CharleyKerfeld said:

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This date in Astro History: Perhaps the greatest rookie debut in franchise history as Ken Caminiti makes the jump from AA Columbus to Houston.

He homers, triples, plays insane defense, and scores the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth off a bases-loaded single by Gerald Young, also a rookie. Danny Darwin throws a complete-game 4-hitter.

Caminiti was NL Player of the Week in his first week in the majors. After 7 games in the majors, he was hitting .407 with a .741 slugging percentage and a 1.169 OPS.

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CharleyKerfeld said:

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This date in Astro History: Perhaps the greatest rookie debut in franchise history as Ken Caminiti makes the jump from AA Columbus to Houston.

He homers, triples, plays insane defense, and scores the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth off a bases-loaded single by Gerald Young, also a rookie. Danny Darwin throws a complete-game 4-hitter.

Caminiti was NL Player of the Week in his first week in the majors. After 7 games in the majors, he was hitting .407 with a .741 slugging percentage and a 1.169 OPS.

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7 year old superaggie73 was there and it's the first game I truly remember vividly being at. My dad took me to many games before that, but that's the first I vividly remember. I'm sure somewhere in the attic I have the program/scorecard to that game. As a kid I always kept score in the scorecards that came with the programs.

My personal "Astros fire Joe Espada at the ASB" watch has been a bigger dud than Y2K. No chaos, no mayhem, no nothing.
Womp womp.

Crane said he was going to evaluate and make a decision on Brown and Espada at the end of the year. Maybe we should just believe him.

Farmer1906 said:

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Crane said he was going to evaluate and make a decision on Brown and Espada at the end of the year. Maybe we should just believe him.

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It is, after all, his toy. I'm grateful for the great product he has put on the field the last 10 years. But, it's time to re evaluate

Brown is a lame duck GM, anyway, right? Not sure about Joe's contract status. Probably both gone after the season

redline248 said:

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Brown is a lame duck GM, anyway, right? Not sure about Joe's contract status. Probably both gone after the season

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Short of a major turnaround, I agree. He didn't keep Click after a WORLD SERIES.

I'm not proud of my pessimism getting me squares. C'est la vie.

Different team control situation here than with HB, but the Reds lock up their young pitcher. Probably the next Luis Castillo-esque trade chip in four or five years.

Right-hander Chase Burns and the Cincinnati Reds are in agreement on a seven-year, $105 million contract, sources tell ESPN. Burns, 23, was an All-Star this season and one of the best young pitchers in baseball. No club options. A straight deal that will run through 2033.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 16, 2026

That's an interesting choice by the player right before the CBA goes away and all the rules change.

Should we be concerned the Braves gave already signed 12 of their draft picks and we've signed none?

The Braves have now signed each of their first 12 selections. Brenner gets $1.25M to pass on playing for Oklahoma. He matched the 7th round record for a signing bonus and Hirschkorn ($3,997, 500) gained the record for the highest bonus given to a player after the second round.… https://t.co/58ZJtjcoig

— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) July 16, 2026

What ever has this front office done over the last 2-3 years that would cause you to worry?

Caminiti was my mom's favorite Astros player, enough that she went to one of his autograph sessions and met him to get a signed baseball. Mom passed in 2011 and I have the ball now. It's displayed next to a ball my wife inherited from her uncle signed by all the big names on the 1964 NY Yankees except Maris. Apparently it's pretty rare to find a ball signed by both Mantle and Maris.

tjack16 said:

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What ever has this front office done over the last 2-3 years that would cause you to worry?

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……everything

Astros typically wait to announce all their signings at once, so that's the difference here.

NE PA Ag said:

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Caminiti was my mom's favorite Astros player, enough that she went to one of his autograph sessions and met him to get a signed baseball. Mom passed in 2011 and I have the ball now. It's displayed next to a ball my wife inherited from her uncle signed by all the big names on the 1964 NY Yankees except Maris. Apparently it's pretty rare to find a ball signed by both Mantle and Maris.

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Caminiti and Biggio were so good looking and popular that nobody even cared the time they got pulled over for drunk driving and "accidentally" tried to bribe a cop.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/10/03/Astros-Biggio-facing-DWI-charges/7438623390400/

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-04-sp-780-story.html

You guys need to give Dana time to screw everything up....errrr..... secure their draftees...

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7448900/2026/07/16/mlb-bans-ai-dugout-ipads/
Joe can't blame his bad decisions on hallucinations

Caminiti was probably relieved that the HPD officer was concentrating on Biggio's DWI, and not the booger sugar he did off of the dancers at Treasures.....

Hornbeck said:

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Caminiti was probably relieved that the HPD officer was concentrating on Biggio's DWI, and not the booger sugar he did off of the dancers at Treasures.....

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Yeah, despite his tragic ending, I had to laugh at this quote by 1989 Caminiti: "'To me, he was all right ... perfectly functional,' said Astros third baseman Ken Caminiti, who was a passenger in Biggio's car when stopped by officers June 7.

Now that we've made it past the ASB, how do we feel about the new hitting coaches?

