OK this goes well beyond the base question of living and dying with a team that in its 55th season of existence has still not won a championship. Fan is short for fanatic and the folks who write, read and comment on this blog are just a little …..off. (In a good way….but don’t ask our spouses about that).
This goes more to a comment that Mr. Bill made in the last post.
“If you ‘buy’ Jose [Altuve] now, you buy through at his highest value. He’s hitting .47 points above his career average and his OBP is .80 over his career average. I love Jose, but even I don’t think he can keep up this crazy pace. Let’s talk in the off-season.”
This encompasses most who hang around this blog (including the writer of these words). There is too much tunnel vision, too much impatience, too much focus on smaller samples of statistics and a refusal to remember that six weeks of bad baseball by a player or a team can be offset by the same amount of good baseball and vice versa.
Fans always want to trade Luis Valbuena or Carlos Gomez or Jason Castro or (fill in the blank) at the depths of a slump at the nadir of value. Fans want to sign the guy on a hot streak to the long term contract at the height of his worth. Folks have been used to a NOW culture where knee and jerk are tied together in immediate actions and hopefully immediate results. But sometimes this causes us to miss the wonderful comeback that might be around the corner. If a person quit on the 2005 Astros the day the Tombstone appeared on the front page of the Houston Chronicle (spit!!) sports section, they would have missed one of the great turn-arounds of all time.
Is Houston Astros fandom lucky that neither Jeff Luhnow nor A.J. Hinch were thrown to the dogs 5 weeks ago?
Were the fans fortunate that Valbuena and Gomez were not traded or released by now?
Or were we just our goofy normal selves? Ready to pull the trigger even when the gun is in someone else’s gun safe locked away…..
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
181 responses to “So, just how goofy are Astros’ fans?”
I always take things too seriously when it comes to the Astros.
When it came to making changes, today’s date was always the focal point in my preface: “If the Astros are out of contention by July 1st, here’s what I would do”
They aren’t!
Now I’m ready for more questions
It’s the first of July and the Astros are in contention for a playoff spot. What now?
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Love this post, Dan, and that’s really all I want to say. (Although I do plead guilty to goofy and not just owing to the Stros.)
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It is amazing how much of a turnaround the entire Astros system has undergone since the early season funk. When I look now at the Hooks’ season record, and stare in awe at the Grizzly-Tacos’ line-up [and their one-two SP tandem of Rodgers and Musgrove, with their amazing back-end tandem of McCurry and Hoyt], I get a peaceful easy feelin’. I’m walkin’ on sunshine, with Jose! I’m walkin’ on sunshine, with A.J.! I’m walkin’ on sunshine, with Triple-A – and don’t it feel GOOD!
By the way, I’m really liking the song of the Wrenn, as well.
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Song of the Wrenn. That’s just beautiful, Bill.
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I think, considering the theme of this post, the more appropriate adjective is probably ‘goofy’, OP1!
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An Astroholic and a Cubs fan walk into a bar. After throwing back a couple of brewskis the Astroholic looks at the little bear loving fool next to him and says: “So what’s up with you guys’ long-term boycott of the World Series, Gentle Ben?” The Cubs fan gulps down his scotch and soda. He strokes his beard. He shakes his head. A tear trickles down his cheek. “You see, there was this goat. And then Greg Maddux abandoned us to go win championships with the stinkin’ Atlanta Braves. And then Kerry Wood’s arm fell off. And then along came this idiot named Bartman. And then somebody spiked Sammy Sosa’s bat with cork. There’s just this curse. But hey, enough about us. What’s the story with you guys in Houston?”
The Astroholic smiles. “You see, there was this evil Commissioner. And then Carlos Beltran abandoned us to go make himself and Scott Boras millions in the Big Apple. Then Jeff Bagwell’s arm fell off. Then along came this idiot named Porter. And then somebody replaced Chris Carter’s bat with spaghetti. There’s just this curse – especially when it comes to whoever first and third base, and DH.”
The Cubs fan picks up the paper that sitting on the bar, turns to the sports section, and looks at the standings in both leagues. He slaps the Astroholic on the back and says: “Whaddya say we resume this conversation in October, my Space Cadet friend?”
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Just because Valbuena or Gomez were not traded doesn’t mean one or the other won’t be moved at the deadline. I believe that Reed was brought up recently, so that the Astros could see what they have before the deadline arrives.
They have seen White, Kemp, Worth, Tucker, Singleton, Duffy, Moran and now Reed, so they are getting some idea who could help them and where, should the right trades come along.
