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Houston Astros off-season thread


Wulaw Horn

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6 hours ago, uoftorange said:

See that's the problem with the idiotic system we have.  If he's a hall of famer he's a hall of famer.  Blocking how many people you can vote for, this dumb ass "he's not a first balloter" and the most idiotic "he used steroids even though it wasn't tested for and we also know everyone was doing it" are just stupid.  The baseball writers of old are basically the umpires, stuck in their ways and abusing their power

If the ten best players at a position aren't in the hall, what the fuck is going on?  And Billy is inarguably one of the ten best closers of all time.  That may change, but of retired guys it's not arguable.  

He's not one of the 10 best pitchers or 100 best pitchers or 500 best pitchers of all time though.  That's his position, pitcher.  Period.  It's dumb that any closer (other than maybe Mariano) got in. It would be like if the NFL HOF started letting in "3rd down backs".  That's not a thing. It's not a position.  It's a specialist subset of an actual real position, running back.

That said- those morons made Mariano the only unanimous guy ever and he probably barely qualifies as like the 100th best pitcher in baseball- and they let in 7 other closers, so under that metric Wagner should certainly be in. 

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1 minute ago, Js1 said:

Never really got why the baseball hall of fame is gatekept so hard.  it needs to be reformed. 

The answer as to why is because you have to write baseball for 10 years and they never take away your ballot, never provide guidance. So, you get a bunch of senile old fucks that are yearning for "baseball the way it used to be" in a romanticized way that wasn't ever real even when they were going through it, and only dimly remembered, and that dude is just way more likely to vote no than yes.  

Voting should be limited to only people actively working in the game- and should be extended to blogs, pods (not mine obviously) online stuff etc where the person has covered the game for 10 years at a level that's generally considered to be quality.  

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5 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

He's not one of the 10 best pitchers or 100 best pitchers or 500 best pitchers of all time though.  That's his position, pitcher.  Period.  It's dumb that any closer (other than maybe Mariano) got in. It would be like if the NFL HOF started letting in "3rd down backs".  That's not a thing. It's not a position.  It's a specialist subset of an actual real position, running back.

That said- those morons made Mariano the only unanimous guy ever and he probably barely qualifies as like the 100th best pitcher in baseball- and they let in 7 other closers, so under that metric Wagner should certainly be in. 

GIF by filmeditor

 

No, RP is a position, as is SP.  Just like CF, LF, RF are all OFs and the other are IFs.  

He should be in, there is no rational argument against it.  Elite RPs make as much or more money than #2s in most cases.  And depending on years of service more than #1 starters.  

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5 minutes ago, uoftorange said:

GIF by filmeditor

 

No, RP is a position, as is SP.  Just like CF, LF, RF are all OFs and the other are IFs.  

He should be in, there is no rational argument against it.  Elite RPs make as much or more money than #2s in most cases.  And depending on years of service more than #1 starters.  

RP is a separate position in the same way a PH is. Which is to say not at all.

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34 minutes ago, formermav43 said:

RP is a separate position in the same way a PH is. Which is to say not at all.

Or third down back in football.  IT's a running back.  That is limited for whatever reason. So he can only be effective on third down. Just like a relief pitcher is a pitcher, that's limited, so they can only be effective in small doses.  It's dumb that it's in the hall beyond Mariano, who as the best to ever do it probably accumulated almost 70% of Curt Schillings value, and 15% more value than Roy O, to name two guys not in the Hall of Fame. 

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43 minutes ago, uoftorange said:

GIF by filmeditor

 

No, RP is a position, as is SP.  Just like CF, LF, RF are all OFs and the other are IFs.  

He should be in, there is no rational argument against it.  Elite RPs make as much or more money than #2s in most cases.  And depending on years of service more than #1 starters.  

But yeah, by defninition a relief pitcher is a position, like LF for example, made up of a subset of people not good enough to play CF (or starting pitcher). So, that kind of works.  Nobody in the world moves a guy that can play a great CF over to LF or RF, just like nobody in the world moves a Pitcher to RP that's good enough to start.  Same with 3b, 2B and 1b as compared to SS.  But, the main driver of a guy that plays in the field is his bat- they fit those with a good enough bat into the hardest defensive positon they can handle.  

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1 hour ago, henrygandorf said:

also after looking at next year's first-time entries, wags will get 90%.  besides ichiro, nobody jumps off the page.

