Everything posted by Snake Diggity
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2025 - 2026 Astros Offseason Thread
The 12th/13th guy on the roster doesn’t play. It is ok to carry a defense-only player to use solely as a late game defensive replacement, so long as the 1-11 guys are capable hitters. I don’t mind them having Allen. I wish he was an elite baserunner to go with his defense, but I don’t mind that he can’t hit.
- Trump’s America
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The Leopards Eating Faces and Unlubed Dildo of Consequences Thread
Satoshi Nakamoto being revealed as Jeffrey Epstein would be a helluva plot twist.
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Trump’s America
I think there will be mass violence if it’s obvious the elections are fucked with.
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2025 - 2026 Astros Offseason Thread
Loperfido can play 1B in addition to the OF corners and can handle 2B and CF in a pinch. Hes got good speed on the bases. If he’s your 11th best position player you probably have a pretty good team. But this was a salary dump so the real judge will be who they acquire with the money. Tentatively guessing that this lets them eat enough of Walker’s contract to dump him and keep Paredes. They might end up signing somebody like Winker or Conforto to a cheap deal to be a LH bat in the lower part of the lineup. I will say that between Smith, Meyers, Cole, Matthews, and Loperfido, Houston would have a badass defensive OF.
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2025 - 2026 Astros Offseason Thread
Based on Framber's free agent market it wouldn't suprise me if Houston shopped him last offseason and wasn't offered much. And I think they had legit hope of resigning Bregman. Their real mistake imho was going over the tax last year so they only got a 4th rounder compensation for Framber instead of a 2nd rounder; rumor is that is because one of the assistant GM's fucked up the calculations when negotiating the Correa trade and it put them over the line by pennies. That AGM is no longer with the team.
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2025 - 2026 Astros Offseason Thread
Dana Brown's drafts so far: 2023: 2B Brice Matthews: reached majors, fringe Top 100 prospect; EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS P Alonzo Tredwell: mild breakout in AA last year, likely to reach the majors in 2027; MEETING EXPECTATIONS P Jake Bloss: reached majors, traded for Kikuchi, blew out his arm; EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS OF Cam Fisher: released after whiffing in A ball; DISAPPOINTMENT IF Chase Jaworsky: traded for Jesus Sanchez, org Top 20 prospect in Miami's system; EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS P Ethan Pecko: in AAA, org top 10 prospect; EXCEEDING EXPECTATOINS P Joey Dixon: has not pitched due to injury but is still in the system; DISAPPOINTMENT IF Ryan Johnson: released after topping out in AA; MET EXPECTATIONS IF Jeron Williams: injured most of last season, will likely be the SS in AA this year; MEETING EXPECTATIONS IF Austin Deming: released after topping out in AA; MET EXPECTATIONS Others: OF Nehomar Ochoa (11) and OF Anthony Huezo (12) are high ceiling above slot prospects who will repeat A ball at age 20, pitchers James Hicks (13) and Jackson Nezuh (14) have exceeded expectations and will likely reach the majors next year, C Garret Guillemette (15) and C/1B Will Bush (16) have exceeded expectations and will be in AA this year (Bush is an Org Top 20 prospect), IF Pascanel Ferreras (20), P Colby Langford (17), and P Derek True (18) are non-prospects still in the system. 2024: C Walker Janek: mild disappointment offensively last year in Asheville but looked ok in fall league, big season coming in AA; MEETING EXPECTATIONS lost pick for signing Josh Hader P Ryan Forcucci: will debut this season after recovering from arm surgery; lots of hype, Org Top 10 prospect; MEETING EXPECTATIONS P Parker Smith: looked fine in A ball last year; MEETING EXPECTATIONS P Cole Hertzler: looked great in A ball before getting hurt last year; MEETING EXPECTATIONS IF Caden Powell: power/speed/whiff guy had a good year in A ball last year; MEETING EXPECTATIONS OF Joseph Sullivan: exceeded expectations, reached AA in his first full season and is an Org Top 10 prospect and got an invite to big league camp; EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS P Dylan Howard: looked good in A ball last year; MEETING EXPECTATIONS P Ryan Smith: looked ok in A ball last year; MEETING EXPECTATIONS P Ramsey David: exceeded expectations and reached AA in first full season; EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS Others: C Jason Schiavone (11) hit well in A ball, P Bryce Mayer (16) exceeded expectations, reached AA last year, and looks like a potential MoR SP, OF Ethan Wagner (17) was an overslot HS signee who is in the complex, P Twine Palmer (19) exceeded expectations and was traded for Ramon Urias. IF Drew Vogel (15), P Ryan Verdugo (12), P Ryan Mathieson (14), and P Grant Burleson (18) are non-prospects still in the system. It's worth noting that UDFA OF Lucas Spence has reached AA and is an org Top 20 prospect with an invite to big league camp, and UDFA P Hudson Leach is in AAA with an invite to big league camp. It's too early to even review the 2025 draft but OF Ethan Frey (3) is getting a lot of scouting love and along with Xavier Neyens (1) is a potential breakout prospect. So far Brown's drafts have only produced one meaningful disappointment, and that's a 4th round OF who didn't make it out of High A (but whose draft slot would have projected him to top out in AAA). That said, there definitely is a lot riding on Matthews and Janek for the value out of those drafts, unless one of the pitchers (Mayer and Tredwell both come to mind) pan out into really good SP.
