September 28Sep 28 Little early this year. Heal up, and get ready for 2026. Should be an another great discussion.
September 29Sep 29 Author 4 minutes ago, Mez2 said: I want a new training staff List of 2025 Astros Injuries: SP Spencer Arrighetti - Missed all but 7 starts SP Ronel Blanco - Tommy John after 9 starts SP Luis Garcia - Elbow injury after 2 starts (after missing most of season returning from TJ) CL Josh Hader - Missed final 2 months SP Lance McCullers Jr. - On and off IL after return from missing two seasons RP Kaleb Ort - Missed final month, also some other time RP John Rooney - Elbow surgery after 1 appearance RP Bennett Sousa - Missed final 6 weeks SP Brandon Walter - Tommy John after 9 starts SP Hayden Wesneski - Tommy John after 6 starts That’s just the pitchers… IF Isaac Paredes - Missed 2 months with hamstring strain SS Jeremy Peña - Missed ~35 games with broken rib+sore oblique 2B Brendan Rodgers - Missed final 3.5 months (various) LF/DH Yordan Alvarez - Limited to 48 games (Hand, then ankle) OF Zach Dezenzo - Missed final 4 months with hand injury OF Chas McCormick - Missed 6 weeks with oblique strain OF Jacob Melton - Missed 6 weeks with ankle sprain, had some back stuff early in season OF Jake Meyers - Missed 2 months with calf injury OF Taylor Trammell - Missed 4 months with calf injury, then missed some time after running into wall in August.
September 29Sep 29 Popular Post I retire in 2 days and we are working on our visas to move to Spain. The plan is to be there no later than early 2026, so I'll have to follow the Astros from afar next year. I've been a fan for as long as I can remember. Listened to Larry Dirker pitching on my transistor radio when I was supposed to be asleep. Jose Cruz, Casar Cedeño, and the rest. Hell, I remember Joe Morgan as an Astro. The last few years have been immensely fun and I'm sad to see the run end, but the memories are priceless. And hopefully more to come. Y'all keep cheering them on and I'll watch and check in as I can.
September 29Sep 29 Author 6 minutes ago, Mo Horn said: I retire in 2 days and we are working on our visas to move to Spain. The plan is to be there no later than early 2026, so I'll have to follow the Astros from afar next year. I've been a fan for as long as I can remember. Listened to Larry Dirker pitching on my transistor radio when I was supposed to be asleep. Jose Cruz, Casar Cedeño, and the rest. Hell, I remember Joe Morgan as an Astro. The last few years have been immensely fun and I'm sad to see the run end, but the memories are priceless. And hopefully more to come. Y'all keep cheering them on and I'll watch and check in as I can. imo, the run ends when pena's time here has expired. if healthy, we're the #1 seed this year. next year, top 2 seed (if healthy). younger players have to take that next step, more pitching needed. going to be a fun season. can't wait for opening day
September 29Sep 29 Author deeper org stuff - refocus on latin america scouting. more money for scouting
September 29Sep 29 They need to fire that female strength and conditioning coach they brought in this year.
September 29Sep 29 Man this team hung in there until the very end despite the unbelievable amount of injuries. Hats off to them. The run is not over and they will be right back in the hunt next season.
September 29Sep 29 Missing the playoffs on a tie-breaker or 1 win is pretty sad. So many games they could have made up that 1 game and didn't. Only 7 games behind #1 overall in the AL, nobody is really dominating this league this year. 97 wins by the Brewers was #1 overall, which feels kind of low. A moderately more healthy Astros team this year would have been fighting for that #1 spot and winning the division. Too bad, but can't be too upset after 8 years of dominance. Still a good team that will be back in the mix next year.
