revisit what Moran and Kemp provide.
You can find it amusing, but it blasts through the tv screen the way the mood of the team has changed since getting Gomez. I think it wears thin on everyone when a guy is that outlandish with everything he does, and then plays such a ****ty brand of baseball. He's just like so many of the loudmouth posters on this forum that talk nonstop believing themselves based on their years posting on a message board forum to be the ultimate authority on baseball analysis. It's draining over time and makes everyone else want nothing to do with you. Gomez needs to shut the hell up and tone his **** down until he actually starts producing. All the show-boating, falling over with every swing, and other bull **** he brings to the table has got to go. If you don't think that weighs on his teammates, then I find you quite amusing.
I think it's amusing to listen to internet message board police criticize other posters from their mom's computer.
It's sad. I know I hate on the guy A LOT, probably too much, but it is unbelievable. At the time, I didn't think he was worth the prospects we gave up for him, but I never dreamed he'd be this bad. I'll try not to b**** and moan so much. But it sucks where the Astros are at this season and no question, Gomez is a big reason why. We traded some good pieces for a guy we expected would be a solid #4 or #5 hitter for us. And he's hit like a guy that belongs in AAA. Really disappointing.
But if Gomez hit like he did it Milwaukee, he'd easily be worth the pieces we gave up. We honestly didnt give up that much. Santana is who we thought he is...given the fact that our OF is pretty solid, he's not someone that could have helped us now or anytime soon. Phillips is doing okay in AA. But again, it's not like he's just dominating that scene. Hader has been solid in AA. Still a long way to go before knowing if losing out on him hurts us or not.
If he passed his physical with the Astros... I mean, he's healthy. And if healthy, he was a better - if not significantly better - player than Cesepdes. And that includes a vastly superior glove. In his prime, Gomez was a tremendous defensive CF. You said they shot "their entire wad hoping to win it all in 2015" - are you going to suggest Santana + Phillips + Hader = their "entire wad"? They have nothing else in the pipe? It is not going to cripple them. OK, gimme a second... I'll look around... Found it! Oh, so you mean when they traded for him? Gomez had a terrible start last year. But at the time of the trade, he had just posted a .267/.349/.393/.742 June/July. Again, that was right in line with Cespedes' best year - and most thought it was a disappointing stretch and that, once healthy, he'd bounce back and be one of the best CFs in baseball. He passed his physical. And we have NO IDEA if his decline is injury-related, btw. We should probably re-set on that. He certainly LOOKS injured - but we have no idea what's going on. If I'm the one mentioning it... it's sort of implied that I'm not ignoring it. Again, we have no idea why his performance has diminished. It *might* be a lingering, long-term injury the Astros' medical team missed last year. It might be whatever injury he had last year healed but has since been re-injured. It's possible this is an entirely unrelated injury. Or it could very well be that he hit a wall physically and is in a rapid free-fall based on age/wear and tear. Maybe it's mental; maybe he was unhappy with the trade... I mean, we could probably list a dozen different potential reasons. Point being, I only hold the Astros accountable for one of those scenarios. If it's any of the others - how could the Astros have predicted that? They took a gamble on a guy who was *exactly* what they needed. It hasn't worked out - but that doesn't invalidate the reason behind the trade.
Criticizing Carlos Gomez for playing like dog poop is perfectly fair. This notion of "Carlos Gomez better change his personality because he's not performing and I don't like it and he shouldn't act like that unless he performs" is utterly asinine. Gomez hasn't exactly endeared himself to me, but some of y'all really enjoy watching him struggle. I mean... he's already admitted that he's hurting this team with his play, and he's still getting attacked for his "attitude."
Not to mention the certainty with which people are posting about the cancerous impact he's having on his teammates - the same teammates who played all year with Hank "HR Robot" Conger, who couldn't throw me out stealing a base last year. Gomez was reportedly loved by his Brewer teammates and he seems like a pretty good fit for this Astros team, which is young and rambunctious and certainly not opposed to having fun. It's been a bad trade - they happen.
We're not qualified to comment on their psyche regardless of how much of the game we watched. The only people that can do that are the people in the locker room. Fans think way too highly of themselves. You think? Or you know? Big difference there. Baseball players have a far higher degree of common sense and empathy than people here. Every single person in that clubhouse has been through major slumps at some point in their career. They know what it's like to deal with that. Ironic, coming from the guy who thinks he can analyze the psyche of people through a TV screen.
