framber hasn't really dominant ever since the banned shift. yes, he had that no hitter but blanco also had a no hitter so i don't know how much weight you can put on it.
I saw the 1st HR and wasn't even worried. I thought "here comes the pitching change" so i got up and went upstairs to put some stuff away. Came back down and saw the 2nd HR thinking it was a replay of the 1st HR. It wasn't.....
Are you suggesting the lack of shifting guys past 2B or into the OF is the cause behind Framber not striking guys out as often and giving up more homers?
Probably not. They would just allow the team to run a full-scale sign-stealing operation or let pitchers hand-pick catchers who had only a slightly higher OPS than you or me...
People also conveniently ignore when he’s dominant… like the entire first half of last season when he was on track to start the all star game and was the CYA favorite (until his ankle injury). It’s par for the course… he’s had times of inconsistency. He’s also been incredibly durable and a horse when this team needed him the most. He just, for whatever reason, doesn’t bank enough good will (even with WS clinching pitching) here to withstand the occasional bad game.
Seriously, he f**ked up yesterday, he even admitted it. He had a 2.95 ERA before yesterday and just came off a dominant outing the bullpen desperately needed, yet people act like he's sucked all year long and finding better pitchers is easy. Like we haven't seen all of these god awful starts this season..but sure, Framber is the problem.
The interviews after the game were really weird. It's obviously good Framber took responsibility and hopefully this experience is something that he can learn from but typically that stuff is kept behind closed doors and not presented before the media.
Hopefully both Framber AND Espada learned. These guys are acting like we have a 10-game division lead and there's room to experiment.
Language barriers are likely creating a lot of variances in how media relations are being conducted. You could be like the Ohtani camp who can literally refuse to do a press conference or talk about anything controversial… or you could have situations like yesterday where everybody communicating via translator and just speaking freely and not being “coached” to say things like “no comment, not going to speak further, etc.” In the end, I appreciate the honesty… although I wish he wouldn’t change game plans when things obviously working. And I wish we weren’t still talking about pitcher-catcher relationship vis-a-vis Diaz. It was a really reassuring last week when he caught both Framber and JV and they both did excellent, and you realize that veteran pitchers should be just fine no matter what.
Those are good points. Framber Valdez is an excellent pitcher, and is a horse that can go deep into games.... I think he is criminally under-rated. Yeah - well, that is another reason to question just how much control Espada had over his ball club. I don't think that many respected managers would have that information coming out, and if it did get released - the manager would be the one handling all the discussions. At the end of the day, I don't know that it changes anything - but it was awkward, like everything else around Espada and the Astros this season. It is possible that Espada emerges out of this as a wonderful manager - he is a rookie, but the growing pains have been bad.
Yeah, the first half of last season might be the best Framber has looked in his career. It seems like he had issues with his fastball shape in the second half and lost the feel for his cutter which had become a big part of his pitch mix by that time.
With each player having over 110 PA, Jake Meyers has a greater expected wOBA than Yordan Alvarez. He's essentially second on the team after Tucker if you throw out Cabbage's SSS. Pretty impressive.
Saw the same thing with Hinch…. But he did grow into the position well his 2nd go-around (but then got a little too accomodating when sign stealing stuff started going beyond his control). Hinch did otherwise relate to the young players well but still commanded full respect of the veterans. I do wish the Astros had a guy willing to be the “HMFIC” for media-relations purposes. Dana Brown doesn’t seem to want that role, although he probably has the gravitas to take it. Espada is going to toe the company line and be deferential given he’s a rookie. Crane will never be the one that loves to talk to the media or give interviews/press conferences throughout the season (unlike Cuban or Jerry Jones). Luhnow was that guy… and boy did he have his own issues with the media that essentially led to his demise.