September 29Sep 29 Author 16 minutes ago, David Dennison said: We need to talk about Jose. hopefully his foot is an easy fix / short heal time
September 29Sep 29 Author Former Astros in the playoffs ... • Alex Bregman (Red Sox) • Abraham Toro (Red Sox) • Kyle Tucker (Cubs) • Rafael Montero (Tigers) • George Springer (Blue Jays) • Joey Loperfido (Blue Jays) • Myles Straw (Blue Jays) • Teoscar Hernández (Dodgers) • Kike Hernández (Dodgers)
September 29Sep 29 Author I don't see crane getting rid of either, unless bagwell / biggio has sold him on ausmus but who knows
September 29Sep 29 4 hours ago, tx 3 putt said: chandler rome note ... This problem has been clear to Surly for a good while, but even after the loss of Tucker, Bregman and Alvarez I'm not sure it registered fully with the front office. Maybe they just assumed someone would magically fill the obvious voids or that Paredes would come back much sooner, but neither happened. Cole isn't the full answer going forward, though he looks to be part of it. Jury obviously is still out on Matthews and Melton, among others coming up from the farm.
September 29Sep 29 Hell of a run, hate the way the season ended but it felt like since the all star break could never get in a groove. I play injuries for the low morale and think next year will be different. Lets dump Walker and Sanchez , and try to get more speed and a starter. Either trade Matthews or make him the new Dubon.
September 29Sep 29 50 minutes ago, Gut Wagon said: This problem has been clear to Surly for a good while, but even after the loss of Tucker, Bregman and Alvarez I'm not sure it registered fully with the front office. Maybe they just assumed someone would magically fill the obvious voids or that Paredes would come back much sooner, but neither happened. Cole isn't the full answer going forward, though he looks to be part of it. Jury obviously is still out on Matthews and Melton, among others coming up from the farm. Cole looks like he could be a strong side platoon guy in CF. His SSS in the majors was in line with his minor leauge splits, but they need to be active in the trade market for 2nd tier non-QO free agents to fill holes at 2B and CF. Edited September 29Sep 29 by HtownHorn
September 29Sep 29 Sanchez is actually an interesting comp for Jacob Melton. Both were athlete over skills prospects with platoon handicaps. I will be very surprised is Sanchez has much trade value going to his third team after that second half. I think it’s more necessary to upgrade there than at second. Non-tender or trade Dubon, let Uriah play second and give Matthews a chance to either beat him out or see if he can play OF.
September 29Sep 29 Would Dubon not have any trade value if you tender him? Not sure why they would let him walk for nothing when they could have him as a cheap, 1 year rental option for a team looking for a utility man.
September 29Sep 29 If you could start next year off with one Astros past or present and build the entire team around that guy who would you pick. Im gonna have to go with Nolan Ryan.
September 29Sep 29 Going into the offseason, the Astros have the following: Under Contract - Javier, McCullers, Hader, Walker, Correa, Altuve and Yordan Arb Eligible - Garcia, Brown, Wesneski, Abreu, Okert, Sousa, Santos, Diaz, Paredes, Dubon, Pena, Urias, Meyers, McCormick, Sanchez and Trammell Pre-Arb - Blanco, Spaghetti, Walter, Blubaugh, Ort, King, France, Gordon, Alexander, Murray, Dezenzo, Matthews, Leon, Smith, Melton and Cole Free Agents - Framber and Caratini For the arbitration eligible players, I would non-tender Garcia, Santos, Chas and Trammell. I would also consider non-tendering Sanchez as he somewhat blocks Cam from getting ABs assuming that Altuve/Yordan split time in LF. Paredes needs to spend every day working on double play turns from 2B and Walker needs to take live BP in Daikon on a regular basis. Walker’s OPS was 916 when the Astros won and 464 in losses. From a hitting perspective, it looks like you basically run the same lineup back out there and pray for Yordan’s health. They should be able to resign Caratini on a reasonable deal to keep him around. Can someone convince Yainer to chase a little less? From a pitching perspective, who’s going to be healthy for opening day? We know Blanco and Wesneski are out. What about Hader, Spaghetti, Walter and Sousa? Also, I don’t want to count on King and Okert maintaining their 2025 performance. I don’t want to resign Framber but losing his innings will really hurt this team. Counting on Javier and McCullers to pitch well for a whole season appears to be a stretch. The rotation appears to be Brown, Javier, Alexander, McCullers and Blubaugh based on the history of the Astros medical staff. They will need to find some affordable options to eat innings in the rotation and bullpen to survive 162 games.
