Yordan Alvarez says his hand issue flared up during the offseason and it is something he and the team will just have to monitor this season. Says he is not swinging a bat right now. Says he expects to in a few days. @SportsTalk790 @karbachbrewing
— Michael Connor (@MC790) February 21, 2023
The Astros' newest coach is a 30-year-old advance scout with a math and economics degree, experience writing code and a former D3 player with no power.
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) February 21, 2023
Meet Tommy Kawamura - https://t.co/6vwHCUivG5
#LETSGOAll I do is Nguyen said:
This looks interesting. Here I was thinking Chas was the guy but now Dana Brown wants Gilbert to take over
Quote:
#2. Drew Gilbert (OF, 22, A, ETA: 2025)
Hit: 45/60, Power: 50/60, Run: 60/60, Field: 60/60, Arm: 60
Houston's first-round selection in 2022, Gilbert is a model-driven team's dreamboat. His batted-ball quality in college was absurd. Many teams passed on Gilbert due at least in part to his stocky 5'9 frame. Astros fans, more than most, will likely find joy in the idea of rooting for another surprisingly powerful, undersized kid. This one hailing from Minnesota instead of Venezuela. Gilbert tore up the SEC with a 1.228 OPS at Tennesee and then showed out well in his 10 games of pro ball before suffering a season-ending injury up against the outfield wall. He displays prodigious pull-side pop and the right combination of barrel dexterity and willingness to square up any ball where it's pitched. You may have heard it's a contact-over-power profile elsewhere. With a 94.1 AVG EV and a 111 Max, don't sleep on the power either, although it will take a slight approach tweak for Gilbert to consistently get his quick barrel to tap in. Gilbert is a flashy, bat-flipping 5-tool profile, even if none of them are necessarily double-plus. Physically maxed out with elite on-field instincts, he's got the best shot in this system to stick in center field and post a 20-20 season atop a big-league lineup sooner rather than later. He's #2 on my Astros Top Prospect list.
Asked if there were conversations about an offseason surgery for Yordan Alvarez, Dusty Baker replied that doctors “said he didn’t need it.”
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) February 21, 2023
Not Astros related, but I saw the Aggie baseball walk up songs on twitter and was very surprised at how much 80s rock made the cut. Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Dire Straits, a couple of AC/DC. Very solid list.Jackal99 said:
Just announced. I don't know when the playoffs start and I'm too tired to google all that. Odds this gets the Elton John treatment?
THE '23 WALK-UP SONGS 🔊🎶👉
— Texas A&M Baseball (@AggieBaseball) February 17, 2023
Hit the link below or scan the QR code in the final slide to jam out to the sounds of Blue Bell Park!
🟢 https://t.co/WQ5YAP9H2q pic.twitter.com/FvxZPGnlcn
Framber Valdez on Dana Brown saying he’d like to extend him:”It feels good he’s thinking of me-something that probably would b good for my career,but those r things I’m gonna let my agent handle” (On potentially signing long-term here)”It’s something that would make me feel good” pic.twitter.com/fGUOiuYFql
— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) February 21, 2023
Uncle Mike is back! pic.twitter.com/N6TIQdphWE
— Houston Astros (@astros) February 21, 2023
Matt Ruppenthal resembles Gerrit Cole pic.twitter.com/HVw8RgWJdJ
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) February 21, 2023
. . . said:Matt Ruppenthal resembles Gerrit Cole pic.twitter.com/HVw8RgWJdJ
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) February 21, 2023
bearkatag15 said:"You just take a little less of a vacation." 😂@astros star Kyle Tucker speaks on the quick turnaround from winning the World Series to getting ready for the upcoming season.@RoFlo | @CliffFloyd30 | #SpringTraining pic.twitter.com/TxDQEzDJ7X
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) February 20, 2023
Jeremy Peña(@Jpena221)on his offseason focus:”I worked a little bit more on my body.Last year,toward the end of the year,I felt I was getting a little tired.This year we worked on a couple of things,more routine based,knowing what I have to do in-season to stay on top of my game” pic.twitter.com/ltHHIe04lz
— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) February 21, 2023
I think you're right. And i think I told my mom that fact once as an adult and she absolutely refused to believe it about Enos Cabell. If I showed the clip to her on YouTube I'm sure she would say it was the wrong game.Taxman90 said:
I want to say Cabell ended the 80 NLCS with a fly out to Bake McBride in center.