Lulz at the MLB caption calling this “stacked”.

 

F764FF97-47C9-44D9-AB89-7F9C1228C2E7.jpeg
 

 

unless this is a joke and they realize how awful it is and are using the term “stacked” literally… “here is the list of 1st time eligible players stacked on top of each other”

Edited by UTexasFight
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27 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

But yeah, by defninition a relief pitcher is a position, like LF for example, made up of a subset of people not good enough to play CF (or starting pitcher). So, that kind of works.  Nobody in the world moves a guy that can play a great CF over to LF or RF, just like nobody in the world moves a Pitcher to RP that's good enough to start.  Same with 3b, 2B and 1b as compared to SS.  But, the main driver of a guy that plays in the field is his bat- they fit those with a good enough bat into the hardest defensive positon they can handle.  

Factually not true.  Guys get moved out of CF that are excellent there all the time to save their bodies.  Springer for example.  Everyone thinks Judge should move and he likely will long term.  

Either way, you compare 3Bs to 3Bs and RPs to RPs for greatness.  Not every SP can be a closer, not every closer could be a SP.  And I agree by nature I'd value elite SP over elite RP, but there are plenty of non elite SPs in the hall.  

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1 hour ago, henrygandorf said:

also after looking at next year's first-time entries, wags will get 90%.  besides ichiro, nobody jumps off the page.

Sabathia will probably get in with the nyy bump

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1 hour ago, Wulaw Horn said:

The answer as to why is because you have to write baseball for 10 years and they never take away your ballot, never provide guidance. So, you get a bunch of senile old fucks that are yearning for "baseball the way it used to be" in a romanticized way that wasn't ever real even when they were going through it, and only dimly remembered, and that dude is just way more likely to vote no than yes.  

Voting should be limited to only people actively working in the game- and should be extended to blogs, pods (not mine obviously) online stuff etc where the person has covered the game for 10 years at a level that's generally considered to be quality.  


 

 

1 hour ago, Wulaw Horn said:

He's not one of the 10 best pitchers or 100 best pitchers or 500 best pitchers of all time though.  That's his position, pitcher.  Period.  It's dumb that any closer (other than maybe Mariano) got in. It would be like if the NFL HOF started letting in "3rd down backs".  That's not a thing. It's not a position.  It's a specialist subset of an actual real position, running back.

That said- those morons made Mariano the only unanimous guy ever and he probably barely qualifies as like the 100th best pitcher in baseball- and they let in 7 other closers, so under that metric Wagner should certainly be in. 


you’re arguing to take away the thing(s) that make the baseball HOF so great. Yes, they are the same things that make it so infuriating, (and yes I’d agree they need to limit the “honorary” members that aren’t still actively writing), but the game evolves  and I have no problem if voters have a subset for closer/relief pitcher and treat them differently than a starter.

The goal of the sport is to win games. I don’t care what you call his position. If you have a guy you can put in at the end of a close game that you lead and he guarantees your team leaves with a W more than 85% of the time, I’m finding a spot for that guy where we celebrate the “best of the best.”

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I mean Wagner did it to himself.  He should have pitched about 2 more seasons.  National guys I always hear complaining about how he only got 900 innings.  

He also had a fantastic year his final season 

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11 minutes ago, Scraps said:

I mean Wagner did it to himself.  He should have pitched about 2 more seasons.  National guys I always hear complaining about how he only got 900 innings.  

He also had a fantastic year his final season 

His postseason performance might be an issue.

Edited by David Dennison
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11 minutes ago, Focht Up said:

I always wondered why the Astros didn't make Wagner a starter 

  I mean,  why wouldn't you want a guy like that to pitch more innings?

He tried to be a starter. He want good enough. He couldn’t stay healthy or effective with 1.5 pitches multiple times through the lineup. He’s basically the case study for relievers aren’t as good as starters. 

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3 hours ago, UTexasFight said:


 

 


you’re arguing to take away the thing(s) that make the baseball HOF so great. Yes, they are the same things that make it so infuriating, (and yes I’d agree they need to limit the “honorary” members that aren’t still actively writing), but the game evolves  and I have no problem if voters have a subset for closer/relief pitcher and treat them differently than a starter.

The goal of the sport is to win games. I don’t care what you call his position. If you have a guy you can put in at the end of a close game that you lead and he guarantees your team leaves with a W more than 85% of the time, I’m finding a spot for that guy where we celebrate the “best of the best.”

