Brown's "hinting" was that the Astros had wanted Diaz to get about 300 at-bats this season (at the time, he was nowhere near that pace). Astros fans here at the time thought that was a good expectation and supported Brown. Diaz has 318 ABs as of today.
I was responding to someone who specifically cited that one game as proof we'd be in better position if only Chas played more. I dismissed it as silly, on numerous levels - but humored the post. No. What it actually means is that they didn't score as many runs as *you* think they would've. To make any such claim, you'd have to actually roll up your sleeves and dig into whether Julks/Maldonado (or whoever) were actually in position to affect the results of a game. You've never done that. They are 48-29 in games Julks started. I mean... he is simply not, in any significant way, standing in the way of them winning games. I would rather he start Diaz; I would rather he start Chas. But, at the end of the day, I really don't think it has near the impact fans like you desperately want to believe. Injuries are issue 1 by such a significant margin, I think whatever issue 2 is pales in comparison. (And I would argue issue 2 is underperformance from too many expected to better: Abreu, Pena, Bregman early; Tucker - it's not a coincidence they started to put it together once Abreu and Pena started producing.) Chas + Diaz is not making up 5+ games - not with Altuve missing so much time; not with Alavrez missing time; not with the rotation in such disarray; not with Abreu posting a sub-600 OPS...
The bottom line is every player has an expectation based on talent, experience, and other factors. Dusty has put out a lineup without the best likely expected result many many times. Much more than any other contending team. It is certainly reasonable that other factors such as injuries have been a bigger factor, and it could even be argued that Dusty has been lucky and his gambles have worked out for the best. But none of that changes the fact that Dusty has intentionally put an inferior team on the field without a realistic or accurate reason very often this season. If you flip a coin enough times eventually the results will end up 50% heads 50% tails. Luck evens out. Dusty has done a terrible job of managing this team, despite the record and results.
What does this even mean?... Very few things in baseball "follow" - games have no carryover effect. I was responding to your overall premise, which is that you're conveniently assuming positive, tangible results - and that's not how this works. Playing better players is preferable, sure - but it doesn't guarantee anything. I keep going back to this idea you all seem to have that if only they had played the players *you* wanted them to, they'd be... 3, 5, however many games better - they were 48-29 in games Corey Julks started. That's a 101-win pace. They're 51-41 in games Chas has started. That's an 89-win pace. I certainly don't think Julks is driving that record, and I don't blame Chas for his record - it just illustrates that they don't move the needle as much as you think. What? When & where did I say this? This is such a desperate strawman. I wish they played Chas and Diaz more. I hope, moving forward, and certainly in the postseason, they play a lot. But you're working the margins. They are not the reason they're in a fight for the division. Stop this condescending bullshit - buddy and son. And Mr. Reading Comprehension here clearly missed me saying "some of you" - if it doesn't apply to you, cool. All this angst and anger directed at a team that is now is full control of their division and playing its best baseball when it matters most.
17-22 in one-run games or extra inning games... imagine if we got that one more run if Julks didn't pop up or strike out in a handful of those games. Winning and losing in the pros is all about WINNING THE MARGINS.
This, I think, gets to the root of my objection: "intentionally," as if he's purposefully sabotaging the team. Look, when you factor in health and performance, he's really only had the "line-up of death" (healthy Altuve + healthy Alvarez + Diaz + post-May Chas) available to him 42* games. Interestingly, Chas started 28 of the first 33 - and then, for whatever reason, he's been sidelined 4 of the 9 games in September. Diaz... has been Maldonado'ed. I think Diaz should be in the line-up more - but as long as the pitchers favor MM.... (Tucker missed ~3 games when he was sick so technically, the LUoD has only been available to him 39 times.) Terrible?... They've won 61% of their games with him as the manager (discounting '20) and been to the World Series twice. "Terrible" seems extreme. Even if you want to extrapolate this year... I mean, they are in position to win their division despite historic runs from Texans and Seattle; despite losing Garcia + Urquidy (+ McCullers, who they clearly expected to pitch this year); despite losing Altuve for 70+ games; Alvarez for ~50; despite losing Brantley for far longer than they anticipated; despite Abreu posting a sub-.700 OPS; despite Pena hovering around ~.700 OPS; despite Javier regressing; despite the bullpen regressing... And this doesn't account for Bregman's slow start (.724 OPS thru May); Tucker's May (.681); Framber's recent struggles (4.64 ERA last 12 starts)... I really don't know how much a manager impacts W/L - but it's remarkable they're in the driver's seat right now. And I certainly don't buy into the idea that every thing bad is Dusty's fault + everything good is in spite of him. Way to easy/convenient for me.
