He has 1 1/2 good month, and a good series vs the Royals THAT WE LOST, and one reason was not using relievers correctly. We were supposed to win the division last year, WE DID NOT. We choked at the end of the season. We could not win series on the road. Hinch was not a good manager last year, we UNDERACHIEVED according to the analytical numbers.
It sucks for fans but this is going to be a great learning experience for the entire organization. Looking at the product on the field this year gives me the impression that the Astros thought being on the brink of beating the Royals last year meant they were automatically set up for success. Losing this year will help Ownership, Luhnow, Hinch, and whatever players remain that it takes even more work to stay in contention than it does to just be a contender. There's no one to blame, it's a learning process and they don't have the experience yet to know what it takes to maintain success.
Thing is, most of those people will take about a week to start ripping the next manager as soon as Hinch is gone Nature of the beast The stupid baseunning mistakes and fielding mistakes have to be cleaned up though, and that in my opinion is squarely on Hinch
I was thinking along similar lines. Everyone seemed fine with Hinch last year. So if he is the problem now, it must be pointed out what he is doing different. Sometimes its true that a specific group of players will fair better with one baseball philosophy over another. And sometimes as a team grows, that philosophy must grow and change with it. But this team is basically the same as last year. What worked last should be still working. Higher expectations is clearly the most obvious difference from last year. The team hasn't taken to it that well so far. But if this is the pivotal factor, it could be something that just snaps into place rather suddenly at some point.
Astros -- 50+ years of learning Vegas thought we were set up for success. Guys are just underperforming... namely Giles, Gomez, and Keuchel. There's also been a few bad breaks and Hinch is subpar. McCullers' injury didn't help, but we've been mostly healthy otherwise.
For all this teams mistakes, the biggest diff from last year is Keuchel. If he was dominating his starts our overall situation would look a lot different
Keuchel is clearly different. But if the model we have depends on a CY Young award #1, then the model is flawed to begin with. As good as Keuchel was last season, I think the majority of us felt (last year) that we were much more than just Keuchel. And that he alone wasn't the difference between a 85+ win and a 60-70 win team.
Of course we were much more than just Keuchel last year We had the rookie of the year, an All Star 2B, a number 2 pitcher than we won 22 games with him on the mound, a lot of other power bats that while they were terribly inconsistent, they did provide plenty of power...Springer...we had a good pen even though it let us down in the playoffs...we had the runner up for AL manager of the year...we had a lot But don't underestimate the value of a true Ace to top a rotation. Last year in Keuchel's first 9 games we were 8-1, this year we are 3-6. If we were 8-1 in Keuchels starts right now, we would be 22-22 instead of 17-27. Now most of us wouldn't necessarily be extremely happy at 22-22, we certainly wouldn't be talking about trading veterans for prospects and firing the manager and stuff like that. We need our Ace back
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Astros?src=hash">#Astros</a> are the first American League team to lose 3 consecutive games 2-1 since 1991. Rangers win tonight at Minute Maid Park</p>— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/status/734201456106967040">May 22, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
That center field change is going to make Minute Maid Park the Coors Field of the AL. I think that short porch really played to pitchers favor when they concentrated on the outer half. Batters would constantly try and flip there hands and pull it in to the Crawford boxes. Now they can hit it out to all parts of the field confidently. Bad move in my opinion.
Yep. If it was just about the safety of the hill/flagpole, remove those but keep the dimensions. They're trying to make more profits by adding a restaurant/bar area (to be honest, the space is underutilized as is. I can't imagine the 5-7 grille, and as much space as it takes, is the best usage of the area to maximize revenue). 409 is going to allow for more HR's or balls off the wall. That is certain. It's annoying when dimensions are tinkered with.
Has Tals resulted in one injury? I just don't understand the move at all. Not to jump off topic, but wanted discussion on it since more people are in this thread. Getting back to baseball.. When can we pull Bregman up? Would really like to see Bregman Altuve Correa Springer in the near future.
Giancarlo Stanton's last 5 games: 0 for 17, with 15 K. Elias tells us only one other player in last 50 years K'd 15 times over 5 games - & it was a pitcher! (Wayne Twitchell in 1973) Just saw this tweet. Carlos Gomez would be ashamed to hit that stat-line.
And taking away the bottom of the strike zone, as the rule will change next year, is going to increase offense everywhere. Could see some crazy games at MMP from time to time starting next year
I would guess that if Bregman continues to tear it up, he will be here once they feel certain the Super 2 deadline has passed
Not in 15+ years of playing there. If Tal's hill is unsafe... the brick wall covered by ivy at Wrigley is a downright death-wish. I believe it was a Reid Ryan brainchild in order to try and make more money... and it could be sold as a benefit to the players (shorter distance for HR, safer, etc.) Can only hope that whatever construction/bid snafu that caused the project to be delayed was just a harbinger of future issues that cause the project to be scrapped. If this year has shown anything, its that at the very least this team has to be able to pitch well to win games.
Can the Astros please score more than 1 run today? Don't think I can handle a 2nd straight sweep by the Rangers, especially at home.
