Which is odd.... because for all of the vilification of Luhnow and Hinch, they for the most part kept everyone on the same page. In hindsight the signing of Jake was a mistake, but we did have a need for a solid starter at the time.... and I suspect we will be moving on from him this off season. There will be teams that need a middle of the rotation pitcher that makes money but not insane money. My guess is the Astros may even get an intriguing pen arm or low level prospect back for him.
He avoided eye contact when he said that he would not hold it against the Astros organization going forward and that he is over it all. This will likely blow over but I have said before that Jake is a fiery guy and would not take a bullpen demotion well at all when it was discussed earlier. The Astros are very involved in how their pitchers are trained, what they do and how they go about it.... the only exception is Verlander, and he had great results and also was for the most part open to the suggestions of Strom and the others...... Jake does things the way he wants, and that is causing some friction.... there is some friction between Baker and the front office and coaching and development staff as well.... the difference is that Baker is an expert at handling adversity or differing opinions and it not impacting his performance.... not so sure that is true for Jake.
You kid....... but there is something to be said about a couple of men throwing down to work out their differences.... they get to let off steam, they have respect for each other and then move on. Not all progress is progress.
Already upset about being demoted from the starting rotation to the bullpen, Astros pitcher Shawn Chacon was suspended indefinitely Wednesday night after a heated exchange with general manager Ed Wade turned violent an hour before the Astros played the Texas Rangers at Minute Maid Park. Chacon, who realizes he might not play again this season, admitted he lost his cool and threw Wade to the ground after Wade insisted he go to manager Cecil Cooper's office. The argument took place in the team's dining room, which Chacon refused to leave when asked to report to Cooper. Chacon said he lost his temper after Wade cursed at him and told him to "(expletive) look in the mirror." Wade declined comment on the specifics. "Insubordination to the club," Wade said. "I'm not getting into the details. It's an internal matter." "I said, 'What do you want to speak to me about?' " Chacon said. "He said, 'We just want to talk to you.' I said, 'Anything you can say, you can say to me right here. I don't want to go to the office.' He looked at me, and I said, 'There's nothing for me to say to you guys.' And I don't think whatever they had to say to me they were going to make me happy. I didn't want to get in a closed-room conversation." "I sat down to eat, and Ed Wade came to me and very sternly said, 'You need to come with me to the office.' I said, 'For what? I don't want to go to the office with you and Cooper.' And I said, 'You can tell me whatever you've got to tell me right here.' He's like, 'Oh, you want me to tell you right here?' And I said, 'Yeah.' I'm not yelling. I'm calm." It deteriorated quickly afterward, according to Chacon. "He started yelling and cussing," Chacon said of Wade. "I'm sitting there, and I said to him very calmly, 'Ed, you need to stop yelling at me. Then I stood up and said, 'You better stop yelling at me.' I stood up. He continued and was basically yelling and stuff and was like, 'You need to (expletive) look in the mirror.' So at that point I lost my cool, and I grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the ground. I jumped on top of him, because at that point I wanted to beat his (behind). Words were exchanged." Players quickly separated Wade and Chacon, who remembers being pulled away by outfielder Reggie Abercrombie.
I know this has mostly been bad luck, but Urquidy's got to get some outs here. Let's not lose this game in the top of the 1st.
Urquidy is pitching not to lose.... not pitching to win..... has had some bad luck, but has also has two strike counts and hasn't gotten it done.
Whelp....Urquidy doing his best to keep the trend of looking terrible in the final game of a sweep. going to be one of those bullpen games. Try to limit this damage if possible. Positive is, at least I'm watching this while working so no time wasted watching a blowout.
