Weighing Houston Astros TOP offseason PRIORITIES!

Welcome to Stone Cold Stros. I’m Brandon Strange with Charlie Pulo and Josh Jordan. Go follow both of them on X at Polo and Josh Jordan 975. On today’s episode, the Astros finished the season with a series win and I think we can all agree how impressive that is after having really nothing to play for already having secured the silver boot. So, what can we say? Mission accomplished. Uh, you know, there’s that whole other matter of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2016. We’ll get into that and what will be the most intriguing Houston off season since I guess the last one. Before all that, hit like on the video, subscribe to the channel, click the bell. Uh we’re also on all your favorite podcast apps where you can listen to the episodes. Just search Stone Cold Stros. And while the Astros regular season may be over, fall and winter will still be Stone Cold season as we aren’t going anywhere. As Dr. Phil would say, we’ll keep it right here. Uh Charlie and Josh, welcome in. There’s an expression that sometimes people just can’t help themselves. And that was the final week of the regular season for Houston. Despite multiple opportunities to help themselves, they just couldn’t. Uh finishing out the final road trip six or excuse me, uh three and three and on the outside looking in the playoff brackets. Um, there are obviously big picture implications, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t at least give some thoughts on uh just the Angels series. Uh, not just that, but the final stretch in general. Uh, what were some of the final lessons learned down the stretch about the state of the 2025 Astros? Charlie, I don’t know if I’d call them lessons, but if we were writing the epitap, it would be, yeah, they had a lot of injuries, but they just weren’t good enough. Now, let me upfront for those who are with pitchforks and torches. Two completely meaningless wins obviously the last two days. Christian Walker with a big two home run game Saturday and then a four home run outburst on Sunday. The season died with the road trip 1 and3 when they lost to the Angels when they had a three nothing early lead and didn’t score again their 82nd time this season ticking over half the schedule 82 games where they failed to score more than three runs. They go three and 33 in the last 36 such games. Uh just not a good enough team. We’ve talked about the pitching injuries, especially the starting pitching injuries, overblown in alibi for the Astros season. I want to dig in a little on Yordon Alvarez, right? The Sunday win in results that they made up a game and actually finished tied in the standings for the last wild card. Immaterial, but they won 87 games. Last season, they won 88. The year before that, they won 90. and it was enough to ek out the division both years. So, it’s not as if they had this precipitous fall all the way to 87 wins. It’s just the Mariners were better. Came to town, beat the hell out of the Astros, and that was that. But, as we talked about really over a couple of seasons worth, this is no longer a really good team. It’s an okay team, but not good enough to overcome too long a stretch this season where it was a bad team, right? 30 and 40 over a 70game stretch to their elimination. But 87 wins, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Look at the New York Mets who into June had the best record in baseball at 45 and 24. They went 38 and 55 the rest of the way and missed the playoffs entirely. Well, as it worked out, the topheavy National League, 83 wins, enough to get the Cincinnati Reds that last wild card. Location, location, location, 87 wins, not good enough to get the Astros in this year. But Yordon Alvarez, as Jim Crane, and anyone else in the Astros organization, medical staff, baseball staff, and then to those like us, fans, lessons learned. Don’t be jackasses in evaluating injuries. Do you think it’s possible that Yordon Alvarez, who played what, 48 games the entire season without a misdiagnosis and then jerking around? And why would we send him for further examination, compounding the injury where he missed an additional month beyond if we give a pass the first time around in the fiasco, the additional month that Yordon missed. Yeah. Yeah, go take batting practice, big guy. You think he might have made the difference in one game? One and a half worth of war that could have put the Astros over the top into the postseason. Hey, Eso Paradis blew a hamstring missed a lot of time. Alex Bregman missed a lot of time. Gian Carlos Stanton played half the season. Toronto’s big free agent acquisition, Anthony Santandere, barely played. Bo Bashette, the American League hits leader, missed the last three weeks of the season. So, frankly, I don’t care about Paradus. Even Peña, that was a big loss. Injuries happen. Everyone deals with