The truth is Gomez, Rasmus, Castro, Valbuena, Feldman and Fister are all going to be free agents after the season. That’s six players that are currently vital players who are going to be:
A. Traded
B. Extended
C. Given a QO($16mil+)
D. Allowed to walk when the season is over.
As usual, I expect the Astros to wait to the end of July to make that first decision(A)
The move to make Gattis the backup catcher has helped the Astros by giving them a RH batting catcher to consider for next year. That gives them more information in making a decision on Castro.
Bregman”s display of fantasy-type baseball gives them more information about what to do with Valbuena at the deadline. Not that it will be a huge part of it, but it helps. Valbuena’s deal rests on his performance, and if somebody offers us a nice prospect or two for him.
If Fister keep pitching well, that makes a QO to him a real possibility, because they probably would want him starting down the stretch.
Rodgers’s performance might make it easier to part with Feldman in a trade, because we’re talking about a swing guy for us, who might make a #5 starter for a needy contender. We have Feliz and Devenski who could be bullpen swing guys already in place.
Remember that in September, we will have pitching options available with callups and in the playoffs, rosters are adjusted for each series and we will not carry five starters on a playoff roster, so we have a plethora of pitchers to choose from in the playoffs.
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I looked it up and the rule now stands that players on the 40 man as of Aug 31 are eligible for the postseason. Keep that in mind when considering future callups.
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Great post and comments.
For me the most significant move made this season thus far was making Gattis catcher. His game has picked up. More importantly and significantly, the team has played better. Putting Springer at leadoff hitter has been impactful as well.
Will be interested to observe personnel changes hence forward.
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Gattis is hitting .227 with a .292 OPB and a .730 OPS. We have the tendency to settle for too little.
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http://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/astros/article/Astros-expected-to-spend-lavishly-during-8335535.php?t=2f68fb079e438d9cbb&cmpid=twitter-premium
This article is in line with my last comment on the previous post.
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This scenario has been further enhanced by the ruling against the Red Sox this morning. They will not be players for free agents eligible in the pool and five of their signees from last year go back into the free agent pool and get to keep last year’s signing bonuses paid to them by Boston. They cheated, they got caught.
That means one less team competing and five more free agents to choose from. That also cuts down on cheating this year.
I have been saying the same thing for weeks, that the Astros are going to shell out some bucks this coming week, along with the Padres, the Braves and the Phillies. These four teams have money and, I believe, the intent to spend it.
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Goofy Dan has not been paying as much as attention to this as Tim and op.
So what did the Bosox do?
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They paid money for players who were represented by the same agent and had an agreement under the table with that some of the money paid to lesser players would be funneled by the agent to his better player, after the fact. Thus, the desired player was only paid the limit that the Red Sox were allowed to pay him, but then the agent funneled more money to him from the lesser’s player’s bonus, in return for the more desirable player’s signature.
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Goofy Sandy read the article and OPs post and I still don’t understand it.
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Let say Joe is the Agent for a good foreign prospect and several lesser foreign prospects. I want the good one but I only have $300,000 in my allotment to offer him. So I offer a lot of money to sign the weaker players, too, and then the agent gives some of their money to the good prospect under the table. It looks like I signed the good player for $300,000, but maybe the Joe, the agent, took another $300,000 that was “supposed” to be to sign the weaker players, and he gives it to the strong player and he ends up with $600,000. The Team that did the signing was the Red Sox and they had a limit to spend on that player, but the league was suspicious of the Red Sox doling out big money to the lesser players and they investigated and found out the truth. The Red Sox were crooked and the agent was crooked. The better prospect took advantage of the lesser guys and the lesser guys may or may not have known what was going on because of math, reading and translation involving 16-17 year old foreign players.
The league looks at a good player who signed for less than was expected and several weaker players who’s signings were way higher than expected and started looking into it, because those guys had the same agent, they signed with the same team and it looks fishy. Boom! the league ruled on the morning before the new signing period starts tomorrow and the Red Sox lose some players they signed last year, they lose the signing bouses they paid those players and they lose the several commitments they planned on getting tomorrow because they are not allowed to sign players from this year’s pool of players. The Red Sox can only sign free agents like the 32 year old Cuban, Yuneski Gurriel, who is a free agent and isn’t part of this year’s pool.
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Thanks OP. Makes a lot more sense now☺️
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Lineups are posted, Reed DH.
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This blog tonight is like the traffic in my county at 3am.
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Nobody wants to jinx it!
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I was out and about, but watching the game on the iPhone. Technology! Heck, we didn’t have internet down here ten years ago.