If Bob Knepper would have gotten 2 more outs in game 6 of the '86 NLCS he might have been remembered a little more fondly.
Reminder that Astros will be on TV this Saturday. @ATTSportsNetSW pic.twitter.com/H6fmuPjSgu
— Julia Morales (@JuliaMorales) February 21, 2023
Also, Sara Goodrum said the team's expectation is that first-rounder Drew Gilbert will be a full go when the minor league season starts. Gilbert played just seven games last season before injuring his elbow crashing into the center field wall.
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) February 21, 2023
EastCoastAgNc said:Jeremy Peña(@Jpena221)on his offseason focus:”I worked a little bit more on my body.Last year,toward the end of the year,I felt I was getting a little tired.This year we worked on a couple of things,more routine based,knowing what I have to do in-season to stay on top of my game” pic.twitter.com/ltHHIe04lz
— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) February 21, 2023
EastCoastAgNc said:Also, Sara Goodrum said the team's expectation is that first-rounder Drew Gilbert will be a full go when the minor league season starts. Gilbert played just seven games last season before injuring his elbow crashing into the center field wall.
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) February 21, 2023
When Sprinkle picks a guy off first can we say he hosed him?EastCoastAgNc said:Also, Sara Goodrum said the team's expectation is that first-rounder Drew Gilbert will be a full go when the minor league season starts. Gilbert played just seven games last season before injuring his elbow crashing into the center field wall.
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) February 21, 2023
The Porkchop Express said:
39 days until opening day brings up to #39 on the Astros all-time number countdown, spearheaded by a hot-and-cold pitcher who would have gotten cancelled for his comments in 2022.
Yes I'm talking about Bob Knepper, who wore #39 proudly from 1981-1989. He was my Mom's second-least favorite Astro and he was traded to the team for her least-favorite Astro, Enos Cabell, in December 1980, a few months after Cabell earned my mom's all-time wrath by striking out to end the NLCS.
Knepper was outstanding for the Astros in the 1981 strike season, going 9-5 with a 2.16 ERA and 5 shutouts. But except for a nice run from 1984-1986 when he went 47-35, he was frustratingly inconsistent, alternating good seasons with bad ones. On the NL West winning team of 86, he went 17-12 and led the NL with 5 shutouts, then dropped to 8-17 the next year with a 5.27 ERA. He bounced back to 14-5 with a 3.14 ERA in 1988, then was 4-10 with a 5.89 ERA in 1989, which got him not traded or benched, but straight up RELEASED.
Of course, it was easier to release him after Knepper took a flamethrower to the idea of Pam Postema trying to become the first female umpire the previous year. After pitching a spring training game with Postema behind the plate, Knepper, a staunch Christian man of faith, told the media, "
I have a belief that God has intended man and woman to be different," he said. "It's a physical thing. I don't think women were created by God to be a physical, hard person. I think God created women to be feminine.
"In God's society, woman was created in a role of submission to the husband." Knepper also said: "It's not that woman is inferior, but I don't believe women should be in a leadership role. I don't think a woman should be the President of the United States or a governor or mayor or police chief."
Everyone gets their opinion, and Knepper was very consistent with his beliefs and lived a very different life from most ballplayers where God and Faith were the centerpiece of his life, but maybe saying that stuff out loud was not the best idea. Knepper refused interviews from female sportswriters when they were in the team clubhouse.
The voice of reason in all that, somehow, was Charlie Kerfeld, who I can't even imagine what Knepper thought of his behavior. Kerfeld said," I think that's just the male ego talking. "I thought she did a good job. She's paid her dues (in the minor leagues), and she should get her chance too."
On less bizarre matters, Dave Giusti was the first guy to wear #39 for the franchise, from 1962-1968. He won 15 games in 1966.
Beyond him, the number was largely worn by various relivers who came and went, with Jay Powell wearing it for four years between 1998-2001, and pitched in a couple of playoff series (poorly).
The number was most recently worn by (shudder) Josh James, the worst pitcher of all time who has an 8-1 career record. How do you have an 8-1 career record with a 4.64 ERA and a 1.322 WHIP? And how do you have a 2-1 playoff record with an ERA of 7.04? The less said about him the better.
I would have liked to see a "no yellow" after "blue" for DeGrom.Farmer1906 said:
Cringe— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) February 21, 2023