Pressure is on the 610 or 790 now to get the exclusive and ask JC— just what the **** is this organization’s identity, direction / plan for the next few months or years and why’d you simp out to your nut-swanging championship-caliber moxie and sacrifice it for your stupid ****-eating grin Jimmy? Accountability starts at the top, boss. #NeverEnough shouldve been this year’s call to action / marketing blurb.
I think you guys may finally be understanding the difference in Managers Since 2015. Hinch: was very good when he had overwhelming talent and he knew (for the most part how to manage them). His in game was ok, except for that Game 7. He also left Cora and Beltran run rough shot over him. Dusty: As much as many you b**** about him, you don't win and make the playoffs with 5 different organizations and win as many games without being about to adapt with injuries and get the most of players you have. Dusty dealt with ALOT of injuries and was able to still get his teams to the ALCS every year. Yes, he had talent...but every year they would lose more and more but was able to cope. And no one was running rough shot over Dusty. Espada: Doesn't know how to handle adversity. His in game decision making is TERRIBLE.
Dusty was handed the best team in baseball and won 1 title, in their healthiest season. Comparing his situation to Espada is foolishness. Espada is working with much less talent and way more injuries and without any depth on the team whatsoever. Not to mention, this is Espada’s first gig. It doesn’t look like working directly under Dusty properly prepared him for this job. Nobody ever said or thought that Espada was the better manager of the two and everyone was underwhelmed by Joe’s hiring. But Dusty had to go
Dusty didn’t have the best team. No Cole, No Verlander (for 2 seasons) and Alvarez in 2020 was also out. He was masterful in the Covid year playoffs with an extremely Young pitching staff. 2021 he made the WS with a bubble gum starting pitching staff and no Springer or Verlander. No Correa in 2022. You can have talent, but if you can’t manage it or deal with adversity…then you don’t win.
Dusty inherited the best team in baseball and he didn’t have to build anything. Just don’t **** it up, which he eventually did. As I said, trying to equate the two situations is foolishness. Trying to pretend that Dusty didn’t have a ton more to work with is just being foolishly biased. Dusty couldn’t even win it with a roided up Bonds, the best hitter the game has ever seen.
That's not particularly true. The 2023 team only had, I believe, 5 players that were on the 2019 team he inherited. Almost the entire team was rebuilt over his 4 years and he continued to win with a different cast each year. In 2023, you claimed any manager could win with that group. And yet, in 2024, the Astros basically added Hader and removed Maldy and ended up substantially worse. So unless Maldy was the glue that held everything together, it seems that not any manager could win with that group. Not surprisingly, as his entire career history, Dusty got the best out of his bullpens and mediocre players like Chas and Yanier. But people credited anyone but him, as is also his career history. On a side note, the best team in baseball usually does not win the WS repeatedly unless it's overwhelmingly so like the current Dodgers. Winning a WS and making another, while making ALCS Game 7 the other two years is actually a pretty big accomplishment, even if you assume it was the best roster in baseball.
So I guess if Yordan continues to have his best season ever, it’s Espada who extracted the best from him? I don’t buy this **** about Dusty extracting the best out of Chas or Diaz or bullpen guys. Managers don’t usually receive a ton of credit for someone’s career year. More about what they do with it. He chose to bench 2 very hot hitters and play very poor ones in their places. We all know why he did this. It wasn’t because he thought he was fielding a better team. That is why he wasn’t asked back. Dusty inherited a great young team. He won 1 title. Woulda been cool if Dusty could’ve extracted more out of Framber and Javier against the Rangers and played our best lineup. Or if he could’ve extracted more out of Abreu. Or if he could’ve extracted more out of Montero after 1 good season. Maldy wasn’t really helping the staff during that series so not sure why he was playing over such a red hot bat. Chas wan’t playing much either, carrying an 842 OPS. Was he making our pitchers worse too? Was there a glue guy we were playing in LF instead? When pitchers did well in the 2020 postseason, it was because Dusty was “masterful”? C’mon
Yes. That’s pretty much my position. Honestly though I don’t think Dusty is terrible. I think his ego got too big after he went against the front office and won in 2022. He did it again in 2023, with the new GM, and lost. That’s why he wasn’t retained. Obviously, winning a WS and then getting within a game of the WS the next year should get you a new contract but he threw the season. Can’t do that. Espada is just terrible because he’s a terrible manager.
Dusty was fantastic 2020 - 2022....he's the Wade Phillips of the MLB, has immediate bursts of success when he arrives but when it's gone, it's gone. His playoff managing instincts in those years helped us overachieve 2020 -2021, and took us to the mountaintop in 2022. Specific examples - let McCullers eat innings despite getting rocked in Game 3 - bullpen was fresh to throw no hitter next game; stuck with JV in Game 5 for another turn through the order when most would have probably pulled him. I think we win in 2019 if Dusty was managing. That said, the magic was gone by 2023, his stubborness regarding Chas and Yainer was out of control. Espada just flat sucks. Nothing he does is competent.
Dusty: 4 ALCS, 2 WS appearances, 1 WS in 4 seasons. Espada: 1 Wild Card playoff appearance (swept), 1 missed playoffs....in 2 seasons. Hmmm. Not on the same level.
I would argue that the 2020 team was a disappointment (except for the 3 wins to draw even with tampa before we lost) even with losing Cole and Verlander. It was a 60 game season though so I don’t give 2020 much thought.
Who ever said they were on the same level? the answer to that is absolutely no one ever. and Dusty had better teams anyway Plus Joe had literally the most injured team in baseball history last year and missed the postseason by a tie breaker.
You have to keep in mind what Dusty was working with pitching-wise on that roster. Josh James, Andre Scrubb, a fresh from AA Luis Garcia, Blake Taylor, Enolis Paredes, the SP was thin and the bullpen was a heap of junk....damn, that sounds familiar.
Well in 60 games we still got 48 starts from Framber, McCullers, Grienke, javier, and Urquidy and they all pitched pretty well. Andre Scrubb was 20 games out of the pen with a 1.90 era.
Espada way worse than Dusty. I'm not a Dusty fan but he was a decent manager, with some strengths but also a lot of weaknesses. Espada has only weaknesses as far as I can tell.
Well. Now DB is backing Espada because of the walks and injuries. I think they ride and die together. like thelma and louise
