***** 2024 Houston Astros Season Thread ***** [Staff Warning] - Page 502

tjack16

8:00p, 5/6/24

EastCoastAgNc said:
Matt Chapman now tied for the MLB lead with six errors as this one goes right through his legs pic.twitter.com/so5jFKks8o
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 5, 2024

I guess it could always be worse

2024 is looking worse and worse for Boras

The Porkchop Express

8:02p, 5/6/24

In reply to AggiEE

AggiEE said:
I definitely don't think we should be sellers.

This team has had a disastrous start for various reasons that shouldn't be expected to repeat next year and we have the offseason to address issues

We can be competitive in 2025 even if 2024 is a bust

Thank your for a sane take. The Astros went to the playoffs in 97-99, were a train wreck in 00, and won the division title again in 2001.

You dont implode a roster because of one bad year.

WARNING: I have a deep-seated desire for others to love the Star Wars franchise as much as I do, in exactly the way I do, and get snippy and sensitive and passive-aggressive when they don't.

MaxPower

8:28p, 5/6/24

In reply to The Porkchop Express

Who is our Roy Oswalt or Wade Miller in 2025?

iamtheglove

8:35p, 5/6/24

In reply to txags92

"As an analytics heavy organization, his long term downward trend can't be making them feel a long deal is a good idea with Bregman."

Was wondering if 2015 could weigh in on this? Are we really an analytics heavy organization? Just seems like we are more about the eye test and less about data these days.

The Porkchop Express

9:10p, 5/6/24

In reply to MaxPower

MaxPower said:
Who is our Roy Oswalt or Wade Miller in 2025?

If I could predict the future (other than in the 2022 post season), I wouldn't be wasting time with you guys.

If Crane and the others are idiotic enough to spread the roster to the 4 winds for 1 bad season, they're too spoiled to deserve this team.

WARNING: I have a deep-seated desire for others to love the Star Wars franchise as much as I do, in exactly the way I do, and get snippy and sensitive and passive-aggressive when they don't.

W

9:10p, 5/6/24

so the task for Josh Miller in New York...

come up with a plan to keep Juan Soto from dominating the series

in the 4-game series in March...

Soto had 9 hits and 3 walks in 20 plate appearances

have to figure something out

MaxPower

9:17p, 5/6/24

In reply to The Porkchop Express

FWIW, Oswalt was the #13 prospect going into the 2001 season.

I'd say you are oversimplifying. The roster is going to throw itself into the wind by 2026 (and starting this offseason). The only question is if you want to plan for the future or just be ok with taking a huge step back.

W

9:22p, 5/6/24

I would implode the coaching staff before imploding the roster

but the plan for 2025 has to be more than just "everyone play better"

The Porkchop Express

9:52p, 5/6/24

In reply to MaxPower

MaxPower said:
FWIW, Oswalt was the #13 prospect going into the 2001 season.

I'd say you are oversimplifying. The roster is going to throw itself into the wind by 2026 (and starting this offseason). The only question is if you want to plan for the future or just be ok with taking a huge step back.

Get a real hitting coach in there and I'd say we're 5 games better this year.

WARNING: I have a deep-seated desire for others to love the Star Wars franchise as much as I do, in exactly the way I do, and get snippy and sensitive and passive-aggressive when they don't.

GigEM96

10:46p, 5/6/24

The bullpen is just lol bad.

They'd be at or close to .500 without the blown saves, holds, whatever.

Too early to give up on the season, certainly way too early to be selling off Tucker, but otherwise things should be on the table. Bregman needs to be moved down. He is a boat anchor in the 2 and 4 spots. Dubon needs to play every day. Pena should be batting higher. Espada needs to challenge the entitlement that keeps Bregman in the upper tier of the order despite poor performance. A 5th of the season has passed and you're ten games under.

Pena seems a natural fit to take that 2 spot based on performance.

GigEM96

10:47p, 5/6/24

Big Jon keeps producing and you move him up and Diaz down

GigEM96

11:09p, 5/6/24

I mean, the more blown saves the bullpen has the less you are paying on average for each one, so there's that.

texasaggie2015

5:41a, 5/7/24

In reply to EastCoastAgNc

EastCoastAgNc said:
Matt Chapman now tied for the MLB lead with six errors as this one goes right through his legs pic.twitter.com/so5jFKks8o
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 5, 2024

I guess it could always be worse

Dodged bullet here. The Astros seriously considered flipping Bregman for assets and signing Chapman this past offseason.

texasaggie2015

5:52a, 5/7/24

In reply to iamtheglove

Yep. But Crane doesn't trust the people who crunch those numbers all day near as much as he did Lunhow and his people.

All of those people who built the dynasty are no longer with the team. They still use analytics- but people use them and interpret them differently if that makes sense. And I don't think they're nearly as advanced as they were at one point.