September 29Sep 29 52 minutes ago, Dutchrudder said: Would Dubon not have any trade value if you tender him? Gemini says 1 WAR in 2025 is worth about $8m, and Dubon is about to get a bump in his last year of arbitration eligibility. That said, he’s 31 and most of that is for defense and ideally he’s getting no more than 300 AB’s (if that) as a infield sub. That makes me think there’s going to be little demand for him in the market at $7m, and even at that amount you maybe get a lotto ticket back as a prospect. Urias, for example, is basically Dubon at half the cost and his market (based on trade value) was a 19th round 2024 draftee pitcher in low A. Anyway, I think it’s worth pointing that out because the Astros are very much as stars and scrubs team at the moment and there’s a number of Dubons that need to go the moment they cost more than a penny.
September 29Sep 29 7 minutes ago, hornmpa96 said: I don’t want to resign Framber but losing his innings will really hurt this team. I don’t want to re-sign him, either, but more than replacing his innings, we need a pitcher besides Brown that can reasonably expect to start in the playoffs. That usually means someone who can miss bats, and it’s why the Dodgers have been filling up their roster with high strikeout pitchers while taking a chance on the injury prone. I’d kick the tires on Chris Sale, heck maybe even see if the Braves want to get out of that Spencer Strider contract. Dylan Cease is going to want all the money but I’d inquire there, too. Crediting @Wulaw Horn on this, but he wrote a year or so ago that the window was open as long as the Astros could turn out cheap starters, but unfortunately injuries have made all our in-house options unreliable bets for 2026.
September 29Sep 29 It's hard to want Framber back after his 2nd half swoon was a very big reason they missed the playoffs. Investing a bunch of money in a headcase isn't ideal.
September 29Sep 29 There is pretty decent market on starting pitchers after the big names like Sale, Framber, Giolito, Bassitt, and Cease come off the board. Guys that have had quality seasons in the past but have an injury, age, or poor performances Jordan Montgomery Frankie Montas Tyler Anderson Steven Matz Tyler Mahle Aaron Civale Martin Perez Jose Quintana All these guys project under $10M for next season. We really only have 1 guy in our rotation that we can count on in Hunter Brown. So I think you are going to need to sign at least 2 guys from the list of 2nd/3rd tier. I don't think Crane will spend for a true #2 guy. McCullers, Blubuagh, Javier, Arrighetti, France, and Ullola are all wild cards, but if healthy those guys are all capable of delivering 3-6 rotational results. Wesneski, Blanco, Walter, and Garcia are obviously out for most if not all the season. Edited September 29Sep 29 by HtownHorn
September 29Sep 29 12 minutes ago, kevwun said: It's hard to want Framber back after his 2nd half swoon was a very big reason they missed the playoffs. Investing a bunch of money in a headcase isn't ideal. Spotrac has him at $33M which is the most of all the FA pitchers. Just no way the Astros should do that.
September 29Sep 29 I’ll add one more thought in regards to prospects for MLB consolidation trades-we tend to overrate our own around here, some of it supported by the diamonds in the rough that keep turning up and Brown’s bonafides as a scout. That said, I disagree with folks like @Snake Diggity that our farm is just a few stolen 1st round draft picks from being a mid-tier farm. Almost everyone with any prospect sheen has major warts, too, and I think now is probably a good time to not be over precious about trading away youth. I really don’t see anyone below the MLB roster that should be considered untouchable.
September 29Sep 29 Just now, LCHorn said: I’ll add one more thought in regards to prospects for MLB consolidation trades-we tend to overrate our own around here, some of it supported by the diamonds in the rough that keep turning up and Brown’s bonafides as a scout. That said, I disagree with folks like @Snake Diggity that our farm is just a few stolen 1st round draft picks from being a mid-tier farm. Almost everyone with any prospect sheen has major warts, too, and I think now is probably a good time to not be over precious about trading away youth. I really don’t see anyone below the MLB roster that should be considered untouchable. I don’t want them to trade away pitchers Ethan Pecko, Bryce Mayer, or Anderson Brito, and they should avoid offering up their very high ceiling guys in the lower levels (namely Xavier Neyens and Kevin Alvarez), but yeah, any number of their power/speed/k guys from the upper levels (Melton, Cole, Dezenzo, Leon, Corona, Matthews, Sullivan, Whitcomb) would probably be best used as trade chips.
