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It's not a bad quality to have in a GM.

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FIFY....

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Because you're happy with how Hinch and that dumbass GM you have are running things.

I'm honestly starting to think the Astro fan base is the worst in MLB

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Starting? What took you so long?

I've been hoping that these TexAgs fangraphs nerds aren't representative of their entire fan base....but it looks like they are.

Please tell me Astros fans would you rather have JD or Lunhow? Then tell me would you rather get Hinched or have Bannister? You can't seriously think the Astros have a better GM or a better manager.

Just in case you Houston fans need it...

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I don't think I've ever posted on this thread or a Rangers thread.... But after skimming 3 pages deep, it's comical how much rangers fans sound like sips.... Spot on...

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Ok, thanks for stopping by Tceh Tard

"Deal with the devil"? Someone has been drinking what Lunhow is selling. Friggin suckers. Contenders make deals at the deadline, regardless of what Lunhow wants you to believe. And the did this one without giving up someone like Profar.

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Just in case you Houston fans need it...

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I think the offer is only valid in DFW, Waco, and Austin. I'm in Florida, and wanted to cash in... no dice.

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I don't think I've ever posted on this thread or a Rangers thread.... But after skimming 3 pages deep, it's comical how much rangers fans sound like sips.... Spot on...

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May I ask why? I'm assuming it's the citing of the head-to-head records, but there's a key difference. When sips cite the H2H, they ignore the fact that since scholarship limits were put in place, the record is basically even. Most of the domination in the series occurred before most of us here were born. The Rangers, on the other hand, have dominated recently. Over the past 10 years, the Rangers own a 75-31 record vs the Astros. Considering that this is a "trash talking" thread, I'd say that's relevant to the thread. Even if you just want to look at last year and this year when the Astros were a good club, the Rangers own a 24-8 record vs the Astros.

So, I'm not sure where the sip charge is coming from.

I just took a look at the Astros Top 10 prospect listing per MLB.com. I can't say that i'm impressed. A whole lot of 22-23 year olds that have struggled at the upper levels. A couple of young pups that are putting up awful numbers in the lower levels. Didn't see but one or two guys that were young for their level. The Rangers upper levels are depleted right now, but they've still got a couple high end starting pitcher prospects that continue to produce as they move up. I wouldn't trade our top 10 for the Astros top 10.

In the end, the farm system has one purpose...to help the big league club win. That can be from either calling guys up or by trading them for MLB assets. The Rangers aren't afraid to use either approach. Plus, when looking at the upper end of the system, I think it's important to look at the young talent already on the big league club. There's no shortage of top-end young talent in the organization. Guys like Profar, Gallo, Odor, Mazara, Mendez, Guzman and Jurado provide the big league club with plenty of young ammunition.

But, if you are going to make a run at actually winning a championship AND staying relevant for an extended period, then you are going to have fluctuations in the farm system because guys will be traded or promoted to the bigs. I guess you can focus on the farm system ranking and keep guys in the minors without trading them away to improve the big league club, but they don't give trophies for having the best farm system.

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I just took a look at the Astros Top 10 prospect listing per MLB.com. I can't say that i'm impressed. A whole lot of 22-23 year olds that have struggled at the upper levels. A couple of young pups that are putting up awful numbers in the lower levels. Didn't see but one or two guys that were young for their level. The Rangers upper levels are depleted right now, but they've still got a couple high end starting pitcher prospects that continue to produce as they move up. I wouldn't trade our top 10 for the Astros top 10.

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I'm not going to argue about which top 10 I'd take, but I think you're short-changing the Astros. Lots of guys you'd be excited about if they were Rangers, lets be honest.

http://houston.astros.mlb.com/mlb/news/prospects/index.jsp?c_id=hou

#1 Bregman and #2 Reed were killing it in the minors before they got brought up. Hitting .290+ with a .970+ OPS at AAA. They're 22 and 23.

#3 Martes is at AA with a 3.52 ERA and career 3.04 minor league ERA. Good peripherals. He's 20.

#4 Tucker is 19 and improving quickly. Now has an OPS over 1.000 albeit a short time in A+..

#5 Whitley is just starting his minor league career.

And lots of other prospects having some great seasons. Teoscar Hernandez, David Paulino, etc., etc.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/HOU/2016-organization-batting.shtml

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I just took a look at the Astros Top 10 prospect listing per MLB.com. I can't say that i'm impressed. A whole lot of 22-23 year olds that have struggled at the upper levels. A couple of young pups that are putting up awful numbers in the lower levels. Didn't see but one or two guys that were young for their level. The Rangers upper levels are depleted right now, but they've still got a couple high end starting pitcher prospects that continue to produce as they move up. I wouldn't trade our top 10 for the Astros top 10.

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You are about the only one who wouldn't. Congrats.

And between Correa, Altuve, Springer, and Keuchel, their minor league system has made an incredibly significant recent-ish impact on the big league club.

They have lots of young talent, lets not kid ourselves. What Houston has not done yet is fill out the rest of the roster with the talent necessary to consistently win a lot of ballgames. I'm sure their current GM is the guy to do it, but that's above my pay grade.