Beat40 said:

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Now that we've made it past the ASB, how do we feel about the new hitting coaches?

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Seemed like a lot of positive signs coming into the season with the offense cranking early on, but a lot of the same guys have fallen back into the same bad habits and reverted to mediocre output. We have scored more runs, but the objective stats were better in 2025. Probably too early to tell, but my hope is we can convince some of the guys to go back to what they worked on in ST and be more patient at the plate in the 2nd half.

Beat40 said:

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Now that we've made it past the ASB, how do we feel about the new hitting coaches?

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Farmer1906 said:

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Crane said he was going to evaluate and make a decision on Brown and Espada at the end of the year. Maybe we should just believe him.

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The problem is who is going to evaluate and make a decision on Crane?

Imagine having to explain the last 3.5 seasons to an Astros fan who just woke up from a coma starting after game 6 of the 2022 World Series

They'd be excited to see all of the amazing stuff our WS winning GM James click was up to, and all the young stars we locked up to early extensions

linkdude said:

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Different team control situation here than with HB, but the Reds lock up their young pitcher. Probably the next Luis Castillo-esque trade chip in four or five years.

Right-hander Chase Burns and the Cincinnati Reds are in agreement on a seven-year, $105 million contract, sources tell ESPN. Burns, 23, was an All-Star this season and one of the best young pitchers in baseball. No club options. A straight deal that will run through 2033.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 16, 2026

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I think Burns is going to be better than Castillo.

We absolutely could have done that kind of deal with Brown earlier. He wanted it. We failed to offer it.

Lets try to be positive for a minute. Give me a hot take about the 2nd half. No tanking. No sell off. No "we suck".

For me, I think Cam Smith finally breaks out. I think he'll have a sustained .850+ OPS.

tjack16 said:

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Imagine having to explain the last 3.5 seasons to an Astros fan who just woke up from a coma starting after game 6 of the 2022 World Series

They'd be excited to see all of the amazing stuff our WS winning GM James click was up to, and all the young stars we locked up to early extensions

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I mean we did lock up Javier and Yordan and go out and sign a recent MVP to a multiyear deal. We just batted .333 and not 1.000.

Wesneski returns and performs like the #2 caliber starter we were hoping Imai would be.

Farmer1906 said:

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Lets try to be positive for a minute. Give me a hot take about the 2nd half. No tanking. No sell off. No "we suck".

For me, I think Cam Smith finally breaks out. I think he'll have a sustained .850+ OPS.

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Two positive predictions
- Blanco is steady when he comes back and provides like a solid #3 starter
- Altuve ends up having a really nice season and provides more clutch moments

My negative prediction
- Walker doesnt get back to his April/May self and stays around a .230-.240 hitter with frustrating at bats with RISP (current OPS with RISP is .617)

Farmer1906 said:

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Lets try to be positive for a minute. Give me a hot take about the 2nd half. No tanking. No sell off. No "we suck".

For me, I think Cam Smith finally breaks out. I think he'll have a sustained .850+ OPS.

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As injuries mount up, the Astros take a leap of faith and sign Joey Gallo to be a pitcher. With the season on the line, Gallo throws a no-hitter on the final day of the season at Las Vegas in front of his hometown crowd to clinch the AL West as the Astros finish in first place with a 70-92 record.

Farmer1906 said:

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Lets try to be positive for a minute. Give me a hot take about the 2nd half. No tanking. No sell off. No "we suck".

For me, I think Cam Smith finally breaks out. I think he'll have a sustained .850+ OPS.

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We finally flip the narrative on players returning from injury and Blanco/Wesneski give us something (in the pen or rotation) down the stretch.

We signed Yordan with Click still here though. It was midseason 2022

Farmer1906 said:

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Lets try to be positive for a minute. Give me a hot take about the 2nd half. No tanking. No sell off. No "we suck".

For me, I think Cam Smith finally breaks out. I think he'll have a sustained .850+ OPS.

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I think the positives are easy to see, just don't know if they will happen. Having starters come back who have proven they can pitch at a MLB caliber level will do wonders to. If you want to call it a hot take, starting pitching will be more consistent the second half of the season and right the ship.

Cam appears so, so close. I'm not sure he goes .850+ OPS, but I'll still co-sign the hot take.

Farmer1906 said:

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Lets try to be positive for a minute. Give me a hot take about the 2nd half. No tanking. No sell off. No "we suck".

For me, I think Cam Smith finally breaks out. I think he'll have a sustained .850+ OPS.

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Dana goes big and we trade Walker, Janak, Frey, and Pecko for Devers. SF picks up 1/2 his salary thru 2029. Wesnewski and Blanco come back hot and Devers sparks the offense. We get the 6 seed and take out South Oklahoma in the first round of the playoffs and then take out a young, inexperienced White Sox team in the next round. Unfortunately, Tampa beats us in 5 in the ALCS.

Downside…Dana and Joe get extended with the miracle run and do even worse after this year. Devers turns back into the pumpkin he currently is after this year and puts on 30 more pounds. His contract does not age well at all and we are in the same financial stalemate we are currently in. We lose Peña and Brown in consecutive years for nothing.