Oh.

In that case, you play ball like a girl.

Aww be nice to the poor fella. His date probably told him they were headed to a Texas game.

Here's the sad reality that only the honest Astros fan will admit to themselves. They never really had anything to "come and take". They overachieved in a division that was down and whose champion has been the most injured team in baseball history over the last two seasons. Teams that have two or maybe three players in the lineup hitting above .250 don't win divisions. The team has a couple of solid young players and then a whole bunch of spare parts that may or may not be deserving of platoon time on an average major league ball club, much less a contender. They traded away their best prospect for an aging center fielder that doesn't get on base. They will find out fairly quickly pitching performances are erratic, and relying on three horses in a five horse race won't get it done. Overachievers tend to get slapped back to reality very quickly. The Rangers on the other hand, will get their ace back next year. The core of their rotation and starting lineup are all already under contract through next year. They have two of the top ten hitting prospects in baseball according to most of the ranking services. They will eventually get back the consensus top prospect in baseball from two years ago. They will most likely start the season with two pitchers in AAA that have a major league season with one win above replacement. Have fun re-signing the Evan Gattis' and Colby Rasmus's of the world. It looks like the Astros need to start preparation for 2018.

Oh and by the way, A-Rod hit .358 in his age 20 season, not .279.

Lolol to you Astros fans talking crap about threads on a completely unaffiliated site.

quote:

---

Here's the sad reality that only the honest Astros fan will admit to themselves. They never really had anything to "come and take". They overachieved in a division that was down and whose champion has been the most injured team in baseball history over the last two seasons. Teams that have two or maybe three players in the lineup hitting above .250 don't win divisions. The team has a couple of solid young players and then a whole bunch of spare parts that may or may not be deserving of platoon time on an average major league ball club, much less a contender. They traded away their best prospect for an aging center fielder that doesn't get on base. They will find out fairly quickly pitching performances are erratic, and relying on three horses in a five horse race won't get it done. Overachievers tend to get slapped back to reality very quickly. The Rangers on the other hand, will get their ace back next year. The core of their rotation and starting lineup are all already under contract through next year. They have two of the top ten hitting prospects in baseball according to most of the ranking services. They will eventually get back the consensus top prospect in baseball from two years ago. They will most likely start the season with two pitchers in AAA that have a major league season with one win above replacement. Have fun re-signing the Evan Gattis' and Colby Rasmus's of the world. It looks like the Astros need to start preparation for 2018.

Oh and by the way, A-Rod hit .358 in his age 20 season, not .279.

---

There are so many hooks in here. You need to be more subtle in your trolls if you want to get anyone to bite

quote:

---

Lolol to you Astros fans talking crap about threads on a completely unaffiliated site.

---

It's amazing how much weight that some fans seem to put on the total numbers of posts on a thread on a completely unaffiliated site. I guess when you finish 2nd in the standings, you have to find something to crow about.

I'm not sure why you would refer to a post on a "trash talking" thread as a troll. I was hoping to crush a few souls (with the truth). There was no deception intended. I would love nothing more than to defend my analysis of the factual information I presented, so by all means, tell me where I'm wrong.

quote:

---

For some reason, I had remembered this tweet from the guy that covers A&M for rivals.com. It was made right after Hamels rejected a trade to the astros and ended up in Arlington. Love it!

[url=https://twitter.com/mbpRivals][/url]

quote:

---

Mark Passwaters @mbpRivals Jul 30 Pearland, TX

The next time Cole Hamels says he's all about winning, I hope someone slaps him.

---

---

WOW!

quote:

---

Here's the sad reality that only the honest Astros fan will admit to themselves. They never really had anything to "come and take". They overachieved in a division that was down and whose champion has been the most injured team in baseball history over the last two seasons. Teams that have two or maybe three players in the lineup hitting above .250 don't win divisions. The team has a couple of solid young players and then a whole bunch of spare parts that may or may not be deserving of platoon time on an average major league ball club, much less a contender. They traded away their best prospect for an aging center fielder that doesn't get on base. They will find out fairly quickly pitching performances are erratic, and relying on three horses in a five horse race won't get it done. Overachievers tend to get slapped back to reality very quickly. The Rangers on the other hand, will get their ace back next year. The core of their rotation and starting lineup are all already under contract through next year. They have two of the top ten hitting prospects in baseball according to most of the ranking services. They will eventually get back the consensus top prospect in baseball from two years ago. They will most likely start the season with two pitchers in AAA that have a major league season with one win above replacement. Have fun re-signing the Evan Gattis' and Colby Rasmus's of the world. It looks like the Astros need to start preparation for 2018.

