Blaming manfred and baseballs for his struggles is one helluva stretch
Power numbers down across the league and his normalized and park-adjusted stats were better compared to the rest of the league in 2022 than in 2021. It's just a fact.
I love you idiots sometimes. I'm not even saying he is the long-term answer. But he's cheap and controllable and is an above league average hitter and plus defender at the ass-end of our lineup. Not everyone in your lineup is going to OPS over 800.
If true, I can't believe we came that close to disaster and becoming a laughingstock for hiring a perpetual failure.
Or Crane just said it was very close to Schwab or the person Schwab spoke to in order to mollify Bagwell. Crane clearly enjoys the relationship with Bags.
No way to know for sure, but there's no downside to saying it was close even if it wasn't.
If true, I can't believe we came that close to disaster and becoming a laughingstock for hiring a perpetual failure.
Does anyone else not care if the GM answers question straight forward to the fans, especially at the trade deadline?
I only care about the moves.
I actually think in the case of Chas, they should stay quite. I'm with Farmer - they disrespect the hell out of Chas, and they're doing it pretty openly, which I think is a little crappy.
Blaming manfred and baseballs for his struggles is one helluva stretch
Power numbers down across the league and his normalized and park-adjusted stats were better compared to the rest of the league in 2022 than in 2021. It's just a fact.
I love you idiots sometimes. I'm not even saying he is the long-term answer. But he's cheap and controllable and is an above league average hitter and plus defender at the ass-end of our lineup. Not everyone in your lineup is going to OPS over 800.
Keep Bagwell in the room as you always need a guy not afraid to voice a dissenting opinion. The last thing Crane needs are a bunch of yes men (not implying Dana is one at all either) but I like the idea of keeping a counterpoint in discussions.
Who knows about Brad, maybe he's a hell of an interviewer...he's certainly intelligent.
Kyle Tucker said it was “a little tough” to hear some of the things the Astros told him during his arbitration hearing, but he said the team did not “trash him.” Tucker said he had no discussions about a multi-year deal during the arbitration process.
Astros RF Kyle Tucker said it was “tough” going through the arbitration process but he likes playing in Houston. He said long-term contract talks didn’t come up in the arb contract discussions.
“The outcome wasn’t what we weee hoping and I don’t think it was the right one.”
Kyle Tucker on losing his arbitration case: “The outcome wasn’t really what we were hoping and I don’t think it was the right one..I wanted to fight for what my value was.” (Asked if this affects his relationship with the team) “No, I enjoy playing here..playing for the Astros.” pic.twitter.com/MPeClaEEov
Kyle Tucker on potential of signing a long-term deal: “I’ve told them I’m always open to talk. I enjoy playing here, playing for the fans..We’ll see where it goes” (Asked if something could happen in the near future) “I don’t want to guarantee anything. We’ll see how it goes.” pic.twitter.com/29e6OVAiDa
Dusty Baker on the new Baseball rules limiting pickoff attempts: “The limited pickoffs are gonna help everybody. I might even steal some. They can’t over a third time. How easy is that?” pic.twitter.com/xnrpK5YyLp
42 days until Opening Day gives us a look at one of the most charismatic Astros of all time.
In April 1997, Satan Bud Selig proved that for at least 1 day, his heart was not 3 sizes too small by retiring Jackie Robinson's #42 for all teams in the majors. He then went back to carving up the bones of children to use as toothpicks.
That meant the last Astro to wear #42 was none other than the late, great Jose Lima, who wore it from 1997 to 2001 on some really fun Astros teams that remembered how to win and brought us 4 division titles in a 5-year stretch.