them, especially on pitching staffs. But Yordon, organizationally, the Astros self-inflicted the further wound that maybe kept them out of a ninth consecutive postseason. That was a big mistake, Charlie, for sure. And with margins this close, I mean, losing Yordon in the Rangers series and then you lose Pñena in the Mariners series, I think if you had those guys, you would have squeaked out another win. I mean, it was still that close. But they didn’t. They were hurt. And we can’t remember that what Frober has turned into down the stretch here. Outside of his final start, he was good. I know, but too little too late. How often we’ve been saying that? So, it’s been a lot of things. It’s just injuries, the team regressing, players not living up to expectations. It’s just just it wasn’t their year. They’re lucky they got off to a good start, but the injuries just kept coming and and they couldn’t overcome it. And then the reinforcements that you tried to get at the trade deadline, it just didn’t work. The offense was just awful after the trade deadline. And then the pitching got a lot worse, too. And even losing guys like Souza and Ort on top of losing hater. I mean, it’s just almost everybody but Ab Breu and King went down at some point in time. So, it was just one of those years where things snowballed in pretty much every area of the ball club. They took their lumps. And the other big thing is the farm system killed you because you’re not getting anything out of Bryce Matthews yet. I know he had a home run in the finale. Jacob Milton’s not somebody you’re counting on going forward. And Chandler Lar made a point in his article that the Astros went and and added Sanchez and Aras and Kare and all these guys because they weren’t confident in what they had in house and that farm system’s not looking any better at this point. So they got a lot of work in front of them. That’s for sure. Yeah, look there are so many angles and well it’s the longest off season we’ve had to spread out the content over a longer period of time than there’s been uh over a long period of time. Uh at one point during the season in games that Framber Valdez or Hunter Brown started the Astros had a record of 26 and9 then Frober went into his funk for a month and a half. Hunter Brown tailed off he didn’t fall off the table but Brown had a 184 erra through 17 starts over his final 14 starts 3.21 21, which is still very good, but when your bullpen faltered the second half of the season, the offense was never good. The Astros actually wind up eighth in the American League in runs scored per game. So, just below the middle, but we know it was too feast or famine and all the times where they didn’t even score four runs. Uh but the one two aces where the Astros were winning 75% of their starts into the second half of the season, they went 12 and 18 over the combined last 30 starts. Hunter Brown from Ber Valdez, that was not enough to hold up in a in a really close race. And on the offense, to just throw a couple of numbers, scoring this year was actually up slightly in the American League. The Astros finished the season scoring 54 fewer runs than they did in 2024. The Astros 2025 version scored 141 fewer runs than they did just two years ago in 2023. Most specifically, yes, Kyle Tucker was really missed. I mean, they gave over a thousand plate appearances to guys who offensively just stunk. And the thing is, most of them, the expectation was they would stink. Chaz McCormack was awful in 2024, worse in 2025, more than 100 plate appearances, but not as many as Taylor Trmell had, a career 177 hitter. Cooper Hmel, 104 plate appearances, 170 career hitter. Cam Smith the last three months of the season frankly belonged in the minor leagues. He hit 150 over his last 55 games or so and with much reduced playing time. And Mauricio Duban, he packed basically all of the good of his season into that one week mid-season where he hit four home runs in six games on that road trip. Just an awful, awful offensive player otherwise for a guy who’s not a good hitter. Basically has no power. He just swings it way too much. And he hit like 180 over his last 40 games. Uh Duban needs to go. You’re not paying him $7 million in arbitration unless Jim Crane just doesn’t care anymore about uh saving a dollar here or there. And just one more time, it’s after the season, but still feels attached to the season. While on the swinging at everything, Yiner Diaz and no fault at all with the Astros fine broadcast team of uh Todd Callas. Full disclosure, 35-y year friend of mine and Jeff Blum. But uh yeah, with that Texans Titans offensive to tour to force on, I just wanted to see what tone they took during the telecast, a completely devoid of meaning Astros game. And so Yiner Diaz pops his 20th home run, his 19th as a catcher. They did note that Yiner joined the 2020 club. 20 home runs