Yeah it’s arguable but the Yankees and twins signed them to huge contracts and it hasn’t amounted to much in terms of team success. I’d argue that team success is tied to the organization and the astros organization is one of the top in the league in terms of effectiveness. Dana brown had no choice but to get pitching during the trade deadline because of injuries. Did anyone forget when we had bullpen games with Ferguson and crew going out there?
The Astros are a good team, but they seem to have a number of "laid back" players who rarely get fired up. They need an enforcer personality; at least one or two. They have a very weak bottom half of the order. And they could use some "attitude" and consistency at the top half. Something is missing.
I understand it’s doable but they aren’t the 2015 Royals. The 2015 Royals were actually good, not just a gimmick that was set up well for a gimmick 3 game series.
I think we're going to have a hard time replacing Breg's and Tucker's production during the regular season if we lose both of those guys. I don't think we will have to worry about talking about the playoffs for a while if that is the case. Altuve is clearly on the decline. Yordan can't have a fully healthy season. I think maybe we can lose one of those guys but not both. Else, we're talking about a rebuild era imo.
Tucker has one more year, unless they trade him. I expect we will continue to be pretty competitive, mostly bc we have 12 starting pitchers (theoretically), but seems like we are entering a transition phase where it’s gonna be in the mid-to-upper 80s in wins, with maybe the occasional outlier year. Wouldn’t rule out a 2022 style out of nowhere year next year, where we over exceed based on preseason projections, but the powerhouse lineups are pretty much gone for now. We need some fresh blood, like others pointed out some younger guys with more passion and energy.
This is what I was getting at. There is a lot of variance in a baseball game or a few games even. That is why avoiding a Wild Card Series is so important. The Orioles just got swept as well in the Wild Card. Criticism of the Astros shouldn’t be over losing two games to the Tigers - it should be over the Astros inability to fix their issues that resulted in them not winning enough games to avoid the Wild Card. Management will rightfully point to the tremendous amount of injuries to pitching and McCormick underachieving and missing Tucker for what seemed half the season and say that is why they didn’t win 95 games. However - the Astros needed they needed another quality bat and starter going into Spring Training. Dana Brown stated such. This off season the Astros need to make some tough decisions. They are likely to look into moving Pressly for salary relief. I also think it is very possible they move a young pitcher or a couple higher level prospects for a bat under arbitration control. Victor Caratini is also a candidate to be moved. Those types of moves would allow them to target someone like Christian Walker (who they want) and then fill another bat through trade under team control. Pitching wise - they can go several ways. They can deal one of their young arms for the bat I mentioned and sign someone like a Pivetta or Kikuchi - or they can go to guys like Verlander, Scherzer or Morton and offer them a short term deal. As it is - the Astros will be down grading 3rd base AND they need to overall improve line up depth. Which means 1-2 new outfielder and a 1st base upgrade. I don’t think they will be really aggressive in the pen. They will pitch Hader one inning at a time and count on a bounce back - move Abreu to the 8th and give guys like Whitley and possibly Garcia a chance to emerge in the pen. The names I have heard the last week linked to the Astros are Wilson Contreras, Christian Walker, Gio Urshela, Michael Conforto, Brandon Lowe and Eugenio Suarez.
Can Brice Matthews effectively play SS? I really someone to challenge Pena at SS if possible. Pena gets way too much rope for being terrible with his bat and glove for long stretches. Tired of his dumbass scowl and pose when he strikes out swinging wildly at sliders away
Credit to Hunter Brown for coming up big. Framber was embarrassing against this really weak lineup, sans Carpenter at that.
Padres play with so much swag. and their crowd is 10x louder and more hyped than ours. Night and day difference in energy and tone.
No way in hell Arizona is not exercising their team option on Suarez. Slim pickings at 3B this off season. We are in deep doo doo. But we absolutely must avoid what will end up being a horrible contract whoever signs Bregman. That will not end well. It will be somewhere between partial devastation ala Toronto and Springer and complete disaster ala Twins and Correa.
Astro players are so "laid back" that the crowd senses their lack of "fire." Emotional players fire up a crowd. Being able to drive in runs also helps.