September 29Sep 29 They need to stop drafting so many prospects with strikeout issues. It seems like every half way decent one they have in the org is a strikeout machine. Edited September 29Sep 29 by kevwun
September 29Sep 29 13 hours ago, David Dennison said: We need to talk about Jose. I’m actually encouraged by him saying his foot was hurting him. He needs to play less next season but I still think he can finish out his contract/career as a ~2 win player who can hit in the middle of the order. But his days of playing 150 games a season and playing the field 110+ games a year should probably be over. 1 hour ago, Dutchrudder said: Would Dubon not have any trade value if you tender him? Not sure why they would let him walk for nothing when they could have him as a cheap, 1 year rental option for a team looking for a utility man. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. There might be a team out there that views Dubon as a stopgap 1-year solution to a vacant everyday SS spot and would be willing to toss Houston a 3rd tier prospect for him. For Houston I think the $7M+ he’s gonna cost would be better used to add pitching.
September 29Sep 29 3 minutes ago, kevwun said: They need to stop drafting so many prospects with strikeout issues. It seems like every half way decent one they have in the org is a strikeout machine. That is at least partially a product of how late they’ve drafted the last 7 years. Prospects who have both hit and power tools get drafted in the top 15 picks. After that you’re choosing between Jacob Melton types (power/speed with k issues) or Grae Kessinger types (guys who make contact but can’t hit for power).
September 29Sep 29 Chris Sale would be interesting if the Braves don't exercise their option. Has to be for a lot less than $18 million, though.
September 29Sep 29 I’ll riot if fried or crochet steals the #3 spot in the Cy Young race over Brown because of W/L record
September 29Sep 29 43 minutes ago, LCHorn said: I don’t want to re-sign him, either, but more than replacing his innings, we need a pitcher besides Brown that can reasonably expect to start in the playoffs. That usually means someone who can miss bats, and it’s why the Dodgers have been filling up their roster with high strikeout pitchers while taking a chance on the injury prone. I’d kick the tires on Chris Sale, heck maybe even see if the Braves want to get out of that Spencer Strider contract. Dylan Cease is going to want all the money but I’d inquire there, too. Crediting @Wulaw Horn on this, but he wrote a year or so ago that the window was open as long as the Astros could turn out cheap starters, but unfortunately injuries have made all our in-house options unreliable bets for 2026. We've got more internal options than you think, imo. Hunter Brown is established as a Cy Young level guy now that's beyond a doubt a thing that exists. Cristian Javier looked fine to me- his velocity was back and good, he was missing bats with the invisiiball again. 3.65 FIP is just fine. He's a guy you will be fine with starting in the playoffs. Arrighetti, if his elbow is structurally sound (they say it is- but you never know with those guys) is just fine as a guy you can trust to be a quality pitcher. Blubaugh, I think, showed out as to why I was so excited about him this offseason. I think it was a big problem that we didn't go to him earlier in the year and give him a bigger role. I'd have had him up with the big league club all year from when he made his debut. Ullola has Cy Young ceiling to me. I feel about him the same way I felt about Hunter Brown. I really like guys who keep the ball on the ground and miss bats. If anyone can get away with walks it's that type of guy. I think that's a guy that you should feel pretty comfortable giving you innings at a qualiy level. Jason Alexander- What a wonderful memory that guy will always have about the summer of George. 4-2 with a 3.66 era 14 games with 12 of them being quality apperances. I think the team was something like 11-3 in games he pitched. He would have been an all time legendary deep cut guy (like Brandon Backe or the great Bill Spiers) if we'd have made the playoffs and he'd have had a moment there. We should immediately forget everything he did well there and consider it all fools gold and make no plan for him being a part of the plans going forward. LMJ- tell him he's a RP or not on the team. Tell him he's going to throw curve balls until his elbow explodes 1 inning at a time or be DFA'd. And then if that doesn't work so be it. Not part of the plan. AAA Fodder (guys I would trust down there to come up on a temporary basis- like 3 turns through the rotation). JP France Colton Gordon TJ candidates that should be back sometime in July: Ronel Blanco- Don't know that I'm buying on him ever replicating 2024 season, but fine with him as a BOR starter Wesneski- DItto Blanco. Guys that are out for 2026 Walter- too bad- of all the guys that came up from the Law Firm he had the stuff that made me think he was going to be ok. Luis Garcia- Have to think he's going to get DFA'd. Makes