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Hank Chinaski

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Posts posted by Hank Chinaski

  1. When I was a kid in the 80s, they played their home games at the Astrodome. Their Jack Pardee years and that sleazy looking dude that followed him were pretty fun with Andre Ware and Klingler. (Little did I know back then that Ware would become an insufferable SEC/aggy honk.) Actually I liked that short squatty RB they had, Chuck Witherspoon. Unfortuantely they used to kick Texas' ass until the '90 game. 

    The Phi Slamma Jamma era was awesome - I was about 7-8 during those years and those guys were the Fab 5 before the Fab 5. 

    Anyway, they were the last school to enter the SWC. As a kid growing up in Houston, it was cool to have them as conference mates with Texas and the others, although I went to way more Rice games than UH games. 

  2. I don't see the problem with Hinch. Harris just didn't get it done - it's on him. Just like it was on Giles a few nights ago. 

    They've been frustrating as hell this year, but as long as they don't dig themselves into too deep a hole, they'll be fine for a while. But from an entertainment standpoint, it would be great to see guys other than Gattis/Marwin/Marisnick try to hit baseballs. Springer will get on one of his streaks soon, Altuve will do Altuve things and Bregman will start hitting the ball with a little more authority (he wasn't particularly good in the first half last year either). 

    But so much success last year resulted from ridiculous production from the bottom of the order. They'll probably never replicate that (I want to say our bottom 3 outperformed most teams' middle-order), but they have to get something out of them. 

  3. I know he very well may be a classic quad-A guy, but how much longer can we give Gattis ABs when White is obliterating AAA pitching (.337/.456/.641)? Yes, it's his 3rd stint in AAA and he's 27, but it's not like Gattis has ever been that good - and he's been an utter mess this year. Hell, White was better at the major league level than Gattis was last year anyway (albeit in a small sample). Offense needs a spark - surely someone could use a DL trip...

    • Like 2
  4. 12 hours ago, Majorcholas said:

     

      Hide contents

     

    The good news is that the staff at Texas makes it easy for this player to learn and retain information. Each concept has a name, and each of those names is tied to a concept. They lump their run game into three types of concepts: tight zone, wide zones, gap runs and man runs. The pass game is separated into quick game; drop back, play action and pocket escapes. Sure, this may not be different than other offensive systems, but how many of those systems account for the tight end being asked to handle the following job descriptions all within the course of one game?

     

    I'm sure there is good info in there, but I couldn't read past the above paragraph...it's so poorly written it is difficult to follow.

  5. Team stats by position:

    1B: .236/.314/.340; 84 wRC+

    LF: .221/.307/.393; 95 wRC+

    CF: .223/.280/.415; 90 wRC+

    DH: .193/.272/.289; 60 wRC+

    So...44% of the everyday lineup has combined to hit at about 85% of the league average hitter. And those (other than CF) are supposed to be offensive positions. This means that half the lineup everyday is made up of terrible hitters. 

    Again, until Gattis stops getting DH ABs and we get a LF who can hit, don't expect this to change much. I have some hope that 1B will improve because Yuli has missed about half the season so far. 

     

  6. 11 hours ago, Mo Horn said:

    The offense will eventually come around, and the starting pitching will cool off. We're still in good shape. Just keep grinding and we'll be there at the end.

    The offense will get better.

    But don't hold your breath waiting for it to look like the 2017 offense. Marwin is back to being Marwin, Gattis looks finished (and he was never that good anyway), and LF is a strikeout hole in the lineup. That's 1/3 of the lineup that is well below average. Right now, there are no answers for these spots. Tucker hasn't been particularly good in AAA yet, though I still think he gets the LF job by midseason. Gattis is pretty worthless - has no defensive position and can't hit. He needs to be removed from the roster. I like Marwin as a utility guy, but he should be in the lineup maybe twice a week.

    • Like 1
  7. 2 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

    A lot of guys had career years. That's how you win a championship.

    Doing it again is hard.

    Sure. And he had a great year. But having him in the lineup every day this year is going to be a problem.

