No hitting...leaving runners on base (9 LOB tonight, twice bases loaded)...have 3-4 producers and then folks like Gattis, Gomez,Reed,Castro, Gonzalez,etc. Catcher is a weakness. On a positive...GREAT arms in the outfield.
also how bad was having sipp in a situation we all knew was going to happen. he just doesn't have it this season. it happens. need to minimize damage.
Breg with a fantastic game, and Fister was solid against a potent Rangers lineup. 5-9 continues to disappoint, could really have used Lucroy on this team! Looking forward to Musgrove tomorrow. Win, within 5.5 & a tiny bit of momentum.
I absolutely get that. Watching the Rangers get exponentially better while the Stros did nothing made me sick. But I kind of understand why, I just hope it works out in the long run.
If anything, you do sometimes make moves to prevent your direct rival from getting better. Yes, they outbid you for Beltran... But they also blind-sided you with Lucroy, a move that would have added a boat-load of flexibility to the current lineup (hell, play Castro more at 1B if you have to). I was half-joking about Luhnow not being a war-time GM... But this is still his first foray at the helm of a contending team, and sometimes it takes a few go-arounds before it clicks that the MLB team, and it's overall performance, is the end-all be all of this job. Just can't rely on saying they're going to be young/contending for years to come... Not when you have an MVP candidate with two solid stars surrounding him now, and not when they fully know the failure rate of most prospects... And are seeing some fail right before their eyes. I highly doubt Hunsicker would have played it the same way... Highly doubt any of the Cardinals regimes would have done the same also.
Bregman is such a good fielder. Too bad he's going to be forced to the outfield. I know he will get to play some games in the infield, but I wish he could play there all the time.
Not sure which would be worse... losing the series while outscoring the Rangers or getting outscored. Probably the latter, but either sucks. Bregman showing plenty promise and the pitching has been solid. Tomorrow, let's take this town!
Ultimately, Yuli should be their DH... But there's just nobody who can play a competent LF AND have a quality bat in the lineup right now. As it is, this lineup/team took off once Valbuena started hitting (with Gomez putting up a brief cameo as an above replacement level player)... Just a couple more competent candidates for the everyday lineup can go a long way. They won't survive with just 3-4 options showing up every night, much like they didn't survive in April.
Oh, I highly doubt it too. He pulled Moises Alou, Carl Everett, Bill Spiers, Stan Javier, Vinny Castilla, Orlando Merced, Sean Berry for basically nothing. He was a wizard. I'm not even talking about pitching yet.
This will be interesting what they do the rest of this year and into next. While Valbuena's out, there's no reason Bregman can't stay at 3B and Yuli can play first. Or LF. I love Bregman's glove at 3B.
Yep. And the farm was still able to retain/produce guys like Berkman, Oswalt, Lidge... And eventually Ensberg, who all contributed in a very big way, right away. There is more than one way to build a winner... AND maintain a decent enough farm system... While still making the moves needed to not waste any opportunity whatsoever. This season is far from over... But the margin for error for this lineup is basically zero right now, and that's an unfair margin to have to hold Springer/Correa/Altuve to.
Luhnow flat out said they weren't prepared to match what they gave up...which makes little sense unless they're just not fully committed to this year any longer, which is equally troublesome.
I partially blame Lucroy for refusing the Indians. Changed the AL for 2016 with 1 "no" Combined with Hamels last year, no-trade clauses have royally ****ed the stros
Which leads me to believe the Astros could have topped both offers for Beltran and Lucroy and not given up major prospects. I said as much before the deadline.
Not only that, but they also got the Brewers closer in the deal, and that guy is good, as shown tonight in the 7th shutting us down.
Apparently the Astros weren't on his list...Luhnow had the same chance the Rangers had. And the Indians didn't give Lucroy what he wanted, or else he would have stuck with them. It was well-leveraged. I just expected a tad more shrewdness from the smartest front office in baseball. They have to know that only a fraction of all their top 100 prospects will make it, let alone make it big. Teams have been re-loading/re-tooling/playing add-on via the trade deadline long before Luhnow got his start in baseball... And it will continue to be the most sure-fire way to maximize one's chances during any given season (which we all know that nothing can be taken for granted... Career years, injuries, youth de-railed).
You've been harping on this for a while and I'm far from your position in terms of "Hinch needs to go Piniella on an ump; otherwise he's worthless".. BUT, if it's going to be Altuve or Hinch tossed in a close game, he damn well needs to get in the way of that.
Agree--I meant him vetoing the Indians ended up ****ing the Astros (by sending him to the Rangers). Less direct, and yes the Astros had a shot...still an issue.