and 20 walks. He finished with 20 walks in well over 550 plate appearances. That’s pathetic. His on base percentage of 284 is pathetic. Yanner Diaz has shown no self-improvement or no coached up improvement. However you want to parcel out the blame on that. Yiner Diaz as a rookie 23 home runs in 355 uh at bats. OPS well over 800. Second season OPS 766. Third season this season, OPS701. Not good. If he doesn’t get better, he should not be the Astros long-term catcher. Dot dot dot. Victor Keratini, free agent. Charlie, I want to circle back to what you first started talking about, which was the questions about the medical staff and their handling of injuries. Another insult to injury was in the final series of the season. and Jake Myers suffering a second setback on his calf that left them even more short-handed should they have even been able to play meaningful games in that final series. Um, in general, I think the lessons are there uh that uh in things absolutely must change if this season’s to be anything more than a hiccup in the big picture. Um the I know the disappointment and the wounds uh in the cases of some players, literal wounds are still very fresh. Uh a couple years from now, what do you think we’ll be saying about this season? Uh it’d be the year of all the injuries and the year that Carlos Koreah returned to the Astros. I I think those will be the the big things we remember and that we were really close. But just I mean we didn’t even talk about Luis Garcia blowing out his arm again and just they were just so snake bit this year and McCull’s going on the the IIL what four or five I mean just they were just so snake bit you and with pitching that stuff’s going to happen. I know and I’m looking at the rotation for next year, but as far as this year, yeah, Brandon, you’re you’re where you are because Jason Alexander was basically your third starter down the stretch and everybody else was hurt and you lost hater. And that’s another thing too with hater. I I know he had a terrific year this year before he got injured, but if we’re just looking at the big picture and that contract, first year he wasn’t good. Second year when you needed him down the stretch, down the stretch he just wasn’t available. So, it’s interesting that Jim Crane, he doesn’t like giving out these longer term deals to to starting pitchers, but they rolled the dice on hater. And as good as he’s been, uh that the value hasn’t come through for you yet. Unless you basically have no budget limitations, Mets, Dodgers, Yankees types, spending $19 million per year for a closer is silly. And that has proven out over two years. As outstanding as her was before going down, the Astros with Josh her through the first hundred games of the schedule, whatever, they lost one game that they led after eight innings. The final six weeks, two months that Josh her was cooked, the Astros lost one game that they led after eight innings just doesn’t make all that much difference, especially as you’re trying to balance payroll. You know, they pay no one now on their starting rotation any money except for Lance McCullers on the hook. One more year of 17 million there. Hunter Brown is going to get a bump in in salary arbitration, but not be a big money guy. And then to jump on payroll issues, three years of 66 million for Koreah is a problem. He was great the first nine games. His last 42 games, his OPS was 712. It’s 100 points lower than what Paradis was. Jose Altuve’s final 41 games this season. His LPS 611. The dangerous password is or pass phrase over the hill. Jose Altuve with four years $100 million left on the contract. His wins above replacement this year was about a half. That’s not a winning player. That is not a winning everyday starter. And let’s throw in Altbe. 612 hits shy of 3,000. Unless the Astros are garbage at some point or some years over the next four, I don’t think Aluve is getting to 3,000 during this contract. He played too much this year. I can’t say direct cause and effect. it resulted in him going down the drain down the stretch, but I’m quite confident it didn’t help that at 35 years old, even with the spotting him at DH about 50 times, um he was an awful awful player for a long, long stretch this season and wound up having the worst season since before Jose Altuve became a really good player. I’m talking going all the way back to 2013. That Altuve is going to get back to being great Jose Altuve at 36, 37. And now are we looking at their everyday second baseman again next year? Man, they have all kinds of stuff on their plate. Um, yes. And what I hope we’re talking about in the big picture a couple seasons from now is just how 2025 was just a hiccup. Uh, but it’s very much on the table that this could be the first of a run of missing the playoffs. I hope not. But the cupboard being bare in the farm system, uh the misfit money, some of