I'd go this route as well. Dusty is a likable guy and a great story teller so that'd be fun. As far as managing I'd definitely like to know what goes through his head when it comes to the lineup and when to pull a pitcher.
lol, dude has done nothing but win ballgames in clumps and get us to deep playoff runs since he's been here. And no, the Astros don't go to the WS and win pennants "in spite" of Dusty. A truly bad manager and this team would be in much worse shape than ummm ...DOUBLE DIGIT games up in the division. Y'all forgot about Cecil Cooper, Jimy Williams, Brad Mills, and Bo Porter.
Why do you often rest guys on the day when they have the most favorable match-up of the series? Do you not look at that? Were you unaware that Yuli has hit .400 against Montas in over 30 ABs for his career when you chose to sit him that day out of the three? Do you like to keep guys challenged? What is it because it happens a lot? Seriously... I want to know.
I'm starting to question the point of Jake Meyers. Bad on offense, bad arm in the outfield, and he nearly took out Diaz last night. Apparently he's getting starts the next 2 days and I question if that's a push from Click. Give him a few more chances then perhaps send him to Sugar Land to get out of his funk.
Is there really such a thing as "gelling as a lineup" in baseball, though? It's not like basketball where the 5 guys on the court have to develop chemistry and work together. When a batter is hitting, he's going up against the pitcher and the fielders, and that doesn't change much based on who else is in the lineup with maybe the exception of what kind of pitches he gets. But I don't really consider that something a team would gel over.
I get the lineup not needing to gel together, but getting regular ABs for the best 9 would help each of the 9 individually stay in a rhythm.
The problem is that they don't have a best 9. Since Brantley has been hurt, they've had a best 5 - Altuve, Pena, Tucker, Alvarez, Bregman. Every other starter and reserve has been roughly the same offensively. Recently Diaz has come on strong. Hopefully Mancini will be allowed to distinguish himself. And Maldonado has been good since July. If he continues, he and Vasquez will essentially be interchangeable.
Maybe, but Jimy had a world series caliber team in 2004 and could only muster a 44-44 record before he got fired. Enter Phil Garner and the team blasted off. When a team underachieves, I put blame on the manager. When the team overachieves, I give major credit to the manager. Right now, Dusty has a world series caliber team playing like a world series caliber team. I really don't understand why so many folks think he's so awful. In 2020, we overachieved in the playoffs, and a lot of that has to do with Dusty's management during the playoffs.
Winning a World Series is like...really hard guys. If he was truly a "trash" manager, this team would not have the wins they have right now.
