I don’t doubt that he saw something. I just doubt it’s anything to worry about. Feels like a distraction when the focus should be his awful pitching so far. I don’t fault the guy, I’m not sure how many pitchers have had a lot of success after such long layoffs. I can’t think of one.
Yeah I am having a hard time understanding why he and Espada felt the need to talk about it to the media. It really sucks that there’s so many shitty people out there but talking about it to the media doesn’t do any good; tell the proper authorities if you’ve been threatened then go back to doing your job. I’m sure most players get hateful **** sent to them every time they fail (and sometimes even when they succeed), they just don’t make it a thing. It does seem like Lance didn’t want to take his medicine for ******** the bed. Seemed like he was feeling sorry for himself. #SIUEFA indeed. I have always been a big fan of his so I hope he gets some redemption.
Diaz had a good day because of the 3 run homer but he should’ve had a monster day. He missed on a gift or 2 with runners on like 3 times. no big deal, we won. But dang
Kevin Durant would have put the screenshot out for everyone to see and trolled the guy for being broke crying about ****ing up his parlay. I’m with you though. Don’t see how crying to the media helps with anything. All it does is make our fan base look bad when it most likelihood it wasn’t even a true Astros fan. Let’s be real…our fan base is one of the more relaxed when it comes to our guys sucking.
I literally haven't mentioned either one a single time this season, positive or negative. They could fire them tomorrow and I wouldn't care. But you can't say how god awful they are and why they are the reason we suck, and then give them no credit whatsoever when the team does start hitting. We've had one of the best offenses in baseball the last 2 weeks...if as you believe good hitting coaches directly correlates to good hitting they must be doing something differently.
Or maybe he's a human being who hadn't had his kids threatened before and reacted like any angry dad might.
Meh. I’m a dad. If that happened to me, the last thing on earth I’d be doing is talking about it to the media. If you’re actually intent on getting justice (or if you actually think your kids are in danger), talking about it publicly is the last thing you should be doing. It’s not dehumanizing to say McCullers and Espada were ill-advised to whine about it to reporters immediately after the game.
Cam Smith experiment over? https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6348501/2025/05/12/houston-astros-right-handed-hitters/ Smith struck two singles on Sunday, but still sports a .673 OPS after 105 major-league plate appearances. Dezenzo has an .828 mark across Houston’s past 15 games and has passed Smith on the team’s outfield pecking order. Injuries to both Alvarez and Jose Altuve forced Espada to play both Smith and Dezenzo together on Sunday, but when the club is at full strength, not enough at-bats exist for both. Bear in mind, too, that Chas McCormick has taken just 18 plate appearances since April 15, prompting wonder about his role within this roster construction. Smith, McCormick and Dezenzo all have minor-league options remaining. Smith’s development should be the Astros’ priority, but if Houston does have plans to demote him, no left-handed hitter exists internally to replace him.
I like cam smith. I’ve seen him do absolutely nothing to indicate that he won’t be a very good major leaguer. Excited about his prospects. There are two absolutely obvious things to do with him (and you can do them both) 1) send him down to AAA to get AB’s every day. This will be good for his development and get the Astros another year of service time for him which always makes sense. 2) play him every day down there at 3B and figure out if he can handle that defensively (his natural position allegedly). Dezenzo- unsurprisingly to me, is a good major league hitter (I’m still watching the k rate). The org likes meyers in CF bc of his defense and he’s certainly been pretty good offensively so that’s great. Altuve in LF looks like it’s practically set at this time (and makes sense) So, with all those things being pretty squared away right now it makes sense to play Cam at 3B and have Paredes play 2b. Either that or move Altuve back to 2B which is probably a bad defensive idea. all of this, of course, after Yordan comes back. Before he comes back absolutely no reason not to have Smith in the lineup every day.
Outside of the LMJ meltdown it was a solid series. Really impressive performance by Blanco. Thought he would fall off hard this season but he has surprised me.
They both need to play - and they both should have been playing from day one. This really isn't that difficult. Altuve slows down when he plays too much - he should sit like 20% of the time. He started off hot this season and then wore down. Yordan Shouldn't play every day either - he should miss like 10% of the games. Dezenzo can spell 1st base from time to time for Walker and Smith can play some third for when Paredes has to sit. Then of course there is the massive hole at second base - the Astros can move Altuve there if they are sold on Dezenzo and Smith. Also - I don't know where the idea that Smith has sucked has come from.... Christian Walker, Jose Altuve, Yainer Diaz and Yordan Alvarez all have about the same OPS as Smith and Smith is 4th in WAR ahead of 5 other starting hitters.
Yeah Smith has been better than anyone should have expected from a guy essentially jumping straight from High A ball to the majors, even for an elite prospect. Hes finding his way and developing in real time, and he needs to start hitting for some power over the next 50-100 pa if he wants to avoid getting sent down, but he should be playing every day for at least another 4-6 weeks. If he does get sent down, I’d like to see them work him in at CF.
Would show pretty poor planning if they decided to demote Smith immediately after he exhausted rookie eligibility for next season. I'd guess that the plan is to keep him up for another month or more, see how he progresses. I just hope that they keep playing him, if so. His development is too important to keep him on the bench half the time.
Agree on Smith working on CF if he is sent down. It is pretty clear that he has the raw skills to be an elite right fielder defensively, and it isn't a stretch to think he can be adequate to good in CF for 8 years if he gets the reps in. As for the power - I think it will come, we haven't really seen a lot of power from Dezenzo yet either.... I think they are trying to avoid striking out.