which falls off the books during this off season is obviously a hurdle for this team. The questionable roster construction, which you guys have touched on, and just all of the questions surrounding the medical staff and the efficacy thereof. Um we mentioned that this will be uh intriguing. This will be an intriguing offseason to say the least with guys up for arbitration. uh questions not just acutely about the roster but organizationwide that could and should be addressed. What do you guys think that team’s top priorities will be and maybe just as importantly should be this off season? Offensively, I really think you cross your fingers really hard that you get say 125 games out of Yordon Alvarez 28 years old now still should be in his hitting prime. And how much left field can he play going into next year? He played a little more than I thought he might before he sprained that ankle. Um, I mean, is the primary outfield going to spring training going to be Jake Myers in center flanked by Cam Smith and Zack Cole? Better be crossing your fingers really hard. Cam Smith played like a minor leaguer the last three months. Now, he’ll only turn 23 years old during spring training. Zack call the raw power the raw tools really good but as we mentioned last week a 249 career hitter in the minor leagues and he’s already 25 years old so this isn’t some young phenom coming up but I think more hope for him than Jacob Melton who’s shown nothing other than that he can run and catch the ball in the batters box a guy in the minor leagues eh in the major leagues has looked hopelessly overmatched a Cole Meyers Smith outfield if Aluve is going to be in the infield nevertheless Les, I think it’s about the starting pitching. I just don’t see how you can be taken seriously as a top tier contender if you go to West Palm saying we have Hunter Brown, we have AJ Blue Ball, we have Jason Alexander, and we have a whole bunch of guys coming off injuries that, hey, two of them will probably be healthy and really good. Spencer Aragetti, you hope so, right? It was elbow inflammation. We haven’t heard he needs surgery yet. I mean, if you’re thinking Brandon Walter was just a really late bloomer, well, he’s done for 2026. Ronell Blanco’s done into 2026. Hayden Wesneski is done into 2026. And how much would you intelligently count on them anyway? See Christian Javier, the other guy who right now is inked in for 2025. Well, Christian Javier was last a good major league starter in 2022. I think they’re going to have to add a starting pitcher that you say the track record is and then you hope like hell the track record holds up is going to give you 160 170 innings of at least good solid stuff are the Astros as Jim Crane sets the payroll and the the plan of attack for Dana Brown presumptively Dana Brown to try to execute you know how deep in the pool can they swim right from if he’s going to get six years 180 good luck to you buddy except against the Astros Uh but Dylan CE or Michael King two very solid Padres starters except in CE’s case the ERA though the underlying numbers are really good huge strikeout guy 30 with the Astros say hey hey we’ll maximize uh his talents Zack Gallon Arizona Diamondbacks was terrible the first twothirds of the season then pitch the last third like a guy who’s been a top five Sai Young guy two three seasons if they can get in on someone in the three-year 60 to75 million level with frers’s money gone Abrau’s money finally gone. Monttero Presley, uh, the Astros should be able to get one established pretty good major league starting pitcher to add to a rotation in dire need of such a guy. Yeah, Dana Brown talked about that that they pitching is the top priority. He always says that and to Brandon’s point before we we shot the video, he doesn’t always behave that way even though he talks about pitching being such a priority. Look at the trade deadline. But yeah, I think you got to figure out frubber, which we know they’re they’re not going to give him that money. The other thing’s keratini. What are they gonna do there? We know the type of seasoner Diaz had. Keratini is a free agent. Dana Brown even said we got to figure out backup catcher. So that tells you he’s not super excited about what’s there with Keratini gone in the organization. Um the other thing you got to get this medical staff figured out. Clearly something’s going wrong, guys. When does anybody come back and not have a setback? It’s an outlier when somebody just has a normal return to play and see Jake Myers hurting himself again. I felt like they actually took a little time with him and still has the injury come back. Other thing, the log jam. What are you going to do with Pettis and Walker and Altuve and Yordon and Koreah and Pñena like how are you going to play all these guys? I don’t the idea of Pettis going to second base and does that mean that I don’t think