no sense to do anything other than that or sign him to like a 2 year deal for 3M or something- but I'd be opposed to that. Intruiging guys in the minor leagues: Ethan Pecko- I'd probably like to see him get the entire year in AAA next year, but I'd go to him right now before JP France or Gordon if it was a matter of replacing a guy for the year Alonzo Tredwell- Big Dude that uses his leverage to shorten distance to home plate as opposed to thorw hard- but he had a really interesting last month of the season. Very young in an innings pitched sense if not age as he was hurt out of college. I'm interested. Jose Fleury- I've heard they like him. Who knows. TLDR Summary: You have an ace in Hunter Brown, you have a guy I'd trust in a playoff series right now in Cristian Javier, you have Arrighetti, Blubaugh and Ullola who I'm excited to see pitch as regulars in MLB, then you have 3 guys at AAA in Alexander, Gordon and France that probably won't shit the bed, 2 guys that should be back from TJ next year and then 3 or 4 intruiging propsects that could pitch in 2026. I think we have BOR and emergency guys covered. I think an Ace makes sense. Chris Sale, Dylan Cease, Ranger Suarez would be my free agent list of guys. If I can't get one of them I think I'd pass on any FA pitcher. You should have up to about 35M to spend and be able to stay under the tax line.
September 29Sep 29 1 hour ago, WBT said: Probably Bagwell Outed the Bagwell sympathizer! You dirty low down SOB.
September 29Sep 29 1 hour ago, LCHorn said: I don’t want to re-sign him, either, but more than replacing his innings, we need a pitcher besides Brown that can reasonably expect to start in the playoffs. That usually means someone who can miss bats, and it’s why the Dodgers have been filling up their roster with high strikeout pitchers while taking a chance on the injury prone. Astros were 4th in the majors in starter K’s this year with 857 (dodgers were 8th), and 2nd (by 11) behind Seattle in the AL. Framber did provide 21.8% of that. I feel Arrighetti and Blubaugh have the stuff to fill the strikeout void, but not the combination of innings eater + K rate. (Framber gave you 192 IP this year. Blubaugh 128 across all levels this year, 100 last year. Arrighetti 145 IP last year, 125 the year before) despite being 8th in starting pitching K’s, the Dodgers edged us out by 1 for most total K’s (1,505 to 1,504). I know starting pitching is important in the playoffs but I’m not completely sold it’s more important than bullpen in October.
September 29Sep 29 My 2 variations of a reasonable offseason plan: Option 1: Trade Walker, Sanchez, and Dubon to free up salary Sign a 2nd/3rd tier free agent SP (Gallen, Flaherty, Eflin, King, Kelly, Verlander, Littell, Civale, Morton, Houser, Fedde, Scherzer, Heaney, Canning) Trade upper level high risk/ceiling prospects for a high ceiling SP (Gore, Lopez, Ryan, Alcantara, Pepiot, Rasmussen, Cabrera) Sign a free agent 7th inning RH RP (Maton, Harvey, loads of other options) Resulting roster: SS Pena 1B Paredes DH Alvarez 3B Correa 2B Altuve RF Smith LF Cole CF Meyers Bench: Urias, Salazar, Dezenzo, Trammell SP: Brown, Rasmussen, Javier, Littell, Blubaugh, McCullers, France RP: Hader, Abreu, Harvey, King, Sousa, Okert Option 2: Trade Pena for 2 elite (MLB Top 50) prospects plus a young #4 SP Trade Meyers for 2 decent prospects other teams will want Trade some of those prospects for a high ceiling SP (Gore, Lopez, Ryan, Alcantara, Pepiot, Rasmussen, Cabrera) Sign a free agent 7th inning RH RP (Maton, Harvey, loads of other options) Roster: CF Smith 3B Paredes DH Alvarez SS Correa 2B Altuve 1B Walker RF Cole C Diaz LF Sanchez bench: Dubon, Urias, Salazar, Dezenzo SP: Brown, Rasmussen, Javier, TBD, Blubaugh, McCullers, France RP: Hader, Abreu, Harvey, Sousa, King, Okert
September 29Sep 29 10 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said: Cristian Javier looked fine to me- his velocity was back and good, he was missing bats with the invisiiball again. 3.65 FIP is just fine. He's a guy you will be fine with starting in the playoffs. Cristian Javier’s performance in 2025 has all kinds of small sample size noise (big red flag, for example, is a HR rate half his career average). Hell, counting on him to even be healthy going into a 2026 playoff series is a riskier bet than I want Crane/Brown faced with. 13 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said: Arrighetti, if his elbow is structurally sound (they say it is- but you never know with those guys) is just fine as a guy you can trust to be a quality pitcher. I don’t think you can rely on him, either. Forget health, his performance when presumably healthy in 2025 shouldn’t make anyone feel comfortable as a rotation piece. I get the general optimism because you can find things to like about these two (and Blubaugh), but each requires betting on a big performance jump in 2026. I know you know they don’t ALL have to hit, but it’s also a bad way to build a team. We’re also avoiding taking about a Brown regression and that’s certainly in the range of normal outcomes, too.
