***Official Houston Astros 2021 Season Thread***

3,791,145 Views | 73542 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by Teddy Perkins
tjack16
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AG
Framber, Baez and Peredes are all going to be coming back from injury at some point. I'm guessing Raley, Smith and somebody else are going to get demoted or DFA'd to make room
Ag4life80
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Either Raley has compromising pics or Dusty's brain is oxygen starved due to excessive mask wearing. The number of times he has put Raley in a close game is stunning. Inexplicable. Insane. He has low grade stuff and no command. Not a good recipe for close game action.
KC_Ag14
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There are 130 games left in the 2021 season, and you're worried about 2022? Forgive me for not writing any of those 4 off just yet. This same manager got you a game away from the World Series last year with arguably a much worse performing regular season team. The bullpen is fairly depleted at the moment, both in health and experience. You have to manage the innings of the good arms you do have right now. That requires throwing Raley and Smith on nights like tonight. Again, there's a lot of season left... I'm not willing to overthrow the Stanek's of the world so we can try to squeak out a May 8th win over Toronto.
Harry Dunne
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KC_Ag14 said:

*checks Astros thread for the first time this season* Calls for the manager to be fired, and starters to be demoted and released.... on May 8th. Man, I've missed y'all and your not-built-for-162 selves lol! Go Stros!
*checks Astros thread for the 19394847th time this season. Sees condescending post from first time poster who tolerates abysmal managing by being casual fan that probably tries to start the wave in key situations when he does go to games. Man I have missed his fairweather built only to be a fan when we're deep in the playoffs self lol! Go stros!
KC_Ag14
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Harry! Always a board favorite. Congrats in advance on your stars for this post. Forgot that the standard of fandom depends on your engagement of this board. You guys are MUCH better Astros fans than I based on this board involvement. Here's to hoping you and others can survive another mid-May loss soon!
tjack16
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KC_Ag14 said:

There are 130 games left in the 2021 season, and you're worried about 2022? Forgive me for not writing any of those 4 off just yet. This same manager got you a game away from the World Series last year with arguably a much worse performing regular season team. The bullpen is fairly depleted at the moment, both in health and experience. You have to manage the innings of the good arms you do have right now. That requires throwing Raley and Smith on nights like tonight. Again, there's a lot of season left... I'm not willing to overthrow the Stanek's of the world so we can try to squeak out a May 8th win over Toronto.


So you're saying when Paredes, Valdez and Baez come back you are sending down 3 players and Raley/Smith will NOT be in that group? May I ask who you'd send down instead of them? Those 3 pitchers are coming back by end of summer and people have to get sent down to make room.

Our main complaint is that Dusty consistently mismanages the bullpen, going back to last year (for example putting Josh James, who has consistently sucked, into postseason games in the late innings when the game is still close). We made game 7 last year because guys like Springer, Correa and Altuve all hit about 20 combined homeruns in the postseason.

And also nobody ACTUALLY thinks we should fire a manager in May. But he shouldn't be retained next year
Harry Dunne
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Thanks buddy, it's all in good fun & you know I'm mostly kidding but if you're going to dish it out you gotta be ready to take it.

Here's to you hanging around and posting more, although as you know rational reactions are not well tolerated.
KC_Ag14
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I'm saying be in the present! Of course when those guys come back soon you'll have some pretty easy roster decisions. But they aren't here right now. You manage your good arms this early in the year when you're depleted and getting healthier, period. I can't imagine that's an easy thing to do for a manager, but you have to be disciplined and stay the course over a long season. Scrubb is just now easing back into things too. The arms are coming back!
KC_Ag14
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Of course!! I thought that was still board policy. That's why I came out swinging.
CFTXAG10
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The most alarming thing to me is that we were 29-31 last year and sit at 17-16 this year. I know it's early but I don't think it's irrational to think Dusty just isn't a good regular season manager. I don't want to be right about that. I just hope that when he does "get the arms back" he will use them correctly and start making the right lineup decisions, pinch hit ops, etc.