he can play it and then is Altuve back to left field and then you still have the Yordon thing with dhing and playing the outfield? I they got to figure something out. They need a left-handed bat. That’s something Dana Brown brought up too. He said maybe the trademark it is where they go address left-handed bat. And they do kind of have this log jam I’m talking about. So I wouldn’t be surprised if we we see one of these guys on the move. And then the other big thing, and Dana was asked about this on the uh the pregame show, was they’re just too aggressive. Again, he he talked to the hitting coaches before the season and said, “We’re swinging too many pitches. We’re swinging it too many pitches out of the strike zone.” And basically, they were one of the worst teams in baseball. Once again, they made almost no improvement this year. They were just chasing pitches out of the zone, attacking too early, letting pitchers, you know, get through five innings with only throwing 40 pitches. It’s a big problem. and they did absolutely nothing to address that. So, I think that’s one of the biggest ones right there. Get get your medical staff figured out and and get a game plan. I know having Pettis back will help. He sees a lot of pitches, but it’s more than that. This is an organizational issue that’s been a problem for several years. They got to get their arms around this thing. And not one remotely premium hitting prospect in their minor league system at this point. We’re not going to count Xavier Nyions, a high school kid they just took, you know, where you’re thinking maybe by 2028 he can get into the mix. I I’ll be surprised at this point if there’s not a change uh at hitting coach or hitting coaches, even if it’s just cosmetic. I think they they’re going to have to do something uh from a PR standpoint at a minimum. medically. I want to be clear, I do not have this substantiated, but I was told by someone who knows someone who would be in the know that the Astros internally know a colossal botch job, numerous medical cases, but again, specifically on Yordon Alvarez, the timeline and the repeated ignorance or stupidity, however it went down, but it would be a public self-flogging or opening yourself up to it to say, “Yep, between us and the Methodist people, our medical partner, what a bleep show that was.” What I was told was one of the key Methodist Astros liaones was told, “You’re out of the picture. You’re out of the way. We’re not going to make an announcement about this because we look as bad as you do.” Uh, but that kind of turnover, the evaluation, and action may well have already begun. Yes. And and you guys touched upon all the the major aspects, but I do want to circle back to besides or beyond the hitting coaches getting scapegoed symbolically or for PR reasons, whatever happens on that regard, I think the strikeouts, the decision-m on the bases, and the offense’s inability to bring guys home in scoring position have to be addressed. This team absolutely must wait find a way to address the offense. So guys like Hunter Brown and whoever else you may bring in that’s part of that starting rotation actually get the run support they need to collect W’s. And we talked about this before we hit record here. But according to USA Today, Dana Brown has a club option this year. Uh so that is something that is up in the air. If Houston moves away from Dana Brown, I think there needs to be expediency if that’s the the way they go so that we don’t get a repeat of the offseason that followed the 2022 season, which is partially responsible for the place that we find this team at right now. Um, you know, and I know there’s a lot of people that, you know, want to see uh Joe Aspot’s head on a on a stake. I I’m not one of those. I think he’s earned another season. if this collapse happens with a full roster, I’d be fine with that. But that was not the case. He had to make food with ingredients available to him. So, it always goes, it was always going to be just some version of chicken salad or lemonade. And this version’s or this year’s dish was just having the best record of anyone not in the playoffs in the AL and a better record than the NL’s third wild card or whatever the case is. But, uh, there’s a lot of questions to be answered. Final thoughts before we jump out on this episode. Yeah. Best record of any team not in the postseason. That’s being the prettiest girl in the ugly room. Right. Right. That’s the 2025 Astros. Uh, to geek out a little bit on the offense without overwhelming with numbers. Mentioned the Astros finished eighth in the league in runs scored. You know who finished dead last? the Cleveland Guardians who make the incredible run and they’ll be playing postseason baseball. The other teams in the American League, uh Cleveland just an historical anomaly, dead last in the league in runs, their pitching was