Lets see Mr Marks Feb 2023.... This is the Swedish baker from the muppets. Sometimes he has flour all over him-- making him dusty.... ahh 2+2=5 a Dusty Baker (this guy "manages the team")... Cool... moving on... Jose Abreu, Martin Maldonado, and / OR Corey Julks SHOULD NOT BE IN THE FCUKING LINEUP ANY FKUCING DAY or GAME. (and sure as **** not the trio in any given game) Period. No Questions. What is it again you needed aid in the comprehension of the comment???
Okay I lied. I thought with the WS win, Baker gets the right to manage until he doesn't want to manage anymore. Now I just want him to retire. His lineups are stupid AF, and he plays favorites. Pena should never lead off. Put McCormick there if you want Altuve batting 2nd. At least he gets on base.
See that all the stardust and glitter are finally settling... its worse than what people/media/critics allow as a pass...because... he's... old school(?!?) Hell, I'm perfectly content seeing Dubon in that leadoff spot... Abreu, Baker, Maldonado, & Joffrey all need to go jump on a Carnival cruise for about 2 weeks... if things go back to being wonky when they get back...
Dusty is the MLB version of Doc Rivers... gets jobs off of reputation and handed all-star rosters at every stop (with the exception of the Reds)... 25+ years of managing and only 3 World Series appearances.
It's so weird how he has developed a cult following among some Astros fans. Its not 2003. The guy got unceremoniously shitcanned from his two prior jobs and would likely be sitting on his couch right now but for the cheating scandal.
He owes dinner to Barry Bonds every time he sees him for joining him in San Francisco for his rookie managerial campaign. 31 win turnaround, but that team was stacked...
For the past 2 seasons, Dusty has managed a team that was all but guaranteed the division before the season even started. He managed the team that way. He gave stars liberal days off, let them play through slumps, and played other guys he liked much more than they deserved. This was not a problem because it didn't hurt their World Series chances. When the playoffs came around, he managed to win. This year, the team has a serious challenge but he has not adjusted. I love Dusty. But baseball adjusted, the division adjusted, and he did not. And that may end up causing the team a chance at another World Series
I've said it before, make Maldonado the coach and get rid of Dusty. Finally takes Maldonado's bat out of the lineup and Dusty gets to go bye bye. Can't be any worse than what's happening now.
I will say this about Dusty, if Pena is not benched tonight for not running out that ground ball, I will lose respect for Dusty. He has to send a message to his team, for a young player to do that is inexcusable. He would have been safe due to the bad throw, and to do that in a one run loss, terrible.
At the same time... when AJ Hinch took away Bregman's soul after bringing the bat with him to first on a homer... Bregman's soul has yet to recover.
I'm becoming increasingly frustrated with his lineups. But his tenure with the Astros is the best 3 season run in team history, beating out the previous 3 years so it's understandable that Astros fans have a positive view of him. Hinch 2017: Won a WS but failed to stop the sign stealing (anyone doubt Dusty wouldn't have stopped it?) 2018: Lost all 3 ALCS home games and had the quickest exit during the Golden Era, getting knocked out in 5 games 2019: Made the most questionable pitching change in Astros history and the Astros lost all 4 home games in the WS Baker 2020: Team overachieved to get to game 7 of the ALCS 2021: Team overachieved to get to the World Series 2022: World Series Champs with one of the most dominate postseason runs in MLB history going 11-2 2023: Before this 3 game losing streak, the Astros were doing great considering injuries and front office failures (Abreu, Montero, Brantley, starting pitching depth)
I don’t believe Maldonado has any desire to be the manager. I think he wants to be exactly what he is: a pro athlete whose glaring measurable weaknesses are totally overlooked by management based on something totally unmeasurable. He thinks he deserves to be an MLB starting catcher because he is even more bought in on his intangibles value than anyone else is.
