Still relevant. NSFW.

DFA everyone pic.twitter.com/ScPzMFCaYc

— s̴øl̴e̴s̴k̴y̴ (@soleskywho) May 23, 2024

To recap

3 game series, Astros get the following from their starting pitchers….

7.0 IP, 2 runs
6.0 IP, 0 runs
6.0 IP, 0 runs

…and lose 2 of the 3 games.

Yes, baseball.

Garbage, but it's April 9th.

Always annoying to blow a chance at getting back to .500

crazy stats:

the Astros have a grand total of 10 doubles -- lowest number in MLB

the Astros have a grand total of 11 at-bats vs. left-handed pitching. Altuve has not faced a lefty yet

hope Tyler Anderson doesn't get sick this week

Crazy stat: Cintron is worse than 100% of hitting coaches.

This team could do a lot of good by sweeping the Angels or at least winning 2/3 with good offense.

5-7 right now I'd love to be 9-9 after that series in St Louis. Schedule doesn't get any easier this month after that series next week

Heineken-Ashi said:

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Crazy stat: Cintron is worse than 100% of hitting coaches.

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They're actually changing his title from Hitting Coach to Batting Coach as there's no actual evidence of the former occurring

Quo Vadis? said:

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Heineken-Ashi said:

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Crazy stat: Cintron is worse than 100% of hitting coaches.

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They're actually changing his title from Hitting Coach to Batting Coach as there's no actual evidence of the former occurring

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Should retitle the "coach" part as well since there isn't a lot of evidence of that occurring either based on guys having the same problems over and over for multiple seasons now.

Quo Vadis? said:

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Heineken-Ashi said:

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Crazy stat: Cintron is worse than 100% of hitting coaches.

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They're actually changing his title from Hitting Coach to Batting Coach as there's no actual evidence of the former occurring

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I would say being dead last in SLG and OPS is evidence of the former not occurring.

always interesting to look at the RISP at-bats leaders

i.e. which players are getting the critical RISP AB's

here's the Astros current top 5:

14 - Altuve
11- Parades
11 - Walker
10 - Cam
9 - Jake

the leadoff hitter, 2-hole, cleanup, and 8 & 9 hitters

cleanup is currently 0 for 11 w/RISP

I'm still pissed about yesterday. That blown call against Garver in the 9th ****ed us -- but even more, Abreu needs to get his stuff together.

Great point on walker. He needs to start driving in runs. Think he will

I watched the slam on tv
Saw it was tied in the car.
Had to disconnect for my own sanity.
I'm going to just pretend we didn't blow a 5-0 lead yesterday.
If Joe Espada doesn't start getting guys up in the bullpen on time this year, he needs to go.

Who wasn't up "on time"?

hitting/pitching coaches in the MLB do play a large role in some organizations. I cant speak to hitting coaches a ton, but I can towards the pitching side of things. Their roles while different, are similar in terms of responsibilities. These coaches work most closely with the analytics dept.

For example, I know the Yankees provide each pitcher with an iPad that gets updated each series. It shows them specifically how to attack each hitter, what pitches they throw work well, which location, which pitch to avoid in which count, etc. This is tailored specifically for each pitcher.

Now contrast with the Braves that do something similar, but they do not provide this information pitcher specific. They give the same general info to the entire staff.

My point is that each staff does things different. I'd be interested to know how much in details the Astros pitching/hitting coaches go with things.

Farmer1906 said:

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Who wasn't up "on time"?

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Maybe he's referring to leaving Contreras in too long? I had to stop watching and was driving in those innings so I don't know if he left him in because someone wasn't warm yet??

Farmer1906 said:

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Who wasn't up "on time"?

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Anyone. Okert and Abreu began "lightly" tossing when Contreras was pitching to Arozarena. Espada has established himself as a guy who likes to steal outs before changing pitchers. it was a problem last year and seems like he wants to keep doing it.

The Original Houston 1836 said:

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Farmer1906 said:

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Who wasn't up "on time"?

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Anyone

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That makes no sense.

If I recall correctly, Okert was warming up for the 8th. I'm guessing Joe thought Contreras would get the job done in the 8th and have Okert close it out so he wouldn't need to use Abreu with a 5 run lead.

The Original Houston 1836 said:

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Farmer1906 said:

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Who wasn't up "on time"?

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Anyone. Okert and Abreu began "lightly" tossing when Contreras was pitching to Arozarena. Espada has established himself as a guy who likes to steal outs before changing pitchers. it was a problem last year and seems like he wants to keep doing it.

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Are you talking about the 7th or the 8th?

Okert came in 2 batters before Arozarena, so if he was getting loose when Randy was up in the 7th, then he was up too early if anything.

Regardless, we used up our arms with many close games and extra innings recently. We had Abreu fully ready for the 9th with a lead.

Farmer1906 said:

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The Original Houston 1836 said:

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Farmer1906 said:

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Who wasn't up "on time"?

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Anyone

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That makes no sense.

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Well then don't worry about it .We don't have to agree.

Contreras came in and got 2 outs on 6 pitches

So I get why Joe sent him back out.

