I've seen all of this before so yes I'm well aware. That being said, trying to say the Astros got worse because of his departure is ridiculous. By that logic, I guess he made them worse in 2023 since there was a huge drop off from 2022. Also, every team didn't "get worse when he left". He left the Giants after 2002 winning 95 games - in 2003 they won 100. He left the Cubs in 2006 after winning 66 games - the 2007 cubs won 86 games. You can say the Nationals got worse the following year under Davey Martinez but the very next season after that they won the World Series. I already know you're going to come back will some bullshit so just know I'm done with this argument as I know your opinion and obsession with Dusty.
Wow you are such a Dusty homer. What a long diatribe of ****. We didn’t get better once he was hired. We didn’t get worse after he was fired. Dusty underachieved and was given a title. His only title. It was given to him. He should’ve won more. What he did in 2023 was trash.
I've seen about a thousand different takes on the incident this morning, and yours is the only one that pays any attention to Salazar's words. I think everyone rightfully understands that Salazar's interview was merely an attempt to be a good teammate.
If Dusty was given the title, then why did AJ Hinch not win a single one (without trash can) and the only years that we won the WS was with Dusty. We've had AJ, Espada, where are the results? You can say all you want but Dusty knows more baseball in his pinky than this entire forum combined. That's facts.
Besides the fact several of the teams he left actually won more games the following season, there's also the fact the Giants got better the year Baker arrived because they signed Barry ****ing Bonds that same offseason and he put up 9.9 bWAR (he was incredible in PIT with multiple 9+ bWAR seasons too so Dusty didn't "unlock" Bonds). The guy hit 46 bombs that season and had a .468 OBP lmao
Chas McCormick was a positive WAR player all 3 seasons under Dusty. Dusty left and he's been a negative WAR player each year.
Fair response, two places I tend to stay away from. If this is in fact a widespread topic of conversation, then I concede my mistake!
.... thereby proving that it is silly to attribute WAR to the manager if there are better explanations available.
It's a shame Framber's time with the Astros is going to end like this, he's such a big reason why we won in '22, and I hope he can pull it together to help us make a run this year...but I have no confidence with him on the mound in a crucial playoff game. In a 7 game series, I'm pitching him game 4 - limited to one start in the series. If you pitch him game 2, it better be on a damn short leash.
The 2023 season was Dusty’s vanity project. He went rogue. It was a middle finger to upper management and it sunk us in the playoffs. The man finally gets a ring, that was given to him, and it immediately went to his head. He lost that series in 2023 because of that hubris. Good riddance.
How are they going to respond? They still have a 3 game division lead with 23 to play, and plenty of proven talent.
Did Espada even come out of the dugout after Valdez purposely hit Salazar in the stomach with a 96 mph heater? Tito shipped off a future Cy Young winner to the Reds, he didn't give a f*ck how good or valuable you were to the team. Just saying. I'm assuming happy go lucky Joe didn't budge an inch.
This team has no soul. It’s honestly my least favorite of the Astros Golden era. Nothing to do with the individual players per se, but rather how they congeal as a unit. Not much passion, urgency, or fun out there. Plus many of their games are predictable and boring. I just am not feeling any Astros magic - Hope I’m wrong, but expecting an early exit like 2024 if they even make the playoffs.
I feel like there has been a malaise of sorts with this team since the start of the 2023 season. It looked like it was finally lifted when we were winning with youngsters and AAAA guys, but it was only temporary. The team seems lifeless again.
Sadly it is starting to look like a dying ember team. Altuve fading, his worst season since 2014. Correa not able to hit for the kind of dominant power that can carry the team. Yordan not healthy. The other complementary players simply not good enough to carry the lineup. Hader hurt. Now Framber melting down and showing his ass. I have been a Pollyanna until now, and I still think there’s a chance they catch fire and make a run, but it will no longer surprise me if this is the 2nd to last winning team of the Altuve era.