Official 2022 Astros season thread

[Benno]

I think that the Stros will have to pivot some, which is a nice way to say that they need to find more consistent offensive production than last year. Losing JV will hurt, no doubt about it, but they potentially have the arms to at least replace a fair number of those wins. Brown only made two starts as a late season call up and McCullers only 8 in his return from injury.

Odorizzi isn’t that big of a loss… maybe a slightly better than league average pitcher who was only in the rotation because McCullers was hurt. He was an all or nothing kind of guy who had frequent meltdowns on the mound that completely took his team out of the game.

Given that the vast majority of those arms (4 of the five and McCullers is locked up) are under team control and that constructing a roster is a zero sum game for most teams, that 43 mill can be spent other places… LF, catcher, and CF (if anybody can find a serviceable CF these days) being the obvious holes remaining. The issue is that a lot of those arms (Garcia and Javier especially) have problems making it into, much less past, the sixth. Gonna be a lot more stress on the BP this year unless they figure out how to get deeper or raise the offensive output a lot. That’s why they’re going after Abreu, Contreras, Benintendi, etc.

That being said… it’s baseball and anything could happen. You can lose three starters to hangnails or Maldonado could hit .290 with 30 bombs (not likely). We are just going to have to wait and see.

Nail on the head. JV’s wins don’t have to be replaced with a sub 2era pitcher, they can be replaced with offense. Astros had their 2nd lowest batting average this year of the last 7yrs. They already made 1 move to improve the offense and have proven they are not scared to make moves at the trade deadline to improve in areas. We still have pitching the entire league is envious of, our infield is set, we have 2 outfielders that hit for average and power. If Contreras wants to win another World Series we’ll have a .250 catcher. The only real question is who is going to come in 2nd in the AL west.

[Dale Moser]

Nail on the head. JV’s wins don’t have to be replaced with a sub 2era pitcher, they can be replaced with offense. Astros had their 2nd lowest batting average this year of the last 7yrs. They already made 1 move to improve the offense and have proven they are not scared to make moves at the trade deadline to improve in areas. We still have pitching the entire league is envious of, our infield is set, we have 2 outfielders that hit for average and power. If Contreras wants to win another World Series we’ll have a .250 catcher. The only real question is who is going to come in 2nd in the AL west.

Oh don't misunderstand me, they are still in a fantastic position. There can be no question about that. And as a Ranger fan, I'm still envious of the pitching. Like I said, I really enjoy the process of roster building, and this time of year.

[MacDaddy67]

$360 million for 9 years for AA RON......for a guy that strikes out 180 times a year....

Yankees have money to burn

[Snowflake Killa]

$360 million for 9 years for AA RON......for a guy that strikes out 180 times a year....

Yankees have money to burn

I'm glad they signed him. Crazy money and good for him

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[Ag 96]

$360 million for 9 years for AA RON......for a guy that strikes out 180 times a year....

Yankees have money to burn

Got to admire a guy who bets on himself and wins, which he certainly did. Also, 40/year for the 2022 Judge is well worth it under this pay scale but… let’s see how that ages! I’m not sure it’s going to work out for the Yanks and the 2026-2032 version of Judge!

[rtp]

Think he’ll hit more than 40 homers next year? Of course the mlb might continue to feed the yanks juiced balls for their park so it’s hard to make an over under number.


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[El General]

Pitcher wins don’t mean shiat.

[rtp]

Pitcher wins don’t mean shiat.

Probably the most worthless stat in baseball.

[Bayouboy]

Contreras > Cards

[bowmansdad]

I think that McCullers is crucial for a repeat, he’s been hit or miss and injury prone. He could help by winning 15 games or so or trade him for offensive/ position help which would be difficult. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens for all the teams.

[zztex]

Aledmys Diaz to A’s, 2 years $14.5

[kevin nicholls]

That might open a spot for Yuli

[Quackerbox]

Aledmys Diaz to A’s, 2 years $14.5

Thats the first name Ive seen bounce that I was sad to see go. And just mildly for him.

[zztex]

Thats the first name Ive seen bounce that I was sad to see go. And just mildly for him.

He should be a starter for them

[Ag 96]

Think he’ll hit more than 40 homers next year? Of course the mlb might continue to feed the yanks juiced balls for their park so it’s hard to make an over under number.


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I note that there’s nothing on the ESPN website about the ball issue! A little too much $$$ invested to write a story over it???