A proud native of Santiago, DR, Lima did very little in his 5 years with the Detroit Tigers, going 17-32. He was traded to the Astros to the Tigers in one of those 90s trades we did on occasion with Detroit or San Diego where we just seemed to trade everyone who was in the clubhouse at the time for whoever was in the other team's clubhouse. This particular deal in late 1996 got us Lima, Brad Ausmus, Trever Miller, CJ Nitkowski, and Daryle Ward for Todd Jones, Orlando Miller, Doug Brocail, Brian L. Hunter and everyone's favorite player, "Cash". Everybody but Ausmus and Lima went to the minors on our side of the trade. Ausmus hit .266 in 1997, the equivalent of any other catcher hitting .783 while LIma looked like crap, going 1-6 with a 5.28 ERA in 52 games.
I can only assume he spent most of the offseason praying to Little Baby Jesus because he went 16-8 with a .370 ERA in 1998 and 21-10 with a 3.58 ERA in 1999. He was emotional, cocky as hell, brash, and we ate it up. He was the club's first really big-time Hispanic star since Jose Cruz, but was a million miles away from the humble Cruz. His Taco Ole commercials were cheesy as hell but utterly fantastic to watch. He was an All-Star in 1999.
In 2000, the Astros moved from the cavernous Astrodome to Enron Field, which for the fly-ball pitching Lima, was the equivalent of Barney Gumbel going to work at the Duff Beer Factory. He had one of the worst seasons in MLB history, going 7-16 with a 6.65 ERA and allowing 48 home runs, 2 short of the MLB record of 50 set by Bert Blyleven. He gave up 3 or more home runs in 4 of his first 7 starts, including 5 to the Cubs in 5 innings.
In 2004 while with the Dodgers, he turned back the clock in remarkable fashion, pitching a complete game shutout of the Cardinals in the NLCS.
Lima died from complications of cardiac arrest in 2010. Long-time friend David Ortiz dedicated his 2010 Home Run Derby championship to Lima.
And an unexpectedly classy tribute from Jim Rome upon Lima's death.
Leaving aside Maldy, the whole arbitration process is unhealthy. It leaves the club in the position of badmouthing it's own player. They toss millions upon millions at FAs and turn around and tell their own player "you aren't worth an extra $500k or $1MM and these are the reasons why".
Clearly, it's not my money, but it's really curious to quibble over 2 million dollars for Tucker. Hopefully having a true GM in place can help smooth some of this over, but I'm doubtful he stays. Less doubtful than Carlos, but pretty doubtful still.
Maybe Dana Brown challenging Drew Gilbert to earn a spot on the roster is actually talking about him replacing Tucker if he lives as a FA, not replacing Chas. Plus Brantley's got to retire at some point and we move Yordan to DH, that's 2 open OF spots.
Maldy is all good in my book. He was standing and squatting hundreds of times per game while needing surgery on a hernia on top of another injury (I forget). He guided the pitching staff expertly. Within a week of winning the World Series his position is in jeopardy, which is why he made the tweet "how quickly they forget".
Dude is a huge part of this team and makes every pitcher better. We had arguably the best rotation in the bigs and 100% the best bullpen in all of mlb in recent memory. He helped get Javier to throw more strikes and stop nibbling, which has dramatically reduced his pitch count. None of that happens with merely a decent catcher.
I agree, he is a black hole, but a great hitting catcher may give you 70-80 runs a season and Maldy only gave us 45 RBI in 2022. I bet his dish work saves us 3 times the run differential of a great hitter. Remember when him and JV disagreed on the mound and had to bring out pitching coach? No other catcher in the league could do that and still have the respect of JV.
Kyle Tucker said he sometimes senses players are scared of arb.
"I was somewhat looking forward to it. You play all these games, put up your numbers & try to have success with the team. You want to go out & try to get your value & your worth, you might as well fight for it”
Lima time was great. He caught a lot of flak for show boating. I was carpooling with a Cubs fan at the time who hated him for it. But he wouldn't even be noticed today would he?
Lima time was great. He caught a lot of flak for show boating. I was carpooling with a Cubs fan at the time who hated him for it. But he wouldn't even be noticed today would he?
Imagine Lima pitching to Soto in today's game. That would be must see TV