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Maybe everyone is traveling old pro. I was wondering if everyone thought it was a west coast game.
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It has been a pretty tame night – except for A.J. Reed’s first hit and Go-Go’s home run.
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Bregman and Hernandez – the dynamic duo – have brought their whole act to Fresno, haven’t they?
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It appears they did indeed!!!
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I’m in Dallas and my sister found the Astros game on her cable provider, so I’m watching just haven’t posted anything! But I’m getting to watch pretty good pitching performance, by both pitchers!! Thank the Lord Reed finally got a hit, maybe he can relax now! I love this team. Period.
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Alright! Strong pitching all the way – late hitting – first hit for Reed – good win 5-0
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Out in Fresno, they say ‘Home, James!’
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YAY!! I’m soo happy for that guy!! He’s a keeper for SURE!!
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KC lost. Astros move up in the WC race.
Keep on going boys.
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The Astros are a 1/2 game up on WC#2.
Unfortunately the Strangers won in 10 today.
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I know……😠😠
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We won the series opener. This was a big win where the White Sox crushed the ball for four innings and had nothing to show for it and the Astros had two hits after the first five innings and led.
Now we get Sale. He beat us 2-1 when we were playing poorly and it was at his park. I think we can beat him tomorrow.
We might see Worth at DH, Gattis catching, Marwin at 1B and Valbuena at 3B. Probably see the normal OF because Marisnick hasn’t touched Sale in his career. Worth has a hit and a walk in 3 PA’s against Sale. Valbuena has one hit off Sale in 4 ABs.
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Teoscar Hernandez’s homer in the 2nd inning got Fresno going and Alex Bregman’s 2-run dinger in the 8th sealed the deal for Fresno last night. A 4-1 win over Salt Lake.
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We have reportedly cut deals with an international catcher, two international shortstops [a Venezuelan and a Dominican], and two right handed pitchers [both Venezuelans]. The Venezuelan SS, Yorbin Cueta, signed for a cool million.
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The way I read the rules – the Astros are more than 15% above their assigned pool. They will have to pay a penalty equal to their overage (between 1 and 2 million it looked like) and they only can spend $300, 000 the next two seasons on international players.
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I think you are correct. The Astros picked out several prospects who were valued highly by scouting outlets like Baseball America but not in MLB’s Top 30. They also jumped on Nova who flunked a PED test and dropped by another team who had reached a verbal agreement with him.
I have seen confirmation by MLB.com on the Astros signing three SSs and two pitchers. I have not read anything yet on them getting a deal with the Cuban, Sierra, that they have ben linked to.
The Astros are paying the penalty this year because there are not going to be many decent guys next year. That’s why they are going for broke this year, plus, I think the MLB may be headed to an international draft system, to even the playing field. In that scenario, the World Champion Houston Astros would have the 30th pick anyway.
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Jake’s OPS is down to .492 with a .171 BA and a .235 OBP. Can someone please explain to this ignorant soul how the guy has a job?
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Must be the khaki pants and the State Farm logo on the polo shirt.
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Andrew Aplin has been a big disappointment.
Jon Kemmer has had a rough year and isn’t ready.
Preston Tucker has been a below average fielder and has trouble with LH pitching.
Eury Perez was here, but wasn’t really here.
Teoscar is hot, but is not fully cooked.
Derek Fisher has fallen behind Teoscar.
Brett Phillips is gone.
That leaves Marisnick, who is a great fielder, can’t hit a lick, and steals bases, except on Fridays, when you put him in a game late to steal a base.
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He’s not a good base stealer either, at just 62% lifetime.
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I don’t know if the Astros’ announcers mentioned it last night, but there was a grin on Chris Devenski’s face after the game ending DP behind him.
That was probably because the White Sox are the team that drafted him and then he became the Player To Be Named Later in the Brett Myers trade.
I had forgotten about this in my excitement after the win last night, but was reminded of it in the Comments section of the White Sox SB Nation blog this morning.
I am reminded also that Devenski still does not have a single appearance in the official stats for AAA. The only game he pitched for Fresno was the AAA Championship Game and those stats don’t count. But that performance is what got him to Houston this spring and he has seized the moment.
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Chron’s Angel Verdejo Jr. is reporting a sixth signing by the Astros this morning on his twitter account.
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On July 2, 2014 the Astros signed Miguelangel Sierra out of Venezuela for $1 million. A SS, Sierra was ranked as the Astros #15 prospect this year by MLB.com with all grades in the 50’s except for the power tool, which got a 30 grade.
