By the way, going bsck to Morey, after getting Harden and then having to get rid of Dwight, Morey essentially faded into the background in terms of recruiting. He let Harden and Les Alexander be more visiblr in recruiting other stars. Morey may have realized his limitations. Those Ipads and statistical presentations may not work haha
At this point Crane is cheap for not trading for Verlander. The price can't be that high with his contract situation.
I hear what you are saying, but at the professional level I tend to think it don't work that way. Obviously I'm not in the locker room as none of us on here are, but I think there is a good chance Keuchel was speaking for a majority of the team when he spoke out, not just himself. I could easily see a situation where the clubhouse wasn't good, and Dallas told everyone he will be the one to talk. I know in the team aspect that doesn't seem right, but these guys battle leadership on arbitration battles, contract battles, collective bargaining agreements....so even though they are all one "team", there are clear differences between players and leadership at that level Any other level I would totally agree
If Detroit is asking for prime prospects AND not agreeing to pay a large portion of the contract, he isn't getting moved to anyone
I have a hard time believing they would take that position. I think it's more likely Crane is a cheap mother****er.
Well it's been reported by many sources that he is unlikely to be moved to anyone, doubt that is all on Crane if ya know what I mean
This team has become lazy and focused on all the wrong things. Instead of b****ing about the trade deadline maybe they should focus on playing fundamentally sound baseball. It is the mentality of a LOSER to be "down in the dumps" or disappointed about not making a trade.
We talked at length on this very board about the potential clubhouse repercussions of not making a deal. I'm not excusing the behavior, but it was VERY well documented that this could be the reaction.
If DK and JR spoke up, it means it was not threshed out by the FO inside the clubhouse adequately. No one is addressing it. Culturally the Latino players probably would not speak up in public, so DK spoke. What Altuve was reporrted as saying, something to the effect that "I'm not a college graduate, so they would know better what to do" is NOT exactly a ringing endorsement of the FO non-moves. Semiotics ... that line as well as the collective performance lately, the players consciously or unconsciously are sending a message. It's not mental weakness, although I'm waiting to see if a team leader will emerge who can rally the team to discover their 2nd wind. (Do they have a 2nd wind in them?) It is sports psychology. You perform best when you are relaxed, confident, having fun, no pressure. This was the Astros team up to the All-Star break. In high leverage situations, when players lack confidence, become anxious, or upset, then muscles tighten, timing changes; it's involuntary. Superstars can remain calm even under intense pressure and let their muscle memory take over. That's why good play is contagious, so too bad play. Something has changed in the team morale. You think they don't talk to family members, their agents, other players?
IMO re: Verlander ... he's too expensive. I don't know also whether it's too late. We missed the golden moment. In the Hoyer-Mallett era, when O'Brien was vacillating between the two QBs, team performance was affected. How did the Texans turn that around? O'Brien met with the players and apologized to them. He took responsibility. He designated Hoyer as QB and sent Mallett away. Order restored and we went on to a 9-7 record. Whether or not we get a pitcher, the FO needs to talk to the players.
This team lacks maturity and it shows. No [good] moves at the trade deadline should instill confidence in the team that the front office believes in the 25 men that would be on the playoff roster instead of this potential historic implosion.
This argument is not based in reality. Literally less than an hour after the deadline passed, Luhnow gave an interview in the dugout where he looked like he had just seen a ghost and mentioned how disappointed he was that they weren't able to get some deals done. Any chance of a "the GM thinks these guys are good enough" argument went down the drain when that happened.
They know they don't have playoff pitching even more than we do. They saw how readily they were shut down by Cleveland and Boston even during their stronger stretches and know that's what their up against. Confidence would be making the moves to shore up obvious weakness. Instead, how they treated this suggests a money conscious strategy more focused on regular season attendance than going for it all. It's a gamble these prospects will all equal a few years of lower cost contention eventually...but it seems like there's more 4A type players coming up and down every year.
Like Bregman? Who everyone wanted to trade before the season? The team has enough pitching ... if healthy. McHugh was a top 10 Cy Young finisher 2 years ago. Keuchel and McCullers were expert picks for Cy Young this year and they still have the talent. Fiers and Peacock showing competence and improvement lowered the rush to get another starter. Morton has served our needs. Playoffs... the pitching staff is reduced by one as you need one starter less... and that chain reaction means you won't see Guduan, Tolliver, or Hoyt/Feliz/Sipp on the roster.
My take is that while we were playing at a 110 win pace, we were playing a little above ourselves. Since the All-Star break, we have been playing below. The real median for the team is somewhere between. Going through a spell of losing like this isn't unusual, even (historically speaking) for teams that went on to win the WS. Trying to pin down whats gone wrong lately is like trying to explain why the Rangers won so many 1 run games last year. You can throw out theory after theory, explanation after explanation, but at the end of the day, its just baseball.
Exactly; a regression was inevitable - they were not going to maintain a winning percentage of 70% for 162 games - especially with two MVP candidates and two Cy Young candidates all missing significant time. It was going to catch up to them eventually, and here we are. My guess is they'll limp through August, get healthy and then look more like the team we expect come September.
To get to being a functional team in September, the players need to mentally get past the trade deadline disappointment and stop making stupid fielding and baserunning errors.
