This is in no way mean to be an argument, but rather where I’m coming from as a fan and explaining my negativity at times to the front office and Dusty: I’m 45 years old. There’s never been a time I wasn’t a baseball fan. My dad used to carry me into the games so we could go for free. I slept with a glove and ball under my bed and fell asleep every night listening to the games on the radio and then woke up and immediately checked the sports page for the score from the night before. I love baseball. It’s my first love from when I was little, before hoops or football or girls or movies or music or anything else. There has always been baseball. My team never won it all until 2017. I know exactly how hard it is to win it all and appreciate the run we are on every day. I know that there will never be another golden age of baseball, like this, for this team. Unless you are a Yankees fan this generation of stros is a once on a lifetime thing that will never be replicated. Our competitive window is closing. Not overnight, but this run is coming to an end- nothing lasts forever. Altuve is getting older and his contract is up after 24. I fully expect we will resign him, but every day he plays at his age it’s likely that yesterday will be a little better than today, and today a little better than tomorrow. Eventually today will be a lot better than tomorrow and we won’t have him to lead us as the heart and soul of this team. Bregman is up and it’s 50/50 he leaves. Bregman looks like a merely outstanding player that will also age going forward, as opposed to an mvp level guy we saw in 18 and 19. I think it’s almost a forgone conclusion Framber and Tucker will be gone after 2025, and JV, if still around, will be 43 and probably the best you could hope for is that he’s merely good. Javier took a huge step back. That leaves us 23/24/25 as the only likely years to continue on as potential monster teams and destroyers of worlds that we’ve been for a long time now. 2019 would have gone down as one of the best teams ever if we could have gotten it over the finish line. 2022 probably goes down as one of the top 25 or so teams to lace them up. So- when you assemble a team like this and you have a short window of Uber domination left it’s painful to see the owner decide GM’s aren’t necessary and then completely notch the off-season, to hear Bagwell basically say the nerd **** we’ve been doing that brought us this success is going to be pivoted away from, and to see Dusty Baker given free rein to mess up just blindingly obvious and simple strategic decisions day in and day out it hurts. Because I know the cost that comes with this. when Bo Porter was killing time with a bunch of dudes that didn’t matter while Luhnow was building the infrastructure I didn’t care. I still loved baseball and the team but this sense of dress over failing to maximize a golden opportunity just didn’t exist, so there was an easygoing nature to my fandom that I don’t have right now. Because that wasn’t special in a historic sense like this is. You cannot waste great opportunities or it will haunt you forever. Now- I’m not saying the Astros are falling off a cliff after 2025. I think we will be a playoff team (or minimum contender) through the entirety of Yodans contract. 2026-28 looks like a team that could win between 85-95 games. That’s playoffs more likely than not and anyone in the playoffs in MLB has a chip and a chair and a chance to win it all. And that will be fun to watch and root for. And if we have to re-set and try to build it again that has its pleasures as well and I will be there for it all. But, the idea of injuries and Dusty Baker and a bad off-season where we acted without a general manager possibly ruining one of our very limited opportunities to find greatness is really hard to take. Hope that perspective is well received. I wrote it completely and totally meaning for it to be not negative, argumentative but rather an insight into my baseball loving soul. A little personal stuff- I love my wife and 3 kids. They are awesome. But the wife doesn’t like sports, the daughters aren’t into it, the son isn’t into it, and my dad, whose relationship with me is woven into every aspect of our lives like the stitching and fabric that’s held together so many years from us fell down, had a brain bleed and is basically suffering from dementia the last 2 or 3 years. So, my place to relive and share this stuff is on the internet with y’all and a couple longhorn sites and my astros pod. I appreciate that opportunity to be around other people who love the same thing I love, but understand they might love a different aspect of it than I do.
The AL West has been weak. This year is the first time there have been 2 other legitimate threats in the division. Seattle won 90 games last year but Texas was trash. When's the last time there were 2 other good teams?? 2021 was close. The A's had a couple 95+ win years but it was one team.
Well said. I am also one of the more negative Dusty haters, but it comes from a similarly passionate place. I was born in Houston, bleed for all Houston sports teams, and baseball is my primary connection to the memory of my father, who was a huge Astros fan but died when I was 13. My two daughters were born in Houston but my son was born after I left to travel the world … we haven’t lived there in 13 years, and none of them remember the city except from occasional visits. So sports are the one thing creating a connection to the city I call home but the kids don’t recognize. And the only team that can keep them excited is the Astros (shockingly, explaining why the Rockets and Texans are losing is less interesting) … we celebrated the last world series win at 3am from Europe with a party in the dark, and it was one fo the best family moments in my life. But, the magical run the Astros are on cannot last forever. So, it angers me to no end to see a manager put his own ego and “gut feelings” above the team and ignore obvious analytic advice from the best front office in baseball. That might make me more negative than most, but it doesn’t mean I don’t love the team or get immense joy out of the wins. TLDR … baseball is personal and emotional. Policing those emotions is arrogant and counterproductive.
