2026 Astros Spring Training Thread

yes it is, but I don’t think that’s the issue. It’s not his accent. It isn’t the breadth of his vocabulary or correctness of his grammar. He has a good command of the English language.

The issue is what words he decides to say. It is usually word salad, weak sounding generalizations and trite baseball phrases. Often jumbled, sometimes cringey.

I am a lawyer and litigator, so I’m probably more attuned to and critical of how leaders speak. I just hate it because it is a skill that can be improved and can help with being a good leader. Espada hasn’t improved at all.

 

I think I’d want to hear Altuve or Yordan say something like that but I’ll take Trammell’s word for it

 

Sounds similar to Kodai Senga’s ghost forkball.

 

We all know the Astros saw something that made Crane want to spend on him. One thing I'm confident about is the Astro's ability to identify hard to hit pitches.

 

Here’s McTaggart talking about Imai:



Also, here’s an article from McTaggart about Imai impressing at Astros’ camp: https://www.mlb.com/news/tatsuya-imai-impresses-in-first-bp-session-with-astros

 

Astros first spring game today! Let's go!

 

Hey, it's something to watch until the Coogs play at 2

Top 5 of the lineup: Cole/Matthews/Smith/Loperfido/Dezenzo

 

Cole with the wheels! Love to see it.

 

No idea who the Nats C is but hooo boy does he suck behind the plate

 

Zach Cole with back-to-back walks, nice to see him showing plate discipline early on! And 3 steals too!!

 

The Stros missed the playoffs by a game last year despite terrible injuries. With a better manager I will bet you they would've won 2 more games. This is the reason Brown and Espada are lame ducks. Win or lose your jobs.

 

Today was actually of a good example of his profile. Walks at a decent rate for someone who strikes out a lot. Has crazy wheels and arm. He’s a 4 tool player that has very loud tools. Unfortunately the one tool that he is missing is the most important which is hitting. If he starts connecting, he has all-star votes potential.

 

His profile has, as I remember it and saw a bit of last year, great plate discipline. When he swings and misses, which he will, it's on pitches in the zone.

One takeaway I had from the game: Cosgrove looks interesting

 

Cole will be fun to watch. Even if he is just Joey Gallo with slightly less power, he could still be a very valuable player. He has more defensive and baserunning value than Gallo did. If you walk 15% of the time and steal 2B at a high clip, a lot of those walks are doubles.

If Cole wins the RF job and posts 25 HR and 30 SB, something like .210/.350/.450, he’d easily be a 3+ win player even with a K rate in the 30-35% range; if he does that while playing CF he’s probably a 4+ win player.

Basically if he can get his k rate under 30% he will be a star, 30-35% and he’s a solid everyday player, 35%+ and he’s a AAAA or fringey bench guy.

 

Where do you get the ST games on TV?

 

Baserunning? Absolutely. Defense? Absolutely not.

 

What makes you say that? Gallo spent most of his time as an above average defender at 1B and LF but overall had -15 defensive war for his career. Cole looks to be a solid CF or plus/elite RF/LF.

 

Gallo was a plus/elite OF in MLB for 8 years or so. Maybe let Cole grow into that.

 

No he wasn’t. He only played 489 career innings in CF. He had negative UZR in LF in the entire 2nd half of his 8 year career. He lost his range pretty early in his career. He had a badass arm but his range, routes, glove, and overall defensive performance were pretty inconsistent.

 

Saw J.Winkler in the lineup card today and thought the Astros signed Jesse Winker.