This is nonsense. What I really want is yall to throw out fake handicaps and argue about that like gentlemen and POTUS candidates do.
With the success of Houston pitching, are the “Yainer Diaz doesn’t study or prepare enough” question to rest?
Not sure how the Astros keep doing it with pitching. I thought Strom as the secret sauce but here they are again this year especially with Hunter and Blanco
This season makes me particularly aggravated about 21 and 23. Maldonado obviously had success with Framber, but Framber also had meltdowns with him. Now that Framber was forced to pitch without his blanky, lo and behold he's still good. Everything we did with "game calling master" Maldonado we could have done with Castro and Diaz, who actually contributed at the plate. We would have been just fine in 22 as well with Vasquez. The success of our pitchers has always been a team effort with nerds, coaches and players all playing a part. This excessive credit Maldonado always got was stupid.
Dusty was adverse to winning a second title. He looked at Maldonado as his lucky charm, and sat down a much superior player in Yainer Diaz. Given time with the pitching staff, Diaz has built a rapport with the pitchers. Plus he’s been such a valuable bat that he effectively serves as a legit DH option when he isn’t catching. A golden opportunity was lost last season because of a stubborn old man instance to get Maldy in the lineup. But hopefully the Astros and Espada can rectify the Championship donation to the Rangers, because this team needs to win one more to establish a true dynasty.
2021 and arguably 2019, that's water under the bridge. Seeing what yainer is doing now and what happened in 2023, that's just painful.
Says the guy who's still crying about the playoffs from 40 years ago. The contradiction is entertaining though.
Baker was a PR hire after the whole 2017. Luckily for the Astros, baker had enough baseball and managing knowledge not to fug it up. Also, clicked helped by trading away negative players.
I'm just a realist. Oh I've bashed the Dusty/Espada regime down into the ground. There's a time and a place for it, though.
Hell, I was a Dusty guy before he sabotaged the '23 season. I'm just not stubborn enough to die on a hill after new information is presented.
