It was over when Naylor hit the 3 run HR in the first. They accepted defeat and wanted to get back to Houston….
Most strong farm systems are not based solely on the high picks. And there's been a dearth of high level drafted talent in this farm for the last 10+ years, spanning from the end of the Luhnow regime. At least they're signing their guys (unlike the Drayton later years that led to the total collapse)... they're just not advancing/developing for whatever reason.
That’s true but the high picks accounted for a LOT of the talent that won the rings. Correa (#1 overall), Springer (#11 overall), and Bregman (#2 overall) were 3 of their 4 best players and accounted for >50% of the non-Altuve position player fwar in 2017. Bregman and Tucker (#5 overall) accounted for a huge amount of the value in 2022.
So. Statistically you could argue that the Astros are the worst team in baseball right now. That ain't cool!
Overwhelmed. The term I heard was “avalanche” and they just want to win a game and then series until they have some clarity. I haven’t heard much on Espada specific other than this team is more emotional and hot headed with Burrows, Weiss and Imai. Good chance one of them, probably Burrows loses it, and we will see how Espada handles it. With Brown, Imai, Pena and Hader they would be over .500% at this point - but I personally think this group is very vulnerable to injuries.
I wouldn’t start Diaz behind the plate. He has progressively gotten worse at game calls. Maybe he has less veterans to throw to, but regardless- it’s even more of a reason to have a very good pitch caller.
While he wasn't any good, on the plus side for Burrows, he doesn't seem to afflicted by the walk-disease and he's been able to go 5+ innings in all of his starts. Gave the bullpen a helpful day off.
He has #2 starter stuff. Has an elite pitch and an effective fastball when used right. So far his pitch sequencing has been stupid.
Replace Joey with Team Venezuela manager before he becomes a manager for a MLB team. Crane is not going to overpay for a real manager (like the Cubs).
If it gets you more wins, is it really overpaying? Players are paid about $8MM for 1 WAR. Counsell is paid $8MM/yr. If he helps the team win one extra game, he's a better investment than an equivalent player. I don't think Espada has done much bad here - there's only so much you can do when your entire pitching staff gets hurt in week 2 and your starters keep pitching 1 inning. But for a team that's trying to contend, there's no real reason to have a huge questionmark at manager - just pay a credible guy a few million so you don't have to wonder.
He let Hunter throw 102 pitches in his 1st start. Hader still isn't back because of the way he was used last yr. Yep, Espada has a lot to do with where the Stros are at today.
No2 SP? Maybe stuff, but not command. So many fat pitches and you can’t get away with that with a mid 94-95 mph fastball. Jason Alexander spammed changeups and did much better. Yes I know Burrows is far more talented but you’d think they would go to semi spamming his elite change rather than the crap we have seen. If it’s sequencing, then let Vasquez catch him instead of Imai. Burrows is here for the long term and we need to prioritize him.
We don't have any idea if any of that usage caused those injuries. Javier and Imai barely pitched and got hurt. All it takes it one bad moment. Hunter played a full excellent game after that first start. We have no idea when he got hurt.
