His reputation has been as a slow starter when he's moved from one level of MILB to the next.

I wonder if he's going to evolve into one of those players who starts slow every year.

Since 1920 I believe

Need some dad advice.... wife wants to take our twins (18 months) to their first game this week. I'm okay with it knowing it won't be my normal "all in" type of thing in regards to the game. With that said in looking for ticket advice. 2 or 4 seats, or even 3? They both enjoy sitting in their own chairs but I also feel like situations with tons of people around they might do better with sitting on our laps? Saying that how much time can I actually expect to sit in a seat and will the want to explore the park and constantly be on the move?...... but the cheapest seats possible, or get something closer to the action like we normally get? Just curious how my fellows add usually handle the situation. Trying to make it as least painful as possible.

You can do it but don't expect to be able to pay a whole lot of attention to the game. It's fun watching your kids get excited for things at the ballpark.

Ag_07 said:

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Children under 2 get in free and don't require a ticket. I'd just wing it with them in your lap and save some money.

With that said when we take our little one we buy club level tickets. yeah it's a bit more expensive but it much easier to get up and let them walk around the concourse on the club level than it is on the lower or upper concourse. At some point they're gonna lose interest and to able to get up and walk around will buy some time. Plus those cheap seats are pretty damn steep and not really conducive to a child walking or being carried up and down.

So yeah it's more for club level but I think it's the best way to go when taking little ones.

Also look into getting them in Astro Buddies. $35 a piece and you get a backpack, hat, socks, and 4 free tickets to a game. The tickets can only be used on certain games and can only be used for nosebleeds but you can put the value towards an upgrade (club level).

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Club level is the way to go with little kids.

Bobcat-Ag said:

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Since 1920 I believe

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1920 was 6 hr in 11 games. He's in uncharted territory now.

We took our 4 month old last Saturday, I'd suggest club or behind the net in the field level. You don't want to be the only thing between them and a Tyler White foul ball. We were close to the aisle which helped. Yours move more than mine so you will want to get up and walk around the park some.

Until Correa returns, I think it will be rare to see Bregman not at SS and Yuli not at 3B. With Yuli locked in at 3B, White is our only 1B on the roster. Seems inevitable at this point that we will see Reddick or Brantley log some time at 1B in the near future.

Marvin said:

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Well, glad it's Monday and the rough week that was is over and done. Hopefully the Astros have an upwards trajectory from here on out, having survived a tough schedule and a slew of injuries.

Looking ahead, several things strike me as important from here on out.

• Team health- having an intact roster will do wonders for the offense.
• Altuve's bat- who would have bet Jake would have the higher batting average at this point?
• First base- Gurriel and White have been underwhelming, and Luhnow/Hinch don't see existing roster options
• Schedule- remaining opponent winning % of .474 (basically the Twins schedule to date)
• Another starter- seems like we need one, even if McHugh returns soon

I'd also add Bregman's bat as he's hitting below .260 now. On the plus side, he's shown more power and I'd expect him to see more hittable pitches once the lineup is back to full strength. Not worried here.

Bottom line is the team is positioned well despite severe obstacles in the first three months. The second half should be even better. Health, and solutions at first base and the back end of the rotation in my opinion will make the Astros the team to beat in October- they're close to that already.

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All solid points. Bregman is 3rd in walks and tied for 12th in OBP. Dude just always finds a way.

I am interested to see how aggressive Luhnow will be in addressing the need for another starting pitcher

I'm certainly open to that idea and I think Straw adds more value to the roster as a whole than Kemp does. Come playoff time, I think Straw gets the nod over Kemp when we get down to picking the final position player on the roster.

I just tend to think they'll take the easy way out for the time being because Straw still has options and Kemp doesn't.

EDIT: With that said, I think Luhnow knows he's going to start having to make some tough decisions at some point. The position player roster is getting too crowded and Correa/Diaz still have to be factored in. Maybe he'll do it now. One other factor working in Straw's favor is that he can play SS.

Yeah you're probably right but Kemp has been straight awful. If you ask me if Kemp has played well enough to prove he belongs on this roster I'd say no.

As much as we like to pile on our favorite fatty Kemp has been worse.

And I would say that Straw can kinda/sorta play SS.

Yea, Straw at SS only in emergencies of course. I think I heard them say Straw/Altuve are the "backup" short stops right now. Bregman better not be letting any rib massage therapists near him.

Deluxe said:

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I guess Straw heads back to Round Rock tomorrow when Springer is activated?

The lineup is getting crowded and Correa isn't even back yet. Yordan's emergence as an everyday player is probably making a few guys uncomfortable and competition for ABs is about to get intense. I like it.

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I hope it will be Guduan. Maybe Armenteros. I doubt it will be Straw since he's the backup SS, and he's only got 15 innings at SS so we are already playing with fire. If you send Straw down, I believe Yuli and Altuve are the only other guys who have played any major league SS (all of 13 innings combined).

I'd be fine with sending either of our bullpen deadweight guys (Guduan or Armenteros) down. Part of the thinks Luhnow is bookmarking their transport back to Round Rock for when McHugh/Smith return this week, but we shall see. Some interesting decisions coming up.

