***** Official Houston Astros 2019 Season Thread *****

6,918,052 Views | 74452 Replies | Last: 4 yr ago by PSully97
mazag08
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AG
Yes, they are a team of scrubs. They are playing well lately, but less than half of their team will be major contributors to baseball teams in 3-4 years. We have 8-10 guys who could be in the running for all Star each and every year, and another 3-4 guys who would likely replace some of their starters.

We shouldn't be losing to this team when they start their 23 year old 4+ ERA Corbin Martin lite.
Harry Dunne
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iBrad said:

Tucker had a terrible April and is currently having a terrible July. He needs consistency. Two prolonged slumps of hitting under the Mendoza line in AAA just doesn't translate well to the big leagues.
You're right in that it's not ideal, but all hitters go through slumps. Yuli started the year off like an absolute bum and now he's maybe the hottest hitter in the league. Altuve a bit of the same. Chirinos has done the opposite. Reddick is starting to as well. Major league hitters go through slumps - nearly all of them. Like Farmer says - he has a .945 AAA OPS and that DOES translate well to the big leagues.

He needs to keep learning to play 1b and he needs to be more consistent but it's silly to say that he can't help you win a WS next year. I think maybe even this year if he got a chance. Who in the world thought Straw could be an everyday SS or hit well enough to be a regular at any position at all and look at him.

If the organization believes that a guy with Tuckers MiLB credentials and who has been a top 10-20 MLB prospect for 3 years now doesn't deserve a shot ASAFP and can't help us out then the we need to go ahead and trade him.
Silent For Too Long
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mazag08 said:

Yes, they are a team of scrubs. They are playing well lately, but less than half of their team will be major contributors to baseball teams in 3-4 years. We have 8-10 guys who could be in the running for all Star each and every year, and another 3-4 guys who would likely replace some of their starters.

We shouldn't be losing to this team when they start their 23 year old 4+ ERA Corbin Martin lite.
Literally everyday in baseball a team loses to a team it's better then on paper.

Every. Single. Day. Because baseball. It's best to just take losses like this in stride and come back the next game hoping for a W.
AggiEE
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Grienke is available

I think we can get him without parting with our top prospects. I think he'd be the best option for this season
EastCoastAgNc
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Downside of Grienke is that he doesn't want to leave Arizona and his contract over the next 2 years is equivalent to Verlander's. It would put us in a bad position to resign Springer and eliminate any remaining hope of resigning Cole.
AggiEE
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EastCoastAgNc said:


Downside of Grienke is that he doesn't want to leave Arizona and his contract over the next 2 years is equivalent to Verlander's. It would put us in a bad position to resign Springer and eliminate any remaining hope of resigning Cole.


Good point, for some reason I thought he was a rental this year and then a FA next
Agmaniacmike12
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EastCoastAgNc said:


Downside of Grienke is that he doesn't want to leave Arizona and his contract over the next 2 years is equivalent to Verlander's. It would put us in a bad position to resign Springer and eliminate any remaining hope of resigning Cole.
The expectation is that Arizona would take on a portion of the contract, likely around 40 million or so total, to make him a 20 million dollar a year arm. The better the prospects, the more money they are likely to eat. He is probably the best arm available, you don't see someone with a .943 WHIP and a sub-1 HR/9 on the market very often. The downside is obviously the age and the contract. He isn't a high velocity pitcher, so age is not as big of a concern as it would be for other pitchers.
Ag_07
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Grienke is legit. Would require ARZ to take most of that contract.

It's ugly
EastCoastAgNc
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Ray is an interesting option, but I've heard people say he has a problem with walks. If they can cure him of that he'd be a good addition.

I think given the concern regarding Pressley's knee, and some of the more recent missteps from the bullpen, the Astros should look at another reliever. I know, the bullpen guys won't always be perfect, but the guys we've traditionally looked at as the reliable pieces (Osuna, pressley, and Harris) have been used a lot, and if one of them were to have a bad outing in the playoffs (which let's face it, is bound to happen at least once), we don't have a lot of other reliable relief to fall back on to hold things where they are so the offense has a chance to get is back in it. In 2017, the bullpen was weak in the sesason but was shored up by some of our starter depth rolling back to the bullpen. We don't have that buffer this year to back up the reliable guys.

