EABC_AG said:

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The Athletic put up a piece this morning where Chandler Rome predicts the Astros trade Pena. We can only hope

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To be clear, that was pure speculation, though Rome's logic is sound (if you are going to trade him this offseason then why not now).

If we are serious about upgrading through taking on bad money, what candidly seems like the only realistic option, then it seems to make sense that you'd free up some of the Pena money while also getting some young assets in return. Hell, move CW and Peña and take on Devers and most of Adames.

Astros are #4 in n today's sports center top ten……from twenty years ago

Action from the MLB, boxing, golf and soccer in today’s top plays! pic.twitter.com/Wdmifrnn6T

— 20 Years Ago Sports (@20YearsAgoSport) July 27, 2026

Uh oh….Mr. Ohtani might be in some trouble

A sneak peek at the never-before-heard story of Shohei Ohtani's break-up with his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, and the world of illegal sports gambling 🎙️

Listen to the first two episodes of "The Betrayal of Shohei Ohtani" podcast on July 28 where you get your podcasts 🚨 pic.twitter.com/wYxMEUkXmq

— 30 for 30 (@30for30) July 25, 2026

It'll end up being nothing and then in 30 years they'll make some documentary about it being much worse

Manfred covering up for a blue blood team. I'd never believe it.

tjack16 said:

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It'll end up being nothing and then in 30 years they'll make some documentary about it being much worse

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Someone get that Pablo Torre guy on it... He'll dig up the skeletons

The D said:

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Why is Jose batting cleanup ?

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Because the manager has no idea what he's doing.

txags92 said:

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KTAG05 said:

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Astros are buyers…..being 2 games back of division and WC I an guessing it's going to take a 1-5 or 0-6 before the deadline to change that

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It won't even with that. Jim and Dana are determined to ride this rocket straight into the ground before doing anything with an eye towards the future. When we reach rock bottom in a year or two with Hunter and Pena leaving for the highest bidder (won't be us), I expect Jim to trade whatever prospects we still have at that time for a couple of washed up #3-4 SPs and an aging 1B.

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Keep saying it. We are in 2006. Long way to go..

Heineken-Ashi said:

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txags92 said:

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KTAG05 said:

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Astros are buyers…..being 2 games back of division and WC I an guessing it's going to take a 1-5 or 0-6 before the deadline to change that

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It won't even with that. Jim and Dana are determined to ride this rocket straight into the ground before doing anything with an eye towards the future. When we reach rock bottom in a year or two with Hunter and Pena leaving for the highest bidder (won't be us), I expect Jim to trade whatever prospects we still have at that time for a couple of washed up #3-4 SPs and an aging 1B.

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Keep saying it. We are in 2006. Long way to go..

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Mike Burrows = Jason Jennings?

Did he go to the same college as Jim? If so we're on to something

It's fair to question whether the Astros are being realistic about their ability to compete, but selling isn't in Jim Crane's DNA.

"They're the cockroaches of baseball." pic.twitter.com/zi9FAGvQ4s

— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) July 27, 2026

This is my favorite Dana quote:

"Ultimately, if we can take from our major-league surplus whether it's some of the pitching we have coming back or some of the minor-league guys that we have full control over, we will do what we need to do to try and add,"

What major league surplus? This guy is getting high on his own supply.

The Astros will buy at the trade deadline, something we’ve known for a while but Dana Brown doubled down on today - https://t.co/6qtJSJe1WZ

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) July 27, 2026

MaxPower said:

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This is my favorite Dana quote:

"Ultimately, if we can take from our major-league surplus whether it's some of the pitching we have coming back or some of the minor-league guys that we have full control over, we will do what we need to do to try and add,"

What major league surplus? This guy is getting high on his own supply.

The Astros will buy at the trade deadline, something we’ve known for a while but Dana Brown doubled down on today - https://t.co/6qtJSJe1WZ

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) July 27, 2026

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We have a surplus of guys that can play on this team. However, it's because this team is bad and we have a ton of AAAA players. That's what he means.

If Dana is speaking what he really thinks (and its not just typical GM trying to save his job talk), then he needs to be fired yesterday. What "surplus" is he talking about?? Yes, we have a bunch of guys that can play on THIS team, but we have very, very little "surplus" that other teams would be interested in - at least enough interest that they'd trade players that would help this 2026 team.