Lunhow and his people were incredibly smart and ahead of their time. I don't think we'll ever have another GM that comes close. Lunhow was all about data and analytics. Dana Brown's strong suit is scouting and development.

texasaggie2015

6:02a, 5/7/24

In reply to GigEM96

FWIW- the lineup construction is 100% Espada's decision.

All I do is Nguyen

6:27a, 5/7/24

In reply to texasaggie2015

Until the playoffs right?

We will make the playoffs.....right?

tjack16

6:34a, 5/7/24

In reply to All I do is Nguyen

All I do is Nguyen said:
Until the playoffs right?

We will make the playoffs.....right?

If we make drastic improvements in starting rotation, bullpen, offensively, baserunning, and all other facets of the game then yeah it's possible

aggiedata

6:34a, 5/7/24

In reply to CFTXAG10

You are being paged.

https://texags.com/forums/67/topics/3459099

MaxPower

6:47a, 5/7/24

In reply to The Porkchop Express

The Porkchop Express said:
MaxPower said:
FWIW, Oswalt was the #13 prospect going into the 2001 season.

I'd say you are oversimplifying. The roster is going to throw itself into the wind by 2026 (and starting this offseason). The only question is if you want to plan for the future or just be ok with taking a huge step back.
Get a real hitting coach in there and I'd say we're 5 games better this year.

Hilarious

MaxPower

7:01a, 5/7/24

In reply to texasaggie2015

texasaggie2015 said:
Yep. But Crane doesn't trust the people who crunch those numbers all day near as much as he did Lunhow and his people.

All of those people who built the dynasty are no longer with the team. They still use analytics- but people use them and interpret them differently if that makes sense. And I don't think they're nearly as advanced as they were at one point.

Lunhow and his people were incredibly smart and ahead of their time. I don't think we'll ever have another GM that comes close. Lunhow was all about data and analytics. Dana Brown's strong suit is scouting and development.

Luhnow's analytics were instrumental in smart free agent moves. I have no doubt we wouldn't have signed Abreu, Hader or Montero if he were here. In that regard, I hope Crane learns his lesson.

In terms of the draft or IFA, I don't think Luhnow was some savant. Most of our talent was acquired through high draft picks and good ol fashioned scouting cheap IFA. Don't forget that Altuve and Springer were actually from the previous regime. My point being I have confidence Brown can rebuild the farm given the right resources.

MaxPower

7:02a, 5/7/24

In reply to texasaggie2015

texasaggie2015 said:
EastCoastAgNc said:
Matt Chapman now tied for the MLB lead with six errors as this one goes right through his legs pic.twitter.com/so5jFKks8o
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 5, 2024

I guess it could always be worse

Dodged bullet here. The Astros seriously considered flipping Bregman for assets and signing Chapman this past offseason.

Sadly I'm still not convinced. They both suck but what kind of prospect capital would you have gotten for Bregman before the season started?

linkdude

7:33a, 5/7/24

Off day, updated snapshot at HOU MLB & AAA hitter data. Dashed line denotes MLB average damage rate. Trying to iron out a baseline quick-look scouting viz for bat-to-ball (Contact over expected), playable power (Damage), raw power (Max EV), & swing decisions (SEAGER). pic.twitter.com/inZi7OkzAW
— Ben (@midzee4) May 6, 2024

texasaggie2015

7:40a, 5/7/24

In reply to MaxPower

That's fine, but those conversations 100% happened.

They wouldn't expect to get top ranked prospects back. The thought process was to improve organizational depth (something that's lacking) or get a big league player back in a position of need (like an arm) while replacing Bregman with someone who will bring in similar production- which is what they expected Chapman to bring.

Bobcat-Ag

7:45a, 5/7/24

In reply to texasaggie2015

texasaggie2015 said:
Yep. But Crane doesn't trust the people who crunch those numbers all day near as much as he did Lunhow and his people.

All of those people who built the dynasty are no longer with the team. They still use analytics- but people use them and interpret them differently if that makes sense. And I don't think they're nearly as advanced as they were at one point.

Lunhow and his people were incredibly smart and ahead of their time. I don't think we'll ever have another GM that comes close. Lunhow was all about data and analytics. Dana Brown's strong suit is scouting and development.

I realize that Luhnow is unable to be a GM again, but could we get him in to run the analytics team? If we had Brown running scouting and development with Luhnow running the analytics, we could have it all!

EastCoastAgNc

7:48a, 5/7/24

In reply to Bobcat-Ag

Bobcat-Ag said:
texasaggie2015 said:
Yep. But Crane doesn't trust the people who crunch those numbers all day near as much as he did Lunhow and his people.

All of those people who built the dynasty are no longer with the team. They still use analytics- but people use them and interpret them differently if that makes sense. And I don't think they're nearly as advanced as they were at one point.

Lunhow and his people were incredibly smart and ahead of their time. I don't think we'll ever have another GM that comes close. Lunhow was all about data and analytics. Dana Brown's strong suit is scouting and development.

