Unless this team goes on a 15-game winning streak I don't even want to think about trading for more pieces. Need to keep this ship from veering onto the rocks beyond 2025.

If you can't count on LMJ and Garcia, when they return, to be slightly better in any case than Brown and Spaghetti and able to step in for them as the innings mount, I'm not sure any piece our minuscule trade chips can get will make much difference.

OK... he barely reached out, but I stand by my original statement about him doing nothing wrong.

I didn't catch up on the thread from last night and I'm sure its been discussed, so bringing it up again - don't care. How the hell did that not get overturned but Altuve's HR in the 2018 ALCS did?

texasaggie2015 said:

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I guess I just don't see the problem with what he's saying. He's not going to say "We're screwed, our guys suck, we give up and we're going to sell".

He's saying exactly what's needed to be said. Sounding confident without revealing his hand. It's coach speak, or in this case "GM-speak".

I can assure everyone that conversations are happening behind closed doors that involve both buying and selling. You never want to appear desperate.

For clarity: There's absolutely been instances where Dana should have kept his mouth shut and I've even said so myself. I don't think this is one of them though.

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I don't think he should sound desperate, however a more stern take I think would give fans more comfort. Something that expresses his and the teams anger at how poorly they have performed and how unacceptable it is, but still end it with confidence that we have the talent and it will turn around.

Otherwise, if it's all just "it will turn around, we are still fine" he starts to sound like this guy

21 games left in the month of June - will put us at the 83 game mark (just past half of a season)

Cards (1) 28-31
Angels (3) 23-38
Giants (3) 29-33
Tigers (3) 31-30
White Sox (3) 15-46
Orioles (3) 39-20
Rockies (2) 21-39
Mets (3) 26-35

Two series against teams with a winning record. The time to go on a heater is now

Astros today vs. Cardinals RHP Mikolas: pic.twitter.com/oHQBgc5UDB

— Matt Kawahara (@matthewkawahara) June 5, 2024

texasaggie2015 said:

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Very easy to say from the couch.

If you're going to stand there with your hands behind your back with a 100+ mph coming at your face in hopes a guy on your team makes a Sportscenter top 10 catch, you have more balls than me.

Could he have taken a quick glance and tried to duck? Maybe. But I get being caught in the moment. He didn't reach over the fence or do anything wrong in my book. Just extremely unfortunate.

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If you are worried the ball will hit you, cover your face or wherever its going. Don't reach out and cup your damn hands like he did. He obviously knew it wasn't going to hit him. He was trying to catch it.

texasaggie2015 said:

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The cubs fan reached out into the field of play. This guy didn't. That's a huge difference to me.

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I'm not saying he's as bad as the cubs fan. I'm saying that thought was running through my mind any time I sit in the front row. I have no doubt if a ball came at me while on defense, I would avoid it like the plague.

JDUB08AG said:

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I didn't catch up on the thread from last night and I'm sure its been discussed, so bringing it up again - don't care. How the hell did that not get overturned but Altuve's HR in the 2018 ALCS did?

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They reached out OVER the wall into the field of play. This was behind the wall.

Nick Hernandez’s name is on the Astros’ lineup card. Parker Mushinski’s is not.

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) June 5, 2024

Trade from yesterday is up quick

It makes sense after last night for sure.

EastCoastAgNc said:

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Nick Hernandez’s name is on the Astros’ lineup card. Parker Mushinski’s is not.

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) June 5, 2024

Trade from yesterday is up quick

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Goodbye again to the Moosh. Thanks for the memory.

Everyone focused on the silliness of claiming everyone should have perfect clarity and foresight in the moment of a ball flying at them, meanwhile I'm more amused that a game-used MLB ball might land in my hands and I'm supposed to not want it because it was hit by an opponent in a regular season game.

The "throw it back" crowd and "you absolutely have to give it to a child" crowd are distant cousins imo.

Farmer1906 said:

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I'm happy about the last 2. Yordan, Breggy, & Yainer are all getting hot in time to handle the decline of Jake, Pena, & Tucker (injury). Everyone is going to fluctuate up and down all season long.

But I worry about the rotation for a full 162 and just how good we can be in a 7 game series. I am very much less bullish on Spaghetti. I think we need to go add unless we just want to put all our hopes into the guys we have plus LMJ & Garcia.

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Yea, pitching is by far the biggest elephant in the room.

For all the talk about lineup order, Abreu, etc, our offense is pretty much on par with the last few years (FWAR rank):

2021 - 1st
2022 - 6th
2023 - 5th
2024 - 6th

But our pitching has plummeted (FWAR rank):

2021 - 11th
2022 - 1st
2023 - 14th
2024 - 29th

And it's not just FWAR. 21st in team ERA, 26th in FIP, 25th in xFIP. And it's not like we're trending positive. 26th in April, 27th in May.

Agree with your larger point about a 7 game series though. Even if we can sew it together in the regular season and find a way to get through the AL west, we don't have nearly the strength at the top of the rotation that we've ridden to AL titles in years past. Zero of our pitchers are in the top 100 in FWAR right now. Zero.

In fairness, part of that is due to injury staggering/timing, but still.

texasaggie2015 said:

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I'm starting to get bullish on Spencer Arrighetti even though he has quite a wide range of outcomes.

I think he could be a legitimate #2 starter in the league but he could also be a fringe #5. It comes down to one thing for him. Control. And I think that will come with time.

The organization completely revamped everything about his mechanics when he was drafted and it's paying off. Once he gets more and more comfortable, I think the walks will come down and he'll start to look like a legitimate starter in this league.

Nothing is guaranteed but I'm getting more optimistic every time I watch him.

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He's got some dawg in him for sure.

EastCoastAgNc said:

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Astros today vs. Cardinals RHP Mikolas: pic.twitter.com/oHQBgc5UDB

— Matt Kawahara (@matthewkawahara) June 5, 2024

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I'm not complaining, but pointing out what a stark place we're in. Who would have ever imagined Cabbage's name on the card in RF in place of an injured Tucker instead of Chas? Not in April, anyway.

I have reached before to block a ball from hitting Mrs. Marvin. Maybe that guy was trying to catch it to protect someone. Beats me, but saying what you would do if the ball has a chance of hitting you or someone next to you is not being realistic, in my opinion.

Reaching into the field of play, over the fence, is another story entirely.

"Throw it back" is idiotic, especially since the ball boys pick it up and all the fans near him yell for him to throw to them right after they were yelling "throw it back".

However, I'm not fighting to get my hands on an opponent HR ball.

texasaggie2015 said:

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The cubs fan reached out into the field of play. This guy didn't. That's a huge difference to me.

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He reached out into Dubon's glove instead to try and compete for the catch. He didn't need to do that

texasaggie2015 said:

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He's watching the ball my friend. He was caught in the moment with adrenaline pumping. He's not looking around to see what else is happening and he didn't purposefully reach in front of his glove. Sometimes things just happen.

Again, maybe I'm just a ***** but I wouldn't just stand there.

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I would protect my face or something and aim my hands back but the guy was clearly aggressively going out to catch the ball from what I can see

We won the game so it doesn't matter but we have some stupid ass fans that always seem to do similar ****

Can anyone remind me the status of JP France? I am lazy this morning.

thx

I wouldn't expect him back anytime soon.