amazing. Detroit faltered. The other teams that scored fewer runs than the Astros in 2025 American League, the Twins who quit their season at the end of July and were playing a AAA club, the Texas Rangers who are playing a AAA lineup, the Orioles, the Angels, the Royals, the White Socks, everyone else not in the postseason with the Astros uh 2015 with the exception of the A’s and Rays who actually scored more runs than the Astros, but for pitching reasons and others also won’t be in the postseason. Uh, the Astros are no longer a really good team. They have budget issues. They have young, cheap labor issues. And they have aging players issues. And we went all the way through this without saying Christian Walker issue. That’s a concern. And you wonder if he could be one of those guys they try to try to move if they can find a partner. Obviously, the Astros have to kick in some money. I don’t think anybody’s beating down their door to get Christian Walker. We’ll see how that that goes. I’m just hoping they have a a quality off seasonason where they make some good moves. I’m with you, Brandon. If if you’re going to replace Dana Brown, okay, but have a plan. Have somebody that you have a lot of confidence in that you think is going to be better than Dana Brown. Don’t just do it just to do it or because the fans are upset or what have you. So, I think that’ll be the big one over this offseason. What happens with Joe Espatada? What happens with Dana Brown? You know, Dana said he thinks Joe did a good job, pushed a lot of the right buttons, that it was the injuries that that took them down. And if he’s right, there may be something to it because we haven’t seen this Astros lineup with the healthy Yordon and Pñena and Kareah and Jake Meyers and and all the guys they have now. They haven’t had any time of the season where all those guys were healthy at the same time. And I get it, injuries happen in baseball, but you’d at least like to get a a couple weeks where you have all your starters playing together. And I get it. Kareah came later in the year, but that is at least maybe a a silver lining looking forward that if if we can get all these guys actually healthy and playing together, and let’s hope maybe a little bit that that nagging foot issue is why Alt Touet’s production has fallen off. Maybe if he’s healthier next year, we’ll see a better version of Alt. Yeah. Despite the health issues, the pitching side of the ball was really able to absorb some of those losses a lot better than what the offensive side of the ball was able to. Um, so you we’ll we’ll see how they address those issues, but there there’s a misattri misattributed quote that goes, “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” The Astros announced their presence out of the gate in the 2020 2017 season and added an exclamation point with the franchise’s first championship. If the story had ended there, it would have been a good story, but it didn’t. More dramatic home runs, uh, rivals, rivalries with some of MLB’s biggest franchises, uh, one of the biggest scandals in baseball, which we could have done without, but it’s always going to be part of the story. seven straight ALCS appearances, three more World Series appearances, and one of the most dominant championship runs ever in 2022. Uh those of us who followed it will always remember names like George Springer, Carlos Koreah, Kyle Tucker, Justin Ferlander, Farmer Valdez, Lance McCullers, uh Yordon Alvarez, and others that I’m missing. But I don’t think any of them are more memorable or more dramatic than Jose Altuve. It’s been truly a golden era of not just Houston in sports, but one of the most dominant runs in all professional sports. It was uh in part the Astros 2004 and 2005 seasons, which reignited my love for sports and inspired me to pivot into sports media as a career. And it’s been an absolute privilege, not just having lived through this era, uh but being lucky enough to cover Houston sports professionally during this run. And while, you know, this season’s going to end disappointingly, it was, uh, another great season to follow the team, uh, not to mention being fortunate enough to get to do another season of this podcast with my friends and, uh, this community that supports the show on YouTube and iTunes, Spotify, and wherever else uh, you guys uh, consume uh, the podcast. And it’s built around all of our common interest in baseball and specifically the Astros. So, thanks to everybody. We don’t take this for granted and our plan is to keep doing this thing as long as you guys are willing to have us. One last reminder, if you’re watching on YouTube, be sure to click like on the video and if you listen on podcast on apps like Apple or Spotify, give us a fivestar rating while you’re here. For Charlie and Josh, I’m Brandon saying so long. Thanks for listening and as always, ghosts. [Music]

