The D said:

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This is what happens when 5 rangers start

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My exact thoughts

Dusty loses another home game. How fitting.

Went to Nippon Ham Fighters game against Ratuken Eagles in Hakkaido. It's where Ohtani played before the MLB.

Stadium just opened and was design by same architect firm as did Globe Life. So it's Mimic of Mimic Maid.

Minute Maid needs these

MaxPower said:

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Where are the pics of the beer girls?

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MaxPower said:

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I'm good with that. Avoid TB as long as you can.

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Eh...TB has been a .500 team since their ridiculous 27-3 (or whatever it was) start.

Ag_07 said:

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MaxPower said:

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I'm good with that. Avoid TB as long as you can.

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Eh...TB has been a .500 team since their ridiculous 27-3 (or whatever it was) start.

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Everyone in the AL seems flawed.

• TB was red hot and came back to Earth. They will still work their magic tho. Their SP has been hit with the injury bug.
• BAL is talented but young, and their rotation is not great. They are bordering on bad.
• TEX is like a poor man's Rays. Red hot then came back to earth. They need BP help badly.
• CLE, MIN, CHW, or whoever from the ALC is not great.
• TOR is talented and has solid SP & RP. They just never seem to put it all together.
• NYY is aging right before our eyes and the young bucks aren't stepping up. That and a boatload of injuries.
• HOU.... we know the story. Wrecked by injuries, too many rookies, once-deep SP looks held together by duck tape, and some big guns have been firing blanks.

jkag89 said:

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I'm very surprised some MLB, MiLB even independent team has not tried this here in the States. I guess no team wants to risk the possible negative reaction to it.

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We get beerman yelling at us.

I finally had time to really dig into the Astros draft last night. Seems like we took a lot of players with high ceilings and low floors.

I don't hate it. If you hit on just a handful of these guys, it would be huge. Dana Brown spent a ton of time watching these kids in person and the Astros scouting department as a whole is one of the best in the business. I trust their eyes.

As far as the deadline goes, I don't have any updates on my end. Same story as the last couple weeks. They want at least one bullpen arm with multiple years of team control, a starting pitcher and a bat. Will they get all three? Who knows, but they'll certainly be going for it.

I don't expect them to bring in a "splash". I do expect them to bring in solid players that will provide depth who will certainly be valuable but might not make the fanbase (at least casual fans) super excited. The Astros don't need any huge pieces to contend. They just need better fortune in the second half. If they bring in two out of the three needs mentioned above, they'll be in a good spot and can certainly make a run.

The types of players I'm expecting to see (and these are just examples of the types of players, I'm not saying they will get these guys) are names like Julian Merryweather on the Cubs or Carlos Hernandez on the Royals. The casual fan probably doesn't know who these guys are but they're good arms who will help the bullpen tremendously and have multiple years of team control. Cody Bellinger maybe... he's a rental and might not be who he was in 2017, but he extends the lineup and his versatility is valuable and will allow guys to rest when needed without a big drop-off in production. Or perhaps Aaron Civale or Eduardo Rodriguez... another example of names the casual fan might not be super familiar with but will provide valuable innings and high upside in the starting rotation.

It's a fun time of year!

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The casual fan probably doesn't know who these guys are but they're good arms who will help the bullpen tremendously and have multiple years of team control.

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Where have we heard this story before?

Oh yeah...Ryan Pressly!!!

Dana these next few weeks

W said:

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and another thing about the American League...

so many folks like to trot out the phrase: "the playoffs are random" or "anything can happen" and so forth

but not in the AL since 2015. The underdogs / wildcards or 88-win teams don't make it to the world series

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But they have fairly regularly in the NL. I guess the difference is that we stood in the way lately.

On his weekly appearance on @SportsTalk790, Astros general manager Dana Brown said his number one priority at the trade deadline is now a starting pitcher.

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) July 12, 2023

texasaggie2015 said:

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On his weekly appearance on @SportsTalk790, Astros general manager Dana Brown said his number one priority at the trade deadline is now a starting pitcher.

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) July 12, 2023

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Makes sense. Funny how fast it shifted from bat being #1 priority to starter being #1 priority. We've had like 3-4 seasons within our season already.