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2023 Houston Astros Thread


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Is anyone concerned that the last 30 games (playoffs, spring training and last night) in an Astros uniform for Altuve have been really really bad?  
He’s 32, he should be fine. But, this team and org are almost unbeatable when he’s a super star, he’s the most important dude in the organization imo.  I’m like- 2% worried and 98% excited with him back. I will be really excited the first time he has a week where he hits 3 HR’s gets in base 10 times and has a Tootblan. 

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No, because only the playoff performance was frustrating.  Spring training don’t mean a shit since both pitchers and hitters are working on stuff.  He was doing ok in the WBC from an OBP standpoint until he went and got his thumb broke.  It’s one game in the regular season so far.  Calm you tits.

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1 hour ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Is anyone concerned that the last 30 games (playoffs, spring training and last night) in an Astros uniform for Altuve have been really really bad?  
He’s 32, he should be fine. But, this team and org are almost unbeatable when he’s a super star, he’s the most important dude in the organization imo.  I’m like- 2% worried and 98% excited with him back. I will be really excited the first time he has a week where he hits 3 HR’s gets in base 10 times and has a Tootblan. 

Not really. “Last 30” is an arbitrary sample, which includes an off-season, an injury, a tournament, etc.

The biggest portion of this sample is last postseason, which was contiguous with the best offensive season of his career (relative to the league) in 2022. I don’t expect a 160 wRC+ again, but I don’t see any reason not to expect something around his career average (130).

Assuming his thumb doesn’t affect his swing, I don’t think we’re to the point yet where we might suspect that something has meaningfully changed with him. 

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1 hour ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

No, because only the playoff performance was frustrating.  Spring training don’t mean a shit since both pitchers and hitters are working on stuff.  He was doing ok in the WBC from an OBP standpoint until he went and got his thumb broke.  It’s one game in the regular season so far.  Calm you tits.

Like I said 98% excited 2% scared. It’s like when you get a $500 chip at the casino and worry about it falling out of your pocket. 

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2 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Is anyone concerned that the last 30 games (playoffs, spring training and last night) in an Astros uniform for Altuve have been really really bad?  
He’s 32, he should be fine. But, this team and org are almost unbeatable when he’s a super star, he’s the most important dude in the organization imo.  I’m like- 2% worried and 98% excited with him back. I will be really excited the first time he has a week where he hits 3 HR’s gets in base 10 times and has a Tootblan. 

He is the heart and soul of the clubhouse.  He isn't, nor has he recently been the best player on the team.

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1 hour ago, slorch said:

He is the heart and soul of the clubhouse.  He isn't, nor has he recently been the best player on the team.

If you want to split hairs like that, he didn't say he was the best player. He said most important.

And, for what it's worth, depending on what measure you use, it's a lot closer than you make it out to be. For instance, last year, Alvarez led the team in fWAR at 6.7, good for 7th in MLB. Right behind him, at 8th in MLB, was Altuve at 6.6. He was 4th in MLB in wRC+(Alvarez was 2nd). But then factor in that sort of production coming from 2B rather than a DH/LF.

He's at worst the 2nd best player on the team, and the best 2B in baseball, as recently as last year.

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3 minutes ago, UTPhil2006 said:

And you would be wrong. Smh. Still no Dubey. Abreu back to 4th smh. Also I thought Diaz caught Brown 

image.thumb.png.29f339f8853b3ea4734caba30307ddfc.png

Diaz caught Brown until his last start, when Dusty said he wanted to be sure Maldonado had experience working with him too. Mysteriously, that same logic doesn't seem to apply to Diaz catching Valdez or Javier.

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4 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Is anyone concerned that the last 30 games (playoffs, spring training and last night) in an Astros uniform for Altuve have been really really bad?  
He’s 32, he should be fine. But, this team and org are almost unbeatable when he’s a super star, he’s the most important dude in the organization imo.  I’m like- 2% worried and 98% excited with him back. I will be really excited the first time he has a week where he hits 3 HR’s gets in base 10 times and has a Tootblan. 

The adjustments he made to pull everything are coming back to hurt him because he's not hunting pitches anymore. I am very concerned that his poor strike zone judgement with his pull everything approach is going to age badly.

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My friends last night were acting like Altuve being back was going to solve all ills. I told them that, in the near term, it could actually be a step back in black and white numbers on paper. I watched his games with SL and CC. He basically did the same as last night. No doubt he adds some pep to the clubhouse, but when compared to the surprising production Dubon supplied, it could be that Altuve provides less until he gets his feet under him. Hopefully not more than couple weeks. Could be a month. He had a short spring. And will he be the old Altuve or is he damaged? The Twitter cheerleaders, especially a few that are just insufferable with no balance, have shot expectations through the roof. The A’s provide a nice soft start point but until we see otherwise, any production from either Jose is a bonus at this point. Four to six weeks from now we will know more and how many moves we need to make. I put the over under at 2.5. 

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