2025 Reliever K-BB% Leaderboard pic.twitter.com/3pP1xhbjXT

— Pitch Profiler (@pitchprofiler) April 10, 2025

Normally when there's a bullpen blowup this is how it goes. A pitcher is cruising and then gets into trouble quick. At that point you are bringing in a pitcher who isn't ready (physically, mentally, or both), he struggles and the spiral continues.

This team really just doesn't have much depth. The rotation we are having to roll out this weekend is sad and that's due to ONE starter getting hurt. I cringe to think what we throw out there if Framber or Hunter are hurt. The bullpen also has a mish mash of who the frack are these guys that you're asking the pitching coaches to make chicken salad out of chicken $h!l. Candidly it's a miracle the pitching has been as good as it has. We are going to need to score some runs for the back of this rotation.

I have no issue with Contreras getting the 8th. Up by 5, he got two quick outs to end the 7th.

My issue is just the walks. It's inexcusable and it keeps being an issue. Abreu has 6 walks in 5 innings pitched. King, Hader and Okert have 3 walks combined in 18 innings of work. If Abreu can't fix it then the other three should be your leverage guys instead

If we cut the walks in half, we are likely sitting at 8-4 right now… 7-5 at worst

tjack16 said:

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I have no issue with Contreras getting the 8th. Up by 5, he got two quick outs to end the 7th.

My issue is just the walks. It's inexcusable and it keeps being an issue. Abreu has 6 walks in 5 innings pitched. King, Hader and Okert have 3 walks combined in 18 innings of work. If Abreu can't fix it then the other three should be your leverage guys instead

If we cut the walks in half, we are likely sitting at 8-4 right now… 7-5 at worst

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Not sure what others' issues are but Abreu is just overthrowing causing him to yank everything glove side. I don't know if it's frustration or that he doesn't trust his stuff or what. He has to pitch within himself and stop getting off balance in his delivery.

Goodness, for those of us making fun of Devers to start the season, he's now batting 265 with an 802 OPS.

agdaddy04 said:

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Goodness, for those of us making fun of Devers to start the season, he's now batting 265 with an 802 OPS.

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They must have a really good hitting coach!

agdaddy04 said:

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Goodness, for those of us making fun of Devers to start the season, he's now batting 265 with an 802 OPS.

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It's almost like good players go through bad stretches at times.

Farmer1906 said:

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agdaddy04 said:

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Goodness, for those of us making fun of Devers to start the season, he's now batting 265 with an 802 OPS.

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It's almost like good players go through bad stretches at times.

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Thank you.

Farmer1906 said:

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agdaddy04 said:

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Goodness, for those of us making fun of Devers to start the season, he's now batting 265 with an 802 OPS.

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It's almost like good players go through bad stretches at times.

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Waiting for our hitters turn at a good stretch...

Farmer1906 said:

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agdaddy04 said:

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Goodness, for those of us making fun of Devers to start the season, he's now batting 265 with an 802 OPS.

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It's almost like good players go through bad stretches at times.

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The question is do we have a bunch of "good players" that are in a 2+ year dry spell and are about to get hot again, or do we have a bunch of JAGs that had a hot streak long enough for us to start to believe they were capable of more than they really are?

txags92 said:

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Farmer1906 said:

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agdaddy04 said:

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Goodness, for those of us making fun of Devers to start the season, he's now batting 265 with an 802 OPS.

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It's almost like good players go through bad stretches at times.

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The question is do we have a bunch of "good players" that are in a 2+ year dry spell and are about to get hot again, or do we have a bunch of JAGs that had a hot streak long enough for us to start to believe they were capable of more than they really are?

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Who are you referring to specifically?

Positives so far for me
- Hader looks great so far.
- King and Okert have been nice surprises
- Framber and Hunter are legit 1A and 1B in terms of aces
- we have been getting better at manufacturing runs in extra innings and late in games

Negatives so far
- Arighetti injury
- Blanco coming back down to earth a bit
- Abreu not as trustworthy
- slugging is almost non-existent
- Diaz overall
- walks by certain pitchers

Overall I think we'll be good in the long term but it'll be a grind day in and day out to win a lot of close games. My biggest hope/fear is that once the offense does get going… we need the pitching to be solid too. If Hunter and Framber keep being aces along with Hader being great I think we'll be fine. Not veering off my 90ish win total just yet

tjack16 said:

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Positives so far for me
- Hader looks great so far.
- King and Okert have been nice surprises
- Framber and Hunter are legit 1A and 1B in terms of aces
- we have been getting better at manufacturing runs in extra innings and late in games

Negatives so far
- Arighetti injury
- Blanco coming back down to earth a bit
- Abreu not as trustworthy
- slugging is almost non-existent
- Diaz overall
- walks by certain pitchers

Overall I think we'll be good in the long term but it'll be a grind day in and day out to win a lot of close games. My biggest hope/fear is that once the offense does get going… we need the pitching to be solid too. If Hunter and Framber keep being aces along with Hader being great I think we'll be fine. Not veering off my 90ish win total just yet

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I would also add defense and base running to the positives.

We lead the league in outs above average, and we're 8th in baserunning runs (due to taking extra bases, not steals)

I would also just include an overall ****ty offense. We're not doing much well at all. Altuve has been very good. Jake has been solid. Everyone else is avg, below avg, or just flat out bad.