He deserves one and the Caratini signing basically ensures the Astros and Maldy have moved on. There were times that Maldy got a lot of hate(including from myself- not necessarily on this forum but yelling at the TV screen) but in all actuality Dusty over utilized him and it’s been reported that the pitching staff loved and preferred him. He gave his all to this team and this city night in and night out and was certainly proud to be an Astro. Feel free to post any Maldy highlights in this thread. He was instrumental in the 2022 WS run.
His plate adjustment in Game 6 of the 2022 WS where he crowded the plate and drew a HBP knocked out Wheeler and set up Yordan's heroics later that inning. That was a cerebral, championship level, clutch play and he used his brain to do it. I will never forget that. His gun down double play against Boston in the 2021 ALCS was also a great playoff moment. I will focus on the good in this thread. It is a shame he fell from grace so hard but age caught up to him extremely quickly and I think wrong choices were made as far as usage, which only wore him down further. Thank you Maldy.
Machete was a leader on this team in the best of times and I am grateful to him for that. He was over used last season and the blame for that lies with Dusty or perhaps also with Dana for not holding Dusty's feet to the fire.
Nothing against Martin. He's a competitor and was a clubhouse leader. My beef is with Dusty's usage of him. Martin gave us some great moments over the years. Much respect.
Don't get your hopes up. Last time the Astros let him go, they ended up trading for him a few months later.
I have said this before but it bears repeating because people are still blaming Maldy for stolen bases. Maldy was very good at throwing last year. 60 catchers had at least 20 SB attempts and Maldy was in the top half in every stat that he could control. 19th in overall "pop time" 19th in caught stealing above average 15th in arm strength. The problem is pitchers made him dead last in distance runner was from 2B when he received the ball. Runners, on average, were 53.9 ft from 2B when the pitch crossed the plate. Closest in all of MLB. Now I realize he was not good in anything else but SB was a pitchers issue, not a Maldy issue.
Amazing memories Maldy! I’m super glad you were able to get a much coveted ring and be instrumental in 2022. it was a wonderful ride. But it’s time to hitch the wagon onto Yainer Diaz.
