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Astros OiR Chat
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Anthony Franco
4:00
Good afternoon! Hope everyone's doing well
4:01
Looking forward to chatting about the defending champs for an hour
Guest
4:01
Will the Astros win the AL West, or will Seattle dethrone them?
Anthony Franco
4:03
Astros are still my pick. Seattle's good and the Angels and Rangers both put themselves in the Wild Card conversation for me but the top of Houston's rotation, lineup depth and bullpen are all still excellent
Guest
4:03
Houston repeating as champs?
Anthony Franco
4:04
This one's tougher to call obviously. Playoff baseball tends to be pretty random, Astros' recent run of winning every Division Series notwithstanding. Have to take the field over any individual team obviously but they're the best team in the American League again for me
4:06
Guessing we'll do some kind of season prediction thing on the eve of Opening Day where I'll have to decide whether to call a repeat. I'm reserving judgment for three weeks until then haha
The Guy Next Door
4:06
Any chace they bring Gurriel back?
Anthony Franco
4:07
Dana Brown has already said they don't feel like they have the at-bats for Yuli, which makes sense. Abreu plays everyday when healthy. Yordan/Brantley should have DH secured. Unless they feel like Gurriel can handle second or third base on occasion, it's just a tough roster fit. Teams don't really carry designated pinch hitters for an entire season anymore
4:08
Maybe if he has to take a minor league deal somewhere, he circles back. But the path to a roster spot is clearer elsewhere
Ryan
4:08
The new contract suggests they think Javier can hold up over a whole season as a starter.  Thoughts?
Anthony Franco
4:10
Yeah I don't have any reason to doubt that. He took on almost a full starting workload last year and was awesome. He dominates hitters from both sides of the plate, has done well when asked to take on a lineup for a third time. I'm in on him as a #2 caliber arm
colt 45 beer
4:10
How much will Luis Garcia be affected by the forced changes to his windup?
Anthony Franco
4:12
I'd be surprised if it really affects his performance. That they cracked down on it is probably an annoyance for him but the twist he did early in his windup was more of a rhythm thing than an integral part of his delivery
jim hightower
4:12
The two Joses: Altuve and Abreu. Altuve's 32 and seems to have lost real speed on the bases. Abreu's 36, and had his worst year for HRs. What's their future?
Anthony Franco
4:12
Not worried about either in the short term. They can both still really hit
4:14
Abreu's homers were down last year but the hard contact rate was strong as ever. Slight uptick in grounders plus the deader ball knocked a few homers off his ledger but there's nothing to suggest he's losing bat speed at this point
Jeff C.
4:14
Who do you think will be the starting centerfielder for the Astros this season?  Backup catcher?
Anthony Franco
4:15
I think McCormick will just seize the center field job as he has for most of the past two seasons. They seem reluctant to ever officially make him the center fielder for some reason but he's good and just forces his way into the lineup every time they make him compete for a spot
4:17
I like Yainer Díaz as a complement to Maldonado more so than Korey Lee considering Díaz can hit but it wouldn't surprise me if they carry all three on the roster at points. Having two backup catchers when they can make it work from a roster perspective gives Baker more flexibility to hit for Maldonado in the middle innings if situations dictate
Dan P
4:17
Do you think Bryan Abreu is more likely to be a future closer or future starter for the Astros?
Anthony Franco
4:17
Reliever for me given the inconsistent strike-throwing but a really good one
phil
4:17
pena's stats seemed pretty good last year, is it fair that he got so few votes for the rookie of the year.
Anthony Franco
4:18
I think he was mostly just a victim of a great class in the American League. Julio Rodríguez, Adley Rutschman and Steven Kwan all has awesome seasons
4:19
I'd have had Pena above Bobby Witt for fourth though
Guest
4:19
Which Astros 40 man roster players are out of options?
Anthony Franco
4:19
Roster Resource has it as just Mauricio Dubón right now
4:21
Players with over five years of MLB service can't be optioned without their consent, so guys like Stanek, Maton and Neris can't be optioned either. But they're obviously not under consideration for anything like that regardless. Dubón's the only one where it could be borderline depending on how things play out over the season
Mr. Do The Minimum
4:21
I am somewhat shocked that the Astros did very little to add depth to their bench. Brantley is a bit of an unknown commodity, coming off surgery. Yet they didn't bother to sign another outfielder. Nor did they add a proven utility player to replace Diaz. They turned away from a very affordable catcher in Vasquez. Hubris at work? They don't have an obvious prospect in the wings, as they did when Tucker moved in to replace Springer. A couple of injuries and the season could go south in a hurry. What say you?
Anthony Franco
4:22
Seems they like David Hensley and think he and Dubón could mostly approximate what Aledmys Díaz has done the past couple years. I don't really have an issue with that
4:23
The outfield depth is a little light, I agree. Feels like they're giving Jake Meyers a mulligan after the shoulder surgery. He's shown flashes of being a good fourth outfielder before but it's a little risky to rely on him as the first man up in the event of injuries
40yr Astros Fan
4:23
Pedro Leon and Forrest Whitley - prediction? Will they be on the big league team or released by the end of the season?
Anthony Franco
4:24
They don't have to do either necessarily. I think Leon eventually gets a big league look as a bench outfielder though
4:25
Tough to count on anything from Whitley at this point. Wonder how long they'll be willing to keep him on the 40-man roster if he gets off to another slow start in Triple-A
Dan P
4:25
After the almost Bill Bellichick-ish tight lips of Luhnow and Click - Dana Brown is giving us practically a blow by blow of extension negotiations.
Do you think that helps or hinders the situation?
Anthony Franco
4:26
I don't think it has much bearing on the actual status of negotiations. More transparency seems better for the fanbase though
Dusty Runtz
4:26
Do you think Jim Crane is one of the more difficult owners to work as a GM for? Lunhow and Click both won WS and left pretty upset at Crane.
Anthony Franco
4:27
Lunhow left for very different reasons than Click. Obviously, it seems like Click wasn't a huge fan of working under Crane. Ken Rosenthal has suggested a few times that Crane got very hands-on in baseball operations after the previous group embarrassed him with the sign-stealing controversy
Sam H
4:28
What do you think the Astros ceiling is this ceiling? The AL West is stronger, but I also think this is the most well rounded Astros team that’s been assembled. Verlander was a big loss but adding Abreu and having crazy pitching depth as they do I truly think this is a better team.
Anthony Franco
4:29
Another 100-win regular season and World Series is a legitimate aspiration for this group
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