Yeah, no way this politically correct owner brings back Hinch or Luhnow.

Mr.Bond said:

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Forgot the All-Star game was in LA . That should be a field day for whatever Astros make it to the game

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I've joked that the fans aren't going to vote any of our guys in, so then it's all to the manager having to make a selection of one team member - and MLB will make sure the manager selects someone we have on the IL

E said:

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03_Aggie said:

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k20dub said:

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Man, Blue Jays are ruthless. Only gave the guy 1/3rd of an inning All season.

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The tweet is misleading. He had a handful of starts, demoted to bullpen and pitched 41 innings before we played them.

Mike Bolsinger is not a good or major league caliber pitcher. He had a 5.49 ERA heading into that game. He had 4 different years that he make appearances in the majors from 2014 to 2017 and never could cut it. He has a 6.83 ERA in 27 innings the prior year. He only had one year where he was sub 5 ERA.

Mike Bolsinger is the definition of an AAAA player. He had 4 years to prove he was a major league pitcher and couldn't. It's not the Astros cheating that cost him his job as the tweet implies, which stems from Clevingers argument. He wasn't going to make it.

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Yes. My post was heavy sarcasm.

Interesting point about all star voting.
We could easily have 3 guys with MVP stats but will anybody vote for them, or will the MVP voters act like elitist.

Oh haha, mine wasn't meant to be a jab at you, just a jab and fact checking the actual tweet. Yours was the last post and drew the short straw.

Doea that trash can data give averages of players in the games compared to on the road for that stretch?

JABQ04 said:

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So instead of "Hinched" do we say "Bakered"?

We have a dude at work with Baker as his last name. We definitely say "Bakered up" when he ****s something up, or "you got Bakered" when he calls in sick over and over.

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FYI

Baker Act: The Baker Act is a Florida law that enables families and loved ones to provide emergency mental health services and temporary detention for people who are impaired because of their mental illness, and who are unable to determine their needs for treatment.

When a cop puts someone in mental hospital they say, "he was Baker Acted". This seems appropriate now.

For those interested in watching the press conference.

Half the state of Florida fits the bill for this

What time?

Texaggie7nine said:

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What time?

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Seems pertinent.

Texaggie7nine said:

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What time?

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2pm

Quote:

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DUSTY: THE MAN TO CLEAN UP THIS MESS

If anyone needs to restore their credibility, it is the Astros -- or the Houston Asterisks as they are becoming widely known on social media for their tarnished 2017 World Series title. And they took a major step toward that goal Wednesday by hiring Dusty Baker for their manager job.

There is almost no one in baseball as Baker with such an impeccable reputation for candor and character. And there is surely no one as well-liked as Baker.

A high five got to Houston for tabbing as manager Johnnie B. Baker, the man who invented the high five.

Of course, Baker has a fantastic record for winning, having captured multiple Manager of the Year awards, and guided teams on both coasts and in between to playoff appearances. But more important now, he will put the best face possible on an impossible situation. The season is expected to be filled with distraction following a sign stealing scandal that cost two brilliant baseball people their jobs -- former Astros manager A.J. Hinch and former GM Jeff Luhnow -- their jobs, and stained the organization's first World Champion trophy.

No one can change that. But the universally beloved Baker will put as positive a face on a sorry situation as is humanly possible.

The Astros did a super job identifying excellent managerial candidates, not just the wonderful Baker -- from Buck Showalter to John Gibbons to Eduardo Perez -- and acted pretty decisively. But ultimately, they may not be able to get out of their own way. Behind the scenes, things seemed a little messy. Many of the losing candidates, to a man great professionals, learned from twitter that they would not be getting the job they coveted.

Maybe that shouldn't be a surprise since they currently have a barebones front office, the result of a firing of assistant GM Brandon Taubman for ugly clubhouse behavior even before the stuff really hit the fan. But they clearly have a lot of work to do. They still need a GM, and they may need even more help to work to polish up their ruined rep.

It hasn't been revealed to this point but while the Baker hiring put a nice shine on things, within the final day there was significant uncertainty. Even on the lastl day there was dialogue as well with Brad Ausmus, a longtime former Astros catcher, Dartmouth grad and well-known leader who just lost his job managing the Angels after Joe Madden became available.

Word is there was significant interest in Ausmus joining the staff in some capacity -- it appears he was the managerial backup plan in case Baker and the Astros couldn't agree (in the end he accepted a one year deal with a team option at what was said to be near the highest current managerial salary of $4 million, and a bench coach consideration, as well -- though in the end it didn't work out. It is believed the bench coach job wasn't one Ausmus was prepared to take on quick notice, which shouldn't be a surprise since he's already had two managerial jobs and was likely only let go by the Angels due to the availabilty of the iconic Maddon.

Two other candidates opined that the whole process seemed rushed -- though the timing of the suspensions (and ultimately firings) would seem to have seemed to necessitate that to some degree -- and in the biggest surprise of all, behind the scenes there was a lot of talk about a change in bench coaches. Though in the end, they decided to stick with the generally well-regarded Joe Espada.

Espada was one of about 10 managerial candidates for the Astros and he had been a finalist for managing jobs with the Giants and Cubs but for some reason the Astros spent some the final 24 hours trying to decide whether to replace him altogether. Late Wednesday owner Jim Crane met with Espada and told him he was welcome back, but it would be a surprise if he told him how much thought had gone into the idea of potentially replacing him.

