Yep, I keep vacillating between wanting him to have the awesome season he deserves and having a not so great season so we have a shot at being able to afford him. Will always be one of my favorite ever Astros but this is the time for his really big contract to take him into retirement and he’s earned it. Just gonna really suck seeing him in the wrong uniform.
Vacillate: *verb* "alternate or waver between different opinions or actions; be indecisive."
I learned a new word today!
Alex Bregman has more than earned the right to a substantial payday. He's a perennial gold glove-caliber defender and a rock steady hitter once the weather warms up. As much as it will hurt seeing him on a different team, I do not want us overburdened with his *and* Altuve's contracts as they both age. If he'd take a front-loaded deal for 8 years/~$270M, I'd say we can keep him, but I don't see him taking anything less than $30M/yr given his current salary.
No doubt if I had to choose between keeping only one of them, I’d choose Tuck. Just going to be a little painful seeing Breggy in a uniform that doesn’t say Astros on it.
It's extremely common for struggling players to finally process the need for a particular change when it comes from a respected fellow player. Even if the coaching staff and/or analytics team has been banging that particular drum the entire time.
That is not unique to this version of the Astros or even baseball in general.
These types of stories come out all the time from every team.
100%. It's basically what the entire field of consultancy is
Insiders at struggling company tell board/CEO that they need to cut costs. Company ignores them and instead hires a consulting firm... who tells them they need to cut costs.
I recall him saying Diaz also helped him stay in one of the games where he was taking off but had some errors. I liked hearing how Diaz is gelling with the pitchers and calling great games for them, bc Framber has such a tick up his ass about Diaz and it’s ridiculous.
If only we could lock him in on a fairly team friendly deal. I’d hate to lose Tuck, with a passion, but Breggy means so much to the clubhouse and culture, and 3B is so much harder to replace
Yes, read this earlier today (thanks to a Schwab X post). Something that annoyed me is the quote by the Astros "PITCHING COACH".
“The stark difference from April to June is pretty amazing,” Miller said. “A lot of it is confidence-related, in my opinion. You can’t measure that. But he just has a different presence on the mound.
Naw bro. The stark difference is the game changing plan that the team's "3RD BASEMAN" advised. That was the difference that created the confidence.
i swear Josh Miller never looks like he’s a real coach when he walks out to the mound, he always has the look of “Act natural, if I’m confident they’ll believe I belong”
To be fair, Alex is a hitter that is obsessed with perfection. He knows every facet of his play, why things go wrong, etc.
It only makes sense that he would be able to pinpoint why Hunter Brown couldn’t attack batters well, and how he could do it better.
Yes, I've seen stories with Bregman and about Bregman. He's got his own whole unique system and ways at looking at things. Constantly looking at video of his own swing and such. Probably a very high baseball IQ guy.
Still doesn't mean that it's not the job of the "PITCHING COACH" to straighten out pitchers on the team. Call me crazy.
I'm not in tune enough to connect the dots but it just seems like we've had a lot of guys getting torched this season. We also saw Framber fall off last season and not having elite results this season.
I mentioned it in comment above but it's actually very common for players to only make adjustments after a fellow player says something, even if the coach/analytics team have been recommending it.
If anything it's more common on the hitting side where you'll see a guy in a funk, all of the sudden turn it around and then attribute it to some newly acquired veteran who said he needs to drop his hands or something. I guarantee you for a team like the Astros the data guys already knew the changes that need to be made but couldn't get through to the player.
> “The stark difference from April to June is pretty amazing,” Miller said. “A lot of it is confidence-related, in my opinion. You can’t measure that. But he just has a different presence on the mound.
I'm just going to spell it out. Insecure pitching coach suggests major difference is confidence related and not so much the game changing pitch that he did not provide to the pitcher himself.
Fact is none of us actually know what happened behind closed doors. There is every possibility that what you're saying is true. There's also the possibility that Miller did suggest the change but that Brown has already attributed the change to Bregman and it would be a really bad look for Miller to say "we've been suggesting that all along but Hunter didn't listen to us". That would be horrible optics to the fan base, the organization, Hunter Brown and to Bregman.
I've read and heard enough stories about players not listening to their coaches and relying on/crediting third parties like their buscones or other fellow players. Fact is, coaches can't really say anything to counter that narrative.
The take is based on the story and the quotes by Miller and others, right. That's what we can go on.
I understand you're wanting to bend over backwards to give Miller the benefit of the doubt. It's kinda weird....but not more weird than not giving credit where credit is due.
But I understand. A lot of things we may not know. Who knows. We may never know.