I hope he proves me wrong
tjack16
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You're probably right. It's just a frustrating loss that probably could have been avoided had we gone to Stanek or Pressly in the 9th. But who knows if our offense would have even scored.
Win the series tomorrow and no big deal. Nobody is jumping off the cliff. 99% of us on this board still have us winning the AL West. These decisions by Dusty are just head scratching.
Mathguy64
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18 months ago we had the best baseball minds in MLB in the front office and the best on field manager in MLB all running the best team in the game.

And now the wheels have completely come off. In 18 months.
Harry Dunne
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Mathguy64 said:

18 months ago we had the best baseball minds in MLB in the front office and the best on field manager in MLB all running the best team in the game.

And now the wheels have completely come off. In 18 months.
This is not the same roster that AJ managed in 2019. Bad bullpen management and all, we would still be fine with 2019 JV and Cole at the top of the rotation.
KC_Ag14
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I'm actually more curious to see how our young, promising arms (Javier, Paredes, etc.) hold up over a full 162. Thinking they probably ran on a lot of ignorance, piss and vinegar last year. The experience they gained was invaluable... Just hope the arms hold up. Having an "ace-less" rotation to begin with has us behind the 8 ball on the mound.
KC_Ag14
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I hear you on tonight, especially when they clawed back like they did. But we were a flipped, lunging barrel, Crawford Box homer away from it working out. It was a good 2 strike pitch to Semien. It was just Semien doing what he does to us... which is kill us. I agree that Raley has pitched his way off the big league club once Paredes is back.
bullard21k
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KC_Ag14 said:

*checks Astros thread for the first time this season* Calls for the manager to be fired, and starters to be demoted and released.... on May 8th. Man, I've missed y'all and your not-built-for-162 selves lol! Go Stros!

May 8th? Dusty baker is a complete imbecile who hasn't been a good manager in over a decade. He should have never been extended to begin with
Harry Dunne
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Brad Peacock is still available.
Ag_07
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Mathguy64 said:


And now the wheels have completely come off. In 18 months.


Hardly

Hell just last season we were 1 game away from another WS appearance.

Have we regressed a bit...Yes
Has our window closed...No
Are the wheels off... Absolutely not
W
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CFTXAG10 said:

The most alarming thing to me is that we were 29-31 last year and sit at 17-16 this year. I know it's early but I don't think it's irrational to think Dusty just isn't a good regular season manager. I don't want to be right about that. I just hope that when he does "get the arms back" he will use them correctly and start making the right lineup decisions, pinch hit ops, etc.

I hope he proves me wrong
yep, Dusty has managed a lot -- a lot of talent -- to a .500 record
Ag-in-a-Box
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Mental note, Hairy dung too cool for the wave. Lurkers not appreciated.

Harry Dunne said:

KC_Ag14 said:

*checks Astros thread for the first time this season* Calls for the manager to be fired, and starters to be demoted and released.... on May 8th. Man, I've missed y'all and your not-built-for-162 selves lol! Go Stros!
*checks Astros thread for the 19394847th time this season. Sees condescending post from first time poster who tolerates abysmal managing by being casual fan that probably tries to start the wave in key situations when he does go to games. Man I have missed his fairweather built only to be a fan when we're deep in the playoffs self lol! Go stros!
Ag_07
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The wave is the absolute worse thing in baseball.

Worse than even Rob Manfred, pitchers hitting, and the runner on 2b in extra innings rule.
W
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whoa, didn't realize Correa's OPS is down to .715 --- weighed down by a meager .294 on-base %

that's not how a contract year is supposed to go
KC_Ag14
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Ag_07 said:

The wave is the absolute worse thing in baseball.

Worse than even Rob Manfred, pitchers hitting, and the runner on 2b in extra innings rule.

