Multiple people have said over time that only JV and Framber really prefer him and the rest would be fine with anyone. It's all conjecture as to how they really feel, but these players go out of their way to talk about how much they want him catching them. Why? Who really knows. But it's there. How do measure the impact of leadership on a clubhouse? How do you measure whether Dusty having a players' back or making them happy impacts how the other players play or are motivated the rest of the season? How do you measure how pushing a player or motivating a player or giving/withholding playing time makes a player better or worse? How do you measure how rest in April or June impacts a player's performance in October? People like to say the Astros were "pumped" by JV's trade and that helped Framber pitch a no-hitter. How would we measure that?
So multiple Astros' front offices are super-weak and can't control or influence their manager? Everyone likes to say "well, in the playoffs, the front office controls the lineup decisions" to find ways to say they win despite Dusty. Yet they ran Maldy out there all playoffs last year? Are these people that stupid? Willing to risk losing because they can't talk to Dusty?
And it’s already been proven you can win a WS with him and the aces want him. clinch onto whatever cliches you want but those are actually what matters
Um Click literally doesn't have a job here for a reason and neither does his top lieutenant. Crane didn't make that decision without any additional influence.
With or despite? We won with Yuli, and despite Maldy. And it is one year later... folks chased out Yuli when the starting point was lower and drop-off was less steep.
And he played a position where defense simply isn't as important and offense is. Maybe the Astros should have kept Keuchel because he was a gold glove fielder?
If your first baseman can make the rest of the infield gold glove caliber with his picks while only striking out once in the postseason and still set career highs or near career highs in doubles and stolen bases... that is something that shouldn't be overlooked. The Chris Carter years and the last week of Abreu taught me why firstbase defense matters.
Not exactly true. You just have to be one of the ten best hitters in baseball even while getting yanked round. But I think Chas has defeated Dusty’s bias finally.
