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Hank Chinaski

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Posts posted by Hank Chinaski

  1. Last year, as a club, the Astros struck out in 17% of their plate appearances, best in the league and a dramatic drop from 23% in 2016. So far we are at 25% in 2018. Will be interesting to see where that number settles. My guess is somewhere between the last two years. 

  2. 22 minutes ago, tx ind said:

    I was flipping through stations and 610 (sucks) was actually discussing a cool question.

    What former Astro would you add to this team?

    I would go Billy Wagner.

    If it were for fun, fucking Lima time on this team would be epic to watch though.

    Then again, does Randy Johnson count? If so, I may go with him...

  3. 10 minutes ago, tx ind said:

    I was flipping through stations and 610 (sucks) was actually discussing a cool question.

    What former Astro would you add to this team?

    I would go Billy Wagner.

    If it were for fun, fucking Lima time on this team would be epic to watch though.

    Bagwell, without question. 

  4. 11 hours ago, Fudbelty said:

    I get it with nostalgia and all, but the Eagles and Redskins are both better now.

    What’s pissing me off is all these teams (NFL and MLB) looking like they’re wearing slow pitch softball uniforms. Browns, Bucs, and Titans.

    Skins, yes, but I'd take the Randall Cunningham-era Eagles unis over the current one. I don't even know what color they wear now, but it is dull. And don't even get me started on the Browns - their old ones were great; new ones are atrocious. 

    randall1_zpscpuzinxe.jpg

  5. Yeah, doubt we'll see Tucker unless the Fisher/Marisnick duo is really struggling for an extended period. I think they'll be fine (or potentially better than fine). 

    I am excited about Tucker but am also excited to see what Fisher can do. He pretty much destroyed AAA last year himself (albeit as an older player than Tucker) and nobody doubts his tools. 

     

  6. 22 minutes ago, Gut Wagon said:

    I burned out so much on MLB with the '94 strike that it took me well over a decade to care much again. I love the game, but as with every other sports played on a major professional level, I enjoy it far more when I focus strictly on the beauty of the athleticism and skill. When I dwell on the fact it's a mega-industry run by folks who see their fans as little more than wallets to be mined, it's not nearly as much fun. But nobody's forcing me or anyone else to follow a given league or team or player.    

    Oh yeah, I hear you. But that's every sport. It's the primary reason that my interest in college football has been waning over the last decade. 

  7. It seems like people have been discussing baseball's inevitable demise for 25 years. I'm just not seeing it. There is a new generation of "hard core fans" that are not Baby Boomers, and they are shaping the way the game is discussed and consumed now, primarily through technology and analytics. 

    • Like 1
  8. I'd love it if they got rid of the wild card and divisions. 2 leagues, no interleague play (I know one team would have to change leagues - it's happened before). Balanced schedules. Teams with best record in each league play in WS. 

    Get rid of all the ridiculous holiday uniforms/hats. They are all terrible. 

    And yeah, I know this will never happen - it'll go the other way (more playoffs). I get it. But 162 games is a better sample to tell us who the best team is than 7 games. 

    • Like 1
  9. 11 hours ago, UTexasFight said:

    A world championship has made a lot of our “fan base” insufferable. Between this and the Giles bashing, it could be a long season on this thread (sidenote: Kenley Jansen picking up right where the Astros left him in the World Series)

    In fairness, I've been Giles-bashing since April 2016. 

  10. 1 minute ago, formermav43 said:

    Even if there are better relievers on the club, as you point out, the role of the traditional closer is changing. Why should your best reliever be the default 9th inning guy?

    Peacock pitched 132 innings last year. Devenski had 80 something. It’s more logical and valuable to use those two guys like an Andrew Miller, whenever there is a high leverage situation and/or potentially for multiple innings, than to arbitrarily assign them to the 9th and pitch 60 innings like Giles. Especially when he has been as good as anyone not named Kimbrel or Jansen at pitching the 9th anyway.

    Absolutely. And maybe that's where we are heading. Maybe Giles came in yesterday not because it was the 9th, but because there was a 4-run lead. 

    But I think we will see him as the 9th-inning guy more often than not. Which I'm not necessarily criticizing. I think AJ knows what he's doing. 

    • Like 1
  11. 1 hour ago, formermav43 said:

    I’m taking this from a post by Jason Marbach on Crawfish Boxes. But the upshot is, the hand-wringing over Giles is all out of proportion to his performance. It’s not backed up by data at all. 

