[Official] World Series Astros vs. Braves

@punkoholic - I believe Gausman is legit and not a fluke. He had good numbers last year as well (despite the small sample size). Him being near the top in 3 pitch Ks is also encouraging. He also had a good second half of 2018 in Atlanta, and even had some decent (though not dominant) stretches in Baltimore. His splitter is filthy.

 

Effin D-Bags.........I can still hear Joe Buck drooling over Soto.

 

I don’t want Chris Taylor or Seager, either. I want Jim Crane to pay Carlos Correa what he is worth to be the face of this franchise for the next decade.

 

Game 4 was the turning point in this series. The Astros literally gave that damn game away. Snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Astros should field a good team next season, certainly a playoff contender. But I think their World Series contending window has nearly closed, even if they do magically resign Correa. They are past their prime, and teams like Toronto and the White Sox are perhaps one trade or signing away from being strong title contenders.

Hell, next season might be a dogfight between the Astros and Seattle for the AL West crown.

Better starting pitching is certainly a need, but the Astros also need to rethink their offensive approach a bit next season. They were poor at winning close games. They were not good with RISP this season. Too many of their home runs were solo HRs. Not enough XBHs (doubles). Too many "quick" outs where the opposing pitcher only throws 1 to 3 pitches. They need more players to work the count and concentrate more on just getting on base however they can - high contact rate, walks, hits, etc. They need Altuve to tone down the wannabe slugger, "hero mode" mentality and go back to the way he approached at-bats several years ago. It's like he's trying to be the Russell Westbrook or the JJ Watt of the Astros, and that hurt the team more than it helped. They need Bregman to get his apparent wrist injury resolved and he needs to figure out how to remain effective at the plate when some stuff is a little off-kilter. He comes across as the type of player where EVERYTHING needs to feel precisely right and the stars in the night sky need to be perfectly aligned in order for him to kick ass at the plate. If something is even a tiny bit off, it's like he goes from a "100" down to a "20" in offensive production.

This year's team also lacked the swagger of the '17 thru '19 Astros, with the exception of Correa. Please pay that man, Crane.

Lastly, I wouldn't mind a new manager, but that's highly unlikely (unless Dusty retires).

 

I'd love to avenge them in the WS. But I'm not sure if it's worth the risk of Soto winning another.

 

Personally, I'm disgusted with our bats. There were multiple pitchers and we failed so many times.

We knew our pitching was meh. But to get shut out in 2 of these games? It just shows we didn't have the Moxie we should have being here so many times before.

 

The numbers on Spotrac have the Astros at about 120 million in payroll next year without Correa, Verlander, or Maldanado...

That would be around the middle of the pack in payroll without free agents... not going to cut it...

Only argument i could see is if they can buyout Yordan and Tuck's arbitration plus 2 or 3 years of free agency....

Korey Lee and Castro could make an offensive downgrade at ss more acceptable...Maldanado is a risk to give up on the pitching side....

 

They could definitely use another front line starting pitcher, but Scherzer is not signing here. He made it clear to the Nationals that he wanted to go to the Dodgers at the trade deadline, and I would be shocked if he signed anywhere else, especially with Kershaw also a free agent that has forearm issues.

 

Did I miss the Astros signing great starting pitchers in the offseason? Greinke is a head case, Verlander is injured, Cole and Morton walked and Keuchel was not resigned. I know that some of these were out of our control, but not all of them.

We paid Altuve and Bregman, yay! That really paid off for us.

I don't care what our payroll is, the results say that (i) our starting pitching is ass, and (ii) our great lineup is overpaid and underperforming in big games.

 

Uh, really just Altuve,Yuli, and Brantley are getting up there...

Tucker
Bregman
Yordan

Then you have Korey Lee and Joe Perez in the pipeline... Siri/Meyers/McCormick

Pitching is young...

They have a 5 year window still...

 

The one thing that will haunt me about this series is the complete collapse of Alvarez. I have never seen anything like it. He went from superman in one series to super dud in another. He certainly isn't the primary reason for the lost series, many others underperformed, BUT his torrid hitting followed by being completely unable to do anything, was something I have never seen before.

 

They pitched around him and he got frustrated and started chasing out of zone... the guys hitting around him gave no protection so they had no reason to throw strikes...

 

korey Lee

 

Wait, you think Crane giving Verlander, a man with elbow problems at 38 years old, $66M is smart? Verlander has been paid $66M not to pitch for us. Great spending Crane. Greinke is a better hitter than he is a pitcher at this point. But hey, we can't pay Springer because......?

 

Fair enough.

 

Wonder how bad our pitching will get next year since Strom isnt returning

 

No the Astros are doing it themselves. The Braves were no better then the other teams we faced in the playoffs. A mix of cold bats and inconsistent starting pitching is what got us. We can say Sherzer and Strasburg won the series for the Nationals in 19 but this year the Astros did it to themselves.

 

Astros lose, Watson wasn't traded, Rockets lost...

But wait, Rockets won 1st half (1), 1st quarter (1) and second quarter (2) = 112

Astros had 1 player (1) out of 12 position players that played (12) that got more than 1 hit = 112

Watson 1nce again (1) wasn't traded, mainly due to the criminal complaints that numbered OMG 12 OR 112 !!!!!!

Gematria does indeed work.

 

Love the hot takes that our guys don't perform when it counts. Yeah, let's forget how clutch they have been so many times in the playoffs. It's baseball, the best teams don't always win, and that is because all players go through ups and downs, especially with hitting. It happens all year long and we barely notice it. When it happens for a short stretch in the World Series it is just magnified. Its really just baseball though, and that is why timing and luck is a big part of making it through the playoffs (and also why teams like the Dodgers have a hard time just buying th World Series no matter how much they spend). Talent will get you the opportunity to make the playoffs after 162, but there is a ton of luck in making it through 3 playoff series unscathed.

 

I'm going to say Strom wanted Odorizzi to pitch Game 6 and Baker wanted L.Garcia. Add to the fact, I wonder how Strom talks to his Spanish-first speaking pitchers.