I love the fact that everyday I see an article on how much LA and NY are pissed off the Astros won a championship with the trash can scandal. Not that I condone cheating but the playing field has never been level in MLB especially in regards to NY and LA. Also I know for a fact Clayton was using illegal substance to grip the ball in the WS. That is cheating too. Suck it up buttercup. Go Astros! Beat that Yankee ass.
My responses have been intentionally tit for tat responses (i.e., they are trying to match your tone). A labeled as SP2 can improve to a SP1 the same way a player labeled a below average defender after a horrendous three weeks in center can improve. I brought up Straw solely because your view on him is concrete, but then you have a problem with the SP2/SP3 label because it is too concrete. If your point is not to get too attached to a specific label or ceiling because things change (sometimes drastically), I agree with that. I only apply that rational to defense as well and I don't get too worked up in thinking three weeks of horrendous play defines a player.
I love seeing articles about Altuve's "controversial" walk-off in 2019 and Chapman's quotes around that. Salty and hilarious. Dude throws a hanging slider and cries "cheater" when an all-star caliber player knocks it out of the park.
I think you’re taking the justified criticism of Straw’s defense a little too personally.... and the attempt to try and tie it into this conversation is a stretch, even by your standards. Not sure how you’ve interpreted “tone” into any of this, but apparently you’ve taken that and run with it as well... congrats for making this a “thing”. But even then... if you asked me to judge a starting pitcher on whether or not they’re better off as as starter vs. a reliever, and applied the same rationale to a position player, I’d say Straw would still be upgradable and relegated to a backup role. Also, when have I ever said my view on his defense is concrete? I readily accepted that they had no other viable options (other than possibly Tucker in CF, which would weaken the other two spots), and wanted to see if he’d continue to have his mini-adventures that we have seen in his limited time there. Yes, some guys get better (Yuli at first). A lot of them don’t and the position continues to be “unnatural”. The Astros can live with slightly below average defense from him even if he doesn’t hit (especially if they continue to pitch at a high consistent level), but that also presumes the rest of the lineup remains healthy/productive. I’m still trying to figure out if you really think its wrong to criticize his deficiencies at defense?
Not to mention, the Yanks for sure were cheating that year. They were caught. And Dodgers have been accused by multiple teams.
Dumb idiots. That game was just a big joke to them. I wish they just get over it already. They still can't get over the beat down from 2019. Let them be angry all they want.
The story of the first month seemed to be the predictable struggles from Straw and Maldy on offense combined with a mixed bag from the pitching staff and guys missing time due to covid. But now to me it feels like the major issue is shifting to Tucker and Altuve. Tucker had bad luck in April but seeing him benched for a platoon advantage is troubling. If he doesn’t round into form over his next 150 pa it could be devastating to Houstons medium and long term plans to be competitive. Likewise, Altuve is showing some worrisome signs. Whether it’s the fallout from the cheating scandal getting in his head or early age-related decline, if he is not able to be at minimum a 2-3 win player over the remainder of his contract, it will drastically reduce the chances of Houston remaining a contender. There are signs that Houstons young pitching could provide them with a full rotation of affordable high quality arms for the next handful of years, but if both Tucker and Altuve are bottom of the order hitters, it’s very difficult to project any kind of contending lineup in the medium term, regardless of how much money they may have to spend.
This is pretty awesome, read the article: https://www.mlb.com/news/featured/alex-bregman-s-charity-efforts?game_pk=634333
Couldn't happen to a better guy. Team obviously realized he's passed Mays, but isn't getting to 700 this season, so might as well. Going to make that 10 year personal services part of the contract awkward though...
In the paraphrased words of Pujols....I still get Astros fans tell me where they were when I hit the Game 5 homer. All I can say is... y'all won the series. It didn't matter.
Too early to worry about Altuve and Tucker in my opinion. For example, Altuve has less plate appearances than Yordan. Today Yordan raised his OPS from .895 to .985 in one game.... Altuve raised his OPS from .622 to 667 today. One big series and his numbers would look fine. As far as Diaz getting a start... he deserves it. Been swinging really well. It did matter because it meant Oswalt couldn't go Game 1 of the World Series.
Just because you remember it does not make it true. Pujols vs Houston: 279 .360 .500 .860 Pujols Career: 298 .376 .545 .921