September 29Sep 29 My Budget as of now: SP: 75M Brown: 7M (arb 1) Javier: 13M (2/42 left on deal) Ullola- 1M Arrighetti- 1M Blubaugh- 1M Dead Money (LMJ)- (18M- last year) Injured List- 2M FA- 30M Bullpen: 30M Hader: 19M (3/57 left) Abreu: 5 M (Arb 3) No FA- all minimum type guys: Infield (ish): 95M Diaz- 5M (arb 1) Walker- 20M (2/40 left) Altuve- 25M (4/92 left) Paredes (10M- arb 3- he's super 2 so 2 more go rounds) Correa: 21 M (It's complicated... guaranteed 3/61M) Pena: 9M (arb 2) Urias: 5M (arb 3) OF/Backup catcher: 40M Yordan: 19M (3/80 left) Meyers: 5M (arb 2) Sanchez: 7M (arb 3 but super 2, so just like Paredes) Smith: 1M Dezenzo: 1M Backup Catcher- 7M. Gone (trade or non-tender) Dubon, Chas, Caratini (hope he comes back for the 7M- I'd go 2/20 probably), Trammell Total: 240M (spending 30M on a FA pitcher and 7-10M on a backup catcher). The tax line is like 244M but you have to factor in like 17M for extra bennies. So- the actual answer for how much they have to spend (if they non-tender Dubon and Chas and let Caratini go) on FA pitching and backup catcher is something like 17M. I'd spend 40 and do something like trade Walker and Melton to AZ for nothing. Maybe Colorado. Walker's contract isn't that upside down. My 26 man roster would look something like this: Sale, Brown, Javier, Ullola, Blubaugh, Arrighetti, Hader, Abreu, Souza, Okert, King, Murray, Santa Diaz, Paredes, Altuve, Pena, Correa, Sanchez, Meyers, Smith, Yordan Bench- Urias, Dezenzo, Caratini, Matthews If you want to non-tender Sanchez b/c you believe in Cole I'm fine with that. He and Dezenzo can platoon. Manager- Hinch. His contract is up. Allegedly he's got multiple houses in Houston and would be VERY interested in a reunion.
September 29Sep 29 13 minutes ago, Snake Diggity said: Trade upper level high risk/ceiling prospects I actually think (and it’s very context dependent) this might be an area where I don’t trade.* There are 500 AB’s that went to Sanchez, Trammel, Hummel, and McCormick that were wildly below replacement level on offense. I know those weren’t all projected starters back in April, but Brown needs to have better depth in AAA for the inevitable injuries. Maybe that’s Melton once it’s realized he’s not starter material on a good team. *also, I don’t think the Leon’s of the world are worth anything.
