EastCoastAgNc said:

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The Astros’ bullpen probably shapes up like this:

Ryan Pressly
Ryne Stanek
Phil Maton
Rafael Montero
Bryan Abreu
Héctor Neris
Seth Martinez
Ronel Blanco

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) March 21, 2023

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Reminder of how good this bullpen was in 2022.

#3 WAR
#1 ERA
#1 FIP
#1 xFIP
#4 BA
#5 WHIP
#1 LOB%

And, of course, they were the best bullpen in postseason history.

Pen depth is massive right now.

I've said it before. I'll say it again. Phil Maton is the best #6 arm in all of MLB.

Its beautiful

Home of the 2x World Series Champs. pic.twitter.com/lbgov07Sf5

— Minute Maid Park (@MinuteMaidPark) March 20, 2023

We are down to single digits until Opening Day, friends. Nine days to go means #9 on the jersey countdown.

#9 had a modest start in Astroville, bouncing around between guys I don't know much about on first blush during the 1960s and 1970s including Jim Campbell, Hal Smith, Ron Brand, the ex-Yankee Joe Pepitone, Skip Jutze, and Julio Gonzalez. The Yankees traded Pepitone to the Astros in December 1969 after a 27 home run year. He came to Houston and hit 14 HR in 75 games before the Astros sold his contract to the Cubs. None of these other guys could hit worth a damn.

In the 80s, it was worn by Joe Pittman, Erick Bullock, and can't miss prospect Troy Afenir, He's worth a little bit of a deep dive. He went to a little college in California and was an incredible defensive catcher. The Cubs picked him with the #2 pick of the 1982 draft in January and he refused to sign with them because he said their offer was too low. Hilariously for the Cubs, the Twins drafted Kirby Puckett #3. That June, the Orioles drafted Afenir with the 2nd round of the June draft, and he refused to sign with them as well. The next January (83) the Astros drafted him in the first round with the 11th pick and paid him enough $$ to sign. Not sure what sort of alternate reality was going on when McMullen had the $$$ but WGN didn't. He got up to Houston and hit .300 in 10 games in 1987. He went back to AA the next year and couldn't hit worth a damn and got traded to the A's in 1989. He only played 45 games in his career.



After that, Alex Trevino wore the #, a more reliable catcher, from 1988-1990. He's been broadcasting Astro games in Spanish for the past 26 years! He signed with the team a week into the 1988 season and he hit .290 in 1989 with a .733 OPS.



After that, a shadow fell on #9. And it's a weird thing to brag about, but I knew what a d*bag Scott Servais was a long time before the average fan did. The only nice thing I can say about Scott Servais is, at least we didn't trade Kenny Lofton for him.

In the summer of 1992, the world's favorite Porkchop, then 18, got to throw out the first pitch at an Astros game. As I staggered awkwardly to the mound, Servais, barely 7 years my elder, yelled "HURRY UP!" in an irritated voice at me. Highlight of my life to that point, 5,000 people there, and he's just gonna be a dick about it. He signed the baseball for me. I lost it when my apartment was robbed a few years later. Somewhere in 1996, there was a thief in Houston trying to pawn off a Scott Servais autographed baseball, so I do have that going for me.

The year he finally got good, 1995, hitting .265 with a .496 slugging percentage, the Astros salary dumped him and Luis Gonzalez to the Cubs for Rich Wilkins. He returned to Houston in 2001, a fact that I have no memory of.

Since then, he has made several fantastic decisions as manager of the Seattle Mariners.
.






#9 was worn by nobody exciting for the next decade until the much-delayed arrival of Hunter Pence. I can't remember the exact details, but I'm pretty sure he was kept in the minors for a while so they wouldn't lose a year of service and have to pay him more money. Great strategy, Uncle Drayton!

He finally got the call up on April 28, 2007, recording his first hit and his first home run. A week later came his first home run, a grand slam, and on July 3 he hit a walkoff homer in the bottom of the 13th vs. the Phillies. He missed the last 6 weeks of the season with a bone fracture in his wrist but still finished 4th in the NL ROY voting, In 108 games he hit .322 with an .899 OPS, 17 HR, 69 RBI and 11 steals.

In 2008, he played 157 games, hit 25 HR, 34 2B, drove in 83 and hit .269. He also led the NL in outfield assists and made just 1 error the whole year. He put up great seasons in 2009 (25 HR, 72 RBI, .282) and 2010 (25 HR, 91 RBI, .282) on some really not-good teams. The Astros slid into mediocrity and Pence was traded to the Phillies in the Astros 2011 fire sale. He was traded again the next summer to the Giants where he became a superstar, playing 162 games in 2013 and 2014, hitting 27 HR with 99 RBI in 2013 and scoring 106 runs in 2014. He won his first World series in 2012, and his second in 2014, hitting .444 in 7 games against the Royals with a 1.167 OPS



In 2012, a 23-year old rookie took #9 for the Astros, hitting .234 in 80 games as a utility infielder. A couple of years later he started hitting for more average, and in 2017 at age 28, Marwin Gonzalez turned into a star, leading the team with 90 RBI, hitting 23 home runs, and batting .303 with a .907 OPS.

I recall sitting with my brother and my dad (the scene of my dad's non-stop mocking of Aaron Judge during his strikeout binge) watching the 2017 ALCS and my brother saying, "If you had told me at the end of last year that Marwin Gonzalez was going to lead the team in RBI this season, my two questions would have been: 1) Who the hell is Marwin Gonzalez and 2) How many games did we lose?"

Now granted Marwin might have been benefitting from some extra help, but that's water under the trash can at this point. You can argue that Marwin saved the 2017 World Series with his stunning home run off Kenley Jansen in the 9th inning of the World Series. Kershaw had white-washed Houston in Game 1, and the Dodgers were 1 out from going up to 2-0.





Last year, much to Dusty Baker's surprise, the Astros had a catcher named Christian Vazquez who wore #9 and helped us win the World Series.

EastCoastAgNc said:

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Merch is fire tho pic.twitter.com/qPh0rcuufM

— Danielle Lerner (@danielle_lerner) March 21, 2023

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Sweet.

Beat40 said:

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All I do is Nguyen said:

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EastCoastAgNc said:

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The Astros have optioned Matt Gage to minor league camp. Dusty Baker said they will not carry a lefthanded reliever to open the season.

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) March 21, 2023

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I don't like this. I love our BP guys but we need more lefties if we can get some.

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I'd like a lefty, but with this bullpen, I don't think it's a big deal at all.

This current bullpen handles lefties very, very well. It's the least of my concerns going into this season.

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Very well.

2022 vs LHH.

#2 AVG
#2 wOBA
#1 FIP
#4 xFIP
#3 K%
#4 WHIP

Blanco looks good as a starter. Pretty efficient through 3 innings.

43 pitches
1 hit
0 BB
0 runs

Yuli with his second hit against the Astros.

Yesterday John and Lance on 97.5 were offering counseling for people who think that Dusty is going to give Hensley a chance over Dubon at 2B.