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45 comments

  1. The issue was not injuries, or the farm system. When our fullest strength lineup was on the field, we were a bottom third of the league offense. We need another top of the line bat, especially since Walker is so disappointing in big spots

  2. With all the injuries with starting putching and bullpen I think they did ok but they need to improve batting if our batting was any close to how Blue Jays are palying we would be in the playoffs for sure

  4. “They’re used to watching playoff baseball and they look forward to that every single year,” Correa said to Rome Sunday. “We were not able to accomplish that this year, but we promise our fans in Houston this offseason is going to be one of a lot of hard work. We’re all going to get better. Next year will be one to remember.” – Carlos Correa
    *
    Blah, Blah, Blah… loser speak, what a great slogan for the Astros and their push to sell season tickets… "Next year will be one to remember"
    *
    Oh then there's Dana Brown gonna have a "complete look" at operations… including the manager. WHAT?! Hell, Jim Crane better look completely at Dana Brown as well.
    *
    Bring back A.J. Hinch and Jeff Luhnow

  5. Charlie wearing his funeral black shirt today lol.

    Guys, keep up the great work. Although it was a frustrating season for Astros fans, I know many of us enjoyed your show. It really is the best content for Houston Astros baseball on YouTube. Happy to hear that you guys aren’t going anywhere!

  6. Missing the playoffs is totally unacceptable!!! There are NO excuses anymore… we Astros fans depend perfection, and making the playoffs every year.

  8. Upon closer inspection of the Astros' final statistics, I've come to a realization. The team scored 686 runs and allowed 665, indicating that their offense was merely average, which ultimately led to their downfall.

  9. Missing the playoffs sucks, but if we are honest, this team was not playing well enough to make noise in the playoffs anyway. Astros fans have been really spoiled. We take making the playoffs for granted. I understand the negative tone, but you completely ignored Zach Cole? Cole, DeZenzo, Matthews and Cam Smith do offer some young talent for the future. My biggest criticism of the Astros was their hitting approach. Paredes was the one hitter that seemed to understand what a 2 strike approach is. Carlos Correa brings great leadership and should be part of the team next year. Anyone that understands baseball knows that a championship team must have great pitching. My hope is that Brown finds a way to extend Hunter and go find a few arms for next year.

  11. Prediction: AJ Hinch and his Tigers will be a perennial playoff team for years to come. The Astros? They look like a group of trauma patients after a tornado blew through

  13. Kyle Tucker trade was a failure. Even with 3 players in return, Tucker still gave the Cubs more WAR. Yordan saw 4 hand specialists, not sure what Charlie is talking about here.

  14. This team has no real future in the farm system right now. If the A's ever get consistent pitching, we are looking at 3rd place at best in the AL West going forward. I hate say it, but it might be time to blow it up.

  15. Keep Walker as DH, Yordan lf. Cole at cf and Smith at rf. Our line up looks great healthy. Starting pitching and Bull pen needs to be addressed in the office season. Other talent like Matthews are moving up so offense should click. Id go as far as putting Cole as clean up to get runs in.

  16. The front office is the problem. They have gotten high on their own supply. Also, the idea that you can strikeout constantly and be fine is ridiculous. Teams that win championships strikeout the least.

