Brownie19

Pete Walker couldn't fix me a sandwich.

Speaking of the Astros. McCullers is registered as having a sinker and not a 4 seam fastball too. Based on pitch usage, Godley is essentially McCullers minus 5 MPH

Maybe we can trade for a new pitching coach too?

I mean if you're trying to cause chaos, at least quote his 2015 4 seam velocity (93.1 MPH) and compare it to 2019 (87 MPH) and call it a 6.1 MPH drop!

He's following in Big Papi's shoes.

Where are you getting that from? Fangraphs says: Under 'Pitch Info Pitch Velocity' Cutter - 90 MPH in 2017 to 88.6 MPH this year (thrown 14% of the time) Sinker - 91.9 MPH to 90.0 MPH (thrown 34.2% of the time) Curveball - 83.4 MPH to 81.8 MPH (thrown 45.5% of the time) Under 'Pitch Type' Fastball - 91.9 MPH to 89.9 MPH (89.9 MPH in 2018) - thrown 34% Cutter - 89.9 MPH to 88.5 MPH (88.9 MPH in 2018) - thrown 15% Curveball - 83.4 MPH to 81.8 MPH (81.5 MPH in 2019) - thrown 45% Based on that, we're looking at about 2 MPH drop from 2017, but little to no change from last year. Based on the pitch values - the effectiveness of his curve ball has really dropped off. But seriously guys...this guy was as good as '2016 Sanchez' in 2017 and was still a quality starter in 2018. It's too bad the media and some fans won't recognize this at all and praise Atkins for such a shrewd move.

You tank by playing shittier players and tell people you're 'giving them an opportunity to prove themselves' or 'we want to see what we have with these guys' The reality is, we probably have a bit too much talent on the roster now to really tank. Trading Sanchez and releasing Edwin Jackson really hurt our chances. We want the young guys to succeed and as a result, we probably fall to the 5th to 8th pick. Do I care? Not really. I'd rather have the 1st overall pick obviously, but not at the expense of our young players failing.

Are you trying to argue that players weren't using greenies from about 1970 (or earlier) until they were banned in the mid 2000's? It was to baseball what steriods were in the late 1990's and 2000's man. Extensive use throughout the game.

We'll see. All I'm saying is Houston's traded a number of positional players who tore up the minors without giving them an extended look in the majors. Some of those guys have thrived when given the opportunity in other organizations. Santana's posted a 3.1 WAR season, Davis is at 1.6 WAR over 297 PA's this year, Villar's had a 3 WAR season and a couple more 2+ WAR seasons. Those would be pretty nice outcomes for Fisher. Point being - the narrative seems to be a bit that the mighty Astros FO is one of the best in the business and can do no wrong. If they don't want Fisher, he must suck. Just trying to note they've let some good ball players go via trade the past few years.

Who the f*** are you?

Of interest, Jason Frasor was on the radio broadcast tonight talking about what it was like to be a rookie in the majors. He gave a lot of credit to Pat Hengten and a few other guys. He also said that Doc never gave much time to rookies and that he was super intimidated and scare being around Doc. Thought that was interesting.

Then stop following the team. f*** me. We traded for a talented guy - why not get excited about that and see what he can do instead of making uneducated judgments? You know next to nothing about being a GM or the game of baseball - yet you jump to an immediate conclusion. This is what's wrong in today's society.

Why do you think greenies and coke were so wildly used throughout the league? The quality of baseball is so high you simply can't play at 75% these days.

You need playing time to prove yourself. Don't look, but Houston has a pretty solid history of players who crushed the minors and were never really given a chance to prove themselves at the ML level. Kyle Tucker, J.D. Davis, Fisher, Tyler White, Domingo Santana, Jonathan Villar. Davis, Santana and Villar all excelled in other organization once they were given a chance. Tucker's still considered a top 15 prospect who's stuck in AAA and now White and Fisher have a chance with new organizations. Fisher clearly has pop. You can say he's in the PCL, but wRC+ is league adjusted and he's well above average. Give him a f***ing chance.

