September baseball was excruciating to watch with the exception of the last week of sept. Johnnie should be thanking the Astros for getting him a chip. Took him how many years as a manager? And how many clutch moments from astros plsyers?
Not necessarily - their Pythagorean formula has them at 93 wins. But I don't think Dusty Baker is the primary - or most critical - reason they've slightly underachieved. I think playing without Jose Altuve for 70 games & Alvarez for 40 games was the biggest issue. I think JP France making 23 starts was a bigger issue. Hell, I would point a finger at Crane/Bagwelll/offseason GM before Baker (though Baker may be in that group): they had a lousy offseason. You can jump up and down that Julks played too much - but we have to deal with the reality that they swung and missed on Brantley's recovery and didn't pursue a legitimate plan B. Who else were they going to play? Meyers was hurt; Chas got hurt... They also put too many eggs in Abreu's basket - they never could have anticipated his drop - but, at the same time, EVERYONE knew he was old and they, again, had no contingency. They just weren't as good/deep/healthy as they've been in years past, and I really think that's been the overwhelming biggest factor.
Lucky-ass tie or not... They're division champs because they pounded the Rangers this year and earned the tiebreaker. What was lucky about that? The Rangers basically played .500 baseball after May. They started September dropping 6 of 7; they had a four-game losing streak in the middle of the month to CLE & BOS; & then they lost 4 of their last 6. I mean, there wasn't anything terribly shocking about the way they finished the season. The shocking part was their start - but that was never sustainable with their pitching. The Astros always hung around. Texas and Seattle put together some incredible stretches - but neither team could run away from the Astros, who kept chugging and put themselves in position to force the issue the final week of the season. Why is that lucky and not just... baseball? Yes; they very obviously caught some breaks late but it's silly to focus on a week's worth of games and pretend the other ~25 weeks don't matter.
Well then we will have to agree to disagree. The only way to keep Diaz from winning the ROY award was Dusty and his hard headedness. I mean the man can hit, if you aren't going to do the right thing and play him 125 games at catcher, then try to find him 125 games at 1st/DH with Alvarez/Abreu being hurt for much of the season as well as 50 games at catcher giving Maldy a much needed break. Instead he played Singleton/Madris, Hensley etc... at those positions taking away valuable AB's from a star level player. Plain stupidity/hard headedness. This doesn't even take into account his mismanagement of the pitching staff. More innings on guys like Brown/Javier/France than they've ever pitched in their lives doesn't seem like a good way to enter the playoffs to me, does it to you? Now Dusty may have gotten lucky and won the division so these arms get a break to rest for a week, so they may be alright. But counting on luck is not a good strategy IMHO.
We had a contingency, a really good contingency in Diaz. Brown even gave Dusty a 3rd catcher to start the season so Diaz could move around. But Dusty unilaterally decided he sucks at catcher sucks and 1B (zero evidence of either) and in general sucks at everything so he decided not to play him. Our pythagorean likely would have been even better if we actually played our good hitters as frequently as possible...but Dusty never did. Play good players more than bad players, over 162 it will lead to more success. I don't get why that simple concept is hard to understand.
That's a stupid thread, but you clearly have reading comprehension issues if you think that thread means they don't want the Astros to win
As I've stated before, arguing with this clown is an exercise in futility. Especially when he thinks he's ALWAYS the smartest person in the room.
LOL. I might have linked to the wrong thread - there's absolutely a thread where many of the posters were not opposed to the idea of losing in order to oust Baker.
I'm pretty sure Gunnar Henderson is going to be a bigger factor in that than Dusty Baker... I'm not sure what the alternative was? He lost 2 starters the first week of the season. There was an expectation McCullers would be back. They didn't really have any contingency plans. Everyone thought starting pitcher was deep and a strength. I mean, this entire thread is dedicated to Baker playing lesser position players and how costly it was - but that's the strategy you wanted him to employ with his pitchers?...
Sincere question: when did Diaz become a viable contingency plan? He had a .621 OPS through May. You're doing what others are doing and ignoring the results. Diaz wasn't good early. Neither was McCormick. He was hurt and then posted a .521 OPS in May once he returned. It's only on October 1 that we can confidently say, They should have played more. But on June 1, neither guy was viewed as a viable everyday player - not by Baker, not by fans - not be *anyone* and to argue otherwise is incredibly disingenuous. Once both guys heated up - and sustained it - they played more. I'm not arguing they played enough - but they did play more.
No offense but that is some bull sh*#$* right there. Dusty is toast. I hope he has a great retirement with a long and healthy life and plenty of accolades. His contract is over and once the calendar turns again I never want to see him manage another baseball game unless it is an old timers game. To question my fielty to the Astros because you disagree with my position regarding the Astros manager is disingenuous at best and probably just plain old trolling.
The minute the Season is over, yall should start complaining about Dusty coming back, and I'm there with you. Until/Unless he does something wrong between now and then, let it go and take a time-out.
He does have a track record ya know…I mean this is the same manger that insisted on batting Barry ****ing Bonds 5th in 93’ and part of 94’. (about 20-25 ABs gone in 93) He pulled some goofy **** in CIN also. Having said that I’m absolutely rooting for him because it’s my team. If he pulls some goofy **** I’m calling him on it but I’m still rooting for the old SOB.
He should've done what they did in the minors. At least use some tandem pitching. Keep Bielak up and tandem pitch him with Brown, instead of keeping Martinez on the roster. Put Montero on IR and give Arrighetti or Gordon a chance to tag team with France. Etc.... But you're right pitching was thinner, so that meant Dusty actually had to manage this yr. I remember several times he tried to get one more inning out of Javier and he would give up a lead and then Dusty would have to do what he was trying to avoid to do, burn through the pen. Relievers can pitch 2 innings Dusty.
