More Astros mess

[gunnarthor]

Man, the Astros are the team that never stops giving.  Now there are reports that the GM and manager don't get along - to the point the manager has gone to the owner and the GM is accussed of living in his own little bubble and seems incapable of not insulting people.

http://deadspin.com/reports-astros-manager-and-gm-definitely-not-getting-a-1628531365

 

So, Astros have - 

1) drafted Appel, who has sucked, and passed on Bryant and Grey

2) drafted Correa and passed on Buxton

3) drafted Aiken, burned that bridge, got some gas, lit that on fire, called in a bomber, dropped payload and lost the 1-1 pick.  And a 5th round pick.  And are facing grievances by potentially both.  Also pissed off an incredibly powerful agent.  Worst case scenario, they could actually lose future first round picks.

4) Correa got hurt.

5) Leaked internal memos that showed they were a bit out of touch - "Norris for Bundy"?  Somehow the Orioles didn't bite on that.

6) Asked one of the top 10 prospects in the game to sign a team friendly deal and, when he refused, sent him to the minors for "seasoning."  Union threatened to look into it.

7) Are avg about 104 losses per year for the last four seasons.

8) Got a zero home TV rating.

9) Pissed of the vets on the team by letting Appel pitch at MM park while posting an ERA over 10.00 in A ball, leading to players vent that the FO doesn't care about the ML team at all.

[biggentleben]

Don't look now, but Appel has been nothing short of dominant since returning to AA.  There may be hope yet for him...

[JB_Iowa]

Was going to remark on Appel, too.  Apparently he needed to get out of the California League's stadiums.

 

But overall, it's just fun to watch a team other than the Twins flounder around.

[gunnarthor]

Yeah, Appel has been a bit better in AA - although he has some h/r splits but it's only 6 games.  I wonder if his scouting reports have gotten better.  A month or so ago, BP thought he was a #3 if it broke right.  Ugh.

[jokin]

Man, the Astros are the team that never stops giving.  Now there are reports that the GM and manager don't get along - to the point the manager has gone to the owner and the GM is accussed of living in his own little bubble and seems incapable of not insulting people.

http://deadspin.com/reports-astros-manager-and-gm-definitely-not-getting-a-1628531365

 

So, Astros have - 

1) drafted Appel, who has sucked, and passed on Bryant and Grey

2) drafted Correa and passed on Buxton

3) drafted Aiken, burned that bridge, got some gas, lit that on fire, called in a bomber, dropped payload and lost the 1-1 pick.  And a 5th round pick.  And are facing grievances by potentially both.  Also pissed off an incredibly powerful agent.  Worst case scenario, they could actually lose future first round picks.

4) Correa got hurt.

5) Leaked internal memos that showed they were a bit out of touch - "Norris for Bundy"?  Somehow the Orioles didn't bite on that.

6) Asked one of the top 10 prospects in the game to sign a team friendly deal and, when he refused, sent him to the minors for "seasoning."  Union threatened to look into it.

7) Are avg about 104 losses per year for the last four seasons.

8) Got a zero home TV rating.

9) Pissed of the vets on the team by letting Appel pitch at MM park while posting an ERA over 10.00 in A ball, leading to players vent that the FO doesn't care about the ML team at all.

 

 

 

 

JB_Iowa, on 29 Aug 2014 - 3:06 PM, said:

Was going to remark on Appel, too.  Apparently he needed to get out of the California League's stadiums.

But overall, it's just fun to watch a team other than the Twins flounder around.

 

 

 

 

 

Don't Look Now II***

 

1) The Astros with ~30 games to go this season, have already won 6 more games than ALL of last season- and only 2 less games than the Twins (57 vs. 59).

 

2)  And they have a SP staff with an ERA one full run under the Twins staff (ERA  4.03 vs. 5.02)

 

3) They have such confidence in their current SP staff, Top 100 recent call-up, 22 year old,Mike Foltynewicz (temporarily in their pen),  plus Appel, now healthy and on the way, they were in the position to trade one of their high-upside 24 year-old arms in Jarrod Cozart, to the Marlins for a nice package of top prospects in return.

 

4 Collin McHugh was absolutely shrewd highway robbery as a waiver wire pickup.

 

4) And they did make other significant moves at the major league level before this season that have yielded major league positive impact, and given the season over season improvement, I'm not sure if your Point #9 still holds as much water.

 

 

 

*** [Not a big fan of some of the strange goings-on in Houston,  definitely Too Much Drama.... but the club has clearly made strides at both the major league level and a bolstered farm system].

[diehardtwinsfan]

I think Correa over Buxton was defendable as they wanted to get other guys in the system too. Correa isn't exactly a bad prospect. He's up in the top 10 too.

 

You forgot though about them getting hacked recently as well.

[Craig Arko]

I feel badly for Sam Deduno.

[ashbury]

I feel badly for Sam Deduno.

I feel badly for the Astros fans, as their team is still picking up castoffs from other below-500 teams.

[Craig Arko]

I feel badly for the Astros fans, as their team is still picking up castoffs from other below-500 teams.

They've also got JSC and a really good symphony orchestra. Of course that's offset by being in Texas.

[Dance with Disco Dan]

I think Correa over Buxton was defendable as they wanted to get other guys in the system too. Correa isn't exactly a bad prospect. He's up in the top 10 too.

 

 

Yes.  Let's not risk the wrath of the baseball gods by calling the Buxton v. Correa race over.  If they'd drafted Buxton and we had Correa, I don't know that there would be much regret on this board.   There is a lot to love about Correa, too. Anyway, I hope both players get healthy and back on track to being star players.

[gunnarthor]

And the shoe dropped - Porter is fired during the season. 

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/09/astros-fire-bo-porter.html

[TheLeviathan]

I'd have fired Porter 13 or 14 seconds after he turned an opponents bunt into a war. Game is better with him out of it, which is to say nothing positive about his employers either.