They won 106 games last year with a 2.90 team ERA - a full run better than league average; they went 11-2 in the postseason, led by a dominant pitching staff. Justin Verlander won the AL CYA. Martin Maldonado started 70% of those games. I mean... what's the argument here? That they somehow would've won... more last year with a different/better catcher? Even if you want to dismiss last year and focus just on this year because it's more convenient... I know they have a better record in games MM hasn't started - but it's a comically small sample size (31 games). And for all the team's struggles with their pitching staff... the team ERA - again, with MM catching the vast majority of their games - is still a half run better than league average. I'm not arguing *for* Maldnado as much as I'm arguing for everyone to just... stop. I recognize this stretch of baseball has given us far fewer things to gripe about because the Astros are frickin' ******* good - but this reeks of trying to solve a problem that doesn't really exist.
I love the favorite Maldonado defense, the team is awesome so nothing could possibly be improved upon. I hope the Maldy fans are right and we win this division and win another title getting sub replacement level production from our catcher. If we miss the playoffs or lose in the random 3 game wild card series, everybody can rest as ease knowing that we put forth the absolute best team possible. There was nothing we could have done to get better production out of catcher.
People think that because Dusty plays the best lineups and relievers in the playoffs that he must have been forced to do it. They aren't resting anyone in the playoffs so putting out the best lineup isn't rocket science. Nobody wanted to get hits at DH and that's the only position that had some rotation. If anything, I thought the story last year was that Dusty wanted Pena in the 2 spot and Click didn't.
Dusty is like the Barry Switzer of the mid 90s Cowboys. He's sort of along for the ride and anything he screws up is still not bad enough to keep them from winning the super bowl/world series. There was really no way to screw up these Astros. He is somehow on the verge of doing it now. They have a hundred win team again this year if he would have just gotten out of the way and stopped doing dumb things.
I am well aware of how many games they won last year, and that JV win the Cy Young. I’m not sure how that is relevant. The argument here is that they would have won (and more importantly could still win) more games this year with Diaz as catcher. Based on the results in a not-small sample size of their respective hitting and a moderate sample size on their catching, that is fairly unarguable. And based on the team not leading the division, it is really damn important for this year’s likely outcome. Saying “they were good last year, and they are good at pitching, so stop worrying about whether they could win more games” is … let’s just leave it at “not convincing.”
Gotcha. I was just trying to see if this was actually stated by someone from the Astros FO or other inside knowledge; or that some of the board is suggesting this as a hypothesis for the success for last postseason.
I mean, Dusty has said it many times in the post season that he doesn’t have anything more than input on the lineups, not final say, and that someone else has the pitching plan. Do with that information as you will.
Yeah I am just now seeing these posts, over the last week or 2, that say Click told Dusty who to play in the playoffs, and Dusty complied. I don’t believe it.
It would be risky to fire Dusty with most of the season gone. Just the disrupted "personal" relationships could be a problem. A new manager wouldn't really know the team, unless it is Brantley.
Agreed. He shouldn't be fired mid-season. But he definitely needs handcuffs -- ala France ousted from the rotation.
They are NOT going to fire Dusty this year and the thought never crossed Crane or Brown's thought process. Of course there may be some things that he's done that have frustrated them at times, but over a 162 game season every team experiences this a time or two. I think most people realize (as frustrating as it is) that Maldy is going to be starting when Framber is pitching and now that JV is back (him as well). Dusty like any Mgr has his strong points and negative. One strong point he has is his loyalty to his players. He wants to show them that he trusts them which builds confidence. So he's not going to go to two proven veterans like JV and Framber and say "no you're going to have Diaz instead of Maldy". Everyone gets this. The frustrating thing is that this team has struggled to score runs (especially when Altuve + Yordan were out) and I don't care how much Dusty wants to spin it Diaz is a WAY better option offensively than Maldy. So Diaz should be catching Brown, JP and Javier and if they go to a six-man rotation Diaz should be catching 4 of the 6. If he's not Dusty is NOT putting out the best offensive lineup. Also, as I've mentioned before, this season is NOT like the previous seven seasons where they knew they were going to make the playoffs and thus Dusty can play the long game and give these guys days off. Go look at their schedule through Sept 10th and tell me that it's easy. They just started the most difficult part of the schedule (last week with TEX and TB) and there's no guarantee that they're going to make the playoffs. So EVERY game matters. Dusty also talks about giving guys days off to keep them fresh. Bregman has played in 112 of 113 games and Tucker has played in 111. They are at the point of the season where the lineup for the most should be set. Not for Dusty. It's pretty clear to me that Dusty is letting pride get in the way of "some" of his decisions. Like how can anyone question any of his decisions (especially when they just won the WS last yr). So he's dug in and is going to d@mn well show anyone who dares to question his decision process who's right. Diaz "struggles" against LHP? What's the sample size Dusty (60+ AB)? No matter how Dusty wants to spin it Diaz is a WAY better option than Maldy (especially when the team is struggling to score runs) and they should be trying to get Diaz as many AB as possible for the stretch run and hopefully the playoffs. It's amazing what Diaz has done thus far without consistent AB nor with anyone like Tuck or Yordan hitting behind him. So Dusty isn't above being questioned. I just hope that if things go sideways (or start to) that Dana Brown isn't afraid to step in and say "this is what we want you to do and you're going to do it".
He will not fire him just like he did Click. He will fire him. It will be nicer, and probably prettier but he will be replaced before next season.
So like the quotes from this article: https://nypost.com/2021/11/02/dusty-baker-astros-front-office-leaves-lineup-up-to-me/
Who? I can't think of anyone else that doesn't hurt the team in some form if he is sent down. And yes, Maldy too. Having no 2nd catcher is a problem.
Oh he won't be fired. He just won't be offered a contract after this one expires at the end of the season.
