quote:

---

I'm glad it'll be on ESPN tonight! Looking forward to watching the 2015 World Series Champions.

---

FIFY

quote:

---

Is there reason to be excited about Valbuena? I don't know much about him but looking at his stats, he's a career .229 hitter. He had a good season last year, but that looks about it. Am I missing something?

---

Lets start witht he most recent.

Spring Training.
Avg 380
OBP .418
SLUG .620
OPS 1.038

2014
AVG 249
OBP .341
SLUG .435
OPS .776

Overall pretty good #s

Now why we like him? He's a huge upgrade over what we had. Some advanced stuff since we're talking baseball.

Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+) measures how a player's wRC compares with league average after controlling for park effects. League average for position players is 100, and every point above 100 is a percentage point above league average. For example, a 125 wRC+ means a player created 25% more runs than a league average hitter would have in the same number of plate appearances. Similarly, every point below 100 is a percentage point below league average, so a 80 wRC+ means a player created 20% fewer runs than league average.

2014 Astros wRC+ for 3rd was 69. Valbuena's wRC+ was 116.

He's a 1-2 WAR player. Dominguez was pretty much the replacement player that WAR is calculated with. Valtron strikes out the same, walks more, has more consistent power, and just has more value. I think Dominguez still has unreached potential, and he always seemed a little too content for his age. Hopefully losing the job will give him a new sense of urgency. He needs to do something big soon to have a chance with another team.

Thanks for the reply, I can get on board with that. Like I said, didn't know much about him but knew some on here would. Sounds like if he can have another season like last year, our top half of the lineup will be pretty salty.

Let's look at position by position from last year to this year..

2014 C: Castro, Corporan
2015 C: Castro, Conger

Slight upgrade. Conger is better defensively and more consistent offensively. Castro is due for a bounce back year.

2014 1B/DH: Carter, Guzman, Singleton
2015 1B/DH: Carter, Gattis, Singleton

Upgrade. Carter is at his peak. Gattis is a massive upgrade over Guzman. Singleton can still be last year's Singleton and we are still better off this year.

2B: Altuve

No change

2014 3B: Dominguez, Gonzalez
2015 3B: Valtron, Gonzalez. Dominguez

Uograde. We have a better 3B. The end. If Dominguez has a rebound and gets called up and succeeds, then we have great trade bait and a great tandem.

2014 SS: Villar, Gonzalez, Petit
2015 SS: Lowrie, Villar, Gonzalez

Upgrade. Lowrie is a consistent, known product. Decent enough defense, and dependable offense. Villar can't be much worse.

2014 RF: Hoes, Krauss, Presley, Springer
2015 RF: Springer, Grossman

Upgrade. A healthy Springer is better than the limited springer from last year mixed with all the other fluff we threw out there.

2014 CF: Fowler, Grossman
2015 CF: Marisnick, Rasmus, Grossman

Downgrade. Fowler had elite plate patience and great defense. Marisnick could be good. Rasmus could have a big year. But we can't predict it to be better than Fowler last year. We should have a more consistently healthy CF though.

2014 LF: Grossman, Presley
2015 LF: Grossman, Rasmus

Upgrade. Seriously.. a bad Rasmus is better than perpetually average Presley. The end.

2014 SP: Feldman, Cosart, Keuchel, McHugh, Obie, Peacock
2015 SP: Keuchel, McHugh, Feldman, Wojo, Hernandez, Obio, Peacock

Wash. I think Wojo is an upgrade over Peacock.. but we still freaking have Peacock dammit. Hernandez won't be here long. So we practically switched Wojo for Cosart. Probably a net downgrade, but we still have such a loaded system, and I think our staff as a whole.. with another year of experience.. has a more consistent year.

Bullpen is a major upgrade and it's not close. I think it's worth 10 wins alone if we don't get the injury bug.


This team is light years better but still might not be prime time ready.

I'm hoping for .500 ball all year. Anything over is icing on the cake (as long as we maintain upward trajectory).

quote:

---

I'm hoping for .500 ball all year. Anything over is icing on the cake (as long as we maintain upward trajectory).

---

Exact same expectations for this season.

The fact that Valbuena is our 3 hole hitter seems to be a red flag for our lineup.

No way Jose

Altuve will partay

With his teammates

when we escape

The AL West parlay

World series all the way

quote:

---

He's a 1-2 WAR player. Dominguez was pretty much the replacement player that WAR is calculated with. Valtron strikes out the same, walks more, has more consistent power, and just has more value. I think Dominguez still has unreached potential, and he always seemed a little too content for his age. Hopefully losing the job will give him a new sense of urgency. He needs to do something big soon to have a chance with another team.

---

Valtron lol

And i was going to post about the same points as mentioned... His numbers don't jump off the page. Just comparing him to who we had before gets me excited. Looking at just the OBP alone;

Matt- .256
Luis- .341

LET'S ****ING GO!!!!

HATEEEEEE!!!!

I like this lineup.

I think what may decide if this team can play .500 will be how Carter, McHugh, and Keuchel play. If these 3 can play about how they did last year, I think this team is above .500. If they play about how people expected them to do before last season, I think this team is below .500, but still not competing for last place in baseball

I was listening to Luhnow on the radio this morning and damn that guy is pretty persuasive. Had me believing we would be a .500 ball club at least

What I think is nice, is that we could easily have 4+ players hit 20 homers, including 3 hit 30.

This live k zone is really obnoxious

Take a look at the roster for the Hooks. There can't be a more talented squad than that anywhere in MiLB

quote:

---

This live k zone is really obnoxious

---

I hate it. Really hoping it doesn't stick around.

quote:

---

The Astros are on TV and aren't predicted to be the worst team in baseball anymore. It's like they exist again.

---

We are so close. Anyone watching in college station want to get together?

Live from the Juice Box. It is a beautiful day!

Lets see what the #process will bring us this season, definitely more excited than I have been in quite a few years

I already have plans for tonight, but I'll do it some other time

Sweep the Leg Strossssssss

IT"S HERE!!!

Awesome video with Jimmy The Toy Cannon Wynn

3 up 3 dow n for Keuchel

Wow @ Keuchel

Keuchel dealin'