Oh and by the way, A-Rod hit .358 in his age 20 season, not .279.

---

Lol so stupid ..your top prospects is a un proven player in profar and stikeout King Gallo?

Stros are gonna be a threat every year in the west as long as lunhow is running the show

Not gonna go through the entire thing, because I don't have time to diagnose all of the silliness. But here are a few I will address:

quote:

---

They overachieved in a division that was down and whose champion has been the most injured team in baseball history over the last two seasons.

---

That "down division" came 1 game away from getting 3 teams in the postseason. So I would label the West as competitively balanced. Not down.

quote:

---

They traded away their best prospect for an aging center fielder that doesn't get on base.

---

First: Brett Phillips wasn't regarded as our top prospect by anyone. Every site I saw listed him around 4-6. Is he a great player? Sure. But you have to give up quality to get quality in return. Gomez has struggled a bit since he came to Houston, but he has been heating up lately. And he has consistently been a solid player in his career, and he still has multiple years left on his contract. Not to mention, we also got Mike Fiers in that deal, who happened to throw a no hitter about a month ago.

quote:

---

They will find out fairly quickly pitching performances are erratic, and relying on three horses in a five horse race won't get it done

---

Anyone who has watched any Astros baseball this year will know that our starting pitching has been our strongest part. Keuchel, McHugh, Fiers, McCullers, and Kazmir (minus September) have consistently performed extremely well.

quote:

---

Have fun re-signing the Evan Gattis' and Colby Rasmus's of the world. It looks like the Astros need to start preparation for 2018.

---

Every analyst in baseball had 2017 circled as the year the Astros would compete for a playoff spot. We got there in 2015. Suggesting that we are still 2+ years away from competing when we are already in the postseason just shows your ignorance.



Best of luck to y'all in the postseason. And maybe you will stick around next season and post here more often. Looking at some of the ridiculous things you just said, I have a feeling that you will fit right in

RANGERS IN 3

LETS GO RANGERS

From Astros twitter:

quote:

---

Congratulations to #Astros All-Star second baseman Jose Altuve, who finished the 2015 season with the most hits (200) and stolen bases (38) in the American League! Altuve is the first player since 1945 to lead the AL in both hits and steals in back-to-back seasons (2014, 2015). #Hustle

---

Altuve >>>> Odor. #DealWithIt

quote:

---

quote:

---

From Astros twitter:

quote:

---

Congratulations to #Astros All-Star second baseman Jose Altuve, who finished the 2015 season with the most hits (200) and stolen bases (38) in the American League! Altuve is the first player since 1945 to lead the AL in both hits and steals in back-to-back seasons (2014, 2015). #Hustle

---

Altuve >>>> Odor. #DealWithIt

---

AL West Pennant >>>>>>>>>>>>> Final Wild Card spot #DoneBeenDealtWith

---

Oh?

You're done?

quote:

---

Oh?

You're done?

---

With Altuve as some sort of trump card that makes up for blowing an 8 game lead in the last 45 days? ....Yes, the horse is appropriately flogged. (hence the #DoneBeenDealtWith)

With regards to what next? Let's just say it isn't focusing on a single players achievements in the playoffs. The plan looks more like this.....

Maybe you should look up "done"

1. 88 wins for the division crown. Division winner had four starting pitchers from previous season on DL for 2/3 of season or more. Weak division.

2. I would hope you consider Baseball America a reputable source for prospect rankings. They had him as the #1 prospect at the time of the trade, not just "hitting" prospect as I had asserted.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/midseason-prospect-updates/

3. A) Scott Kazmir was 2-6 in Houston and is not under contract next year. B) What do Bud Smith, Kent Mercker, and Mike Fiers all have in common? I still only count three horses.

4.) I completely agree that Houston will not be in contention until at least 2017.

I'm not really sure why it is relevant, but I've been a long time participant of Texags and specifically the Texas Rangers threads. I choose to lurk mostly, but I throw in my $.02 every once in a while. You are welcome to scroll back through this year's thread to verify or you could just choose to label me as "ignorant" and "ludicrous" and call it a day. It has been my experience that when a person or group begins to attack the passion or involvement of another team's fanbase, it usually means they are on the wrong side of the standings.

