How does Springer make it at both OF and DH? How about Ohtani making it at UT ( and DH)? He played exactly 0 innings in the field this year outside of pitcher.
Like the inverse of the Soto Gold Glove nomination except that Soto is a far better hitter than Maldy is a fielder.
I suppose it is a compliment that the Astros are becoming the Patriots of baseball in that all the other teams want to hire away our assistants and specialists. Trying to capture the magic this team has had for the past 7-8 years. Hopefully our representatives that go to other teams do better in their new gig than the Patriots' assistants have faired in the NFL.
That is hilarious. Hearing this clip almost makes me want to go back to listening to local sports radio again. Almost.
I'm still not over Jeter's Gold Gloves. He was AWFUL in the field. His lifetime dWAR was -9.4. And he got 5 Gold Gloves. I have no argument with his Silver Sluggers.
Remember the rumored Harper to the Astros trade in 2018 that was agreed to but then the Nationals owner nixed? Here is the apparent deal
I can see why the deal was rejected, even though Harper was a rental. I see two fringe AAAA guys and some nobodies
The GMs had agreed. While none of those players have panned out, the Nationals got nothing, not even a comp pick. That would have made the 2018 playoffs a lot more exciting.
Easy to say now knowing how they turned out but I wonder what their rankings were in the Astros prospects list during that year. Also I think the reason it got rejected was because their owner still had hopes on signing Harper. But nope, he lost him for nothing. Luckily for him, those prospects didn't pan out. On a side note, I never knew Houston tried signing him to a 1 year, big money deal. Reading an article, Harper said it in 2020 but he wasn't interested in a short term deal.
Had we landed Harper, he likely takes the Kemp ABs. While all-around, Harper>Kemp, Kemp did have some big moments, including a game-tying HR in Game 4 vs Boston. The main reason we lost that series was, aside from Bregman, our offense fell silent. One bat likely doesn't change that. Also, look at the ripple effect: Bukauskas was an important piece in the Greinke trade (before what was left of his value completely plummeted). Toro would be the centerpiece of the Graveman/Montero trade. Both helped us win 3 pennants in 4 years. From the WAS perspective, perhaps they use those guys in other trades that help them (although, they won in 2019 anyway and fell off very quickly so their fans probably don't care, but who knows). Still fun to think about.
