Not every metric is publicly available. For example, for Maldy in particular there's a relatively new catcher metric just put out by Mike Petriello called "Caught Stealing above average". Maldy rankes 4th overall this season and at the time of Petriello's article publication ranked 2nd overall over the '22-'23 seasons combined. Not hard to believe that the Astros have internal data backing their faith in Maldy. From Fangraphs' article on catching today: That latter paragraph perfectly encapsulates the Maldy debate. Sidenote: Once again, I will point out that I am not a Maldy supporter in particular. I just have abiding faith that the FO and Dusty know what they're doing (better than me at least).
The front office tried to trade for Contreras last trade deadline, and per Dusty, Dusty went over Click's head to stop it. Dusty doesn't do this if Contreras was going to be the backup like Vasquez. Crane tried to sign Contreras again this offseason. Brown has said he hopes Diaz gets 300 ABs. Considering Diaz isn't getting many DH ABs, it seems most of these are intended at catcher. I have abiding faith that the front office even with changes know more than Dusty and me.
And Crane decided the upgrade wasn't big enough to give up his #7 starter. And Crane decided the upgrade wasn't worth paying that much for. And didn't try to upgrade with anyone else. Maldy is not the only catcher that's viable for the team. But the team has repeatedly shown they are perfectly content with him as the starter and aren't particularly desperate to upgrade. And yet, at the end of the day, Dusty's way worked. You can keep saying Crane and the front office know more than Dusty. But at the same time, they continually defer to Dusty and get good results.
I hope you guys are right and we demonstrate again that we have a mountain of talent on both sides that can easily absorb an offensive lead anchor. A far as I see, Maldonado as an everyday player is basically just along for the ride on an elite club that would be even better without him. We would have been as good or better with Castro starting in 21, and we would have been better with Vasquez starting last season. FWIW, only a small sample of 26 PA, but as a catcher Diaz is slashing .381/423/.524, that's a .947 OPS. As a starter in general his OPS is .702, higher than Julks and Hensley, but he doesn't deserve more than one start a week. GTFO
This is an outright lie. I'm not aware of ever saying Crane knows more than Dusty (in regards to baseball). I would not call the manager going over the GM's head, searching for replacement (though the owner being cheap) in the offseason, and the current GM basically saying Diaz should be splitting time as the team as a whole being perfectly content. It sounds more like the front office is not content, but that the front office has not figured out a way to improve the situation in a manner the owner will approve. On getting good results, the Astros got great results with and without Maldy. Well not this season. The results with Maldy have not been great. Baseball is a team game that most decsions don't make up too much of a difference such that bad decsions can be made up elsewhere. As such, I don't believe going with Maldy is the reason the Astros have lost so many games with him. Small contributing factor, yes. Though on defering and your rationale that winning a World Series justifies every decision (this is my perception of your arguments), when the front office did not defer to Dusty last year, and had Dusty put Chas in as starting center fielder, the Astros won a World Series. Granted there is a possibility that Dusty realized he was wrong and made the change himself. I can't read minds. I can only draw conclusions based on actions, but it really looks like Dusty would prefer someone with a better arm than Chas in CF.
San Martín de Minute Maid. Santo Patrono de GIDP y de los pre-game preparaciones. Can someone photoshop Maldy on this image? Spoiler
As Nook or someone mentioned, Crane is definitely looking to recreate the vibe under Luhnow/Hinch where every one was generally on the same page. Dunno if that will actually ever happen with Dusty, cuz he def has much cache as he's ever had and doesn't need to kowtow. I think that stuff smooths out some over time, but may not resolve until Dusty retires.
I think Dusty just does his own thing and doesn't give a **** what the GM says/thinks, although he might have some respect or at least listen to Crane. The only way to get everyone on the same page in that situation is either get rid of Dusty or bring in a GM that is happy being told what to do by his owner and skipper. Obviously this is speculation, but I think part of Crane really enjoys using his stake in the team to ingratiate himself with celebrity players and coaches, and this might explain his infatuation with Dusty, his personal ties to JV, etc. The guy is obviously a fan of the game and this is his way of living the dream as a fan by establishing personal relationships with these people. I also think the way Dusty has been managing this team, at least this season, is a serious problem and not a small part in why the team is below average in position war and has a team 91 wRC+. There are only three really good hitters on the team now, but there are really only three bad hitters as well, with two of those not needing to play all that often and the other certainly not needing to bat ****ing cleanup. Hensley having double the PAs of Diaz is madness.
The difference between good and bad catchers is mostly made up by framing, where Maldy is terrible. Maldy's only identifiable skill is his arm (he's not a good blocker, pitchers perform worse when he catches them...), which Diaz seems to at least be on par with anyway if not better. Diaz also sucks at framing, but I have more faith that he can improve in that regard than Maldy who is washed up with respect to that skill.
The idea that anyone with decision making authority other than Dusty likes what Maldy brings to the team is absurd. They might have collectively decided it’s not a battle they want to pick, but it’s causing serious damage to the team in a time where we have enough guys down that it’s noticeable and directly contributing to losing.
Feels like the only way some of you will be happy is if the Astros are steamrolling and Maldy is on the bench/off the roster. Anything other than that is a big f'in problem. I don't get it, but you do you.
I don't think asking our top prospect catcher to catch more than one f**king game a week is asking too much. Particularly when he's played better in the little time he has gotten. God forbid our first ballot HOF incumbent splits time with somebody else.
How about this- some of us just want the team to do stuff that makes sense statistically. I don’t believe I ever complained about a single move Luhnow or a Hinch made. They were all imminently defendable with data and logic and you could see why they did what they did. Not so for the Dusty regime. They intentionally get the math wrong and that gives us fractionally smaller chances of winning. Which is aggravating. when we start from a super high floor we’ll above the other teams in our league it’s an irritating footnote. When we are banged up like this it’s an existential threat to winning the division/going to the playoffs.
The team won the World Series last year doing all these things you are complaining about. Until they are eliminated this year I will have faith that Dusty is making the right moves and decisions. There is much more than statistics to navigating a roster and 162 game season.
I 100% agree it was easier as a fan in the Luhnow/Hinch era to follow moves being able. There was absolutely a comfort in the data/logic. It is significantly harder to follow the Astros when the moves don't make obvious sense. That being said, it's ridiculous to say "they intentionally get the math wrong" as if they're bad actors. You not understanding what they're doing does not equal them doing something wrong. I loved Luhnow/Hinch era too and was devastated when Hinch was forced out. But just to point it out, Dusty is already up there with Hinch as best managers in Astros history. They have a nearly identical winning percentage, which ranks as the top in Astros history. Dusty (4 seasons including current): Record: 246-169 (.593 winning percentage) 3 ALCS trips 1 WS ring 1 AL pennant Hinch (5 seasons): 481-329 (.594 winning %) 3 ALCS trips 1 WS ring 1 AL pennant. They do things very differently but have achieved nearly identical results.
Cool. Let’s say maldy is who you want to be your everyday catcher in the playoffs. He’s 187 years old. What good does it do to play him 80% of the time right now? How about Abreu never having an off day? It’s dumb. You are confusing the Astros greatness and having an awesome team with some tactical or strategic brilliance from Dusty.