  18. Sure, injuries ate this team up, but let's not forget…the last six weeks of the season, this batting lineup was unbeatable on paper, and they tanked. You know who the usual suspects are, I'm not gonna harangue them…too much.

    Altuve spent the last third of the season swinging at pitches caught in the left batter's box. Walker was presented perfectly hittable pitches and just could not connect, I mean aside from weak popups to shallow center field. The fact that he led the team in home runs is amazing in itself. Even Pena and Correa fell to sliders and sweepers in the dirt. It was painful to watch. They just couldn't lay off them.

    So, lessons learned? Hell, if I could answer that, I'd be working in a suite at Daikin. My worry is that Espada will be the fall guy. Maybe his bullpen management was suspect from time to time, but given what he had to work with? Yeah, "fall guy" will be his epitaph.

  23. The team that Jeff Luhnow built has either gotten old or are playing for other teams. Springer in Toronto. Bregman in Boston. Tucker in Chicago with the Cubs. All playoff teams. Brown hasn’t done anything but keep the chair in his office warm. They need to get Luhnow back as GM.

  28. Well I was right on the amount of wins. I didn't see them going 6-6 int eh final 12 the way they did, but swings and round abouts I guess. Sucks losing a playoff spot due to a tie breaker, but those are the rules. They now have some hard decisions to make going forward. Personally I think they need to move some talent. Yainer Diaz might bring in something good and possibly Hader. They also need to consider moving Pena. The reason I suggest this is I'm not convinced this wasn't a career year for him. I called it with Blanco last year, I said they needed to trade him. I called it with Chas in 2023. The only difference is Pena even at his average is still a useful player whereas those 2 were way above what they normally do. But they really need to consider selling high on him. But they won't so hopefully he legit made adjustments and he will be this player from now on.

  31. Time to clean house on the hitting staff. Chase numbers are way too high and ops so low. There were rare cases where the hitters had a plan for a pitcher other than swing away…Medical staff also needs to go. Strength and conditioning next ones to be evaluated so many soft tissue injuries… yes some were flukey but other injuries are preventable.

  37. I’m really not understanding the takes here…they need to find consistency in their lineup construction, but the talent is there. They were the most injured team in baseball history. Figure out the medical staff, add a front line starter, and add a couple high leverage arms to the bullpen. Not cosmic. Correa, Peña, Paredes, and Walker will be your starting infield. Rotate Altuve between 2B, DH, and LF.

  38. You guys, sheesh. You waffle more than Eggos. Not sure why they hate on Brown in the chat. I didn’t like the guy either to start with, but he’s been active in trying to keep this team at the top. They were 55-35 without Yordan. And then Pena, Meyers, Peredes, and half a dozen other players went to the IR including your AS closer.

    And I don’t agree with Charlie. Pretty hard to talk records when you’ve been hampered by injuries to your superstars the last two seasons. You can’t have it both ways. Is the team regressing or is it injuries. I get you’re frustrated and feel everyone should just be good enough to beat everyone but that’s not how it works. Does this team need to be looked at yes, but it’s not devoid of talent by any means. And Josh, come on man, Crain spends money but I don’t like how he does it, so he doesn’t spend money? Which is it? And oh by the way, again, the injuries crushed this team, period.
    And Brandon, the cupboard being bare? How, where? I keep hearing that, but see ex-Astros on teams everywhere. Smith, and a half dozen minor leaguers played this year. Some extremely well. Especially since the Astros pitching staff led all of MLB in strikeouts.

  39. Espada overused Hader. Played him in too many nonsave situations. If he were still available, Stros could have avoided the blown saves by Abreu & most likely make the playoffs.

  41. Replace Espada as well as hitting coach. Revamp the conditioning and training staff. Vet players need to reflect on their lack of crunch time performance. Altuve and Walker and Diaz most of all.

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