Also, we need a catcher, and likely a controllable one. Picking up a catcher means we'll have to trade or DFA stassi, so we need some continuity to next year while stubbs fills the backup role. Catcher is our one conceivably offensive hole in the lineup. As we've seen in Cincinnati and now St Louis, that becomes a real point of exploitation in an NL ballpark with the pitcher batting.
BCSGrubber
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So the Mets like Stroman more than Thor?
bearkatag15
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EastCoastAgNc
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I don't know why they'd do that, other than to try and keep Stroman away from the Yankees and other division rivals. It's like the pirates trading the farm for Chris Archer after trading away Gerrit Cole six months earlier. They weren't even in contention for the division.
EastCoastAgNc
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Just like last year, stockpiling closers. That didn't really work out for them when the playoffs came.
EastCoastAgNc
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bearkatag15 said:



Here's the return they got. One year of control after this one.
EastCoastAgNc
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AG

W
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with the Red Sox surging, I don't know if that will be enough (for Oakland) to hold them off.

the A's have a brutal schedule thru mid-September:

14 games vs. the Astros and Yankees

and 12 tough interleague game vs. the Cubs, Cards, Brewers, and Giants
Ag_07
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That would make no sense for NYM. That explains a lot of why they are where they are.
The Milkman
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Ag_07 said:

That would make no sense for NYM. That explains a lot of why they are where they are.


Which makes it all the more likely
. . .
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Ag_07
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Not to mention the Padres. They're 7 GB of the wild card.

Why are they buyers?
EastCoastAgNc
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I think they're building for next year. Not sure why they bother when they're in the same division as the dodgers. Only playing for a wild card.
Agmaniacmike12
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Ag_07 said:

Not to mention the Padres. They're 7 GB of the wild card.

Why are they buyers?
The farm system is loaded and they would likely be able to pay Syndergaard enough to keep him.
gougler08
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If it makes you guys feel better, Boston is getting screwed on reviews today
Harry Dunne
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EastCoastAgNc said:

Also, we need a catcher, and likely a controllable one. Picking up a catcher means we'll have to trade or DFA stassi, so we need some continuity to next year while stubbs fills the backup role. Catcher is our one conceivably offensive hole in the lineup. As we've seen in Cincinnati and now St Louis, that becomes a real point of exploitation in an NL ballpark with the pitcher batting.
We don't need a catcher. Yeah it would be great if peak Mike Piazza dropped out of the sky into MMP wearing a rainbow guts jersey, but in the post-roid era, catchers like that don't exist anymore. Catcher is a hole in every lineup.

What we need is for Chirinos to snap out of it. Our catchers are tied for 2nd in MLB in wins above average, behind only Minnesota.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/team_compare.cgi

Despite his recent slump, Chirinos has been one of the best offensive catchers in baseball. Stassi is apparently so good at framing that he's valuable despite his hitting. Either way the backup C has gotten about 1 AB per series for us the last couple of postseasons so I'm more worried with keeping Chirinos fresh & healthy than about who the backup is. If we can pick someone helpful up for cheap that's great, but I'm not sure who you think we're going to be able to get that would be a big improvement on Chirinos without having to give up way too much.

I'm sure Luhnow will find someone in the offseason - either Chirinos again or one of the many McCann (either of them) etc. types that will be available cheap.
W
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the search for Yordan continues.

I guess Hinch can't find him in St. Louis
mwm
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Aren't they playing the Yankees? If,"yes", it makes all the sense in the world.
EastCoastAgNc
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I worded it wrong. What I should have said is it'd be nice to get another catcher.

You're right about chirinos and stassi. But with the one trade deadline this year, if we don't supplant the catching position and chirinos doesn't hold up health wise, our catching situation is down to stassi and stubbs. Defensively, I know we would be ok, but the hole would be more glaring in the batting lineup.

This is the first year with only one deadline, so we have no trends to go off of, but I wouldn't be surprised to see GM's splurge more just for the sake of insurance, but only on controllable guys. If you can go out and get insurance in the form of a third catcher, but they're going to be a free agent next year, and it forces you to have to lose a guy with no more options for the future (i.e. stassi), then it's not worth it. I suppose you could keep all three catchers on the roster and send down straw until September, then leave stassi off the playoff roster, but then you have to carry a guy who you know isn't gonna play for a month. It's not an easy decision to make, and I'm glad I'm not in lunhows shoes.
EastCoastAgNc
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If he goes on it, I imagine we'll see it happen in conjunction with a pitching trade.
AggiEE
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EastCoastAgNc said:



If he goes on it, I imagine we'll see it happen in conjunction with a pitching trade.


Yikes, if he's not healthy for the playoffs that's a massive hole to fill in high leverage relief
Pahdz
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And would you look who the Twins catcher is...Jason Freaking Castro
BMX Bandit
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W said:

the search for Yordan continues.

I guess Hinch can't find him in St. Louis


Why you searching?

It's known he's playing Sunday.
EastCoastAgNc
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AG



Harry Dunne
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That all makes sense and yeah if we can get someone for the right price of course I'd be all for it.
Philip J Fry
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Harry Dunne said:

That all makes sense and yeah if we can get someone for the right price of course I'd be all for it.


Do you work in the Astros front office?
tjack16
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Here at Busch again tonight. Alvarez was killing the ball in BP. To the second deck out in center with ease.
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