docb said:

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No it is not a good thing. Hard to make chicken soup out of chicken poop.

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Especially when your chef has the culinary acumen of Chef Boyardee

Wabs said:

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Ironically, winning 11 out of 12 to "bolt" into 1st place right before the trade deadline may end up being the worst thing that could have happened - at least looking at the long term. False hope led to even more flawed decision making in an organization that has made some really bad decisions the past few years.

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There were a few posters that stated this at that time and stuck to believing the Astros should be sellers. I won't say these posters were the smartest people in the room but they were smarter than dirt.

What I watched last night was one the all time worst managing I have ever seen.

It's not often you see a manager screw up that badly.

The D said:

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What I watched last night was one the all time worst managing I have ever seen.

It's not often you see a manager screw up that badly.

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We've said that at least 5 games this year

What was so bad managing wise last night? Didn't watch and just checked in a handful of times. Hard to follow the feed but it looked like a bunch of players were used in the 7th? Espada goofed that up?

Chef Elko said:

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What was so bad managing wise last night? Didn't watch and just checked in a handful of times. Hard to follow the feed but it looked like a bunch of players were used in the 7th? Espada goofed that up?

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He burned 3 players in 1 AB which left him with an OF of Barossa, Varsho, and Velasquez for the remainder of the game. An error cost from said OF cost us 2 runs after that.

Chef Elko said:

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What was so bad managing wise last night? Didn't watch and just checked in a handful of times. Hard to follow the feed but it looked like a bunch of players were used in the 7th? Espada goofed that up?

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RHP Hoffman gave up back-to-back singles to RHH Altuve and RHH Diaz. RHH Walker flies out so Espada PH LHH Wade for RHH Smith to bat against RHP Hoffman. The Royals then pull RHP Hoffman and replaced him with LHP Gose to pitch against LHH Wade, so Espada PH RHH Velazquez before LHH Wade ever stepped foot in a batters box. RHH Velazquez then Ks on 3 pitches that were never close to being in the strikezone.

The very next half inning, Smith's replacement in RF, Barrosa, commited a throwing error.

He pinch hit for Cam Smith (because the only thing he ever learned in management training is lefty vs righty) so he puts Lamonte Wade on deck but then they bring in another pitcher so he calls wade back and puts in Velazquez, thus burning your bench in a tight game. But have no fear, Barrosa (who was moved to RF in place of the only defensive OF we've got--Cam Smith) made sure that it was no longer a tight game by just wildly throwing a ball into the ether to allow a couple more runs score just to be on the safe side.

Barrosa literally threw it to no one and the ball just rolled over the mound in no man's land while Royals ran free around the bases.

Thanks for the details. HA! I thought it was some eff up like that. I saw players subbed in but never batting or taking the field

I was thankfully throwing darts last night, and missed all of that Mensa level managing from Josue.

Yes Joe Mensa is BRUTAL, but most of this is on Crane. Imai, Abreu, killing the Contreras trade, firing Click, trading OFs for Verlander, keeping Zombie Joe in the dugout, etc.

In the last month alone, Espada had the debacle last night, pinch-hitting Wade in a situation where Diaz was on the bench, red-hot, and 4 for 6 lifetime against the pitcher, and accidentally took Hunter Brown out of the game.

That's 3 all time stupids in one month.

Schiavone had a 30/30 season in the minors. Seems ok

SeanDaAg2005 said:

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Schiavone had a 30/30 season in the minors. Seems ok

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Until Baggs trades him for a bag of magic beans

BCEDAg said:

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Big Al 1992 said:

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This is just gross.

So far in Royals series:

Peña: 5-for-6
Alvarez: 1-for-4
Everyone else: 0-for-33

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) September 17, 2026

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Guess Brian forgot Yainer's hit last night. Not that it matters, the offense still stinks.

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And Altuve too.
And Varsho.

But yes the point still stands.

Here's a little Christian Walker tidbit for you, straight from the brain of your old pal Charley.

On May 25th, Walker reached 40 RBI in the Astros' 56th game. That's a pace for 115 in a season.

Since then, he's recorded 40 more RBI in 96 games. That's a pace for 67 in a season.

He was 19 RBI ahead of Isaac on June 1 (43-24). Now he's trailing Isaac 86-80

Letting Joe have the option of finishing out the season was probably the dumbest decision in a sea of dumb decisions. Isn't like there is anyone else in the dugout that can manage a baseball team, excluding a person who managed a team to the WBC championship.

W said:

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Walker has shut it down for 2026

ready for the golf course

OPS sinks to .709

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He has some odd numbers from this season and last.

