Tksymm7 said:
I won't lie, it is pretty fun to see the Astro's fanbase on the brink of jumping. To some of the points above; I think the gripes about Dusty Baker, Maldonado, Bregman and Abreu are legit. Dusty is a HOFer, but he's overly loyal to guys that are REALLY struggling right now and doesn't seem to have a great feel for the team imo. They should've let him walk into the sunset this past offseason. Maldonado just flat stinks, and they have a very good catching prospect having six hit games down in Sugarland, so I'd be pissed off too. Abreu was a poor signing for a lot of money at 35 years old and Bregman just straight up looks washed. Bregman has done nothing but get worse year after year since his 2019 second in MVP voting season. So while it is fun to see them wallow in struggle, some of their complaints are legit.
I think you're being too generous to the Astro fans.
Dusty - some of the gripes are valid concerns, but they should be over ruled or overlooked by the fact that he has delivered the only non tainted championship they have. Fans of all the other teams in baseball don't recognize the first one they won in 2017 or whatever it was as real. The trash can stuff ruined that one. Dusty can't freak out and send players to the minors who helped him win a World Series. I think bregsy is usually a slow starter so he has to wait him out. Dusty knows it's a long season and you can't rock the boat just yet.
Bregman - like I said, he's been there a long time and he's earned the patient of the fan base. Theirs not much fans or coaches should be able to do, but wait for him to turn it around or adjust.
Maldonado- do they hit him 9th? You can hide a terrible hitter at the bottom of the order. I guess his terrible hitting is magnified by the fact that other people are struggling right now, but I think dusty keeps him and plays him because he's the only link left to the "Astros pitching greatness". He was there to catch verlander and all of those other guys. The pitchers love working with him and are comfortable with his style. Having 1 player for defensive purposes is ok if the rest of the lineup is decent or good overall. Not everyone can have a Jonah helm, pudge rodriguez, or Joe Mauer. Those are rare.
Abreu - he's a notoriously slow starter, but I would start to be getting concerned. Still they did sign him to a 3 year deal so you gotta try and make it work. It's still early.
I think a lot of their gripes come across as spoiled brats to me so far. It's a 162 game season and the Astro fans are approaching and reacting to things like it's a football season. Every loss they accrue is a massive meltdown in the Astros thread filled with salty tears that are almost as fun and tasty as sip tears.
By comparison, the only meltdown we had in this thread so far was the Reds series. I think it was hard for us to handle getting our ass kicked by such a bad team and all the choking from the bullpen.