Let's start here: they're 17-18; not 17-22. I have to assume you're just trolling at this point? There's no possible way someone claiming to be a baseball fan would post something this moronic about baseball. But, for fun... Julks has started 17/35 one-run games, and the Astros are 11-6 in those games. So, 6-12 in the other games...
That wasn't the parameter, Mr. Reading Comprehension. It was Altuve, Alvarez, Bregman, Pena, Tucker, Diaz, Chas and Brantley/Meyers all playing together. They've all been available/producing 39 games this year (since Altuve + Alvarez returned from the IL July 26). Julks has made 3 starts since August 1; he hasn't been a factor in six weeks. Why are we still talking about Corey Julks??
There is ZERO possibility that he is not choosing these lineups intentionally. The alternative is him not knowing and understanding the players on the team and their abilities/weaknesses. Now I never said he is intentionally losing or wants to lose. He just intentionally chooses players based on reasons other than who is best. That makes him a terrible manager. Yes terrible. You are talking about results and I am talking about decisions. It is possible for a manager to make bad decisions but the team wins anyway. The vice-versa is possible too. That does not mean the decisions that give the best chance should not be made. We are talking 2023, nothing else. All these discussions are about his decisions this year. He has won 56% of the games this year DESPITE making terrible management decisions and constantly sitting better players that give the team the best chance to win. There is not a single thing you can point to that shows playing Dubon while Chas sits improves theater's chance to win that game. example: if Dusty starts Dubon while Chas is on the bench, it better be very rarely just to give Chas a rest, otherwise he is intentionally choosing to play that game with a lesser chance to win. Unless he thinks Dubon is better than Chas at ANYTHING, at which case he is incompetent and needs to retire.
Because those games still happened and still count in the standings. You can't just say "those were a long time ago so if you talk about them your point is not valid " It's just more examples of Dusty choosing to start a player without the best chances to win that game as the primary factor.
Again, we arrive at another problem: the only decisions you want to talk about are the "bad" ones - you don't want to talk about - and certainly not give him any credit for - the good decisions. Example? Moving Pena back to the 2-hole for the Rangers series. That move paid off again and again and again that first game, as Pena kept getting on, and Bregman kept coming up with men on. And it really seems to have unlocked this offense - they've scored 60 runs in the six games since. Which isn't to start a back-and-forth on good/bad moves - but to illustrate the larger point that, by and large, bad decisions are equally balanced out by good decisions. In fact, they win far more often than they lose - so you could argue there are far more good decisions than bad ones. I've said this from the very beginning: their record is what their record is because of injuries - they've played roughly half their games without Altuve; a third without Yordan; 95% without Brantley. This idea that Chas and Diaz - who are each going to total 400 PAs - are responsible for.... any number of wins beyond 1-2 - MAYBE - is preposterous. They're 41-31 in games Chas started; that's an 89-win pace. He does not move the needle as much as you so desperately wish he did. He just doesn't. I hope Chas plays every single game from here on out. Same for Diaz. But, if they don't.... the Astros are still likely to win that game. And if they don't, it'll be because of a host of reasons that extend well-beyond them not playing the player you think they should've.
One run games OR EXTRA INNINGS https://champsorchumps.us/team/mlb/...id the 2023 Houston,Houston Astros went 17-22.
Chas and Diaz started all three of those games, one of which they lost, 17-1. In fact, Tucker missed a game due to illness and they gave Altuve his first off-day since his IL return. Otherwise, all the big guns started those three games. How in the world did literally the 8/9 hitter minimize the Astros' chances to win those games?... It's such hyperbolic nonsense.
Chas has a .900 OPS. Anyone defending his benching is stupid. Just a Dusty apologist. Mental gymnastics to try to explain away Dusty’s favoritism. Dubon has started like 6 of the last 12 games in CF ahead of a guy with a .900 OPS who also plays better defense. Dusty’s lineups are trash and they don’t usually give us the best odds to win. Many teams don’t even have a guy with a .900 OPS and we bench ours in CF half the time for a middle infielder, who pales in comparison. stop with the mental gymnastics. Chas should be in CF everyday.
