He approved a trade for Hamels and signed off on the deal for Gomez, who's going to make $9MM next year. Not that it's the least bit surprising - but let's resist the urge to constantly move the goal posts. Instead, here's a remarkably better idea: just enjoy it. Whether Kazmir is here or not is soooooooo 2016. Right now, he's here and looks all the world like a definitive difference maker.
I sincerely apologize cangrejero51. I'm was wallowing in a case of the Mondays and I took it out on you. No excuses, absolutely my bad. The Beard is right and I should've kept the conversation above board. **** me indeed.
So I was busy and haven't watched the Saturday/Sunday games yet. How'd Conger do? :grin: Hope he keeps it up. His numbers at MMP are ridiculous, on the road, not so much. In a related good news scenario, Castro's showing signs of life at the plate: .816 OPS over his last 11 starts. And congrats to Hank on evening his record as the Stros starting catcher at 17-17. Castro's 43-29, btw.
About as backhanded as compliments go(wink)... I'd say he's the bona-fied third best hitting option against right handed pitching (2nd best if you're more a fan of XBH vs simple batting avg), and that's going to warrant a place in the lineup (you still advocating for him to be off the team alltogether?...double wink). Would be interesting to see pitcher specific ERA (individualized by pitcher, since they don't specifically catch a single one) between the two catchers... It's probably not significantly different despite his defensive short-comings. Who is the catcher at AAA? Worth calling him up when rosters expand to get Hank in as DH?
Can a DH come in and play the field if needed (if you then sacrifice the DH)? Assuming so, they should DH Conger regularly against righties, given his 1.100+ OPS, at least until he goes back a normal number. If Castro gets hurt, Conger can still come in and the pitcher can just bat once or twice. It's seems silly to waste a good DH for the offchance Castro gets hurt one game.
Whether or not I believe that Crane is serious when he says he will increase payroll in the future has no bearing whatsoever on my enjoyment of the here and now. I had forgotten about the Hamels trade approval. The Gomez trade did raise payroll for next season but since it was only for one more year (at a time when most of our good young players still will be making peanuts, relatively) that wasn't very telling to me. Do you have some reason to believe that I have moved my goal posts, or that you know where my goal posts were at any given time?
I've pretty much been advocating this for a while. Yeah, you lose the DH for the rest of the game if Conger moves behind the plate, but so what really? You can always PH if the pitcher spot comes up late in a close game. I seem to remember that being a strategic baseball option in the distant past....
Ehhh... both your initial post and now this response have "yeah, but..." coursing through them... "It's great he gave the approval to go ahead with the trade, but..." "The Gomez trade did raise payroll for next season but..." Meanwhile, "...how hard they go after Kazmir is going to be my first real test..." - is setting an artificial and potentially unattainable standard that eliminates any incremental progress that should be applauded (not "yeah, but"'ed). Crane *does* deserve credit for trading for Kazmir and Gomez. Not only is he adding payroll, but he's (potentially) sidelining Scott Feldman's contract and/or Colby Rasmus' contract... Their actions at the deadline *should* have forced everyone to at least reconsider their perspectives; instead, the goal posts move - "a half season rental isn't really a commitment that proves anything, in my opinion." (while ignoring/forgetting the Hamels situation, as well as Gomez's deal through '16.) Hard for me to fathom being anything less than thrilled about the team's direction after the trade deadline.
BTW, Nick, I ate full crow on this earlier in the thread. I'd go find the post and link it if the thread wasn't 57 pages long.
Of course that was wrong, even if a bit tongue-in-cheek. He's a great DH option right now and once-a-week catcher the rest of the time. I stand by that, and will speak nothing about Conger until his next majestic offensive display or monumental defensive ****up, whichever comes first.
For some reason, in few games, he hits better in the majors than in Triple A. But we are really taking about backup. Castro catching, Conger DH, and a catcher just in case something happens on the bench. We also have Gattis as an emergency catcher. On September, we have great call up that can help the team big time. Villar, pinch runner VV and Appels, even Straily Stassi as third catcher Singleton Chapman, even tough he is struggling Presley, Grossman, Hoes All of these guys can help in different ways in the pennant race. I don't like this rule of expanding rosters, but is there, so we have to take advantage of it.
Were you biased against him as well? By no means was I ever a "Conger homer"... despite how it may seem... but I've never seen a part-time player, who's all but outperformed several undeserving everyday players, get this sort of scrutiny.... to the point that people were actually criticizing the uncriticizable! (Luhnow). Guess I felt somewhat bad for the guy (and he's proceeded to reward his manager by some incredible games at the plate lately). He's most certainly sub-par at throwing out baserunners... a facet that still depends a lot on who's on the mound, who's on the base paths, the game score situation and who's at the plate (i.e. - several confounding variables), so I guess it isn't as much of a "deal-breaker" to me to have him catch at an increased rate (which the front office seems to agree with). As much crappy baseball we've seen the last 3 years... let alone this year from some guys... it always seemed very niche-y to gang up on him. Ah well.... here's to strengthening the overall lineup for the rest of the season, as well as come playoff time. Chris Burke took on a similar role in 2005... and was starting CF games in the NLCS (a position he hardly played throughout the minors or in the big leagues).
"Monumental"? I doubt he's cost the Astros a game all-season with his "defense"... especially not vs. the offensive contributions over the last month+. But if they do have a spot for a 3rd catcher (with Sep call-ups), by all means they should move him to DH.... you'll find no disagreement with me there. And if Castro can keep up this hot streak (which Hinch is definitely attempting to Foster with another start tonight), it may just be worth it. Also, not a fan of having to potentially turn back into an NL team just to play them "both"... it does put Hinch at a managerial disadvantage (compared to his AL opponent) if the game is tied or remains close.
that only happens if Castro gets hurt. Not a massive risk game-to-game vs. the benefits gained. Plus, it would only be a 1 game issue if it happened
This year he is throwing runners out, but i believe with the Angels he was throwing at 20-25 percent rate, which is average, not bad. He does not have a pass ball, and frames pitches good. I don't think he is a liability on defense. Now, Castro is having, i believe, a strong season defensively, so out of the 2, Jason is better but Conger is not a bad defensive catcher. The way he is hitting, there is no reason to sit him as much as Hinch is sitting him.