     

     

    Since the role of the traditional closer seems to be changing, I looked at where Giles ranked last year compared to all relievers with at least 50 IP (150 total pitchers). 

    ERA: 16th (2.30); FIP: 11th (2.39); BB/9: 60th (3.02); GB%: 76th (44%); HR/9: 24th (0.57)

    The walks are, I think, what drives people crazy. He simply walks too many hitters for a guy pitching in high-leverage situations. And the 3.02 BB/9 last year was down from 3.43 in 2016. (Jansen, by comparison, had 0.92; Kimbrel 1.83; Osuna 1.27; etc.)

    I think people lose faith anecdotally in a "closer" who walks people. And then I think this is reinforced by his body language - he doesn't exactly appear confident out there, whether that's true or not. I think this is why the consensus on him among Astros fans lags behind how good the data suggests he actually is. 

    That said, I do think there are better relievers on the club. I don't necessarily think Giles should be the default 9th inning guy. 

  12. Man, one of my favorite things about college football was watching Leach slay aggy (almost) every fall. Because Leach was hilarious and it infuriated the aggy. It also coincided with Mack running off 9 of 12 against aggy. Those days were good. 

  13. What a jack-off. 

    VY, still the relatively young man in this situation, took the high road and showed personal accountability (even if he knows he was not treated exactly right by Fischer). 

    Fischer couldn't even graciously accept an apology; what a childish, classless cocksucker. 

  14. 1 hour ago, henrygandorf said:

    so i've been reading some previews, and it seems our only "weakness" is our bullpen.

    giles, peacock, devo, harris, mchugh, j.smith, rondon + the ability to acquire 1-2 guys in july.  i know rondon has had a rocky spring, but smith has been great.  i have no idea what role mchugh will play - maybe just a spot starter while we rotate guys on and off the 10-day.  that should save the arms in the pen quite a bit.  

    yeah, i'm ok with our bullpen weakness.  

    Yeah Fangraphs rates the bullpen #2 in MLB behind NYY. They'll be fine. 

    Admittedly, I'm not a big Giles fan. I know he was mostly good in the regular season, but he's been bad for stretches ever since he got to Houston. I just don't trust that guy, fairly or not. 

  15. 1 minute ago, Gourmand said:

    This is just one man's opinion, but as good as Correa was on his way up, no Astro prospect in the last decade was more ballyhooed by fans clamoring for The Call than George Springer. Reading those old stories from March 2014 about the reported 7yr/$23 million the Astros offered him when he was still in the minors brings back fond memories of how I followed his minor league games like he was our Obi Wan. Those quotes from those stories are great as well. Everything turned out pretty damn good for him and the Astros.

    The Kyle Tucker talk is eerily reminiscent of the George Springer hype, the only difference is this is a 100-win team and DEFENDING MOTHERFUCKIN' WORLD SERIES CHAMPS.

    lol, yeah...Springer represented the light at the end of that horrible 2011-2013 stretch; he was the only thing to be particularly excited about, other than watching Altuve develop. 

    A lot has changed in 4 years. 

  16. 3 minutes ago, Planet Houston said:

    I also talked to an inside source last night.  Biggest news I got was that we have no intention of offering Keuchel more than a 3-year deal, and that's if this season is successful with no injury concerns.  Our front office is pretty worried about the health of a guy like Keuchel (for good reason, given the past 2 years), in line with Bill James's analysis of the injury histories of softer-throwing lefties.

     Interesting, and I think that's the right approach. Hopefully Martes makes some progress with his command this year, as some rotation spots are set to open up over the next couple of years.

    After this offseason, though, I wonder if anyone is going to be willing to give Keuchel more than 3 years...I guess a lot depends on his health/performance this year. 

  17. 36 minutes ago, Planet Houston said:

    Agreed, but this also describes Marisnick.  If his power surge last year wasn't a fluke, he absolutely could/should be an everyday regular on most teams in the league.  But we have the luxury of being able to platoon both guys given their opposite handedness and mutual great athleticism.

    Yeah, that's true - he had a 117 wRC+ last year, which, with his defense, definitely plays as an everyday OF. Thing is, he is at 77 for his career and a sub-.300 OBP. He is only 26, so it's possible he is something like a league-average hitter. 

    Fisher is really interesting to me. He's somewhat overlooked because of Tucker, but Fisher is an excellent athlete and has produced at every stop, including .318/.384/.583 with 21 HR in 84 games in AAA last year. And he is supposedly the fastest guy on the team. 

    Between the two of them, I expect pretty good production. And if not, Tucker is there.

     

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