In 2005, I expected him to be baseball version of Paul Pierce. I get the sentiment, but if he wasn't functional... he shouldn't have been first bat off the bench or starting at DH
I loved Bagwell on the field and I've really enjoyed his commentary in the booth the last few years. If Crane and the organization want him to contribute in the dugout or in the press box, I'm good with that. He needs to stay far, far, far away from the front office.
Paying the price for going away from the way Luhnow built this team This off season was more about Crane and Bagwell"s gut feelings than using the analytics approach that built this dynasty.
Hopefully they got it out of their system and can go back to the right way. Even when people think choosing their gut worked out, there is always something in the data that would have also suggested the same decision.. Going with your gut can work in very small sample sizes but not for year-long decisions.
At this point, AI can do everything the nerd cave was built for... and then some. There's a good chance those algorithms are already out there/in-utilization. Lets just hope they change the password more frequently this time.
I don't know if the decisions would have turned out differently, but every decision the FO made without a GM this past offseason (Brantley, Montero, Abreu) have been gigantic whiffs. Either zero or negative production from three different players, that can cripple a team.
And yet the team isn't crippled. It's 2 games over .500 playing a vicious schedule and with extensive injuries. Abreu and Montero have been dreadful and need drastically reduced roles until they turn it around, but both could still be difference makers in a playoff run and/or in the post season.
Monteros results have been atrocious, no way to argue that. He should be given lower leverage until he's able to get some clean innings. Having said that, his expected numbers versus his results suggest reprehensible luck, not a significant fall off from last season. A .444 BABIP despite better than league average contact numbers. His K/BB rates are basically the exact same.
Ya Montero has probably pitched better than his results would indicate but that’s the life of a high leverage bullpen arm, your margins are tiny. But that’s kinda besides the point in this discussion which is the decision to re-sign him to that contract flew in the face of not only the Astros analytic-driven MO since this dynasty began, but in the face of common sense. Good FO’s simply don’t extend those types of deals and it didn’t take advanced analytics to know that.
Disagree. The Astros identified him as a high calibur "playoff level" arm and paid a price they needed to pay, based on the market to prevent him leaving. He has been awful and also unlucky, but that's a high leverage relievers life. There is still plenty of season left but if not Maton has moved into his spot in the top 4 and the Astros will be fine.