1000% agree. Harry saying I probably start the wave was the deepest cut against me in quite a while. So whack.
tjack16
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The wave doesn't bother me. I don't partake, but if people have fun with it... doesn't matter to me.
agproducer
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I'm not sticking up for Dusty here, but at some point you've gotta take a closer look at the players.

The bullpen woes are exacerbated by inconsistent offense. Altuve is finally getting out of his funk. Correa has been meh. Tucker has been awful. Maldy hasn't done much at the plate. Straw? Don't get me started. And Bregman, he's not shown up this year yet in clutch situations. Brantley has been hot and cold. Yuli, Yordan and Diaz are the only ones who have been consistent.

Being jerked around arbitrarily by the COVID protocols hasn't helped either. Bullpen pieces that are expected to be reliable have been hurt (Baez, Parades).

What we know about this team is they are consistently inconsistent. The Vernon Maxwell of baseball. Streaky AF.

Look, it's a long season. All is not lost. At some point, they will put it all together. But these guys need to look in the mirror.

Also, Click needs to fix CF. Bring up Siri. Make a trade. Straw is obviously not the answer.

agproducer
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And, the wave does indeed suck.
12law
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Ah, nothing like a good evening of cliff jumping.
CoachRTM
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Looks like we have a big name prospect on the mound against us today.

First start of 2021, but made 4 starts last year.
MaxPower
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Paredes has options so he can stay in the minors all year if they want.

I don't care for Smith but last night was a pure Crawford box special. It was a good pitch that resulted in a fly ball short of the warning track in every other big league park.

Raley is more concerning, so it's going to come down to how badly they want a lefty, though he too has underperformed his advanced metrics. You didn't mention Taylor either on your list, who has a little better stuff and is cheaper with more team control.
tjack16
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I think Paredes is coming up very soon. Taylor is likely going to as well and that'll be a lefty in the pen... which I think is the reason Dusty loves using Raley so much. We don't have many lefty arms in the pen, so once Taylor comes back that'll help too
MaxPower
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I don't care for Dusty's lineup decisions above all else, mainly his decision to rest guys when other starters are in IL. However, Click is who gave him chicken **** at C and CF. Having 2 black holes in the lineup is going to result in a lot of rally killers.

Tucker is the only possible solution right now at CF. You lose on defense but it must be tried to get Diaz more ABs. This isn't the time to stick with the status quo, someone needs to try something new.
Marvin
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tjack16 said:

I think Paredes is coming up very soon. Taylor is likely going to as well and that'll be a lefty in the pen... which I think is the reason Dusty loves using Raley so much. We don't have many lefty arms in the pen, so once Taylor comes back that'll help too

Dusty is an old school matchup coach. Metrics be damned, he will pinch hit and relieve to the old lefty-righty script. Sometimes the numbers may validate it, sometimes not, but I doubt Dusty really checks either way.

And sorry I missed the meltdown last night. I checked my phone, saw Raley was coming in and decided to call it a night. Good decision it seems.
Mathguy64
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The issue isn't Raley or Smith. Hell I thought both did their jobs last night. Raley got the grounder that should have been the first out except for the continuing defensive lapses. And Smith made a good pitch to Semien. It was low and away and Semien one handed lunged at it and somehow pulled it into boxes.

The issue is Dusty in a one run game not using his best arms and the club playing two complete scrubs in two prime spots in LF and CF. And make no mistake they are both scrubs. 2/3 of the OF are hitting roughly a combined .190 and an OBA of .270. You cannot win regularly with two prime positions hitting like that.
Ag4life80
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These games matter right now. There is no projecting injuries or other issues later in the season. Putting Raley and Smith in winnable games is crazy based on their current performance. The Astros winning in the post season last year had little to do with Dusty Baker. The core of this team, including Springer, are flat out gamers. They perform when the lights are the brightest. Finally, a Houston team developed into world class gamers, and we have a knucklehead at the helm.
Marvin
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Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems obvious that the CF answer will have to come from outside the organization.
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