That win last night felt good. It's a beautiful thing when George, Jose, and Alex are all clicking at the same time.

The wino seemed to actually know how to operate a tractor too. The whole thing was kinda impressive.

Beat40 said:

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That win last night felt good. It's a beautiful thing when George, Jose, and Alex are all clicking at the same time.

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This. Even throughout the slump we have been in offensively you just tuck it away in the back of your mind that they can start clicking at any moment. I would not be a happy camper if I were in that 3 seed. A lot of players on this team have found a way when their backs were against the wall in recent years.

bluefire579 said:

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Mathguy64 said:

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Well poop. Cycles are about as rare as no hitters. We had two chances at seeing one.

More weird cycle trivia. In 1943 someone managed one without the ball leaving the park. Bob Watson (who they mentioned as an Astros cycle) is one of three players to hit one in each league and Cavan and Craig Biggio are only one of three families to each have one. Darryl and Gary Ward also did it so the Astros have some really rare history there. No one in MLB has ever accomplished the ultra rare Homer Cycle (4 homers - solo, 2 run , 3 run and grand slam) but it's happened in the minors, college baseball, college softball, high school and little league.

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It's also funny to think about those single game accomplishments (cycle, perfect game/no-no, etc.) can be done by someone who never really does anything else significant in their entire career.

Case in point, our last one being Brandon Barnes in 2013.

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Check out the list of 4 HR in one game...a few WTF? entries...and 4 HR is a hell of a lot harder to do than hitting for the cycle.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/happy-20th-anniversary-mark-whitens-four-homer-12-rbi-game/amp/

Sure, not everyone has the speed to hit triples, last night in his final AB Bregman is still going to get pitches to hit...but you'd think after 3 HR in one game a guy wouldn't see anything near the strike zone.

3B Paul 97 said:

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Eric Bruntlett would provide more production from the 2 hole.

Same could be said for Brandon Backe.

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This didnt quite hold up did it...


(sorry if already posted im jsut catching up reading at work)

astros4545 said:

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Holy crap that is some major damage to a major league baseball field, could have been way worse but still that is going to take a lot of work to fix.

Do they still have home games left?

CFTXAG10 said:

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Beat40 said:

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That win last night felt good. It's a beautiful thing when George, Jose, and Alex are all clicking at the same time.

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This. Even throughout the slump we have been in offensively you just tuck it away in the back of your mind that they can start clicking at any moment. I would not be a happy camper if I were in that 3 seed. A lot of players on this team have found a way when their backs were against the wall in recent years.

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Yup. I'm hoping last night is the start of an offensive run for them.

George has been hot lately and Altuve had some decent ABs, evne in Seattle. Bregman looked like he was getting really close in those last two games at Seattle.

Would be the perfect time for them to put it all together. What a thing of beauty and a ton of fun that would be if it were to happen.

Way too Early 2021 Lineup Prediction

Rotation:
-Greinke
-Ur-keeding
-McC
-Framber
-Whitley

Pen is very up in the air but
-Pressley CP
-Pruitt finally pitches
-Smith back from Rona hiatus
-Raley
-Taylor sticks
-Paredes sticks
-Javier sticks (optional long guy for spot starts)

-Osuna has TJ and never pitches for us again

-Bielak goes back to AAA and gets a few spot starts through the season

1B- Taylor
2B- Altuve
SS- Correa
3B- Bregman (AL MVP)
C- Machete
LF- Tucker
CF- Marisnick
RF- Springer (5x 130 Mil)
DH- Alvarez

Bench:
Taylor
Stubbs
Straw
Diaz
(hard to judge past there without knowing arms in the pen)

*edited to add Smith and Raley

Joe Smith should be back in the pen for next year. I'd hope the 'stros would give Raley a good offer to return. He's earned his money this year.

Whitely is optimistic--with injuries and other self inflected setbacks, and the loss of the minor league season this year, I'm not sure he gets that fifth spot.

I'd like to see them re-sign Gurriel or Brantley. I think trying to replace both of them would be tough.

I'd think Garneau will be the backup catcher. Cheap and under team control.

Edited, Good catch on Joe and pure brain fast on Brooks, I definitely would like to see him back.

On Whitley I personally just think next year is the time you give it a shot, if he doesnt stick then you look elsewhere...you cant leave him in AAA forever, at some point you just have to roll the dice and with JV out next year I think '21 is that time....especially knowing you have Javier as a stop gap if after 5-7 starts it just isnt working.

No way we re-sign all three Brantley/Yuli/Spring...If signing spring means the other two must walk then im fine with it and use Taylor instead at a much lower cost.

IF Springer walks then id like to add both back in. I also believe if all three walk we have horribly failed. Also a failure if Mike and George both leave

If the Astros make it to the World Series this year, let me know if any of y'all will be interest in a suite for any of the games

I'd love if they re-signed Springer. Seems like the scuttlebutt is that it is unlikely, so I've just assumed he was gone based on age/expected contract/etc. If that's the case, re-signing one or both of Yuli or Mike is critical. Losing all 3 would be a huge void.

