So it’s a distraction to negotiate an extension now, it’s a distraction to wait until the end of the season, it’s a distraction to not bring them back, it’s a distraction to remain silent on the matter, it’s a distraction to discuss it…
3 Likes
Like it or not, lame fuck contract situations are a distraction. If he doesn’t want either of them back, what in this year’s job performance would warrant that?
I don’t know why he wouldn’t want either one back, but shitcanning them now seems like it would be a bigger distraction than a “we’ll address contracts after the season”.
5 Likes
But that’s not what he’s done. He’s spent a couple of months bitching around the office, it was bound to come out through the media at some point via the Calgon “you tell 2 friends, and they tell 2 friends, etc” dynamic of office politics
Keeping shit close to the vest and sticking to the “address after the season” would have been the smart thing to do.
I’m not in the office with him, so I don’t know what he’s revealed. I’m just saying that if he doesn’t want to extend them after this season, for whatever reasons, waiting until after the season to let them go seems like a better move than firing them now ahead of the Postseason, even if there is an element of “lame fuck” distraction.
1 Like
I must have missed something then, where has anyone suggested that firing the Manager and/or GM right before the postseason was a remotely possible thing?
Steinbrenner didn’t even do that, did he?
It’s the alternative to having them as lame duck. Which is why I asked.
Espada is interviewing for the Marlins job, also has been mentioned for the ChiSox
I expect he will get one of them.
1 Like
Reactions to the Putila move to the Giants as GM (who would have been a great internal candidate for the Astros if Crane parts ways with Click)…
Three ex-Luhnow lieutenants now in charge of baseball ops at Orioles, Brewers and Giants*.
*Technically Putila sits below Farhan Zaidi with San Francisco
Edited to add:
I haven’t seen it reported anywhere but at age 33 it appears Putila becomes the youngest GM currently in MLB.
1 Like
So several articles on Dr. Andy Nuñez, who turned Framber’s career around. He’s a sports psychologist who’s worked for 12 years in the Astros’ mental skills department based in the DR who doesn’t even show up in the organization’s roster of front office personnel (slightly curious given that among other things it lists every clubhouse attendant). A couple of Framber quotes from each article…
“[Dr. Andy] means a lot to me,” Valdez said. “I think I owe about 75 percent of my career to him. He taught me a lot about discipline, how to control my emotions and just staying engaged and staying focused.”
“Andy is like a rock in my life,” Valdez said last week through an interpreter. “After God, after my family and after my wife, he’s one of those people that got a hold of me in a certain way. Ever since 2020, I let myself be guided by Andy and kind of really took to his teachings. That’s when I started to become the player I am.”
And it’s not just Framber on the big club that he’s helping…
Astros international crosschecker Oz Ocampo – who was instrumental in the signing of Valdez for $10,000 in 2015 at 21 years old – and fellow pitchers Luis Garcia and Cristian Javier, among others, said Nunez helps Latin American players deal with the challenges they face, whether it’s signing with a new team or going to a new country. Nunez is also working closely with Javier and reliever Bryan Abreu, both of whom had the best seasons of their careers.
Mind over Batter is a great writing
Possible dual loss to the Marlins…
Espada passed over once again…
Less definitive but perhaps the CWS as well…
Their loss.
1 Like
Profile on scout Charlie Gonzalez who’s been the key player in the organization in signing all the Cuban players and pushed hard for the Yordan trade.
3 Likes
Official. Too bad the Astros didn’t move Oz into their own vacated assistant GM position. Hate to see him go.
1 Like
What a doofus, misleading comment by McTaggart.
Definition of Desertion rom dictionary.com:
noun. desertion from allegiance, loyalty, duty, or the like; apostasy : His defection to East Germany was regarded as treasonable. failure; lack; loss: He was overcome by a sudden defection of courage.
Synonyms & Near Synonyms for defection. abandonment, dereliction, desertion, forsaking .