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2025 - 2026 Astros Offseason Thread
One thing I think is often not understood is just how much difference in value there is between picking at the top or middle of the first round vs late in the first round. Brice Matthews and Walker Janek were the 28th overall pick; in the past 25 years, the only #28 overall pick who signed and has posted more than 10 career war is Colby Rasmus. In fact, at 0.3 career bwar, Matthews currently has been the 5th highest producing #28 overall pick since 2009 (17 years). Interestingly, Drew Gilbert was also #28 overall and has -0.3 bwar so far. Most #28 overall picks never show up on Top 100 lists (Matthews was on several last year) and it is extremely rare for them to pan out into good long term big leaguers (about 1 every 20 years).
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Trump’s America
John Rocker still out there piece-of-shitting would be mildly comforting if he weren’t surrounded by millions and millions of people piece-of-shitting harder than him, including POTUS.
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2025 - 2026 Astros Offseason Thread
I think the shine had come all the way off of Leon and Whitley well before Dana Brown arrived. I agree that Brown hasn’t shown much outside of scouting ability, but that can go a long way, and Browns early returns from his drafts are pretty strong so far. I think if Brown is let go after this season, Crane will bring in someone closer to Luhnow’s profile than Click and Brown were.
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2025 - 2026 Astros Offseason Thread
Hard to know where to place the blame. McCullers (Luhnow contract), Javier (Brown contract), and Walker (Brown contract?) are really holding them down. The other large contracts on the books (Hader, Alvarez, Altuve, Correa) aren’t underwater. Their farm system is bad but that’s not Dana Brown’s fault. Wilyer Abreu (Click trade) is the only prospect they’ve traded away recently who is biting them. The sign stealing penalty (Crane/Luhnow/Hinch/Cora/Beltran) is still probably impacting their farm quality, and giving up 2 2nd round picks for signing Hader (Crane) and Walker (Brown) is having an impact. Crane created the infield logjam by orchestrating the Correa trade but I think that trade was a good deal for Houston so I’m not bothered by it, other than they probably should have been more proactive about resolving it this offseason. Brown’s trade and drafts look good so far, so I’m not anxious to let him go. I’m not a huge fan of Espada’s but I think he deserves a shot to manage a team that isn’t annihilated by injuries. I don’t have an issue with him being on the hot seat.
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2026 Midterms ...
Over the last couple of months it is looking more and more like this November is the last chance to get the country veering away from a complete breakdown. We can’t wait Trump/MAGA out. If the federal government or Trump supporters illegally influence the elections, I will become violent. If action is taken by those in power to prevent or delay newly elected representatives or senators from taking office, I will become violent. I am working to convince my wife that if the elections are free and fair, and the GOP keeps control of both the House and Senate, we should take our family and leave the country. There’s been a lot at stake in every election over the past 10 years, but this November is everybody all in. Things either turn a corner or it’s over.
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2025 - 2026 Astros Offseason Thread
Trading Paredes for a 2nd tier pitching prospect in Barco and a faded 3B prospect in Triolo who has posted a .667 ops in over 1000 big league pa is a waste of a controllable all star quality bat in a lineup short on elite hitters. If they trade Paredes, they need to get back either a good controllable LHH OF or an MLB Top 75 position player prospect. The Walker trade would be good but would hinge on how much money Houston had to eat. If they were able to shed enough payroll to go add a decent LHH OF then it’s worthwhile. The Meyers for Lowe deal is ok but LA just traded for Lowe so I doubt they’re looking to move him especially within the division.