In 2025 he had a .717 OPS, 99 OPS+, and .3 bWAR.

In 2026 he has a .707 OPS, 102 OPS+, and a 1.7 bWAR.

He's 1 for his last 24 and should be able to get his OPS under .700 in this last stretch of games, but by bWAR he'll have had a much better season even if he goes hitless the rest of the way.

Hornbeck said:

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SeanDaAg2005 said:

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Schiavone had a 30/30 season in the minors. Seems ok

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Until Baggs trades him for a bag of magic beans

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That trade for a .680 OPS corner outfielder or 4.00 ERA starter next deadline will be sweet

Didn't watch the game, kid duty. But Accidently? Please don't me he literally goofed on a move like that or was it just bone headed…

I said it last night. I'll say it again. Joe is the dumbest manager in baseball. It's not even close. He's lapped the field.

Watching him manage himself into that box last night with the Cam to Wade to Velazquez triple move that had to be doubled down to put Barrosa in RF was a thing of beauty. You know the KC manager was laughing his ass off over that MENSA move. Then when Barrosa threw to an empty mound, man that was chefs kiss.

All that because of a L/R fixation. Thats all it is. A fixation. He literally can't think past "right or left".

And that OF combo. Velazquez, Varsho, Barrosa. I have no words for that trio.

Well I have words but they would just get me banned.

We have 10 more games of Simple Joe doing Simple Joe things. His magic number is 10.

If Joe moved from Houston to Arlington, he would raise the average IQ of both cities

KentuckyAg2 said:

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Didn't watch the game, kid duty. But Accidently? Please don't me he literally goofed on a move like that or was it just bone headed…

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This was like a month ago.

Here he is explaining it at a press conference.

I'm very sorry to report, Charley...

The Astros reinstated Taylor Trammell and optioned Joey Loperfido

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) September 17, 2026

linkdude said:

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I'm very sorry to report, Charley...

The Astros reinstated Taylor Trammell and optioned Joey Loperfido

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) September 17, 2026

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Looks like all of our problems have been solved.

linkdude said:

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I'm very sorry to report, Charley...

The Astros reinstated Taylor Trammell and optioned Joey Loperfido

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) September 17, 2026

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When you hear the term "hostage negotiation" from tonight's game, you'll know immediately who is responsible.

You can see him play in the outfield in front of Bryce Mayer if you wanna double dip to Sugarland.

Walker sits tonight.

Please win pic.twitter.com/LQWRFNsfIS

— Michael Schwab (@michaelschwab13) September 17, 2026

I wouldn't wish the Space Cowboys on anyone right now. We were there last night and it was one of the most lackluster, uninspired efforts I've had the pleasure of witnessing. The pitching staff walks people like it's going out of style and the batiing... woof, one hit...

1996 said:

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I wouldn't wish the Space Cowboys on anyone right now. We were there last night and it was one of the most lackluster, uninspired efforts I've had the pleasure of witnessing. The pitching staff walks people like it's going out of style and the batiing... woof, one hit...

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So….an extension of the major league club

I am not cosplaying GM for this club like some HOF player is, but if I were, I would have left Loperfido up and sent Mr "I dont know what the **** I'm doing in RF" Barrosa off to the Greyhound station with a prepaid ticket to anywhere in the US he wanted to go.

Just sayin'.

CharleyKerfeld said:

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KentuckyAg2 said:

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Didn't watch the game, kid duty. But Accidently? Please don't me he literally goofed on a move like that or was it just bone headed…

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This was like a month ago.

Here he is explaining it at a press conference.

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What a goofus we have as a manager. I'm not sure Joe could manage a little league team to win.

After reviewing the analytics on last nights Smith->Wade->Velazquez sequence, I'm mildly less irritated by the move from a sabermetrics view. Taking into account adjustments for platoon advantage and PH penalty, going from Cam to Lamonte is..... neutral, maybe? The numbers aren't significantly different with Cam facing a RHP vs Wade facing the same pitcher--maybe even a very very slight tip toward Wade in that case, if we are focused only on that specific at bat.

Of course, the Royals manager pulled the very predictable Uno reverse card with the pitching change and forced Joe into the Velazquez move, because Wade is weak against LHP, Cam was burnt, and Nelson was the least of the bad options at that point.

In general, pinch hitting late in games to me feels like a manager making a move just to say "I tried something". In this case, it seems to be "I tried something" combined with "I didn't see the extremely predictable countermove coming"

That's a lot of words to say "Joe was a ****ing idiot. Again"