I agree that was the right move all the way bringing out Evo, and Evo pitched exceptionally well before Altuve came up. I'm still amazed Castro was able to hang on long enough to get a mistake pitch from him. I don't think Cora is a genius ('d rather have someone like Kevin Cash) but he would be a night-and-day improvement from Dusty and I'd probably prefer him over Hinch as well.
he’s done it before right? That was his bullpen session. We win today and he’ll pitch in game 6. We lose today and he will move to game 7
Playoff assignments are not based on performance. They are based on seniority. You can be the least accurate ump in the world but if youve been an ump longer than other umps, you'll get the playoff call. ump unions suck.
Go at them quick. Strike first strike hard. Cobra Kai style. None of that Miagi ****. **** don’t work. Just remember win or lose to respect ALL women and men and races. I wouldn’t want to be @Sengun ’s wife if the Astros lose.
I hadn't dug into catcher defensive stats in a while, but for all the talk of Maldy being some supposed savant pitcher guru/game caller, he doesn't perform particularly well at DRS' rCERA metric (-5 since 2018) which attempts to capture and quantify those skills. All the available evidence seems to indicate that Maldy and Castro at this stage of their careers are fairly pedestrian catchers defensively, with Maldy being a little better at blocking and throwing out runners - skills that aren't nearly as important as framing which neither catcher is particularly good at. The only salient difference appears to be that Castro is simply a much better hitter than Maldy, and this is apparent even when you get under the hood and strip out BABIP luck. Castro has carried a >.350 xwOBA for each season since 2019 while Maldy has only exceeded .300 once in that timeframe last year when he inexplicably had a 16% BB%. I just don't get it. The money we are paying Castro indicates that we see him as someone who should at least be platooning with Maldy, not as a backup catcher.
Castro is by far the better hitter, and probably should get used a lot more especially earlier in games that the Astros are losing. That said, scaling Castro's DRS numbers to Maldy's innings would indicate that Maldy is about 9 runs better than Castro on the part of the catcher's defense that is quantifiable by DRS. I don't think there is something in the public sector that grades game calling/pitcher management well.
As much as I love Maldy, I do think Castro needs to be getting way more playing time in the postseason. Like if there's a starter who clearly prefers/needs Maldonado behind the plate, Baker should accommodate that. Or maybe if you're playing a team with a ton of speed and you want to cut down on steals, I can understand Maldonado getting more time. But otherwise, Castro should be seeing as many plate appearances as possible.
I watched a game earlier this year where Joe Buck went on and on about how we cheated during the world series. He even said we knew what Kershaw was going to throw because we were cheating. NO FACTS just conjecture. I hate that guy.
The real question for game 5 is over/under 12 rando beach hookup being interrupted by woman's obsession with Cantina Crispy Melt Taco commercials?
Maldy will likely face Sale once and then three RHPs. Maldy is playing because Astros think he's by far the better defender even if it doesn't show up too drastic in stats.
It seems like a terrible decision to me. The Dodgers have been doing this the last several days and they turned the best pitcher in baseball into a 4 inning "dead arm" guy because they used him to close out a series on his bullpen day. They are messing with Urias too and who knows what the net effect will be there. At least the Scherzer situation was a "win or go home" scenario. Evoldi you could maybe justify if you have a lead and just need 1 inning and you get up 3-1. But it was tied, meaning it's still a 50/50 scenario you win (or maybe 60/40 if you have faith in Evoldi), and you're potentially screwing up 5ish innings in a game you may still need to win. This is where the "live for today, forget tomorrow" stuff backfires badly. Maybe Evoldi will be great in Game 6 and it won't be an issue, but bullpen days are different from the pressure of a playoff game, and if he struggles, this is where people will point to.
Probably didn't help that Castro caught one inning last night and had a passed ball. Castro is probably also their best and most confident pinch hitter right now, so this leaves them the option to use him to pinch hit for Siri if the opportunity seems right (and then Mccormick for Maldy if needed).
Most likely. However, Castro has an OPS of .910 against RHP and Maldy is around .550, yet that rarely stopped Baker from not starting Castro. And, actually against a LH starting pitcher, Castro had a .764 OPS (68 plate appearances). Maldonado was at .557 against LH starters. (161 plate appearances)
looking at each player’s numbers, I can buy a 5-8 run difference from DRS. Meanwhile there’s likely a 30+ run offensive difference between the two. That’s three wins you’re sacrificing for the sake of 5-8 DRS runs and whatever unknown/unquantifiable difference in game calling ability that hasn’t produced any noticeable difference in each catcher’s rCREA. I agree rCREA is a crude tool, but a significant difference should show up in the numbers and it hasn’t. There’s something we’re missing here. The only thing that makes sense to me is that Click’s vision and Dusty’s vision for how Castro should be used vary significantly.
Yes, Maldy is better against lefties than Castro this season. He has had some good swings and can occasionally surprise with a bomb. Castro is our best lefty bat off the bench so will be good to use him if we are down and a righty is up. Really hope Maldy plays the whole game though as that will mean that we likely have a lead most of the game. Get to Sale early!