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2025 - 2026 Astros Offseason Thread
I’d be interested to see analysis on how different orgs affect players’ values, like how many teams have boosted 4 pitchers’ values after trading for them the way Houston did with Cole, Verlander, Morton, and Kikuchi. Morton was an $8M pitcher who left Houston to go on to make $105M/7yrs. Cole got $324M after coming to Houston as a 3 win pitcher. JV was a 3 win pitcher in 2017, got extended but then got $70M/2yrs. Kikuchi came to Houston as a middling guy and used half a season with them to secure $64M/3yrs from the Angels. Mike Burrows should be like fuck yes.
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2025 - 2026 Astros Offseason Thread
I think Gallen is the only one left. Would be funny if Crane gave him a bigger contract than Framber.
- 2026 Midterms ...
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2026 Midterms ...
Talarico has 3 main vulnerabilities as a candidate imho: Subject to attacks from the left on race/gender (only because he is a white man) and may struggle to turn out black voters, who I think will be required to win the general. Subject to general negativity around the fact that he’s not married. This could be attacks on his sexuality but also just a generally lower relatability because he doesn’t have a family. Subject to attacks from the center-right on guns. This could reduce his support from disaffected GOP voters who are tired to Trump/MAGA but have 2A as one of their primary issues. This is a smaller concern since I don’t think there’s that many of those types of voters but if the Dems are going to win it will be super close and require every available potential vote. I would have suggested Talarico make himself into “a responsible gun owner who only wants to ensure all other gun owners are also being responsible”. I’m sure most people looking to criticize Talarico will talk about his lack of “fire” but I think his soft demeanor is part of his charm and a major way for him to juxtapose himself against Trump/Paxton and appeal to any moderate Christians looking for a non-maga candidate they can justify voting for.
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Depression, OCD, and whatever else ails you between the ears
Thanks for the kind words. I have talked this over ad nauseum with my wife. My wife is wonderful and very supportive, but she is also very spartan and clearly sick of hearing me bitch about work and talk about how unhappy I am. I don’t blame her for that. She’s doing everything she can (within the confines of her personality) to let me know she supports me no matter what I do. But she definitely adds a lot of positive things to my life; she makes good money which takes a lot of pressure off of me as a provider, and she keeps me happy in ways that give me very frequent 3-7 minute long reprieves from my depression and mental anguish. No pics, assholes. There’s no other roles in my company that offer a potential solution. And I really don’t think there are any similar roles with other companies that would be much better, and could easily be worse. The more I ruminate on this my choices seem pretty clear, at least in the short term: either somehow find the fortitude to plod forward in my current situation, hoping things get better or that I can at least survive long enough to save the remaining amount needed to fully retire (which could take between 3 and 8 years, that in this moment seems impossible), OR quit with not much of a plan other than to take care of my mental health, plunging myself into complete uncertainty but with a newfound freedom (that will be paired with its own anxiety). Based on how I’ve handled these kinds of situations in the past, I will likely plod forward until my hand is forced, or until some other unexpected opportunity comes forward. Either way, it is extremely likely that I will look back on this situation and think that while it sucked balls, it was nowhere near as dire as it seemed, and 3+ years from now, I will have mostly forgotten all about it. In the meantime, I will suffer until something changes for the better but try to take it one day at a time.
