On Devo's slider, he's not given up an extra base hit on it yet in nearly 200 pitches. Not bad for a guy without a breaking ball.
He definitely does. Being fat might not help hitting, but it might say something about work ethic. Was Reed putting in extra work during his struggles?
On extra work, I read something recently that made it sound like this was the first time he's faced adversity at the plate. The article made it sound like he was learning how to make adjustments.
That's totally believable. He'd been the best player on every team he'd ever been on his entire life up to last year.
I'm scared to admit this publicly, but I think the Astros are my favorite team in this city. Just seeing George, Altuve and Bregman joking around - I love this team.
Why would you be afraid to admit that publicly? They are a good team and a fun one to watch. They have a solid young nucleus that seems to enjoy playing together.
Just throwing it out there, singleton was probably in the same situation and never adjusted to the league.
BTW if people want more audio content about the Astros, effectively wild (the former BP podcast now on fangraphs) just posted their season preview of the Astros and phillies.
I've been a huge Rockets fan all my life -- the only reason I ever found this site. But lately, I just can't help but feeling Astros have overtaken #1. I just love the team chemistry and players we have. Good mix of fun and talent. Can't wait for the season to start!
The Astros tore it all completely down and began anew with a plan. The Rockets keep flipping players in the hope of getting better by attrition/piecemeal. While I understand why each respective club has done what its done, the Astros have a sense of continuity and foundation that the Rockets do not outside of one player.
I listen to Effectively Wild almost religiously. Lots of interesting (nerdy) baseball talk with a good mix of laughs. That said - Am I the only one who thought Zachary Levine was lacking true insight on the Astros? He also seemed boring. Usually those team previews are great. Jeff Sullivan asks some funny outside-the-box questions and there's almost always a camaraderie that gives the impression that all baseball writers know each other. Not so much with Levine. Maybe he just misunderstood his audience.. Pretty sure casual baseball fans don't listen to Effectively Wild.
Matt Weiters signs a 2 year, $21 million deal with the Nationals. I can't believe we were interested going anywhere close to that.
I never got into effectively wild but Fangraphs podcast with Cistuli and Dave Cameron (and previously Kiley McDaniel) is a regular listens. I had also just got into Kevin Goldstein's BP podcast right before he joined the Astros. Agreed Zach Levine was unimpressive.
It was bland, but probably a tough task in time alloted. Astros have a lot of knowns regarding roster. Tough to get excited about middle relief and backend of rotation.
I made the change a long time ago. I haven't really felt overly excited in the post-Yao era, despite the WCF.
True about the relative lack of question marks but the guy listening to effectively wild is going to appreciate middle relief/backend rotation conversation. There's actually a lot of good questions on how to utilize Devo/Feliz/Hoyt/Gustave/Musgrove/Pauline/Martes. That's a ton of talented guys who no doubt would have bigger roles on other teams.
John had already secured millions of reasons to slack off. Local media have stated he wasn't putting-in the work. Hopefully Reed figures it out. His improved physique gives hope.
These things tend to happen pretty organically. Most people who grew up in Houston in the 70's and 80's were diehard Oilers/Astros fans... with the Rockets coming in at 3rd. Then, the clutch city years happened, at almost the exact time the Oilers were leaving and the Astros were threatening to, and the Rockets owned this city for a good 4 years (the late 90's Astros playoff failures not helping them). Then, MMP (Enron) opens, and it ushers in a whole new era of Astros baseball... and captivates a huge portion of the population that would never set foot in the old Dome. I know most stadium deals are a horrible deal for the city... but MMP really did turn this town into as good of a baseball town as it ever was. It also coincides with the Rockets in the post-Hakeem, Francis-era. Texans also come into existence filling a void for the old diehard Oilers fans. Then the Rockets develop Yao (then T-mac) and have a whole new sort of following... but in the end, the lack of true contending success and championship-level basketball (that really hasn't been seen since the beginning of Barkley's first year) has always limited the passion that the Rockets can achieve (and they're back to being a 3rd fiddle in this town).