That's BS. The grind of the major league schedule + all the added travel is a real thing. We understand the body more now than we ever did and teams invest significant money into it these days...they know what they're doing.

I'll assume Ross didn't ask this in the form of a question and you're simply adding that. He's posted 14 BB% in AAA the past 2 years and a 16.5 BB% in is only year in AA. I guess I'd question the use of the word 'elite' - but that's subjective. Plus his EV is 3rd in the MLB this year. The reality is, he has A LOT of similar traits that Grichuk has...but he comes with significantly better plate discipline.

I saw that s*** and thought the same thing. Pathetic.

BTW - that 57,000 per game average by the Rockies in 1994 is the MLB record. That is insane over an 82 home game season. I was too young to really understand why, but with that in context, the strike in 1994 seems crazy. Based on attendance, baseball was booming and was as healthy as it's ever been. I guess that was the issue - the greedy Owner's weren't sharing enough of the pot. Dumb asses.

in 1994 - the Expos were the best team in baseball. They drew 24,500 on average in a stadium that holds like 56,000. That was 19th overall out of 28 MLB teams. The Rockies averaged 57,000 that year, the Jays? 49,200. Even the Marlins averaged almost 33,000 in 1994. 1979-1981 was the first time the Expos were every good and contending and yes, they drew well then compared to the rest of the league....but that didn't happen in 1992-1994 when they were good again. In those years, they were in the bottom half of the league in attendance.

Man - their average attendance over the last 7 years was 10,322. I'm sure with a new stadium and team, they would draw well. The question is whether that's sustainable or not. May depend on Ownership. I'd love to see a team return to Montreal - but typically I don't support relocation based on attendance. Of note, the Cubs drew on average just 9,752 per game in 1981 - 3rd last in the majors (just above Minny and SD). I'm pretty happy the Cubs didn't get relocated.

Remember when the Astros traded another 26 year old AAAA player? He's now hitting .300/.369/.498 131 wRC+ after finally being given some extended playing time in the majors. J.D. Davis should give us some hope that Fisher becomes a quality player.

Great point. The Expos were always known for their awesome attendance.

Fair points; however: 1. Almost everyone thought Pittsburgh stole Archer from TB. He's young and signed well below his value. 2. I believe most also thought Seattle got ripped off in the Cano/Diaz deal. Very similar to the Archer trade. That said, getting Kelenic and Dunn has turned out pretty awesome. 3. Wood + Puig likely had similar value to Stro. They got Jeter (45 FV) and Josiah Gray (50 FV). MLB.com had Kay and SWR both as 50 FV players...... I'll admit Pham for nothing was amazing. TB front office is on another level. If #1 and #2 are any indication....hopefully the tables will turn on this universally horrible deal for Stroman as quick as it did on the Archer and Cano/Diaz deals.

Most of those Yankee trade examples you gave were from 2017 or earlier. The market for prospects collapsed in 2018 and 2019...as did the value of veterans like Smoak, Pillar, etc. The returns we've gotten over the past 2 years are very similar to other deals in baseball. That exacerbates your issue re: timing; however, if their hands were in fact tied by Ownership, then that muddies the waters. I don't think anyone thought the market would go from Quintana for Eloy down to Gray for the 3 marginal guys the Yankees gave up to get him. BTW - Gray gives you a good example of how much the market collapse as even the GREAT Cashman traded Gray for next to nothing. The collapse of the market has caught almost all of MLB by surprise. The White Sox have to be viewed as brilliant as they managed to unload Quintana and Easton for massive hauls right before it happened. Cashman stole Torres too right before it collapsed. Who knows when the FO got approval to tear down this team. Maybe they had the ability the whole time, maybe Rogers stopped them until this year. Tough to judge without that information. At least in the meantime, they were able to create payroll flexibility, while building depth within the farm system.

Cite the case that illustrates better value was available. It's all relative man. Look at the deals made in 2018 and 2019 and let us know where the GM cleaned up. I'll give you one to start. Luke Voit.