The Rangers did that mostly through shrewd free agent signings---Beltre and Desmond have arguably been the two offensive leaders this season. Darvish is there, too, I'm sure someone will want to argue about the technicality of that deal.

The Hamels trade has been great, so far, most certainly.

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You are about the only one who wouldn't. Congrats.

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Well there's me and the 29 GM's that said no thank you at the trade deadline.

To me, the big difference between the two clubs is the Rangers have shown they are willing to spend money and that they are willing to take risks in free agency and at the trade deadline. Stockpiling talent in your farm system is great and all, but if you aren't willing to spend in order to build a lineup around the talent that actually comes to the bigs and succeeds, then what's the point? You're left pinning all your hopes on young guys panning out, and that's a dangerous game to play.

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"Deal with the devil"? Someone has been drinking what Lunhow is selling. Friggin suckers. Contenders make deals at the deadline, regardless of what Lunhow wants you to believe. And the did this one without giving up someone like Profar.

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The "deal with the devil" was a joke to most functioning humans, genius.

Here's a post from one of your own:

And another:

And another:

Jon Daniels is a good GM, but even he would tell you that they are basically playing with house money right now because of how lucky/fortunate they've been.


Seriously, you may have a few veterans that know how to win, but the team that you tout that JD built that will all be back next year, etc has outscored their opposition by 8 runs. That's good enough for 14th in the MLB.

But but but Tom Wilhelmsen.

Their run differential since he was released (June 17) is -31.


But but but Yu Darvish was hurt.

Their run differential since he returned on July 16 is -2.




You are a .500 team that has been lucky as sheet and if you do this again next year you will crash back to earth 99.9999999% of the time.

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You are about the only one who wouldn't. Congrats.

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Well there's me and the 29 GM's that said no thank you at the trade deadline.

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Wow. Blown away. It really is that simple isn't it.

Just because the stats are a bit of an anomaly doesn't mean the team isn't actually good.

That's the problem win sabremetrics people...they soooo want to convince everyone that they're right, that they aren't willing to admit stats don't tell the whole story.

RetiredAg,

We'll see. Too early to really be able to rule on that.

This off-season will tell us a lot, I think, regarding the Astros willingness to spend and ability to evaluate veterans.

I didn't like what they did this past off-season, I thought they didn't spend what they did spend very wisely, but maybe they'll really give it a bigger go this off-season.

The Rangers didn't make the playoffs in JD's first 4 seasons, then won a ****ty division and got hot in the playoffs. Then they made the big long-term free agent move signing Beltre and Beltre is still the offensive leader on this club.

So, its not like JD immediately came in and had the Rangers flying high. It was a process, too.

The Astros went the nuclear route, and either you're willing to accept blowing it up and losing a lot of games or you're not, and would prefer to wallow in mediocrity like the Rangers did. To each his own opinion on that one.

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Seriously, you may have a few veterans that know how to win, but the team that you tout that JD built that will all be back next year, etc has outscored their opposition by 8 runs. That's good enough for 14th in the MLB. 1st place in the AL.

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FIFY

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Just because the stats are a bit of an anomaly doesn't mean the team isn't actually good.

That's the problem win sabremetrics people...they soooo want to convince everyone that they're right, that they aren't willing to admit stats don't tell the whole story.

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The Rangers are a good team, and that's what the Astros fans need to realize. I think plenty of stat-saavy fans that aren't in Houston, like myself, know the Rangers are a good team.

I think the point, the trash talking aside, is there are those good teams that are consistent, and there are those teams that aren't real deep or are hot/cold.

The Rangers are more like the latter, it seems. They've had some real holes and inconsistencies in every phase of the game. (And not just because of injuries).

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Keep it class, Ramgers.

He pick up some tips from Matt Bush?

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From what I understand, it sounds like this is his 3rd or 4th incident in his professional career. The guy clearly has a problem, just as Bush did. Let me guess, you were one that ridiculed Hamilton for his drug problems?

Ironic that you lead off with "keep it class".

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They lost 3 starting pitchers over the course of a week, and had to replace them w/ guys that are mediocre in the minors. Surely you can understand how that can have an adverse impact on run differential, right?

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The Rangers have had plenty of pitchers that have been starting games since early April that have sucked, too.

This isn't all about injuries. Perez quite often has stunk, Holland has almost always stunk, etc.


And the offense is anemic. Ian Desmond might be the most inconsistent player in MLB.

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From what I understand, it sounds like this is his 3rd or 4th incident in his professional career. The guy clearly has a problem, just as Bush did. Let me guess, you were one that ridiculed Hamilton for his drug problems?

Ironic that you lead off with "keep it class".

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DWIs are bull**** and can kill innocent people. There should be no tolerance for them.

Shooting up drugs at home...less of a threat to innocent bystanders.

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Keep it class, Ramgers.

He pick up some tips from Matt Bush?

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From what I understand, it sounds like this is his 3rd or 4th incident in his professional career. The guy clearly has a problem, just as Bush did. Let me guess, you were one that ridiculed Hamilton for his drug problems?

Ironic that you lead off with "keep it class".

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Thought this was a trash talking thread, nancy.

Retired Ag, are you upset we kicked Josh Walker off the football team?

Bush is incredibly lucky he's still not in prison. If the guy whose head he ran over died, Bush would have never played baseball again.