remember the Astros are only 18-19 vs. the West division

the Mariners, Rangers, A's, and Angels have been trouble for the 'stros

last year the Astros were 29-23 vs. the West

tjack16 said:

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I'd skip his next turn in the rotation personally. He's been so bad recently that throwing him off his routine can't make it much worse.

Especially given his next start would be on the road at Toronto

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Do we have pitching to do that?

HB
Spencer
Luis
CJ
Alexander

That gets you the next 5 starts, in no particular order. Then the choices would be back to HB, Blubaugh, LMJ or use the walking idiot.

Good Framber is as good as it gets. Bad Framber is ugly and walking idiot Framber shouldn't be on the team. You need good Framber to win a ring. The problem is walking idiot Framber can cost you any chance because he keeps you from making the playoffs.

Beau Holder said:

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Dusty now having been vindicated about

- Diaz
- McCormick
- Maldonado's importance to keeping our "ace" on a simple game plan and away from torching his relationship with every teammate he can

is the wildest turn of events.

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Told ya

"Whenever I was crossed up by a pitcher, the first thing the pitcher would do is say, are you ok?"

Regardless of whether or not Framber Valdez crossed up César Salazar on purpose, it was disrespectful of him to not check up on his catcher, says @AJPierzynski12. pic.twitter.com/3PZ4IdpZOz

— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) September 3, 2025

"It wasn't a cross-up. Let's just be honest."@ErikKratz31 is inviting anyone who thinks Framber Valdez crossing up César Salazar wasn't intentional to come talk to him. pic.twitter.com/rd6qajZAnN

— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) September 3, 2025

"From every indication, what happened was not proper."@Ken_Rosenthal questions why Framber Valdez and César Salazar had to go into the manager's office after the game if their cross-up was an accident. pic.twitter.com/ImyREp7zmJ

— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) September 3, 2025

If we had just hired Terry Francona to replace Dusty as manager, how do you think Terry would have handled this fiasco with Framber?

BCEDAg said:

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If we had just hired Terry Francona to replace Dusty as manager, how do you think Terry would have handled this fiasco with Framber?

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I think we've already seen it. Remember when Tyler Bauer got all pissed he was getting pulled from a game and chucked the ball over the center field wall while Terry was walking out to get him? He chewed his ass right there on the mound and he was traded away the next day.

mwm said:

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He's had a hard year putting together lineups, etc. No doubt. I'm not suggesting that he has not had an ideal, carefree year.

But there are apparently some flaws in the way he's handled the clubhouse. I think there was a big flaw exposed last night - and this one happened in the home stretch of a tight pennant race.

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Don't take this as white knighting or anything...

How DO you handle it? Think of it from an office work perspective. Joe is a project manager. He has a really good team to work under him. Right away management starts sniping his team for other projects (the IL) and soon he is running this project with 90% interns. The employees are now under considerable stress to provide more deliverables and just hoping the interns can figure things out enough to semi-contribute. Frustration grows within the project team and there is nothing Joe can do to alleviate it. How do you take the pressure off your regulars when there is no relief in sight? Add on top of that one of your better employees has a tendency to explode like a child when things aren't perfect. By the time management (the IL) gives your guys back the project is way behind and those who weren't snipes are mentally burned out.

I really don't know how a manager can do anything about that since I have never seen a season quite like this before.

txags92 said:

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EastCoastAgNc said:

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Beau Holder said:

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Dusty now having been vindicated about

- Diaz
- McCormick
- Maldonado's importance to keeping our "ace" on a simple game plan and away from torching his relationship with every teammate he can

is the wildest turn of events.

---

I guarantee you Framber is not nailing Maldy with a fastball like that, nor is he deciding to throw his own pitch. Framber needs a more veteran catcher who can whip his ass to be successful.

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Framber needs to go pout like a 12 year old somewhere else. We should have traded him at the deadline for a haul of prospects. Hindsight is 20/20, but given what we see today, it would have been the right move.

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Maybe no takers?

EastCoastAgNc said:

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BCEDAg said:

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If we had just hired Terry Francona to replace Dusty as manager, how do you think Terry would have handled this fiasco with Framber?

