The campus movie theater at UT (Dobie?)...we got so ****ing high that I didn't really remember parts of the movie, so we went back a couple of days later and watched it again
LOL. You call yourself an Astros' fan. I've rooted and watched more Astros games in more years than you have been on this earth. I don't have to prove I am a fan. But hey, you do you.
I don't love Espada. His lineups can be annoying and his in game decisions leave you scratching your head. However, this team would comfortably be in first place if the 3 highest paid hitters on the team were earning their money. The vast majority of blame for this season falls on Altuve, Walker, and Alvarez. Normally I would give a pass for an injured player like Yordan but this hand thing has happened every damn season and this should have been addressed in one of the previous offseasons. If those guys were having average seasons we would be fine. They have all been disasters. You can also throw Yainer Diaz into that category as well. At least he isn't making huge money like the other 3 though. When the season started I said unless some of the young guys step up in a big way I saw this year as a soft rebuild because of all the dead money. Well, Hunter Brown has turned into a Cy Young style pitcher. Pena and Meyers have also stepped it up. Bryan King snatched the 7th inning role pretty much at the start of the season and has been great. The Astros are getting bigger contributions from some of the young guys. If 4 of your best hitters are going to be as bad as Altuve, Walker, Alvarez, and Diaz have been no manager is going to save this season,
Espada sucks. And, what we're witnessing is NOT any kind of rebuild. Rebuilding is what we SHOULD be doing. Instead Crane is pulling the wool of many fan's eyes. Pseudo contending "reload"... This is going to get much worse before it gets better....needs to, but with us leaning into it. After the loss of Luhnow, and over a decade of contention, it HAS to happen. Total commitment. C'mon Jim.
The problem with suggesting the Astros should be “rebuilding” is that they have a good team, one that includes one of the top 5 hitters in the sport (at least he was coming into this season) and 1 of the top 10 pitchers in the sport (as it stands now), both under several years of control. To go with that pair they came into the season with very good cheap controllable players at C, SS, 3B, and SP, along with a clearly big league ready bat in Smith and a very intriguing big league ready bat in Dezenzo and a franchise icon in Altuve. And now they have Meyers playing like a top 5 CF in the league and the deepest bullpen in baseball. You don’t undergo a full rebuild when you have that many good players. It is reasonable to criticize the Walker signing. It was reasonable to criticize the Jose Abreu and Hader signings. It is reasonable to criticize Espada and the hitting coaches. But the Astros have too much controllable big league talent to justify a full rebuild. They are in 2nd place in their division and just 2.5 games out. They don’t need to rebuild, they just need their current players to play up to their previous standard or at least their go-forward projections.
The Astros have a bullpen and starting rotation good enough to win a WS title in 6 games.... it really is that good.... they have two aces as well, and lots of promising arms and some other guys that have real upside coming back. You don't just dump that - that is at least 50% of the equation. If the pitching was as mediocre as the hitting - then I think it is a real discussion. Because the Astros have been elite for so long, it is easy to forget how hand it is to get where the Astros are right now. Things can change, Brown and Valdez could struggle suddenly -- but short of that, the Astros are far better off adding to the offense at the deadline, even if the cost is high. The Astros are paying 40 million this year between Abreu and Walker - and are paying Javier who is injured. It is obvious the Astros have not gotten their monies worth at 1st base, but Walker is a 900 OPS month away from being close to his career averages, and unlike Abreu has shown some pop. I am not an expert - but I am not happy with the manager, and I do not think that the preparation and execution have been good enough --- too many holes in preparation and I don't think that Espada is sharp enough to be a manager in 2025, he is best suited as a very good bench coach. Having said that, it is pretty obvious the team hasn't quit. As for Hader - he had a bad year last year, he had some bad luck and was POORLY used by Espada. This year it has been better, it is early but so far Hader has been pretty close to perfect. As long as they do not over use him, I think he will get the job done. I hope that they are paying Murphy and Miller better than any other pitching coach in baseball, because they are worth it.... hell, they are even working with some of the hitters and helping them adjust to picking up pitches earlier in the plane to the plate.
You can be the best coach in the world, and if your players do not perform, ultimately you pay the price as manager. But your first sentence tells me all I need to know about his ability to lead this team.
Definitely not time to "rebuild" yet. We just need our 3 best hitters to start playing like out 3 best hitters. No one is saying this team is good enough to win 100 games and breeze through the playoffs like the 2022 team. I just feel like we're good enough to win this division and once we make the playoffs, anything can happen. Look at Phili in 2022, texas and Arizona in 2023. Seattle can't maintain this pace the whole season, they never do. Just make the playoffs.
