Sounds like Giles wanted to be babied. Astros analytics-heavy approach does not fit everyone. With all the additions to the pitching staff during spring training, the Astros coaches must have focused on Cole and Rondon and Smith. Giles said it was the Blu Jays coach who fixed his slider. Good for him. On the other hand, Astros were able to elevate the games of McHugh, Morton, Cole etc. Look at Valdez and James. We have a system that works. Also I read somewhere Verlander tried to work with Giles, just like Verlander did with Cole.
What a loser. Of course he is happier there, they’re so bad he can have a 4.58 ERA and he still gets to close. Best part is no one gives a s*** even if he blows a save. This whole article confirms what I already knew - he is a huge loser.
Agreed, that is called pitching in pressure situations for a contender. It will never feel "comfortable".
Communication breakdown = a manager and a GM that don't trust you but can't tell you that because it would ruin your fragile psyche even more, so they put you in lower leverage situations to see if you can get out of your own head to no avail and then you cuss out the manager on the mound. Hinch then probably told JL to get him the f*** outta here without saying a word to Giles. Seriously, every other player on this team including one of the best pitchers of this generation loves Hinch. Giles is the outlier here.
Yeah, imagine Giles implying the Astros were somehow at fault for his failures. Immature twit Better to just keep quiet.
Just don’t play for anything on a losing team so Giles can be comfortable. As long as Giles is comfortable. I would imagine it is pretty uncomfortable giving it up in pressure situations in post-season games where you are counted on to perform your role.
Giles may very well have a great 2019. I simply do not care because he was not ever going to do well in an Astros uniform. Giles burned his bridges in Houston, he made and destroyed relationships and his only chance was in another uniform. There will never come a day where I will miss Ken Giles.
Nowhere in the article did he blame anyone or say he didn't like Hinch. These are the sum of his quotes: ""I'm actually enjoying the game more than I did for my entire tenure in Houston. It's kind of weird to say that because I won a World Series with that team. But it's like, I just felt trapped there. I didn't feel like myself there. Overall, I felt out of place," "It was a tough transition for me," he said. "The first year was decent. The ERA didn't look great, but I actually had career numbers. Then I stepped it up a notch, had a great full-time closing job, helped them get to the playoffs. And then this year, it was like the communication was lost. Everything went wacko. "I'm not a guy that points fingers. It just didn't work out for me." His quotes really give us no insight into what the problem was or whether he felt it was something on the team's side or his side, or why he fell apart or anything else. You all are just reading into what you want. Again an interesting narrative, but it only fits the facts during 3 weeks of his 3 year tenure here (the playoffs last year). All of last regular season and this regular season - here and in Toronto - he was great in most of the highest pressure situations. In his role as closer, he still hasn't blown a save this year. He's had a lot of struggles and meltdowns, but they haven't correlated to pressure. It's hard to figure out what the hell was going on with him.
From the article was also an indirect quote, which I started my post with. Giles went on to say that his tenure in Houston was a bit up-and-down, and acknowledged a communication breakdown occurred before his departure. That was primarily what I was commenting on. I don't know for sure but I don't think he disliked Hinch, but I get the impression from that line in the article that he feels he was treated a bit unfairly. It's hard to have a leg to stand on though when you disrespect the manager the way he did when he pulls you from a game.
Right - so a "communication breakdown" occurred. He acknowledged that it happened but didn't place blame on anybody. The communication problem could have been his fault, or the Astro's fault, or both, or neither. I think everyone would agree that his tenure was up and down, and a communication breakdown took place in some form or other. The quotes are not particularly illuminating and the rest is just pure conjecture - him not liking Hinch, him feeling he was being treated unfairly, etc.
It isn't always what was said as much as what was unsaid ... "The city was great. The fans were great. Things didn't work out but I will always be proud of what we accomplished as a team. Me and my teammates played for each other. We supported each other." So glad he's someone else's problem now.
That's a pretty solid "**** that guy" without actually saying it. I too, love AJ and hope he's here for years.