#2 is a problem. Does anyone?

quote:

---

Maybe you should look up "done"

---

Not needed as this is a fairly simple concept for most. . . .much like a team winning their division is more important than a single player being a stat leader. I wonder when Miguel Cabrera and his 4th batting title play next? How about Mitch Moreland?

quote:

---

For some reason, I had remembered this tweet from the guy that covers A&M for rivals.com. It was made right after Hamels rejected a trade to the astros and ended up in Arlington. Love it!

[url=https://twitter.com/mbpRivals][/url]

quote:

---

Mark Passwaters @mbpRivals Jul 30 Pearland, TX

The next time Cole Hamels says he's all about winning, I hope someone slaps him.

---

---

Hamel's winning record with Texas has more to do with run support than ability. In his starts for the Rangers, the Rangers averaged over 6 runs a game. Scott Kazmir could be 6-2 with that support (such as when Hamels had a Kazmir like moment against Detroit giving up 6 ERs in 6.0 innings but still getting the win), but he suffered through 3.1 runs per game during the Astros slide in September. I'm not arquing that Kazmir is a better pitcher, he isn't, but the difference in Hamel's average game score in his time with Texas versus that of Kazmir with Houston is essentially an extra inning pitched per game with one less hit and a few more strikeouts.

Kazmir made 13 starts for the Astros. 5 of them were quality starts.

Hamels made 12 starts for the Rangers. 8 of them were quality starts.


Now, the quality start metric isn't the greatest in the world, but just a quick glance at the two pitchers shows one guy was routinely giving you 7 innings of 3 run ball and the other was giving you 5.5 innings of 4 run ball.



Maybe he makes a postseason gem of a start to help make the trade worthwhile, but right now the BEST part about the Kazmir trade for Houston is that it was a rental.

quote:

---

First: Brett Phillips wasn't regarded as our top prospect by anyone.

---

mlb.com has him listed as the Astros top OF prospect (32nd overall in the top 100) next best prospect in the Astros OF is Daz Cameron (53rd overall). Well, top Astros until becoming a Brewer.

http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2015?list=prospects

quote:

---

Passwaters' comment wasn't re: Hamels personal W/L record. He's saying that by choosing the Rangers over the astros, that he showed he wasn't "all about winning". He was talking about winning as it relates to the team itself. Hamels made the right choice. He chose the division winner.

---

Which is laughable because much like no one predicted the Astros to be in contention much less make the wildcard this season, no one predicted the Rangers to go from 2 games under .500 and 7 games back to the playoffs at the time of the trade.

quote:

---

quote:

---

Passwaters' comment wasn't re: Hamels personal W/L record. He's saying that by choosing the Rangers over the astros, that he showed he wasn't "all about winning". He was talking about winning as it relates to the team itself. Hamels made the right choice. He chose the division winner.

---

Which is laughable because much like no one predicted the Astros to be in contention much less make the wildcard this season, no one predicted the Rangers to go from 2 games under .500 and 7 games back to the playoffs at the time of the trade.

---

No one... except, Cole Hamels.

quote:

---

quote:

---

Passwaters' comment wasn't re: Hamels personal W/L record. He's saying that by choosing the Rangers over the astros, that he showed he wasn't "all about winning". He was talking about winning as it relates to the team itself. Hamels made the right choice. He chose the division winner.

---

Which is laughable because much like no one predicted the Astros to be in contention much less make the wildcard this season, no one predicted the Rangers to go from 2 games under .500 and 7 games back to the playoffs at the time of the trade.

---

Perhaps Hamels looked at both rosters and concluded his best chance of winning was in Arlington. Perhaps he saw that the Rangers were finally getting healthy, and doubted the ability of the astros to hold onto the lead. I had been saying to my co-worker for months that someone would catch the astros in September. I had assumed, initially, it would be LAA. I'm a big believer in veteran teams in September, especially those that have extensive postseason experience.

That's kinda the misconception a lot of these Astros fans have about the two franchises. Are they a young and upcoming franchise with a good core and a loaded farm? Yes.

So is Texas.

Difference is our ownership has shown they will spend money in free agency -- will Houston's?

Oops

quote:

---

quote:

---

quote:

---

Passwaters' comment wasn't re: Hamels personal W/L record. He's saying that by choosing the Rangers over the astros, that he showed he wasn't "all about winning". He was talking about winning as it relates to the team itself. Hamels made the right choice. He chose the division winner.

---

Which is laughable because much like no one predicted the Astros to be in contention much less make the wildcard this season, no one predicted the Rangers to go from 2 games under .500 and 7 games back to the playoffs at the time of the trade.

---

No one... except, Cole Hamels.

---

And Harold Reynolds

What money?