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Depression, OCD, and whatever else ails you between the ears
Unfortunately it is time for me to admit that for the first time since at least 2018 (and maybe even going back to 2009) I am suffering from depression and suicidal ideation that I cannot overcome on my own. I don’t think I need to be locked up or anything, but it’s pretty bad. It is about 90% related to my job. For most of my adult life I have hated working and have always treated it as a means to an end. But 2018-2024 were pretty good because I had a job that paid really well, gave me a lot of freedom, and let me work under a manager that was a great friend and mentor. Late last year my company did a re-org that put me under a new manager who completely changed how we work, and it has been nothing short of a nightmare. I have downs and not so downs, but I am going on 3 months of being consistently miserable and the toll has built up such that now it is a daily struggle to keep from rage quitting or stepping into the office closet to short drop hang myself. The fucked up thing about it is that I’m rich, relative to 90% of the world. I have enough savings that I could go a decade+ without working and my family wouldn’t see any hardship. But because I don’t have quite enough money to comfortably retire forever with no anxiety about running out of money, I feel trapped. My role/industry maybe has 5 years left before 80% of the jobs are gone due to AI. And I know if I just go out and find another job, I will hate it (and that it will likely represent a major paycut). But I don’t really have any other good ideas. What I really want is to Peter Gibbons myself and do nothing but sleep, fish, spend time with my wife and kids and friends, and exercise. But I’m not rich enough to do that yet. My biggest emotion right now is embarrassment. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t make better choices when I was young to chart a more fulfilling career path. I’m embarrassed that I don’t have the mental fortitude to keep grinding the handful of more years I need to be able to retire comfortably or provide the maximum possible lifestyle to my family. I’m embarrassed that I have such a glaring lack of resilience and that I cannot pull out of this mental spiral. I’m embarrassed that I can’t come up with a plan to fix my career situation and that I’m totally indecisive and paralyzed about what to do. I feel like a totally ineffectual fucking talentless failure. Im scared about things not getting better or even getting worse and that the rest of my life will be miserable. And I see how my attitude and choices are affecting my family and it makes me feel like they’d be better off without me. I know that’s not true. I am a loving father and husband who always puts his family first, and my family loves me. And I know I have tons of other things to be grateful for and a lot to offer the world. I know that 99% of the people in the world my age or older would gladly trade places with me. I need to get back to exercising more regularly, although I know that won’t be a panacea. I do have the benefit of having been in this situation before and mostly believe it’s temporary, so the biggest thing I have to do is just stay alive long enough for things to change for the better. But shit fucking sucks right now. It seem like nobody really gives a fuck about middle aged dudes so I don’t have anyone to talk to. Typing this out was cathartic.
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2026 Midterms ...
You don’t think the “chronically online” represent a large enough group of voters to be the difference in a Democratic primary polling within 1 point? The election is 30 days away. The Democrats had only a very small chance in this race to begin with, they couldn’t afford to stain their only candidate with a chance of winning the general. The only way Texas culd elect a Dem Senator was for Talarico to come out of the primary even more popular and with an even more enthused base than he went into it, and also for Paxton to be the candidate on the other side. Once a black candidate became Talarico’s opponent in the primary, something like this was inevitable, which will serve to condemn Talarico as someone black voters will not turn out for. I hope I’m wrong.
- 2026 Midterms ...
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2025 - 2026 Astros Offseason Thread
Hard to put much stock in the analysis of someone who thinks the Astros spring training complex is in Arizona.
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2026 Midterms ...
Congratulations Morgan, you fame-thirsty dumb bitch. You fucked it all up. Also shout out to all the dumbfucks who thought it was a good thing that Crockett waded into a race she has 0% chance of winning. Talarico fucked up his response. He should have either ignored it or simply said it was bullshit. But now the ONLY way this isn’t a disaster is if Talarico wins the primary and Crockett campaigns for him HARD, which I doubt happens. Most likely whatever chance there was of Texas electing a Dem senator is now gone because of some stupid wannabe influencer seizing on a candidate’s candidness and generosity to try to level up her fame. Fucking ridiculous and utterly predictable.
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Job hunting - A different kind of happy ending
Thanks for these posts. They are very encouraging. My job has become unbearable over the last 60 days. I am embarrassed to say I have gotten into a situation I just can’t muster the will to tolerate: a new difficult manager who is implementing an entirely new nonsensical inefficient process I have to follow to perform my work. Which sucks because it’s otherwise a great job: easily 20% more pay than I could get anywhere else, 100% remote, and a large amount of control over my schedule. But I just cannot go forward working under this person doing things this way. Unfortunately I also can’t envision a good outcome just going and finding another job in my field. So if I do quit I am looking at pivoting to something entirely new, which feels foolish and scary at 46 with 2 kids in elementary school. Not sure what I’m gonna do, but it’s nice to read that someone else has been in a similar situation and got a good outcome.
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2026 Midterms ...
I would love nothing more than to look back on my post and be able to honestly attribute it to Battered Voter Syndrome. I’ll believe it when I see it. And honestly I won’t be overly optimistic about single thing related to US politics until Donald Trump is deader than fuckin fried chicken.