I agree, it's time for Whitely to show what he's got. I'm hopeful he can crack the starting rotation, but I'm not holding my breath...

Harry Dunne said:

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...but you'd think after 3 HR in one game a guy wouldn't see anything near the strike zone.

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Berkman hit six homers in a double header in college. How in the world is he still seeing anything near the plate in Game 2?

Wow hope this is isolated to just James. Don't need games to be cancelled at this juncture.

Especially not for that jack wagon

one unknown for 2021...we don't know how Crane is going to react or handle having approximately...

$33 MM on the payroll for injured players: JV and Osuna.

that's the kind of thing that might make an owner shut things down money-wise...i.e. go really cheap in the offseason.

and to be fair...that's a staggering amount of salary to have on the IL for a full season.

edit...I stand corrected. Osuna is arbitration eligible for 2021. Not under a guaranteed contract. Wonder what he would get in arbitration if he can't pitch next season

What would be the possibility of cutting Osuna? We did similar to Sanchez right?

another issue...is this nasty vesting option Pressly has in his contract...if he pitches in 60 games in 2021.

then his contract automatically rolls to 2022 at $10 MM.

I don't think the front office wants to see that happen

Lonestar_Ag09 said:

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What would be the possibility of cutting Osuna? We did similar to Sanchez right?

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https://climbingtalshill.com/2020/08/05/astros-roberto-osuna-time-houston-finished/

Quote:

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He is under team control via arbitration for one more season before reaching free agency after the 2021 campaign. If he goes under the knife and ends up missing next season, the Astros would have no reason to keep him around. In all likelihood, they would non-tender him this winter.

Osuna was set to earn $10 million this season prior to it being shortened to 60 games, so he would probably make that much through arbitration in 2021, even if he's injured. The Astros have fairly deep pockets, but it makes no sense to pay that much money to a guy who won't pitch and will be hitting free agency after the season anyway.

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Jon Singleton is owed $250K next year then he is off the books

so Osuna's injury / getting him off the books...does free up quite a bit of money for potential free agents

What do you propose they would do? You arent going to cut a guy because you dont want to pay him the next year...but also no way a pitcher stays under 60 outings in a full season.

Pressly has a 3.60 ERA with a 1.4 WHIP.

don't want to pay $10 MM for that when money may be tight for 2022.

55 games pitched should work nicely in 2021

one simple way to look at it...

a 3.60 ERA means your closer gives up 1 earned run every 3rd game he pitches / tries to close.

that is no bueno

It's pretty easy to keep a RP under 60 games. He would pitch 60-something games if fully healthy in a typical season. If he comes up with a sore arm at some point it happens organically, and if not you just pick your spots to use him towards the end of the season. Not a big deal.

Harry Dunne said:

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It's pretty easy to keep a RP under 60 games. He would pitch 60-something games if fully healthy in a typical season. If he comes up with a sore arm at some point it happens organically, and if not you just pick your spots to use him towards the end of the season. Not a big deal.

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but you dont do that with your set up man or closer

Sorry I meant to reply to you in the post above. Last season we only had four RP above 60 appearances and no one higher than 68. The year before that 63 was our high. It's not that hard to keep a guy under 60.

Dp

W said:

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Pressly has a 3.60 ERA with a 1.4 WHIP.

don't want to pay $10 MM for that when money may be tight for 2022.

55 games pitched should work nicely in 2021

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He has that this year.

Last year he had a 2.32 ERA, 0.902 WHIP. The year before when we traded for him he put up 0.77 ERA, 0.600 in list limited time with us.

This year his FIP(2.34) is significantly lower than his ERA.

You look at his spin, movement, expected stats, velo, etc and he's still pretty damn elite. Where he hasn't been this year is when he gets hit he gets hit hard. Terrible exit velo & hard hit%.

If I had to bet if 2021 would be better or worse for Pressly, my money is on improvement because that is what the #s say.

With as cheap as everyone else is next in the bullpen, I think we could afford to keep one seasoned vet for high leverage situations. If he's pitching 60 innings then he's likely effective or more effective than the rest of the pen.

Here are guys who signed for around 10 M (some multi year) to give you an idea of what it costs to get a good reliever on the open market.

I tried to leave off arbitration guys

Dellin Betances 10.5 M (1 year, 10.5 M) 6.10 ERA, 1.65 WHIP, 4.25 FIP - only pitching 10.1 innings.
Blake Treinen 10 M (1 year, 10 M) 4.01 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 3.14 FIP
Jeurys Familia 10 M (3 year, 30 M) 4.01 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, 5.21 FIP
Adam Ottovino 9 M (3 year, 27 M) 6.00 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 3.63 FIP
Joe Kelly 8.3 (3 year, 25 M) 2.00 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 3.41 FIP - only pitched 9 innings due to injury and suspension.