  8. 4 hours ago, runthebone said:

    This is Marwin's career slash line:  

    .266/.317/.418

    .735 OPS, 103 OPS+

     

    This is who he is.  He's a superutility player and is not going to repeat 2017 again.

     

    Yup. He will never match his production from 2017. He is as average as it gets.

  9. 16 minutes ago, formermav43 said:

    Giles caps off a string of 7 games without allowing a runner to reach base by striking out the side in saving a 2-1 game - ho hum.

    The next night he implodes, and he sucks, he shouldn’t be used in high leverage situations, he should be traded, cut.

    Confirmation bias much?

    Maybe so. I've never liked him. He was bad in 2016. He was a disaster in the postseason last year. And he's been bad this year. He's unreliable. And he's consistently demonstrated that he's a head case. He punched himself in the face last night. Read that again. 

  10. 8 hours ago, closetojumping said:

    I’ve said it on here before and got shouted at about it being apparently early, but Gattis is fucking worthless. He’s got a lifetime OPS under .600 as a DH. He sucked last year at DH. He’s surprised on literally every pitch. He had a late meteoric rise and that’s usually indicative of a skinny parabolic issue on the other side too. He’s 31. This is a guy that is not going to get better and he’s killing us. Tyler White should be getting his ABs. 

    Honestly, Marisnick is probably worse, but at least he’s an elite fielder. He and Fisher are largely redundant though. Fisher should be getting sink or swim ABs this year, given the minor league depth behind him.

    The Astros have legit holes in the lineup and they’re not just going to start displaying upside that’s never been there before. 

    Yeah, don't disagree here. Gattis has a lifetime .302 OBP and his K rate has gone way up this year. At his best he was a league average hitter and it looks like his best ended in 2016. He can't be in the lineup every day, and since he doesn't really play defense, he should probably be DFA'd/released. I'm not sure White is the answer, but I'd rather see him get ABs than Gattis at this point. 

    Marisnick is OK as a 4th OF, but we don't have a 3rd OF right now. I'm not giving up on Fisher yet, but Tucker needs to be up as soon as he's ready. 

    Marwin is killing the offense too. He's had some of the worst ABs I've ever seen lately. He was very good last year, but that is likely the anomaly, as the rest of his career has been very mediocre. He should not be in the lineup every day. 

    Giles sucks. He shouldn't be used in high-leverage situations.  

    • Like 2
  11. 1 hour ago, Mez2 said:

    Looking back, we should have won that game handily. Need to score when we have those opportunities, good thing we can try again today

    Yeah. Glad to have won, the pitching was great, but the bats weren't impressive. Gray isn't that good and we left a lot of guys on base. It happens.

  12. 2 hours ago, WBT said:

    I liked Bagwell in the booth.  Maybe the best part to me was him talking about Reddick getting good secondary leads and just his good baserunning in general.  Bagwell was next level at that stuff.

    Totally - Bagwell was great. Not sure he's cut out for an every day gig (or that he'd want one), but I thought he was really interesting to listen to. 

  13. 20 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

    Soft has been the rep of all Texas players since Mack babied them, until proven otherwise. Haven’t had enough guys drafted the past few years to dispel that narrative.  Should start turning soon enough. 

    You're right, and man, that stuff used to piss me off because it was so overblown. It was 100% about Ricky "retiring" and then Roy and Ced failing to produce professionally (and Simms never living up to his HS hype). In other words, it ignored guys like Casey Hampton, Quentin Jammer, Leonard Davis, Nathan Vasher, Bo Scaife, Derrick Johnson, Michael Griffin, Justin Blalock, Cory Redding, Earl Thomas, Brian Orakpo, Jamaal Charles, and plenty of other guys who had long, successful pro careers. 

    For a stretch, UT had more NFL players than any other school; the "soft" narrative applied to only a few skill players, but somehow was cast on the entire program. 

    • Like 1
  14. 3 hours ago, UDontKnow said:

    Saying it's only 2 games with terrible outings feels a bit generous to DK. I predict he will be in a different MLB uniform next season.