Sierra is playing in Greeneville this year at age 18 and in 32 ABs he has only 5 hits.
But! Those 5 hits are 2 doubles and 3 home runs. So much for that “no power” grade. Baseball is not an exact science.
The Astros have Correa and Bregman. They also have two other SSs in their top 15 prospects.
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Ok – the Grizzlies are playing Bregman at SS. What is the thought process here?
Are they showcasing him to use in a trade?
Are they thinking they would just put him wherever if they need to bring him up due to injury or trade?
Are they not bringing him up this year unless there is an injury or trade?
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Dan, I think they saw what they needed to see from Bregman at 3B in CC.
The Astros know that Moran can’t play SS so they are keeping Moran at 3B in Fresno and Bregman at SS. They have Duffy and White and Singleton to handle DH and 1B and they have Kemp and Fontana to handle 2B.
My guess is they don’t plan to bring Bregman up unless there is an injury. He allows them to protect someone else on that 40 man roster, because Bregman is not eligible to be drafted. Is it possible that Hoyt will need to be protected at the end of the year? If that is the case, they would surely want to do that. There are two dozen teams that would love to have Hoyt right now.
I think the Astros want Fresno to explode and make the playoffs, and let that explosion bring all their AAA guys more into the focus of the rest of the teams in baseball.
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The Astros are hot but not the hottest team in the AL. Cleveland is going for 15 straight and is up early against Toronto.
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Fortunately the Astros don’t have to catch Cleveland, but they do need to put Toronto as far behind them as they possibly can.
But, more importantly, they need to beat Sale and the White sox today.
Verdejo says the ticket lines were 30 deep at 10am this morning.
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Valbuena is the only lefty in the lineup. Worth is at 2B and Altuve is the DH, so Altuve gets a half a day off. He won’t have a fingernail left, if he is DHing.
Marwin is at 1B and batting second. Marisnick in LF, batting ninth behind Worth.
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So can we designate Altuve to bat for Marisnick instead of the pitcher. It might work out better for us.
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The Twins batted around in the 1st, scored four times and knocked out the Rangers’ starting pitcher after two thirds of an inning.
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Twins up 7-1 after 2 innings and by the way the Astros are only 1/2 game back of the first WC the Red Sox.
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Twins up 11-1 in the third.
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Now, that’s the spirit, Op! Sounds pretty good anyway, if ya ask me.
World Champion Houston Astros.
Lot of good info on drafts – thanks!
Dave, on Jake, agreed 100%. I think the answer to why he has a job also is ‘We like who we Like’. He’s another glue player the clubhouse is pulling for.
Told ya the Twins were nothing to look past! The Rangers however are starting come back to earth, while the Astronauts are starting to fly!!
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Twins beating rangers 17 to 4. 🙂
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Altuuuuuuve!!!!
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BA is now .356. Aliens have taken over the shortest body in the MLB.
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Fister is making me awfully nervous.
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Yes. I think it might be a good day to get Mr. Feliz some innings.
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Yes Mr. Bill, but Mr. Hinch was too slow in getting Mr. Fister out of there.
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It was pretty obvious it was not his day. If they had not gunned some guys out on the base paths behind him – this would have been even worse. Hinch blew it today
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Yep!
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Feliz is sumthin!
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I wish Hinch would have hooked Fister as quickly as he hooked Feliz.
Feliz comes in earlier and we are still leading. If he doesn’t pull Feliz out and we aren’t 2 runs down.
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Yes I really can see why you pull Feliz for Sipp.
I am also not thrilled with the replay officials today.
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Made the same comment about Hinch and Sipp and week ago…
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Sipp has been a HUGE dissapointment so far this year, he’s not fooling anybody.
When all is said and done I’d rather lose by 3 runs, than by one. Seems like everytime we play the Sox and face Sale we lose by one run. Too bad, I thought we might just win this one…..at least we haven’t had the crap beat outta us this year like the rangers did today.
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Triple Like
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Dang it! We lose by *ONE* run……again! Bright spot, was A J Reed got his first of many to come….HOME RUN!!!
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I know you can’t win em all but dang it. We could’ve picked up some ground on Texas today.
Congrats to Mr Reed.
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A blast from the past:
Lucas Harrell is back in the majors, he won is first start today for the Atlanta Braves!
Will wonders never cease!!! Who knew!
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We need a left handed reliever.
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No…sh*t!!!
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Yeah, like yesterday!
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It’s pretty amazing. Reed gets his first hit. Then draws a walk the next time up. The next day he blasts a home run pinch hitting against a bona fide good major league closer. Baseball may seem boring to some, but the ebb and flow of the game is a thing of beauty and bafflement.
