But did the hitting coaches choose the plan? They are the same ones that were here before, when the team was great at that stuff. Or is there a person/group/division in the organization that decided and directed them to coach to that approach?
The Astros without Tucker in the lineup this year were 49-34. He’s obviously a tremendous player and the Astros are better with him than without, but the Astros won’t suddenly be a team struggling to be .500 without him. They will need to do something to replace the offense they will lose with him, but they don’t need megastars at 10 year contracts to do that particularly with the pitching staff they have right now.
Kutchie Another SP Walker 1B CF Bullpen. Need to get atleast 2 SP, can’t rely on guys coming back again. Find a CF that would be respectable in the bottom of the order until Melton is ready. Of course reshape bullpen a bit. I think they stay in-house for 3B, Dicenzo/Dubon/whitcomb platoon until they think Matthew’s is ready… I could also see them trade Framber for a high pitching prospect or high upside young 3B. But I think we do see more trades this offseason.
I do not expect an agreement with Bregman but I will be watching for trades rumors of Tucker and Valdez to be an indicator of how this off season is going to go. If the Astros intend to compete in 25 rumors for those two will be quickly shut down. If they plan to pause and reload talk will be intense. Unless they are bowled over by a huge offer they could decide to wait for somebody to get desperate at the break. Either way all three of those key players could be gone in 2026.
Why would any bout divulge that information if true? (other than his agent possibly making up stuff to drive up offers... right now, nobody is going to compete with the Yankees).
Clemens was retired… and Pettite was ‘forced’ to leave due to family stuff. But even then, we’re talking more than 20 years ago now since they truly didn’t retain guys they wanted to. Robinson Cano may be one, almost forgot that he was with Seattle.
I don’t really care for the best of 1 series after a 162 game season. Best of 3 is bad too. 1st round best of 5 2nd round best of 7 WS 4 teams from each league consisting of all 3 division winners and the best 2nd place team. The only reason it isn’t done this way is greed.