I realize that Luhnow is unable to be a GM again, but could we get him in to run the analytics team? If we had Brown running scouting and development with Luhnow running the analytics, we could have it all!

I don't think Lunhow would accept that. He's doing quite well in soccer right now. He would be accepting a demotion to come back. Also, if Crane doesn't trust him, there's no way he's hiring him.

Ag_07

7:52a, 5/7/24

Jeff Luhnow will never work for this organization as long as Crane is here.

At least that's what I've gathered.

If Crane has trust problems why would he trust the guy who actually broke his trust?

Best to just appreciate what JL did and let him go.

TRM

8:14a, 5/7/24

Today, the #Astros announced the following player promotions. pic.twitter.com/IPxBiedMXI
— Astros Player Development (@AstrosPlayerDev) May 7, 2024

Booma94

8:23a, 5/7/24

In reply to tjack16

tjack16 said:
EastCoastAgNc said:
Matt Chapman now tied for the MLB lead with six errors as this one goes right through his legs pic.twitter.com/so5jFKks8o
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 5, 2024

I guess it could always be worse

2024 is looking worse and worse for Boras

That's a shame...

EastCoastAgNc

8:25a, 5/7/24

In reply to Ag_07

Ag_07 said:
Jeff Luhnow will never work for this organization as long as Crane is here.

At least that's what I've gathered.

If Crane has trust problems why would he trust the guy who actually broke his trust?

Best to just appreciate what JL did and let him go.

Even if we managed to get a Lunhow-type in control now, Crane's ego and the council of former players would just would get in the way and hinder the vision.

Booma94

8:28a, 5/7/24

In reply to tjack16

tjack16 said:
All I do is Nguyen said:
Until the playoffs right?

We will make the playoffs.....right?

If we make drastic improvements in starting rotation, bullpen, offensively, baserunning, and all other facets of the game then yeah it's possible

Not saying those things aren't important, but if 6 of the 8 blown saves were converted, the Astros would be near the top of the division. If the bullpen can work its way out of this quicksand, things will improve significantly.

MaxPower

8:31a, 5/7/24

In reply to texasaggie2015

texasaggie2015 said:
That's fine, but those conversations 100% happened.

They wouldn't expect to get top ranked prospects back. The thought process was to improve organizational depth (something that's lacking) or get a big league player back in a position of need (like an arm) while replacing Bregman with someone who will bring in similar production- which is what they expected Chapman to bring.

Yes, I'm agreeing with that. I'm saying Chapman really hasn't been much worse than Bregman's so even though Chapman has stunk we might still have been better off with the prospects we could have gotten for Bregman. I'm glad we had those kind of discussions because it shows some creativity that we seem to have been lacking.

Now we are in a tough spot. Bregman's value has significantly lowered so we would need him to get hot. But if he gets hot then we should win more games. Will it be enough games to warrant keeping him for the rest of the season though?

Ag_07

8:32a, 5/7/24

In reply to EastCoastAgNc

EastCoastAgNc said:
Ag_07 said:
Jeff Luhnow will never work for this organization as long as Crane is here.

At least that's what I've gathered.

If Crane has trust problems why would he trust the guy who actually broke his trust?

Best to just appreciate what JL did and let him go.
Even if we managed to get a Lunhow-type in control now, Crane's ego and the council of former players would just would get in the way and hinder the vision.

Well...I don't agree with this.

The Porkchop Express

8:39a, 5/7/24

In reply to tjack16

tjack16 said:
EastCoastAgNc said:
Matt Chapman now tied for the MLB lead with six errors as this one goes right through his legs pic.twitter.com/so5jFKks8o
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 5, 2024

I guess it could always be worse

2024 is looking worse and worse for Boras

WARNING: I have a deep-seated desire for others to love the Star Wars franchise as much as I do, in exactly the way I do, and get snippy and sensitive and passive-aggressive when they don't.

texasaggie2015

8:41a, 5/7/24

In reply to Ag_07

Yeah, I've pretty much given up trying to debunk that narrative

EastCoastAgNc

8:41a, 5/7/24

In reply to Ag_07

Ag_07 said:
EastCoastAgNc said:
Ag_07 said:
Jeff Luhnow will never work for this organization as long as Crane is here.

At least that's what I've gathered.

If Crane has trust problems why would he trust the guy who actually broke his trust?

Best to just appreciate what JL did and let him go.
Even if we managed to get a Lunhow-type in control now, Crane's ego and the council of former players would just would get in the way and hinder the vision.

Well...I don't agree with this.

While I know there's plenty of debate over the influence of the trifling trio, even setting them aside, Crane is the main issue. When he took over, he let Lunhow be the guy and run his vision. Given his lack of trust after being burned by JL, I can't see him staying out of the way enough to let a rebuild happen.