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I am interested to see how aggressive Luhnow will be in addressing the need for another starting pitcher

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Me too. How much future is he willing to part with to get a pitcher down the stretch? Bumgarner is probably going to cost too much to be worth it IMO. Or maybe we find some good relief arms and strengthen up the bullpen.

Or link up with the White Sox and make a package deal for Abreu and Giolito.

Ag_07 said:

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Why not cut Kemp?

He's been awful and now with Altuve back and the logjam we already have at OF he's basically useless. Straw has more value even if he does nothing but pinch run.

On the year he's slashing .226/.303/.409. In the month of June Kemp is slashing .212/.300/.442.

That's not worth a roster spot.

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He has been awful, but it's the same argument I made yesterday for White. He's cheap, he's a good backup and he's far better than whatever MLB-ready replacements we have for him. He's on a cold streak but when he's playing well, I think he's a starting caliber 2b and a decent enough 4th/5th OF.

When someone is awful everyone is quick to want to cut bait, but we all saw SuperJack. That's our most MLB-ready MiLB middle infielder. Yes he's sucking right now but you have to do everything you can to hold onto him until it becomes impossible to do so.

What should I know about this guy?

Deluxe said:

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I'd be fine with sending either of our bullpen deadweight guys (Guduan or Armenteros) down. Part of the thinks Luhnow is bookmarking their transport back to Round Rock for when McHugh/Smith return this week, but we shall see. Some interesting decisions coming up.

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I just hope that McHugh and Peacock find their way back to the pen. This team is just so much better with them shutting down mid-game rallies without using Pressly/Osuna. That will obviously have to include another starter and hoping Valdez can give us an effective 5 innings, but it makes for a filthy bullpen.

Another note on Kemp. Despite his atrocious slash line, he has a .6 WAR this year...100% of that coming from his defense. He has improved his routes in the OF and despite a noodle arm, he has the speed to get to enough balls to make him a serviceable LF...and it turns out that he is an excellent defensive 2b and as bad as he has hit, he's actually slightly above replacement level offensively (at 2b) and outstanding defensively.

I know that WAR (and dWAR) is not perfect and we have a lot of Jake defensive fanboys so this will not be a popular take, but Kemp's defense this season has been equally valuable to Jake's as far as dWAR is concerned, and Jake has played a bit more. People will rail against this comparison, but it's a heck of a lot more objective than any "I think" or "I feel" arguments and the bottom line is that the main reason people hate defensive metrics is that we are really bad at quantifying defense and we overvalue great plays, undervalue range, and fail to consider replacement value (like that maybe there are a lot more good CFs than 2bs),

Kemp's WAR last season was .7 on the entire season despite how much better he hit, and that's mostly because he was out of position in the OF and because 2b positionally hits a lot worse than LF. My point is that he is actually very valuable as a 2b and although he hopefully ain't gonna get much time there, he is certainly valuable to someone in a trade. Let me put it this way, he's a hell of a lot better 2b than future HOFer Ratface Odor.

Hard pass on Jake and Kemp being equal defensively.

Makes for a good arbitration case though.

You're being subjective.

Kemp is obviously nowhere near as good of an OF as Jake. He IS a better defensive 2b relative to the average second baseman than Jake is to the average centerfielder so far this season.

Your argument against that is just your feelings. You're taking a hard pass based on how you feel. Because Jake is faster and makes great catches and so on. But this just has to do with plays made relative to the average guy at that position and how much those plays help the team to win.

Whether continues in the long run or not, the only point I'm trying to make is that like Jake, Kemp has value beyond his slash line.

No I get what you're saying now.

I thought you were comparing Jake as an OFer to Kemp as an OFer.

That's what I was taking a hard pass on. I get you now.

Yeah not even close in the OF. but I do think it's impressive that Kemp has improved enough out there to be replacement level defensively. He was pretty bad last year.

redline248 said:

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What should I know about this guy?

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Quick synopsis...

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Ferrell, 25, pitched reasonably well for the Marlins in Spring Training, yielding a pair of runs on five hits and five walks with 10 strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings. While the walks were obviously unwelcome, Ferrell did look to have a chance to crack the big league roster. Instead, a case of biceps tendinitis landed him on the injured list and has prevented him from pitching in the Majors at all in 2019.

Ferrell did start a rehab assignment in mid May but had that assignment halted after just four appearances. He rebooted his rehab efforts on June 12 and tossed 4 2/3 shutout innings (no hits, one walk, two strikeouts) before the Marlins cut bait. Ferrell averaged nearly 12 punchouts per nine innings in a combined 51 1/3 frames with the Astros' Double-A and Triple-A affiliates in 2018 but also logged an ugly 5.9 BB/9 mark in the process. Through a total of 10 1/3 rehab innings in 2019, he issued six walks and hit a batter.

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the second half of the season is going to feature a heavy, heavy dose of the Angels (39-40) ---- 16 games vs. LAAA. The Angels can't pitch, but they can hit