Great post. Kinda says a lot that the OP didn't respond to it. I think he took his ball and went hone when he didn't get the reaction he thought he would get. Kind of unstable behavior, if you look back over the thread. Great post though and thanks for the effort put forth.
It's kind of hilarious that you accused him of passive-aggressive comunication earlier in the thread and then made this post.
Cool. I just noticed he stopped responding after creating a whole big thing. He didn't seem stable. And yes, he was passive aggressive. When I said that, I was referring to a PM that he sent me that you have not seen.
This thread is "meet me in the middle" not an always be positive thread. I'm sure there's a middle ground between the always sunshine pumpers and posters calling the Astros a terrorist organization for losing to the Yankees.
I have this longstanding notion that everyone should have to wait tables for at least one Friday or Saturday night shift. (Stay with me...) It'll 100% change your entire perspective on the restaurant-going experience. From the same place, I really think fans would benefit from spending a week with virtually *any* other team beside their own. It would highlight some universal truths; namely: every fan hates their favorite team's head coach/manager. I promise you, at this very second, there are Chiefs fans upset that Andy Reid does... something egregious and wrong. But it would also, specific to this team, highlight something I'm not sure fans haven't taken for granted: how truly once-in-a-lifetime rare this run is. Every prospect has hit; they've found hidden gems throughout their organization; they've let good players walk without missing a beat; they've had an incredible run of good luck... The idea that, seven years into this - with a constant stream of high-profile exits - we have a team that could, when fully healthy, feature 7, 8 well above-average hitters is just.... it's staggering. It should not be happening. They should be feeling the effects of letting Springer and Correa walk. But... here we are. It's truly mind-blowing. More so that it's MY favorite team doing these mind-blowing things. When I dipped my toe into the Dusty discourse (which I regret because, holy ****, it is not rational), this was where I was coming from. We don't need to sweat the details. This team is great. Enjoy it. You will literally never have *this* experience with any other team you ever root for ever. And even if Dusty drives the team into a ditch... it'll still be the best sports experience of your life. I just can't imagine getting to watch this team for seven years, and focusing all your energy (and ire) on who's hitting seventh in game 142 of a regular season where we're still the favorite to win a fifth fwording pennant.
And while I'm sure a good many of them threw an absolute fit when he moved Bregman down and put Pena second Monday night - after Bregman started thriving hitting in the 2-hole: man, oh man, did that pay off again and again and again Monday night in arguably the biggest regular season game during this era. And I'm guessing none of them uttered an ounce of praise toward Baker. I'm guessing they just kept quiet and then b****ed and whined about his line-up last night. This team is "only" on pace to win 92 games because Altuve and Alvarez have missed too much time. (And the injuries in the rotation.) That's it. Literally any other analysis of this year's Astros is just internet masturbation. Sure, mistakes have been made. That's why they play 162 games - the mistakes even out and the cream rises.
Great post. Go Stros. However this will probably all change today after Dusty sets the Verlander lineup.
This is nonsense. I know I was asking for Bregs to be moved from # 2 most of the year and so were others. I have been pushing for Tucker 2 and Yordan 3. Many have. You just totally made that up.
I waited tables and bartended for years. Like most professions, it takes a lot more than one shift to really understand what they go through. However, whether you have done it or not, if you don’t tip your servers, bartenders, delivery guys, you are a lowlife. This should be taught to you by your parents and understood early on. The rest of your post is just telling us how to fan. I think the message here is just be in awe of everything and question nothing and we can all be on the good ship lollipop together. Go to any fanbase of any winning team in any sport and you won’t find that. Follow another team for a week? Really? I can tell you have not done that either. You would be surprised to see it’s all the same.
.... yeah; that was my entire point. Did you read my post?... Every fan base is (unfortunately) overflowing with irrational, live-or-die maniacs who overanalyze every minute detail, think they know everything, and don't take time to appreciate the wins because they're either too busy lamenting the losses or convinced another loss is just around the corner. It really does sound like a miserable way to root for a team.
