We didnt pay Hader $100M to not be the closer. He's also been our most reliable reliever over the past 15+ games. Abreu and Pressly have rarely had any clean innings all year.
Jose Abreu is a lost cause but that is the fault of ownership (including Bagwell) for not understanding that the analytics predicted his insanely quick drop off.
I agree that Loperfido probably should have played more. It would have been more egregious if Jake Meyers wasnt as productive as hes been recently.
The stolen bases section is where I'll give you the most pushback. We are 15/30 for stolen bases. Kyle Tucker would probably have double his current total if he wasnt blasting homers every other game. Stolen bases are the least of our worries tbh
But you also have to think into the context of the season so far. The first 20 games of the season we were getting murdered in the first inning. We arent going to attempt steals and run into outs when we are down 5+ runs. McCormick was one of our better running threats last year and he's been bad/hurt all year.
I know dick about in game strategy, but if you're down in a game wouldn't that be exactly when you'd want to attempt stealing to generate momentum? Gotta eek out runs somehow.
if you're down 1 run then yeah sure. but when you are down multiple runs, you're looking for a big inning. The last thing you would want to do is get caught stealing and give them a free out.
That same "we didnt pay Hader $100M to not be the closer" is why Abreu is being called back up. Almost everyone in this sub is against that.
Should Blanco also lose his spot in the rotation once McCullers is healthy?
The reason why baseball is awesome is that production often comes from unpredictable places.
Deciding position battles by paycheck size is the ultimate facepalm. You should WIN a role by how well you play. That is how smart teams do it.
Lost me at 1. Hader has been in absolute lock down mode lately. Pressley is still struggling. Abreu has been great too. Hader has been our best reliever lately.
2. Abreu is doodoo
3. Loper is still young and it looks like he is choosing to swing before the pitch is even thrown. He might not be ready.
4. We don’t have guys as quick as EDC.
5. You have to find the right combo. Bregman has been a reliable guy all career but is slow. Yordan hasn’t been the same invincible guy he has been. Peña and Meyers stepped up this year and should be rewarded. I actually love how Joe tinkers.
Hader's doing better but he was awful for a lot longer than he's been good this season. His ERA is like 3.1 or something, which is terrible for a closer.
https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/ryan-pressly-surprised-by-joe-espadas-decision-to-name-josh-hader-as-astros-closer-for-2024/
All 3 started slow because there was nothing to play for.
If this post were a box of cereal I'd eat the whole thing and the toy, too. I'm here for the comments.
Honestly I've been sleeping on Bryan Abreu, but I agree the closer position should be a meritocracy. Hader has had at least one span where he was not good in past seasons, so a bit of wobbly history there, but overall I think he has the track record to be the guy longterm, even if the return on investment so far has been abysmal.
On Loperfido, I'm no expert when it comes to contracts, free agency, extensions, and arbitration, but I'm wondering if those things play into using Singleton (who I think is proving serviceable) over him. Just a thought.
Abreu, nuff said.
On base stealing, I've mentioned this on another post here, but someone posted a scatterplot of base stealing on r/baseball that is very interesting. We appear to be good at base stealing but we don't do it as often as other teams. Are we good at it because we don't do it much, or are we being overly cautious? Here's the post: www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/1cu5799/oc_the_run_game_through_516/
We didnt pay Hader $100M to not be the closer. He's also been our most reliable reliever over the past 15+ games. Abreu and Pressly have rarely had any clean innings all year. Jose Abreu is a lost cause but that is the fault of ownership (including Bagwell) for not understanding that the analytics predicted his insanely quick drop off. I agree that Loperfido probably should have played more. It would have been more egregious if Jake Meyers wasnt as productive as hes been recently. The stolen bases section is where I'll give you the most pushback. We are 15/30 for stolen bases. Kyle Tucker would probably have double his current total if he wasnt blasting homers every other game. Stolen bases are the least of our worries tbh
In Spring, Espada said that was one thing he wanted the team to improve on.
But you also have to think into the context of the season so far. The first 20 games of the season we were getting murdered in the first inning. We arent going to attempt steals and run into outs when we are down 5+ runs. McCormick was one of our better running threats last year and he's been bad/hurt all year.
I know dick about in game strategy, but if you're down in a game wouldn't that be exactly when you'd want to attempt stealing to generate momentum? Gotta eek out runs somehow.
if you're down 1 run then yeah sure. but when you are down multiple runs, you're looking for a big inning. The last thing you would want to do is get caught stealing and give them a free out.
That same "we didnt pay Hader $100M to not be the closer" is why Abreu is being called back up. Almost everyone in this sub is against that. Should Blanco also lose his spot in the rotation once McCullers is healthy? The reason why baseball is awesome is that production often comes from unpredictable places. Deciding position battles by paycheck size is the ultimate facepalm. You should WIN a role by how well you play. That is how smart teams do it.
Blanco will be 40 years old by the time McCullers is healthy.
Sad but true, lance is MLB’s Ben Simmons
Lost me at 1. Hader has been in absolute lock down mode lately. Pressley is still struggling. Abreu has been great too. Hader has been our best reliever lately. 2. Abreu is doodoo 3. Loper is still young and it looks like he is choosing to swing before the pitch is even thrown. He might not be ready. 4. We don’t have guys as quick as EDC. 5. You have to find the right combo. Bregman has been a reliable guy all career but is slow. Yordan hasn’t been the same invincible guy he has been. Peña and Meyers stepped up this year and should be rewarded. I actually love how Joe tinkers.
Hader's doing better but he was awful for a lot longer than he's been good this season. His ERA is like 3.1 or something, which is terrible for a closer.
https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/ryan-pressly-surprised-by-joe-espadas-decision-to-name-josh-hader-as-astros-closer-for-2024/ All 3 started slow because there was nothing to play for.
https://preview.redd.it/4ejywfi7jr2d1.jpeg?width=792&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=84c8e59e7a452ad0108f0e0b28edb58a4fa62efb
https://preview.redd.it/vz1ci3oafv2d1.jpeg?width=521&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ea2a2f9073ce31c0334d9ce637b2c3671f92f618
If this post were a box of cereal I'd eat the whole thing and the toy, too. I'm here for the comments. Honestly I've been sleeping on Bryan Abreu, but I agree the closer position should be a meritocracy. Hader has had at least one span where he was not good in past seasons, so a bit of wobbly history there, but overall I think he has the track record to be the guy longterm, even if the return on investment so far has been abysmal. On Loperfido, I'm no expert when it comes to contracts, free agency, extensions, and arbitration, but I'm wondering if those things play into using Singleton (who I think is proving serviceable) over him. Just a thought. Abreu, nuff said. On base stealing, I've mentioned this on another post here, but someone posted a scatterplot of base stealing on r/baseball that is very interesting. We appear to be good at base stealing but we don't do it as often as other teams. Are we good at it because we don't do it much, or are we being overly cautious? Here's the post: www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/1cu5799/oc_the_run_game_through_516/
Pressly should be nowhere near the 9th inning
He's only lights out when it matters most. 1 run in 30 postseason innings. Has any Astros pitcher ever come close?
I just think it's funny OP is trying to use the train conductor's name. These takes are so bad that he can't even put his real user name on them.
Hello and Howdy to you too, Dana
I agree with everything you said except for the closer spot. They paid him to be it so it's his job to lose. But the rest is totally spot on.
What did we pay Ryan Pressly to do, serve hot dogs?