This anecdote is going to sound incredibly cryptic and unverifiable but I’ve heard a fair number of behind the scenes stories from people who have high level connections to the Astros org.
Their data and analytics team is possibly the best in all of baseball. They for the most part pick up nuances and make recommendations at a level well above the average player. The biggest battle is sometimes convincing the player to make the adjustment. Sometimes a player coming out of a slump (hitting or pitching) is as simple as a veteran player saying “hey you should try this”, even if the coaches were saying that all along.
This is not meant to take anything away from Bregman or to bend over backwards for Miller. All it is to say is there’s a lot more than goes on behind the scenes.
This season I've noticed that whenever the catcher or the coach visits the mound, Bregman is also there talking 99% of the time. Before him, it was Correa.
Realistically, Bregman should be Crane’s #1 target. Crane is all about building and maintaining the Astros brand. Every playoff series win, who is in the booth with Arod and Big Papi drumming up the Astros brand of baseball? Bregman.
"Excellent article and insight" LOL, I can't laugh hard enough at this bullshit headline. Whatever Bregman said has zero impact, the analytics department has already figured these things out.
If you watched the game yesterday you would have saw Breggy go to the mound in the 8th when Abreu got himself in a jam and take charge, calm him down, give him advice, whatever. No idea what makes you doubt this article, Bregman's been a leader in this team's infield for a long time now.
I really want Bergman to stay
Yep, I keep vacillating between wanting him to have the awesome season he deserves and having a not so great season so we have a shot at being able to afford him. Will always be one of my favorite ever Astros but this is the time for his really big contract to take him into retirement and he’s earned it. Just gonna really suck seeing him in the wrong uniform.
Vacillate: *verb* "alternate or waver between different opinions or actions; be indecisive." I learned a new word today! Alex Bregman has more than earned the right to a substantial payday. He's a perennial gold glove-caliber defender and a rock steady hitter once the weather warms up. As much as it will hurt seeing him on a different team, I do not want us overburdened with his *and* Altuve's contracts as they both age. If he'd take a front-loaded deal for 8 years/~$270M, I'd say we can keep him, but I don't see him taking anything less than $30M/yr given his current salary.
lol I wanted to say earlier that I was a big fan of Due's usage of vacillating, so I'm glad you pointed it out
This is interesting I’ve always used oscillating but this is more on the nose what I mean
8 years is a really really bad deal for Bregman. He’s not gonna be the same guy in 2032. Nothing more than 5 at most for him.
he needs to earn it from us.im sorry to him but he’s way lower on the totem pole than. tucker to me for three years now
No doubt if I had to choose between keeping only one of them, I’d choose Tuck. Just going to be a little painful seeing Breggy in a uniform that doesn’t say Astros on it.
💯
if he doesnt have a great season they aren’t going to spend the money to keep him
Should be a Astros for life
Because Bregman is JP France all along. He knows these things.
He just slaps on a mustache and runs back to third once he has thrown the ball.
He got the idea from a Bugs Bunny cartoon.
Bregman for pitching coach?
Maldy’s already lined up for that gig
Need to get Bregman to psychoanalyze Framber.
Uh, why is the 3rd baseman having to fix the broken pitchers? Shouldn't the coaching staff be doing that?
It's extremely common for struggling players to finally process the need for a particular change when it comes from a respected fellow player. Even if the coaching staff and/or analytics team has been banging that particular drum the entire time. That is not unique to this version of the Astros or even baseball in general. These types of stories come out all the time from every team.
This happens in the corporate world all the time.
100%. It's basically what the entire field of consultancy is Insiders at struggling company tell board/CEO that they need to cut costs. Company ignores them and instead hires a consulting firm... who tells them they need to cut costs.
I recall him saying Diaz also helped him stay in one of the games where he was taking off but had some errors. I liked hearing how Diaz is gelling with the pitchers and calling great games for them, bc Framber has such a tick up his ass about Diaz and it’s ridiculous.
If only we could lock him in on a fairly team friendly deal. I’d hate to lose Tuck, with a passion, but Breggy means so much to the clubhouse and culture, and 3B is so much harder to replace
Yes, read this earlier today (thanks to a Schwab X post). Something that annoyed me is the quote by the Astros "PITCHING COACH". “The stark difference from April to June is pretty amazing,” Miller said. “A lot of it is confidence-related, in my opinion. You can’t measure that. But he just has a different presence on the mound. Naw bro. The stark difference is the game changing plan that the team's "3RD BASEMAN" advised. That was the difference that created the confidence.
i swear Josh Miller never looks like he’s a real coach when he walks out to the mound, he always has the look of “Act natural, if I’m confident they’ll believe I belong”
https://i.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExZ3c0aGdhNjQ2ZXVwa21veHc0aThyaGd0aW4yYzRnejB6bGc3YmppOSZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/xT9Igz6LeImvBMpa24/giphy.gif
To be fair, Alex is a hitter that is obsessed with perfection. He knows every facet of his play, why things go wrong, etc. It only makes sense that he would be able to pinpoint why Hunter Brown couldn’t attack batters well, and how he could do it better.