How many times have we learned that what he says into a mic is not what he really thinks?

jja79 said:

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Willie Mays and Henry Aaron were traded. Nostalgia doesn't win.

I'm not advocating trading him.

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After watching Nolan and Hakeem retire elsewhere, I don't want to watch somebody else's fans be the ones to give Altuve his final salute in his last game. That nostalgia is more important than winning a few games to me.

I'd take the Astros losing every game the rest of the season if it came out that Ohtani was dirty and got banned.

Ag_07 said:

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How many times have we learned that what he says into a mic is not what he really thinks?

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I am not sold that Dana thinks otherwise. He has never strayed from his "back of the baseball card" mentality, although it appears he has repackaged it to "talent surplus" this season.

I'm beginning to believe he thinks exactly what he says.

Wabs said:

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If Dana is speaking what he really thinks (and its not just typical GM trying to save his job talk), then he needs to be fired yesterday. What "surplus" is he talking about?? Yes, we have a bunch of guys that can play on THIS team, but we have very, very little "surplus" that other teams would be interested in - at least enough interest that they'd trade players that would help this 2026 team.

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We are literally sending relief pitchers back and forth between AAA and MLB and burning options on guys just because our starters can't make it 3 innings on a semi-regular basis. If we had a surplus of pitching, that would not be happening. We heard all last year about how much better things would be as we started getting guys back off the DL. Instead things got much worse. This idea that some guy who hasn't pitched for most of the season due to an injury is going to come back and be the second coming of Framber in his prime is a stupid fantasy that almost never works out that way. Dana needs to decide if he wants to be a GM for a winning baseball team or if he wants to be a therapist for the fans. He keeps saying what he thinks the fans want to hear and if he is being honest, he is an idiot to think those things. If he is not being honest, he should just shut up and not comment on stuff he can't

Big next 7 days

A sweep over the Angels, and the rays taking care of business against the Rangers sets up for a series to determine first place this weekend

All I do is Nguyen said:

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Uh oh….Mr. Ohtani might be in some trouble

A sneak peek at the never-before-heard story of Shohei Ohtani's break-up with his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, and the world of illegal sports gambling 🎙️

Listen to the first two episodes of "The Betrayal of Shohei Ohtani" podcast on July 28 where you get your podcasts 🚨 pic.twitter.com/wYxMEUkXmq

— 30 for 30 (@30for30) July 25, 2026

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This is the actual recording of Ippei Mizuhara claiming to be Shohei Ohtani during a call to authorize a transfer of funds to Mathew Bowyer's account.

Listen to the first two episodes of "The Betrayal of Shohei Ohtani" on July 28, wherever you get your podcasts 🎙️ pic.twitter.com/dwBgfIiZ7K

— ESPN (@espn) July 27, 2026

Dana has now had 3 drafts in Houston? I know this recent one won't be fully graded for a while, but how does he first one look? I also know that his 1st round catcher looks like a bust.

Just going to leave this here....

Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh produced the 10th season of at least 60 HRs last year with a .948 OPS.
This year. Raleigh has 10 HRs and a .569 OPS.
The fewest HRs immediately following a 60 HR season is Mark McGwire’s 32 HRs in 2000.
The lowest OPS following a 60-HR season is .840…

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) July 27, 2026

txags92 said:

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Wabs said:

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If Dana is speaking what he really thinks (and its not just typical GM trying to save his job talk), then he needs to be fired yesterday. What "surplus" is he talking about?? Yes, we have a bunch of guys that can play on THIS team, but we have very, very little "surplus" that other teams would be interested in - at least enough interest that they'd trade players that would help this 2026 team.

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We are literally sending relief pitchers back and forth between AAA and MLB and burning options on guys just because our starters can't make it 3 innings on a semi-regular basis. If we had a surplus of pitching, that would not be happening. We heard all last year about how much better things would be as we started getting guys back off the DL. Instead things got much worse. This idea that some guy who hasn't pitched for most of the season due to an injury is going to come back and be the second coming of Framber in his prime is a stupid fantasy that almost never works out that way. Dana needs to decide if he wants to be a GM for a winning baseball team or if he wants to be a therapist for the fans. He keeps saying what he thinks the fans want to hear and if he is being honest, he is an idiot to think those things. If he is not being honest, he should just shut up and not comment on stuff he can't

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To be fair, we aren't really burning options on guys going back and forth because 1 season only counts for 1 option. You can have a guy go back and forth over and over again during the season and it still only counts as 1 option. But otherwise, I completely agree with everything you said.

in a couple of years no one will take Raleigh's 60-home run season serious

similar to Luis Gonzalez's 58-home run season in 2001

Caveat that within the option year you can only go up/down five times before being subject to waivers. Not sure how injury substitutions affect the options for those replacing them on the roster.

