caulfield12

I feel like we heard this for about five years in regards to Brian Anderson....Torii Hunter Lite, etc.

He’s always been seen as one of those guys who was wealthy enough to be part of an ownership group (if he was actually interested)...so no surprise he would think of building the type of mansion or estate that would require a five full years to complete.

But they did have the advantage of the Rizzo/Hoyer “gift” trade and Baez already in the system...

Now showing after tonight’s game on the big board as an added bonus for ever-patient fans, Brokeback Mountain.... “Truth is, sometimes I miss you so much I can hardly stand it. You sit down before I knock your ignorant ass into next week! I wish I knew how to quit you. Brokeback got us good, didn't it? You know it could be like this, just like this always...”

A team that can threaten for the playoffs quite frequently consider they have the Astros in their division, the second-worst stadium in baseball and quite limited financial resources. As recently as 2014, one of the best teams in baseball...and then again last year, and competing in 2019. If we went by your “standard,” then the Friedman/Maddon Rays and this decade’s Indians are also not successes? Beane has had to completely rebuild that team like 3 or 4, maybe 5 times now... Lets just put it this way. If both of them were fired tomorrow, how many owners would choose Hahn over Beane?

They have a remarkable record with their top draft choices since Castro....even the clear mistakes they have made, Appel instead of Bryant and then Aiken the following year, that directly led to Bergman, Tucker and Daz Cameron (big part of Verlander deal). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Houston_Astros_first-round_draft_picks

Yes, in Stone’s analogy, Frank Lloyd Wright is the designer/architect...which is pretty much the equivalent of Luhnow/Epstein/Friedman. Or the unfinished house got destroyed by a tornado and there wasn’t yet any homeowner’s insurance in place.

Next year there won’t be the injury excuse and they will have unprecedented financial flexibility. Yet Hahnbot will still be able to talk his way out of trouble, probably by sacrificing Renteria and promising the new coaching staff will have the same effect as pre-2012 changes did in turning things around.

Yeah, the breakdown of the clubhouse in 15-16 and end of Ventura Era had to have played a role...and no players left from 2005 with Konerko retired. Seems that Abreu quote hasn’t blown up at all or been interpreted as a shot at Hahn...more just missing Anderson’s leadership, Eloy’s bat and also acceptance/awareness that they would have to wait on Robert and Madrigal until 2020 in all likelihood.

https://deadspin.com/baseball-writer-jonah-keri-arrested-charged-with-assau-1836532809 Jonah Keri arrested for third assault/domestic violence against his wife in 2018-19. Suspended from The Athletic and won’t appear anymore on The Score.

He made almost as good a play when the game was tied in the bottom of the 8th yesterday. Runners on 1st and 2nd, 1 out...dribbler to second, batter out at first. Hosmer throws across to Tatis, who has to sprint from the second base bag nearly all the way to 1B to tag out Granderson (caught in a rundown) a half step before he reaches first and before the runner from second can score the go ahead run. That is the textbook definition of DRS. He also K’d twice, homered and got a tough scorer’s ruling on a feed to Kinsler which should have been caught but glanced off his glove.

Via his Twitter feed... https://mobile.twitter.com/stevestone We can’t tell anyone how to feel or when to vent. We can’t tell you how to express your frustration. That’s up to you. Do what you need to do. Just remember that there are many people in life who are behind you win or tie. Let it all out. Stay with us or don’t. Your choice... A beautiful house takes 5 yrs to build. The builder tells you that. After 2.5 years you rant and rave that it’s not good. Is that shocking to you? It’s an instant gratification society. You’re not happy. We get it. The job is halfway done. Enjoy the process or don’t. Up to you... Slumps are frustrating. Bad baseball isn’t cause for celebration. The “all is lost” fan view is no more realistic than sizing the rings after a hot streak. Plenty of twists and turns. We’ll be here every game as will the team giving our best. Sometimes it’s not good enough... Sometimes when you lose a player you lose his stats and not much else. When Tim Anderson went down the Sox lost they’re (their) identity. He brings a swagger and aggressiveness to the team that is greatly missed. His bravado is his calling card. He’ll lead this team. It’s who he is...

God help us all if it’s not Robert and Madrigal he’s referring to. 95% it’s just Luis Robert, though.

Except good for years to come now has a defined three year shelf life for Moncada and Giolito, logically assuming next season’s just a .500ish year and sitting squarely on the periphery of wild card contention. The Cubs are currently in Year 5 of their window and still have at least two more years to go before everything falls apart. To make an analogy, it would be like Bryant and Lester both being free agents at the end of this year, essentially. Could the Cubs still contend in 2020 if they (theoretically) lost those two? Well, maybe...if Darvish is for real again.

Lifetime MLB totals Adam Engel -0.6 fWAR Charlie Tilson -0.8 fWAR Ryan Cordell -0.8 fWAR Trayce Thompson +0.4 fWAR

Scapegoat.

Where he would go on to have a Piranha-like (think Lew Ford) career and be celebrated for his New Trierness.

No reason not to play Reed and Collins everyday and see what they have...record doesn’t matter anymore, if it ever did.

One more month until we get into the heart of the dog days of August. Tough watch without Anderson and Jimenez.

He almost is as fast as Durham, but he just doesn’t like to steal bases. Not cool to play the game that way anymore, I guess. Robert probably ends up the same way, too much fear of injuries.

We need fastball hitters. Abreu’s increasingly losing bat speed. Collins would have to massively retool his swing, Reed has a long/extended swing as well. Jose did a good job to pull his hands in and at least make contact, but he’s not driving those mid 90’s and above fastballs in recent weeks. The one I remember was against Boston, but haven’t been following every game this year.

Without Anderson and Jimenez...and McCann tailing off, we probably have the most boring offense in baseball. Moncada and Abreu are the last two legit hitters remaining (for now.)

His last 15 games, McCann is down to a 563 OPS, 8/40 in the month of July. Prior to that, 966, 886, 863 over his first three months, pretty remarkable consistency. 2.0 fWAR, on pace for 3.2-3.5 but falling off now.

If Seattle wins by 4 or more tonight, we’re the third worst team in baseball by run differential but still likely to end up picking 6th-8th next June.

I miss the days when you’d come up some almost plausible optimistic burns the Sox would have to go on to catch the division leaders. Those days are long gone.