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When you get 4 runs off Sale, you want to win that game.
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Amen!
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What to do about Tony Sipp……..it’s not like we have anyone else to bring up.
Time to go looking for another lefty, ’cause we can no long trust him to get outs.
He hasn’t pitched since last Sunday, and we all remember how THAT turned out.
By the way, that same Angels team we just swept…..put a BEAT DOWN on the Red Sox to the tune of 21-2!!!! Lordy me, that was awful!!
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Like OP said…….the ebb and flow of baseball is a thing of beauty……
I don’t see how anyone could find it boring.
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Wouldn’t James Hoyt, who is nails against everyone be better than Sipp who is getting nailed by everyone?
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I remember when Joe Sambito was a rookie (and not yet Joe Sambito) they decided to bring him in with the bases loaded and Willie McCovey coming up simply because he was left handed. That ball hasn’t landed yet….
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We signed 12 sixteen year old prospects today and they will spend the next 10 months or so learning the game of baseball at the Astros Dominican Academy and start playing in the DSL next summer when they are 17.
Here’s a toast to them and their families.
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I think of kids like Altuve when I hear about these kids! A toast to them indeed!!
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When I said we should wait and find out where we stood on July 1st. I meant it.
The Astros are in the thick of it and if we are to go forward and keep winning, we have to come up with a lefty reliever and we are going to have to trade for him.
Yeah, I know. A month ago I said we should trade the expensive guys if we were out of it. But we aren’t, and if we are to stay in it the club needs to make some decisions.
Feliz was rolling and he gave up an infield single after blowing through that lineup for three innings and Hinch pulled him when he was effective, while leaving Fister in when he wasn’t. Now he’s the manager, but why do you pull guys who are doing it and leaving guys in who aren’t. That doesn’t make sense.
I would rather have Feliz starting and throwing five shutout innings and getting pulled, than starting another pitcher who is going to go six innings giving up four runs.
Feliz continues to get the shaft, while being a stud. Sipp blew that game, and it was Hinch’s fault. You don’t owe Sipp anything if he continues to get bombed.
This isn’t new, he has been ineffective all year. And rich, too.
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I agree. Hinch’s handling of the bullpen for the one and one-half year he has been here has been baffling.
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We have two pitchers on this team who came into money for the first time last off-season. How are they doing?
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OP……as usual you are 100% correct. BUT…..you know as well as we do Luhnow would rather eat a live snake than admit he was wrong about trading for, or signing a guy who is not cutting it. We don’t NEED a lefty reliever….. but we can’t make it to the playoffs WITHOUT one. So it looks like we go kicking the tires on a team whose already out of it and work a trade. Luhnow SHOULD be on that phone right this red hot minute, and get someone ASAP!! I’m back from my visit with my sister, and hearing the team in arlington get hammered today made my day! Becky⚾
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I’m okay with how Feliz has been handled for the most part. Yeah, Hinch pretty much blew yesterday’s game on his own. Everyone of us knew it was time to yank Fister and an infield hit should not have gotten Feliz pulled with the nine hitter coming up, a guy who had entered the game with a .604 OPS.
But if we want Feliz to start down the stretch, it’s a good thing that he’s been working out of the pen to date. His max career professional innings are the 112 he threw last year. He’s at about 38 right now, I’m hoping they’ll stretch him out and get him in the rotation by August. I just wish they would have stretched him out for one more hitter yesterday.
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I don’t trust Luhnow to make a trade, period.
Sure, the Astros are right there in the wild card race but let’s be honest here. Our starting pitching is barely above mediocrity. The offense is clicking now but can we expect it to continue at that pace for three more months? Which pitcher can we count on to go into a one game playoff and win? Keuchel? Can we come out on top in a playoff series against the Rangers? Why can’t Feliz or Denenski get a start? Will the FO bring help up from the farm? If they do, will they give them a chance to play or just let them sit? Will the manager suddenly learn how to handle his pitchers? Will Luhnow do a better job negotiating a trade? Or will he continue to give more and get less?
I felt like last years team, with last years Keuchel and McHugh, could have gone to the show and won. I don’t feel confident this year.
I know some will see this as a negative comment but it’s really me looking at this team with my eyes instead of my heart.
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Sandy…..you’re just asking the same questions we all are!! Who do you put in a one game playoff? Man, I don’t know……I don’t trust any of these guys to pitch in a high leverage game. You are exactly right……Luhnow’s track record stinks, but he’s going to make some trades, so we have to expect that.
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