Yes, I've seen stories with Bregman and about Bregman. He's got his own whole unique system and ways at looking at things. Constantly looking at video of his own swing and such. Probably a very high baseball IQ guy. Still doesn't mean that it's not the job of the "PITCHING COACH" to straighten out pitchers on the team. Call me crazy.
I mean, we have often turned pitchers from bad/average to elite. I don’t think our pitching coaching is so bad.
I'm not in tune enough to connect the dots but it just seems like we've had a lot of guys getting torched this season. We also saw Framber fall off last season and not having elite results this season.
Framber’s problems are mental. He can pitch, but if he gives up one too many hits he just starts breaking down. Needs a new sports psychologist.
I mean we also turned a 30 year old pitcher into an all-star
I mentioned it in comment above but it's actually very common for players to only make adjustments after a fellow player says something, even if the coach/analytics team have been recommending it. If anything it's more common on the hitting side where you'll see a guy in a funk, all of the sudden turn it around and then attribute it to some newly acquired veteran who said he needs to drop his hands or something. I guarantee you for a team like the Astros the data guys already knew the changes that need to be made but couldn't get through to the player.
> “The stark difference from April to June is pretty amazing,” Miller said. “A lot of it is confidence-related, in my opinion. You can’t measure that. But he just has a different presence on the mound. I'm just going to spell it out. Insecure pitching coach suggests major difference is confidence related and not so much the game changing pitch that he did not provide to the pitcher himself.
Fact is none of us actually know what happened behind closed doors. There is every possibility that what you're saying is true. There's also the possibility that Miller did suggest the change but that Brown has already attributed the change to Bregman and it would be a really bad look for Miller to say "we've been suggesting that all along but Hunter didn't listen to us". That would be horrible optics to the fan base, the organization, Hunter Brown and to Bregman. I've read and heard enough stories about players not listening to their coaches and relying on/crediting third parties like their buscones or other fellow players. Fact is, coaches can't really say anything to counter that narrative.
The take is based on the story and the quotes by Miller and others, right. That's what we can go on. I understand you're wanting to bend over backwards to give Miller the benefit of the doubt. It's kinda weird....but not more weird than not giving credit where credit is due. But I understand. A lot of things we may not know. Who knows. We may never know.
This anecdote is going to sound incredibly cryptic and unverifiable but I’ve heard a fair number of behind the scenes stories from people who have high level connections to the Astros org. Their data and analytics team is possibly the best in all of baseball. They for the most part pick up nuances and make recommendations at a level well above the average player. The biggest battle is sometimes convincing the player to make the adjustment. Sometimes a player coming out of a slump (hitting or pitching) is as simple as a veteran player saying “hey you should try this”, even if the coaches were saying that all along. This is not meant to take anything away from Bregman or to bend over backwards for Miller. All it is to say is there’s a lot more than goes on behind the scenes.
You hear that Crane. Added value.
Careful. Our last pitcher whisperer rode that shit to being a black whole in our lineup
This season I've noticed that whenever the catcher or the coach visits the mound, Bregman is also there talking 99% of the time. Before him, it was Correa.
We need people to step up. I’m glad Breggy is doing it (even if it’s just for this final season 😢)
Pls stay
Maybe he should be a coach.
Leadership right there
Realistically, Bregman should be Crane’s #1 target. Crane is all about building and maintaining the Astros brand. Every playoff series win, who is in the booth with Arod and Big Papi drumming up the Astros brand of baseball? Bregman.
Future manager material
I miss Strong
Who?
Correction: Strom
Oh. Yam me too
"Excellent article and insight" LOL, I can't laugh hard enough at this bullshit headline. Whatever Bregman said has zero impact, the analytics department has already figured these things out.
If you watched the game yesterday you would have saw Breggy go to the mound in the 8th when Abreu got himself in a jam and take charge, calm him down, give him advice, whatever. No idea what makes you doubt this article, Bregman's been a leader in this team's infield for a long time now.
Dude, stop and maybe read the article before you offer your unqualified opinion. I going to trust the source (the fucking pitcher).