can we move the batters eye from Arlington to the juice box?

We won the West, so i'm going to give Dusty a break for a bit

Let's talk superstitions, what are you guys rocking for the playoffs

Any guesses on what time our games will be at.

Game 1's

I am thinking it is a toss up between us and Baltimore for the earliest slots due to who we are playing and TV markets.
I assume LA is going to get the latest games given their market and time zone.
And that would leave the Braves for the second to latest game slot.

After Games 1's the division starts to rotate days

Game 2's would be between us and Baltimore series...

I agree, his plate discipline has improved remarkably compared to the beginning of the season without affecting his aggressiveness or power.

jkag89 said:

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I agree, his plate discipline has improved remarkably compared to the beginning of the season without affecting his aggressiveness or power.

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I've said this before but I'll say it again...when Berkman first came up as a rookie Biggio noted "that kid's got some crazy pop off his bat" and I'd love to hear Craig's thoughts on Diaz because the ball just jumps off his bat, which allows him to consistently go oppo taco when he's just a hair late on a pitch.

I can't wait to see what he does in a full season of starts (I'm biting my tongue so hard right now it's bleeding).

texasaggie2015 said:

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Diaz will be an every day player next season. He's been working out tirelessly at both first base and left field to increase his versatility. He'll be behind the plate a lot but they want there to be as many ways for him to get in the lineup as possible when they want to rest his knees.

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How realistic of an option is LF for him in the event that we have Yordan and Brantley back??

Farmer1906 said:

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CoachAg19 said:

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texasaggie2015 said:

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Diaz will be an every day player next season. He's been working out tirelessly at both first base and left field to increase his versatility. He'll be behind the plate a lot but they want there to be as many ways for him to get in the lineup as possible when they want to rest his knees.

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How realistic of an option is LF for him in the event that we have Yordan and Brantley back??

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I think the odds or Brantley being back are very slim.

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I agree. Just speculating on my end. I'd love to see him back though if he's healthy.

I highly doubt Brantley will be back. Again, they're just working him out to open up another avenue for him to be in the lineup when he's not behind the plate. I don't expect him to play there often- if at all honestly.

Yanier needs to keep practicing at first base

Astros have to have a backup plan for Abreu

if injury or father time or both...show up again in 2024

texasaggie2015 said:

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I highly doubt Brantley will be back. Again, they're just working him out to open up another avenue for him to be in the lineup when he's not behind the plate. I don't expect him to play there often- if at all honestly.

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I get it. Just curious on the LF possibility really.
He's got to be in the lineup, IMO.

I love off-season GM move talk in general but hate getting too into the weeds during the season. BUT we have several days to kill.

With all the money leaving, guys getting raises in arb, new guys hitting arbitration, I would estimate we'll have around 25 M to play with this offseason before we hit the first tax threshold. To me, that screams no way we could afford both relievers especially if we look at extending someone in arbitration.

We did partially address the bullpen at the deadline. Graveman is another solid arm that will be back next year that we didn't have coming into the year. Sousa showed well in limited time. Pair those two with Abreu, Pressly, Montero, and you have a solid bullpen. Either bring Neris back or get Hader and you're looking strong even without Stanek & Maton.

I think the most interesting part of the offseason is if anyone from the core gets addressed - Altuve, Bregman, Tucker, or Framber.

I also want to see Dana make some low key moves that pay out big. Find the Diamond in the rough like Click & Lunhow could.

texasaggie2015 said:

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The Porkchop Express said:

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Dusty is 100% gone, the way the regular went writes the narrative that makes it easy for them to move on.

Either 1) The Astros catch fire and repeat as champions, and they give him a big fat check to head off to the sunset happy and compliant or 2) Whatever knocks them out is viewed as systemic of a larger problem and they decide to go in a new direction.

On good authority, you'll never see Dusty as Astros manager in a regular season game again.

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He's not under contract beyond this season.

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Right, so they give him a big bonus check to STFU about wanting to come back next year.

This date in Astros history is a good one!

2019 - Justin Verlander tosses seven shutout innings to lead the Astros to a 6-2 victory over Tampa Bay in the A.L.D.S. opener in Houston. Jose Altuve's two-run blast in the sixth opens the scoring. Michael Brantley and Yuli Gurriel add two hits each.


Altuve goes deep around the 9 minute mark. At 14:45 you can get the bizarre combo of much skinnier Yodan and way faster Bregman.

Personally I'd prefer the early game so I can watch and then lead straight intro he Ags.

If it's later they will overlap

I'm thinking the same, although that's gonna be quite a 1-2 punch for the liver..

Lonestar_Ag09 said:

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Personally I'd prefer the early game so I can watch and then lead straight intro he Ags.

If it's later they will overlap

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Wouldn't the early game overlap with the Ags? What are the time slots?

A few thoughts:

1) If we don't win the World Series this year, Dusty will clearly be gone. But if we do, I'm a believer in the MJ doctrine that if you win a title, you have the right to defend it. Winning back-to-back titles is soooooo difficult. It would likely be a once-in-a-lifetime thing for most of us.

Maybe Dusty would make it easy on us and voluntarily hang it up. Going out on top as back-to-back champs seems like a nice option for him. But if he really wants to come back and go for three, I'd error on the side of letting him. Looking forward to hearing everyone adamantly agree with this take.

2) For next year, I really like the Diaz plan of 100 games behind the plate, 25 at 1B and 25 at DH/LF. That leaves 62 games behind the plate. I think Maldy is perfect for a part time role. Keep him in the clubhouse. Let him be JV's personal catcher and sprinkle him another game per week. In September, evaluate how JV is doing. If he's pitching like an ace, consider letting Maldy continue catching him into October. If JV is good but not great, Diaz catches him from September on.

3) On the bullpen front, I like the idea bringing back Neris or adding Hader. Then we've got our allotment of high lev guys. Assuming our staff can generally stay healthy next year, I think we'll eat alot more low/med lev bullpen innings with starters-not-in-the-rotation. The fact that we couldn't do that much this year cuz of the injury bug hurt badly in terms of keeping the staff fresh.

Prosperdick said:

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jkag89 said:

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I agree, his plate discipline has improved remarkably compared to the beginning of the season without affecting his aggressiveness or power.

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I've said this before but I'll say it again...when Berkman first came up as a rookie Biggio noted "that kid's got some crazy pop off his bat" and I'd love to hear Craig's thoughts on Diaz because the ball just jumps off his bat, which allows him to consistently go oppo taco when he's just a hair late on a pitch.

I can't wait to see what he does in a full season of starts (I'm biting my tongue so hard right now it's bleeding).

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Yeah, I remember Diaz's first home run. Off the bat I thought it was a pop-up to the outfield and then it carried like 10 rows deep. There have been a few like that, opo included, so now with him anything to the outfield I think is going yard.

His plate discipline has improved a lot. I feel like as a DH and PH he tries to hard and is way too agressive still.

Mr President Elect said:

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Lonestar_Ag09 said:

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Personally I'd prefer the early game so I can watch and then lead straight intro he Ags.

If it's later they will overlap

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Wouldn't the early game overlap with the Ags? What are the time slots?

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3pm and 8pm for FS1

texasaggie2015 said:

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Nope. He's not coming back. If he does, there will be an absolute mess to clean up with unhappy guys in clubhouse and in the front office.

As far as Maldy goes, I don't expect him back either.... as a player.

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I choose to agree with this post because I want it to be true!