It isn't known why that was even a consideration considering Espada's own fine and growing rep but didn't help that endeavor other teams weren't about to let the Astros take their coaches late, and one rival exec said aloud he wouldn't lift a finger or grant permission for a lateral move to bail out this band of "cheaters."

The Astros are going to be encountering this understandable sentiment for at least this entire season And while Baker wouldn't on the surface seem to be the perfect fit for a team that staked its existence on analytics, the Astros have far bigger concerns now, prime among them is polishing up a reputation that is in the gutter. With that in mind, they made the perfect hire.

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Summary:
- Astros made a great hire
- The hiring process was a mess because we have no GM and no Assistant GM and had to rush the process
- Nobody likes the Houston Asterisks
- Astros made a great hire

. . . said:

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Quote:

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It isn't known why that was even a consideration considering Espada's own fine and growing rep but didn't help that endeavor other teams weren't about to let the Astros take their coaches late, and one rival exec said aloud he wouldn't lift a finger or grant permission for a lateral move to bail out this band of "cheaters."

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Heyman always good for a mystery team reference.

W said:

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yep, that bozo tried to put as many negative adjectives and phrases as he could in one column.

perfect example of how the media tries to control & dictate the narrative

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So, we do have to say we deserve a lot of it because we did, in fact, cheat. However the MLB is also largely responsible because of their unwillingness to investigate everyone at the same time.

Just get used to it, boys. This is going to be a rough season - most away games will be a chorus of boos. Every story will be negative. Heck, even Altuve is going to be on the wrong end of most stories this season. Every broadcast is going to talk about the report for the first month or so. I don't even really want to watch those first two or three ESPN games we might be on.

If that analysis that Astros fan did gains any more traction than what was in The Athletic, the story will continue to evolve. I still can't believe that person posted all of that stuff.

The boys really need to not pay attention to any media at all, to the best of their abilities. The team chemistry is really going to be something to watch this year. They aren't going to get any outside love for a long time.

Marvin said:

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Booked a trip to West Palm for Feb 23-28. The haters can chirp all they want... Mrs. Marvin and I will enjoy some warm weather and Astros baseball.

Let me know if any of you will be visiting during that time as well- beer's on me!

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My wife and so will be taking our 6 month old son to his first Astros games at that same time!! See y'all there

Quote:

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Then hire both Hinch and Luhnow back.

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That would be so awesome. The baseball twitter warriors would go nuts.

He is and I think this is a good hire, especially for just one year.

Oh know... another GM by committee approach... We've seen this before

Lol I was hitting reply to Dusty being a good hire for a year as you posted yours.

Maybe BoB can give Dusty some tips on how to corner all the positions

bearkatag15 said:

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Oh know... another GM by committee approach... We've seen this before

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You think he meant that rather than just promote someone in the org?

mazag08 said:

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Beat40 said:

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W said:

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yep, that bozo tried to put as many negative adjectives and phrases as he could in one column.

perfect example of how the media tries to control & dictate the narrative

---

So, we do have to say we deserve a lot of it because we did, in fact, cheat. However the MLB is also largely responsible because of their unwillingness to investigate everyone at the same time.

Just get used to it, boys. This is going to be a rough season - most away games will be a chorus of boos. Every story will be negative. Heck, even Altuve is going to be on the wrong end of most stories this season. Every broadcast is going to talk about the report for the first month or so. I don't even really want to watch those first two or three ESPN games we might be on.

If that analysis that Astros fan did gains any more traction than what was in The Athletic, the story will continue to evolve. I still can't believe that person posted all of that stuff.

The boys really need to not pay attention to any media at all, to the best of their abilities. The team chemistry is really going to be something to watch this year. They aren't going to get any outside love for a long time.

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We need to embrace the villain role. Every HR we need to wave the crowd shower us with even more boos. Every press conference needs to be "no comment". Every time we get beaned.. we bean them back. Embrace it and let it fuel you. Then go win it all and hold that trophy up with the biggest **** eating grin you can. Then hire both Hinch and Luhnow back.

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I can't wait to see Bregman hit a homer and take off his uniform as he rounds the bases and points to the lack of buzzer. Kenny F'n Powers moment.

mazag08 said:

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Beat40 said:

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W said:

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yep, that bozo tried to put as many negative adjectives and phrases as he could in one column.

perfect example of how the media tries to control & dictate the narrative

---

So, we do have to say we deserve a lot of it because we did, in fact, cheat. However the MLB is also largely responsible because of their unwillingness to investigate everyone at the same time.

Just get used to it, boys. This is going to be a rough season - most away games will be a chorus of boos. Every story will be negative. Heck, even Altuve is going to be on the wrong end of most stories this season. Every broadcast is going to talk about the report for the first month or so. I don't even really want to watch those first two or three ESPN games we might be on.

If that analysis that Astros fan did gains any more traction than what was in The Athletic, the story will continue to evolve. I still can't believe that person posted all of that stuff.

The boys really need to not pay attention to any media at all, to the best of their abilities. The team chemistry is really going to be something to watch this year. They aren't going to get any outside love for a long time.

---

We need to embrace the villain role. Every HR we need to wave the crowd shower us with even more boos. Every press conference needs to be "no comment". Every time we get beaned.. we bean them back. Embrace it and let it fuel you. Then go win it all and hold that trophy up with the biggest **** eating grin you can. Then hire both Hinch and Luhnow back.

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Dusty references Too Short in his presser.