2006 - Man, this looks familiar



Ausmus - Diaz with less pop.
Berkman - Yordan
Biggio - Pena
Everett - Altuve
Ensberg - Paredes
Outfielders - Yup, just as ****ty as now but with a little more pop.

Oswalt - Brown
Pettite - Imai
Wandy - Blanco / Arrigheti
Clemens - Lambert
Bucholz - Burrows

Lidge was WAY worse than Hader though

We should trade Ensberg, Berkman, Oswalt, Clemens, Pettite, and Wandy RIGHT NOW to start the rebuild. Otherwise we'll be stuck signing guys like Carlos Lee, Woody Williams, and Jason Jennings next year and having to fire sale between 2009 and 2011.

agproducer said:

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Just going to leave this here....

Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh produced the 10th season of at least 60 HRs last year with a .948 OPS.
This year. Raleigh has 10 HRs and a .569 OPS.
The fewest HRs immediately following a 60 HR season is Mark McGwire’s 32 HRs in 2000.
The lowest OPS following a 60-HR season is .840…

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) July 27, 2026

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And he doesn't even mention that McGwire was injured for a large chunk of the 2000 season

Willy T.'s 33 steals would not be allowed under Espada

Heineken-Ashi said:

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txags92 said:

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KTAG05 said:

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Astros are buyers…..being 2 games back of division and WC I an guessing it's going to take a 1-5 or 0-6 before the deadline to change that

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It won't even with that. Jim and Dana are determined to ride this rocket straight into the ground before doing anything with an eye towards the future. When we reach rock bottom in a year or two with Hunter and Pena leaving for the highest bidder (won't be us), I expect Jim to trade whatever prospects we still have at that time for a couple of washed up #3-4 SPs and an aging 1B.

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Keep saying it. We are in 2006. Long way to go..

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You realize we won 82 games in 2006. That might be enough to make the postseason this year. After all, the 83 win Cardinals won it all that year. I think you're making a good case to go for it.

I see the comparison

Pujols = Alvarez
Rolen = Paredes
Eckstein = Pena
Carpenter = Brown
Isringhausen = Hader

Kids know how to win in the Florida complex league.

The FCL Astros are the FCL World Series Champions!

They overcame a 3-1 deficit in the 10th inning to win 4-3 on a walk-off single!

Arroyos: 2-for-4
Martinez: 1-for-4
Rojas: 2-for-4, 3B, HR, 2 RBI
Quintana: 1-for-4, RBI

Serrano: 5.1 IP, 0 R, 3 K#Astros #ChaseTheFight

— Astros Future (@AstrosFuture) July 27, 2026

They wrapped up an incredible season finished the regular season 42-11 and then going 3-0 in the playoffs to win the FCL World Series! #Astros https://t.co/SdtOe6mr9W

— Astros Future (@AstrosFuture) July 27, 2026

the 2006 season also featured the trade deadline acquisition of Aubrey Huff for 2 minor leaguers

one of those minor leaguers would go on to have 8.6 WAR season in 2009 -- Ben Zobrist

nice work by the GM

According to AI, #Astros could still sign Jack Beck before 5 p.m. deadline with offer like $550,000 using every penny of pool allotment+5% overage+$150,000 for him being picked outside 10th round. Owen Nowak can still be offered $150,000 which he'd likely accept if Beck declines.

— Eric Girard (@ericpgirard) July 27, 2026

I just noticed the AI mention I should probably just delete this, but I'll leave it up lol

You were thinking "Al (lowercase L) knows his stuff"

Source: OF Wilberson De Peña, the Florida Complex League Triple Crown winner, has been promoted to the Tampa Tarpons, the Yankees' Single-A affiliate.

— Francys Romero (@FrancysRomero) July 27, 2026

Now I'm curious who'll get the jump from champs to Single-A ball for us.