September 29Sep 29 10 minutes ago, LCHorn said: Cristian Javier’s performance in 2025 has all kinds of small sample size noise (big red flag, for example, is a HR rate half his career average). Hell, counting on him to even be healthy going into a 2026 playoff series is a riskier bet than I want Crane/Brown faced with. I don’t think you can rely on him, either. Forget health, his performance when presumably healthy in 2025 shouldn’t make anyone feel comfortable as a rotation piece. I get the general optimism because you can find things to like about these two (and Blubaugh), but each requires betting on a big performance jump in 2026. I know you know they don’t ALL have to hit, but it’s also a bad way to build a team. We’re also avoiding taking about a Brown regression and that’s certainly in the range of normal outcomes, too. Sure. That's why I'd sign an ace (it would be Sale). I laid out optmist case scenario for Ullola, Blubaugh, Javier and Arrighetti. If you sign an ace you need one of those guys to hit in a big way and 2 of them to not be terrible. That's a reasonable bet, to my way of thinking. What you don't have is a hammer other than Brown. If you are going to win the WS you need 3 or 4 stud arms (2 SP and 2 back end of the bullpen guys) and you need 4 or 5 other dudes you can trust. What I see is 3 studs and plenty enough to pick from where I think by playoff time we can fill in the other 4 or 5 dudes you can trust. I'm just not worried about it. You are missing one of the studs. Go get one.
September 29Sep 29 1 hour ago, tx 3 putt said: framber's number will not be easy to replace 2025 2nd half sure will
September 29Sep 29 6 minutes ago, UTexasFight said: 2025 2nd half sure will Assuming you have a pitcher who doesn't explode his elbow or fuck up his shoulder. So, we'd need 3 JAGs to replicate that.
September 29Sep 29 From Pallilo's post mortem podcast: We scored 3 or fewer in 82 games. We were 3-33 in the last 36 of those games. Our sorcery in pitching development that turns jags into solid contributors sets a decent floor. Our failure to develop any cheap team controllable position players is really holding us back. Our lineup just keeps getting older and jaggier without much hope in sight. I have lost a lot of my excitement for Yainer as he can't seem to learn to take a pitch. Cam should still improve but he was god awful in the 2nd half and finished with only 9 HRs. We gave almost 1000 PAs to sub 80 OPS+ guys in Hummel, Dubon, Trammell, Rodgers, Chas, and Melton. At least we dumped Singleton after 10 ABs I guess. I don't know how it gets much better next year. Pray Yordan stays healthy is probably the biggest potential difference maker.
September 29Sep 29 4 hours ago, LCHorn said: Gemini says 1 WAR in 2025 is worth about $8m, and Dubon is about to get a bump in his last year of arbitration eligibility. That said, he’s 31 and most of that is for defense and ideally he’s getting no more than 300 AB’s (if that) as a infield sub. That makes me think there’s going to be little demand for him in the market at $7m, and even at that amount you maybe get a lotto ticket back as a prospect. Urias, for example, is basically Dubon at half the cost and his market (based on trade value) was a 19th round 2024 draftee pitcher in low A. Anyway, I think it’s worth pointing that out because the Astros are very much as stars and scrubs team at the moment and there’s a number of Dubons that need to go the moment they cost more than a penny. I agree with all of this except for the stars and scrubs comment. Yeah- we had a lot of scrubs that got major AB's this year, but that's b/c we just got absolutely hammered by the injury bug and that's just going to be a thing that happens. I think you are right that Dubon is gone but tell me who the scrub is from this group of 13 (what I think will be the opening day position player roster: Diaz, Caratini, Walker, Paredes, Pena, Correa, Urias, Yordan, Altuve, Meyers, Sanchez, Smith, Dezenzo or Matthews or Melton or Cole. I mean, the scrub is probably the 13th guy but they at least have upside. I don't see a scrub in the lineup- if anything I think the problem is lack of stars b/c it's really just Yordan you can count on to be a star (and he's made of glass) though Pena, Paredes, Diaz, Correa and Smith if he retools the swing stuff and learns from crashing into the rookie wall could all have the opportunity to be stars. Or Jose with a bounce back year. But, I see basically 1 star, 5 above average players, 6 average players and 1 lotto ticket as likely from that group of 13. The biggest benefit of that lineup (if all healthy) would be that it's deep and absent any guys that can't play. Now- if we have to get deeper than that 15 for real playing time then that's a real problem b/c there's nothing in the minors I want to see on the position player side in 2026. There are a fair bit of pitchers I'm interested in seeing. And we will probably see them all as arms get shredded. Edited September 29Sep 29 by Wulaw Horn
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