    I'd say he's had 3 good starts, 1 OK start, and 2 terrible starts. But I wouldn't argue with you if you wanted to say 3 bad and 3 good. 

    And yeah, he's not coming back in '19. Hopefully Whitley and/or Martes is ready to assume that spot in the rotation. 

  15. 10 hours ago, henrygandorf said:

    anyone got updated pitching/starters stats?  i'll wait here.

    Astros pitchers (all): 188.2 IP

    11 K/ 9 IP (1st) 

    2.7 BB/ 9 IP (4th)

    2.34 ERA (1st)

    2.94 FIP (2nd)

    4.3 fWAR (2nd to BOS at 4.4)

    Just the Starters: 129.2 IP

    11.5 K/9 (1st)

    2.9 BB/9 (10th)

    2.15 ERA (1st)

    2.95 FIP (4th)

    3.5 fWAR (1st)

  16. 10 hours ago, UTexasFight said:

    I want to see how the offensive production from our catcher position compares to the league

    Astros catchers: .338/.458/.529; 183 wRC+; 1.3 fWAR

    Each of those numbers leads the league. Not bad. 

    • Like 1
  17. 11 hours ago, closetojumping said:

    I understand SSS, but we’re looking at a full year plus the first 20. 

    Marisnick, Fisher, and Gattis are negative contributors as of right now. If we’re 40 games in and none of them are showing anything, I don’t care how good the rest of the team is, changes need to be made. 

    I'm not much of a Gattis fan, but he has been an above-average hitter every year of his career (by wRC+) - though just barely last year. He probably deserves some patience. I'd put Marwin in this category too. But yeah, they eventually have to produce.

    Marisnick has never been much of a hitter until 2017, which could prove to be the aberration. He's a good 4th OF but probably shouldn't be playing as frequently as he is. 

    Fisher...I don't know. I'd prefer to see him get more starts than he's been getting (and fewer for Marisnick). He's been bad, but he still only has 200 PAs in the majors (Marisnick is in his 5th season). And Fisher was great at every stop in the minors (147 wRC+ in AAA last year) and clearly has tools - athleticism, speed, power - to make it as at least an average regular. 

    • Like 1
  18. 23 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

    of course mad dog who hates the astros chimed in later and said the 1970 baltimore orioles.  just the fact this is a discussion is pleasing.

    Of course Russo said that - they had 3 20-game winners! That's all he needs to draw this conclusion. 

    The 2011 Phillies come to mind as a great rotation. 

  19. 5 minutes ago, Machinator said:

    IT team notes

     

      Hide contents

    Q: Let's talk some personnel. How has Patrick Hudson looked in his return?
    A: That [expletive] is STRONG. His power really comes through in pass protection too. He's handled blitzing linebackers easier than anyone. He's slammed all of them at one point or another, even Roach. You have to keep in mind he's fresh while everyone else is tired but he looks really good.

    Q: Sounds like Hudson will need to start.
    A: It'll come down to assignments, but yeah, somebody's gotta come off the field for him.
     

     

    If Hudson can come back in fall healthy and lives up to his billing, that would be really nice. Could be a big upgrade to one of the guard spots, and we figure to get a big upgrade at the LT spot with Anderson. If Kerstetter builds on his freshman year and improves some, then maybe - maybe - the OL won't be maddeningly terrible. . 

  20. Now hitting .233/.317/.362 as a team, with 25% K rate. Here are the cumulative team numbers by position:

    1B: .191/.291/.298

    3B: .212/.316/.303

    LF: .203/.310/.366

    CF: .194/.261/.389

    DH: .188/.264/.313

    It's not just subpar - it is flat out awful. These are positions from which you should expect above-average offensive production. Yuli is probably the solution at first; Bregman should be better at 3rd; Springer will be fine. 

    But LF and DH don't have clear answers. I suspect we see Tucker sooner than expected - he's at .273/.373/.409 to this point in AAA. If the Fisher/Marisnick shit show doesn't turn around, Tucker may arrive in about a month. 

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