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I think we've already seen it. Remember when Tyler Bauer got all pissed he was getting pulled from a game and chucked the ball over the center field wall while Terry was walking out to get him? He chewed his ass right there on the mound and he was traded away the next day.

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To be fair, virtually everyone in baseball was perpetually hoping Bauer would give them a reason to fire him into the sun.

Will Framber Valdez allegedly crossing up César Salazar on purpose affect him in free agency?@Ken_Rosenthal says he'd want some answers before giving him over $100 million... pic.twitter.com/xuNyeA4KH2

— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) September 3, 2025

Good analogy.

If I have a employee, one that has enormous talent but doesn't use it to enhance the performance of the "team", we're going to have a very frank discussion and lay out specific things that the employee needs to do in order to maintain their position in the company. You give the employee a set number of days to "fix" whatever is keeping them from being a productive member of the team.

After the set number of days, you re-evaluate. If the employee makes the changes, you heap lavish praise. If they don't, then, as the boss, you're faced with either relegating them to the bench (demotion) or letting them go (termination for cause).

But, as a boss, you just can't let the problem continue to be a problem. If you do, the damage becomes irreparable.

Sounds easy but it's not. It takes a special leader.

I'm waiting to see what kind of leader Joe really is.

You got 5 active starters pitching reasonably well unlike Framber who also aren't nailing catchers on purpose.

Now is a good time for that joker to ride the pine.

wouldn't be upset if the astros straight up released framber. that was gross.

HarryRocket said:

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wouldn't be upset if the astros straight up released framber. that was gross.

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No way. They want the draft pick after the QO and he signs somewhere else. Give him the absolute minimum QO and make it clear to him that you don't really want him and he will be considered the #5 starter if he accepts the QO.

I'm kinda pleasantly surprised with all this national coverage, even if it's negative. It's just cool to see the Astros filling up time on national and other city market shows. I'm so conditioned of decades of the rest of main stream sports media never giving 2 $**$s about Houston teams, no matter how good they are, except when it's post season and they are playing in it.

I think if this happens in Kansas City or something, no one is talking about it.

HarryRocket said:

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wouldn't be upset if the astros straight up released framber. that was gross.

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Yeah they won't do that but I'd be perfectly OK if they just skip him for the rest of the season and leave him off the playoff roster.

Some things are more important than winning ball games and setting an example that this kinda crap won't be tolerated and standing up for one of you're young players are both more important.

Texaggie7nine said:

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I'm kinda pleasantly surprised with all this national coverage, even if it's negative. It's just cool to see the Astros filling up time on national and other city market shows. I'm so conditioned of decades of the rest of main stream sports media never giving 2 $**$s about Houston teams, no matter how good they are, except when it's post season and they are playing in it.

I think if this happens in Kansas City or something, no one is talking about it.

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I am glad to see Framber being called out nationally for his BS for once instead of it being just a local thing covered by guys afraid to state the obvious for fear of pissing off Joe and Dana and losing access.

Boston Red Sox prized rookie slugger Roman Anthony will be out the next 4-6 weeks with an oblique strain, manager Alex Cora announces

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) September 3, 2025

Into the postseason

I have wondered for a while how well liked Framber is by the team, staff, and org as a whole. You can only put up with his antics for so long before it gets old. Luckily, you can let him walk at the end of the season and be done with the situation.

I didn't think much of it at the time, but when we were in Baltimore recently it was a LMJ start and everybody came out onto the field except for Altuve. All of the players and staff interacted with each other and the fans for a decent amount of time. Framber just ignored everybody and walked out to the outfield to do a little stretching and standing around. When he walked back to the dugout/locker room area he made no eye contact and ignored everybody calling out his name. Could be typical Framber, but it stood out that he was the only one. On the complete opposite end of that spectrum, Hunter Brown talked to damn near everybody including the fans and signed autographs/took pics, etc.

BCEDAg said:

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If we had just hired Terry Francona to replace Dusty as manager, how do you think Terry would have handled this fiasco with Framber?

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He'd give Framber the chance to apologize to the whole team in private and the fans in a press conference. And if he didn't do both, he'd sit him for the rest of the season and the playoffs and win or lose without him.

