The story of the year has been injuries - you cannot lose three of the starting rotation and your two best hitters for long stretches and win 100. But the second story of the year is - once that happened, and the margin of error was gone - the manager continually suboptimized what he had left. Luckily we are now at the point that all of the hitters are back and Verlander is here to pick up some of the pitching slack, and the division is still there for the taking. We are also at the point that unless he makes extremely dumb moves (like sitting Diaz half the remaining games), the remaining sample size is too small for Dusty to screw it up. So, it will be a fun finish. And next year will be epic with even partial luck and a new manager. I heard some radio host say this feels like the beginning of the end, and I couldn’t imagine a more incorrect sentiment. Next year might be their best ever. but first things first … after all the ups and downs this season will come down to a few series, as baseball often does. I just wish Dusty had helped us get here with less stress.
So the Rangers have priority over us now on waiver wire? Can't see how they don't claim Matt Moore and/or Reynaldo Lopez now. I would've loved Matt Moore.
In the past 50 years, 100 win teams are 12-12 in the World Series. I'm obviously not counting the ones that didn't make it that far. eta: 35 lost in the WC/DS/LCS
Rangers losing games is more important than anything else, since it's unlikely anyone makes it that far on the waivers. I don't see Moore making it past Minnesota (if he lasts that far) - their pen has been bad and lacks depth. Cincy, Miami, and Arizona are other teams below us on the waiver wire that are likely landing spots.
I'm pretty sure that priory order was set when they first went on waivers and doesn't change. I think we'll know about all of them by this afternoon.
As with many things about which you are confident, you are incorrect. Waiver priority is set after Wednesday's results, so the Rangers are ahead of the Astros in priority.
What a day to be an astros fan. After a pretty lousy first 5 months of the season with all the injuries and poor performances and terrible lineups we hit the bell lap on this marathon in tied for first place. And we still have 3 games with Seattle and Texas that will help us control our own destiny, and the Astros schedule is easier than anyone else’s this month. Win the division in September and that gets you the bye and puts everything about the season into a box of “doesn’t matter” Goals for September: Clinch playoffs Clinch division Figure out if Javier is rosterable for post season Sort out 3rd and 4th starter Stay healthy Just once play this lineup so all of Houston can orgasmically explode: Altuve/Bregman:Yordan/Tucker/Chas/Diaz/Brantley/Abreu/Peña. It doesn’t have to be in that order (Bregman and Alvarez should be flip flopped and then it would be perfect) but just play those 9 guys together Diaz needs to catch JV and Framber a couple times so they can see that they can pitch to him before the playoffs start. You don’t want to lose in the playoffs sporting any thing but your best lineup- the nerd cave knows that and has TONS of input in the playoff lineup, so you might as well get Diaz a couple games behind the plate now.
I'm thinking the pitchers are all gone before Texas picks. All 5 WC contenders (except maybe Miami) and Toronto are ahead of them and could use another arm.
While some of the Astros have underperformed, overall the non-injured players have greatly outperformed preseason expectations. With the injuries the Astros had, they should be toast right now, but instead are virtually tied for first in the division despite three of the overperformers (Diaz, Chas, and Meyers) slowly gaining or losing PAs throughout the season.
So MLB teams are 20% at winning the World Series when winning 100 games. Astros are 50% lately and 40% overall.
One of the sweetest moments last season (of course besides winning the chip) the Padres sending the 111 win dodgers home early lol.
Lol unnecessarily rude, but I guess these are the times when people show you the caliber of person they are. Congratulations on finding something you can correct me on, I know it was a big moment for you
This is a great game theory exercise... it will be interesting to see if any players end up teams on bad fits just bc they are trying to block someone else from getting them.
Why in the world would you worry he's going to sit a guy he's been playing regularly for two full months now? Guys who have sat this past series despite starting in a lot of games the past 2 months ....Diaz and Chas. There is almost no reason for Diaz to not be starting almost every day someplace. Also, Chas was regularly played in Septmeber and October last season only to sit the first two games and then be in a time share for nearly three months with an unproven rookie. Also, Brantley's swings looked mighty fine to me. Diaz is probably going to lose a lot if not almost all of his DH PAs to Brantley. Dusty so far has resisted making Diaz the primary 1B prefering to squeeze out OFs instead of Abreu, Singleton, Hensley, or Dubon at 1B too much. I hope Dusty doesn't take away PAs from Diaz, but it looks like Diaz will either lose PAs, Brantley will ride the pine more than he should, or Dusty is going to turn 1B over to Diaz. The irrational hate for perceived irrational hate of Dusty is off the charts in this thread.
I hope Abreu's back issues are fixed...he's looked great since his return. When he's not at 1B, Diaz should be (unless he's catching, which is where he *really* should be in 80% of games but that's a "yelling at the sun" situation)
