Agreed. If Luhnow/Crane thought Valbuena/Marwin/White were good enough... they were dead wrong. It just isn't consistent enough. We need more.
Being 7 games after all that work we put in and getting swept by the Rangers AGAIN will undo that mojo... so much so Luhnow might contemplate letting Hinch go (probably won't happen) or making some deals... calling up Bregman/Reed. We need to take one game in this serious... It's a must... I'd rather be 9 games out than 11 games out...
No matter how much hatred there is on CF towards Hinch, they aren't going to fire him in his second year, after making the playoffs in his first year with a team that had zero expectations Now before yall start calling me a "homer" or "Hinch lover" for posting the truth, i'm not saying I think he is a great manager and has done a great job, just saying there is probably around a 1% chance that he is going to be fired this season. And to be honest, while I don't think he is great, I don't want us to be that organization that goes through manager after manager after manager after manager, those teams rarely ever have consistent success. And one more thing on Hinch, people can cry all they want about playing the matchups and all of that, heck I want a strict platoon at Catcher and with Jake/Kemp and Gomez/Rasmus in LF/CF myself....but when you get in games, and your pinch hitting choices are all hitting around .200, tough to make "smart" moves
True, Hinch won't get fired. But if we collapse and nothing changes next year... he will get the axe. The second part is true and that falls on Luhnow and Crane for not giving the man more ammo. There's no reason we can't call-up guys like Reed and Bregman. I'm probably the biggest advocate tp bring them up but I highly doubt they wouldn't perform better than Valbuena/White.
4 year college guys selected #2 overall... and who happen to be able to play multiple positions that could be of need... should change the requisite "usual" time-tables. He's the most polished significant prospect of any recent prospects to compare to... with the exception of Appel, who never displayed the excellence that Bregman has thus far. By no means is he expected to just excel right away at the big league level. I know that used to be an expectation/desire from the Luhnow camp, based on some anecdotal examples they had in St. Louis, but the truth remains that the vast majority of prospects will fail in their first stint...and may ultimately benefit from the early exposure to know more of what they need to work on.
And He wouldn't necessarily have to come up and be great to help us, if he came up and was decent that would be an improvement Reed is having a better stretch lately also, really hope to see those guys here very soon. If they are just replacement level we would improve quite a bit
Yeah, I've never seen a huge downside for early exposure/adjustment making.... Especially when nobody is entrenched in front of them at the MLB level. I don't want to waste another off-season with the presumption that Bregman and Reed will be ready to take over their respective positions... Only to find out by next mid-season (or later, if they stash them the first month due to cost controls) that they do in fact need to get better options from elsewhere. The core is, for better or for worse, Springer, Altuve, Correa and Keuchel (still... Even with the regression). Every move they make needs to be to maximize these guys' prime years.
So if they spent that mid level money on a guy like Leake, how much better would we be having him over Fister? The addition of Fister has worked out pretty well What we need is an Ace to front the rotation. We thought we had one but he isn't performing. Will be interesting to see how Gray looks next few weeks and if Oakland puts him on the market
Fully agree, it will be extremely disappointing if we don't get a good look at Bregman, Reed and Musgrove this year, whether we are contenders or not
Think first management has to accept that Texas is better, as well as KC, SF, and other teams. There's nothing wrong with that. If the player don't accept that, I'm good with that, as they shouldn't. Think Second, even if management thought we were dead even with those teams, you still need to get better and improve the team or it's just a 50/50 proposition. So you still need to add players and talent. That makes it simple. There needs to be a resolution to improve the talent. We need to add some players to become the best team in the world. That's the reality. We've got to go to another level. Reed may well be one of the adds. Bregman to my surprise may be the other. Then we just need a stud pitcher. Or we need to add two bats and a pitcher.
I was wanting them to push hard for Samardzjia. Zimmerman was the back up choice. Both got less than what they were going to end up paying Hamels if he didn't' veto the trade... Just dissapointed that the money was already earmarked, and then wasn't re-appropriated (at least, not yet).
i just don't want the organization to go on the once bitten twice shy approach. Just because Gomez hasn't worked out and Lucifer backed down on Kazmir's soul, don't stop trying to acquire pricey talent. This is the time to do it when the top guys on the roster are on the cheap.
Springer is the comp that immediately jumped to my mind. Now, much of his earlier years were with another regime - but he was the first guy this regime kept down long after many of us thought he was ready. He accumulated 1,291 minor league PAs. More guys with college experience, FWIW: Tucker 1,613 PAs; White 1,249; Kemp 1,644; Moran 1,250 And then Correa 1,262. Altuve was a totally different regime but he still totaled 1,642. Bregman has 506 PAs. Even Kris Bryant, who meets your original criteria (to a T) totaled 773; or, roughly, 65-70 more minor league games. And nearly half of them were at AAA, which Bregman hasn't hit yet. And Bryant was a mutant freak in the minors (.327/.426/.667/1.092). Bregman has been very good; he hasn't been *that* good (.296/.381/.476/.858). Never say never, and all - but I'd be shocked if he got the call-up this year - *especially* as postseason chances start falling by the wayside. If the Rangers sweep the Astros this week, they're pretty much done in the division.
I can't believe they had any notion that Bregman would be an answer in 2016, which makes them ignoring CI/DH all the more disconcerting.
We all know what they did with Springer was far from the norm.... Was purposefully stashed, and would have come up sooner if he signed the ultimatum/blackmail cheap contract extension. Rest of the guys weren't quite the same comparison... Especially not the 17 year old Correa. Also, it depends on what you really expect out of the player. In Bryant's case, the development of his power stroke was an absolute must prior to his call up. There was also a bit of Springer-ism with him, as the Cubs weren't quite on the cusp of contention yet (not that the Astros are, but there is more a sense of urgency here). Also, given how Bryant hit the ground running... There is certainly a case to be made that he would/could have been effective in the big leagues sooner. With Bregman, his ability to put the ball in play, avoid strikeouts, and get on base is exactly the type of player this team is sorely missing from its lineup... Of course, no guarantees that his skillset immediately translates. Also, if they are out of it, it's a golden opportunity to experiment... They should call up everybody that could be worth a damn, and jettison anybody on the wrong side of 30 or who don't figure into any sort of long-term plans (including Rasmus and Valbuena). They've also made exceptions in the form of McCullers... Nothing is set in stone.
Esh was awesome on the PBP last night.... After that sort of performance, how could the Astros/ROOT ever go back to letting Ashby do PBP on the road games? Blummer is solid too... Deshaises-lite, but still better than the Ash. "What's in Ash's pocket" should be brought back too.
He'd totaled 1,192 minor league PAs at the time of the offer; and he would add a mere 68 before being called up. You're talking about a difference of nearly ~700 PAs (including 300+ at AAA). And, honestly? His numbers were significantly better than Bregman's (.301/.398/.558/.955) I admittedly don't pay a lot of attention to prospects and the minor leagues and I understand each prospect is unique... I just don't see a lot of precedent for bringing a prospect up with so little experience. BTW, speaking of "ability to put the ball in play, avoid strikeouts, and get on base" - guess the minor leaguer: Player A: .322/.416/.423/.839; 60 K; 505 PAs Player B: .296/.381/.476/.858; 49 K; 506 PAs
Still trying to figure out why Mike Stanton is even involved with the Astros broadcasts... Never was an Astro, but I suppose since he's a native Texan, it makes it ok.