Wish we had that kind of manager.

Hang the banner. pic.twitter.com/G648U4knkZ

— Gerardo (@spacecity_281) September 3, 2025

DustyBaker said:

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Beau Holder said:

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Dusty now having been vindicated about

- Diaz
- McCormick
- Maldonado's importance to keeping our "ace" on a simple game plan and away from torching his relationship with every teammate he can

is the wildest turn of events.

---

Told ya

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The Diaz one is hilarious some posters threw a fit when he didn't dart

Apollo79 said:

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DustyBaker said:

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Beau Holder said:

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Dusty now having been vindicated about

- Diaz
- McCormick
- Maldonado's importance to keeping our "ace" on a simple game plan and away from torching his relationship with every teammate he can

is the wildest turn of events.

---

Told ya

---

The Diaz one is hilarious some posters threw a fit when he didn't dart

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Me. I'm that poster. We would have had another title in that particular instance.

Apollo79 said:

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DustyBaker said:

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Beau Holder said:

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Dusty now having been vindicated about

- Diaz
- McCormick
- Maldonado's importance to keeping our "ace" on a simple game plan and away from torching his relationship with every teammate he can

is the wildest turn of events.

---

Told ya

---

The Diaz one is hilarious some posters threw a fit when he didn't dart

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Dude was on a rookie heater and the book hadn't been set on him yet. Dusty more than likely cost him the ROY and the team a pick. Yeah, I'm still pissed about it.

MLB Central reacts to the cross-up between Framber Valdez and César Salazar during yesterday's Yankees-Astros game. pic.twitter.com/RPgHPksJ90

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) September 3, 2025

Jaydoug said:

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Hang the banner. pic.twitter.com/G648U4knkZ

— Gerardo (@spacecity_281) September 3, 2025

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Bit early to already have the post of the day, isn't it?

Another part of this that should have someone of better conscience than Valdez feeling bad is how crappy this is for Salazar through no fault of his own. All he's ever done is work his tail off in Sugar Land enough to be a well liked by the org as a game planner, put his head down and shown up when asked, and finally getting a few starts and now he's plastered all over national media getting drilled in the chest by his own pitcher. In the center of a loop of drama he never asked for because he just happened to be the one in the lineup on the day some a-hole decided to make a scene.

What sucks for Salazar is with Victor coming off the concussion IL, he probably gets sent down today. We all know he did nothing wrong, but Framber doesn't have to man up and see him face to face

That MLBN video reminded me of something that hadn't crossed my mind yet. Even though we can say the players "know", in this case, somebody literally knows. At least 1-2 other players (I think Pena and Dubon) had the same pitchcom and heard the call for breaking ball.

So not only did they know that Framber threw the wrong pitch, but the whole "I didn't hear it because it was too loud" doesn't fly since they would have heard it in the same environment.

All the more reason I imagine there were heated words in the locker room. Hopefully the vets took up for Salazar, because by all accounts, he is an outstanding "pitcher's" catcher and hardworking guy who did not deserve that treatment at the hands of a veteran.

We have the extra roster spot. They could choose to keep him up and send an OF down. We have 8 guys who can play some OF currently.

While Meyers and possibly DeZenzo are looming, there is no reason to carry Melton with Trammel back.

You could save Salazar at that rate, but then again, I really don't want catchers DHing much going forward with Yordan and Altuve (and hopefully, ultimately, Paredes) needing those ABs, so it could be a dead roster spot to keep three catchers.

And maybe one of them can hit.

I'd trust Trammell over Dezenzo at this point.

Just from my one interaction with him that's not typical.

My daughters got his autograph last year when we were sitting by the pen. He and a bunch of other starters were out watching JV warm up in the pen before his start and Framber was signing balls, taking pictures, and interacting with the fans like it was a typical nonstart day for him.

He also accepts peanuts from the fans and seems to goof off a bit in the dugout.

Not that it's an even remotely excusable but I think what Dana said is probably more the norm. He just gets ultra edgy when he's competing and when things don't fall his way he melts down.

Still though...This beyond any of that. This is Trevor Bauer-esq behavior that doesn't belong anywhere near the game of baseball.