I already said it’s fine if you want to out RP in there I guess, and if you do he should be in. I only pushed back because someone called him a top 10 player at his position and he’s just not. The position is pitcher. You are just taking about usage pattern beyond that. 
Also go look up winning percentage for a team and you will find even exceptionally shitty closers have teams that win 85% of the time. 

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5 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Or third down back in football.  IT's a running back.  That is limited for whatever reason. So he can only be effective on third down. Just like a relief pitcher is a pitcher, that's limited, so they can only be effective in small doses.  It's dumb that it's in the hall beyond Mariano, who as the best to ever do it probably accumulated almost 70% of Curt Schillings value, and 15% more value than Roy O, to name two guys not in the Hall of Fame. 

if there was a stat like "3rd downs achieved" that people gave a shit about, your analogy would be better.  baseball is a stat game.  saves are a thing.  at least 2 guys got in the hof because at the time they had "the most saves of all time".  not because of innings, k's, bwar, or era+.

they are not the same.  

a better analogy would be if there was a d-lineman that was exclusively a pass-rusher, only played 10-15 snaps per game, and was just judged on sacks.  of course if you have a bunch of sacks, you probably go to the hall of fame.

Edited by henrygandorf
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Joe Mauer is in the fucking HOF. The dude's career was over at 30, what the fuck is he doing in the HOF. Same with Helton, he was a good player, but was aided greatly by playing in Colorado. His splits are rather large. 3 Top 5 MVPs between the two of them. Neither should be in the HOF.

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16 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

He's not one of the 10 best pitchers or 100 best pitchers or 500 best pitchers of all time though.  That's his position, pitcher.  Period.  It's dumb that any closer (other than maybe Mariano) got in. It would be like if the NFL HOF started letting in "3rd down backs".  That's not a thing. It's not a position.  It's a specialist subset of an actual real position, running back.

That said- those morons made Mariano the only unanimous guy ever and he probably barely qualifies as like the 100th best pitcher in baseball- and they let in 7 other closers, so under that metric Wagner should certainly be in. 

so the BHOF is inconsistent( full of shit,) eh?

who knew?

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Well you have people arguing that a top 10 player at his position all time doesn’t belong while in the same breath thinking it’s a travesty that a pitcher who was less valuable than literally hundreds of others was omitted.

I’m not sure anyone can claim to be particularly logical about this, writers or fans.

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On 1/23/2024 at 6:58 AM, Wulaw Horn said:

Latest episode of breathing orange fire is up. We talk Collin McHugh and of course, Josh Haders return and what that means. 
 

Spotify 

 

Gabe I'm with you the vast majority of the time on Astros stuff exceptions being Whitley & AJ Hinch.  Hinch being around already cost us one world series with the best team in club history.  All we needed was an owner like Tom Benson who had the cojones to let Gregg Williams take the fall and weathered the storm of keeping Sean Payton around during the suspension.  Instead we overreacted and the rest is history.... And in that context I would have been fine with letting Dusty have the 2020 season which was the intent all along we just caught a cast of the stupid which started with Crane overreacting.

Edited by Pimphand
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51 minutes ago, Guadaloopy said:

I was not mentally prepared for the irrational anger I feel towards Wulaw's anti-RP posts.

It’s irrational the anger. 
65 innings  will never be remotely as close to 200 innings in terms of value. 

52 minutes ago, Guadaloopy said:

I was not mentally prepared for the irrational anger I feel towards Wulaw's anti-RP posts.

But I still love you and hope we can be friends. 

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9 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

It’s irrational the anger. 
65 innings  will never be remotely as close to 200 innings in terms of value. 

But I still love you and hope we can be friends. 

I was careful to say that it was the post that triggered my anger, not you.

Hugs GIF

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2 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

It’s irrational the anger. 
65 innings  will never be remotely as close to 200 innings in terms of value. 

But I still love you and hope we can be friends. 

You had a point 20 years ago. The point is less valid when starting pitchers routinely get 2 turns through the lineup, if they are lucky.

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54 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

You had a point 20 years ago. The point is less valid when starting pitchers routinely get 2 turns through the lineup, if they are lucky.

Yeah but guys in the bullpen also pitch less and less as well. Bullpen guys used to pitch damn near 100 innings now they go 60/70. So both sides are being limited in innings with the rise of 13 man pitching staffs. 

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