agproducer said:

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Wabs said:

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How about Walker and Brice to STL for Donovan?

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I think the Cards would laugh at that.

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Throw in Doobie and make them say no

Too bad Skubal won't be able to go game 1, unless he starts on short rest.

tjack16 said:

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I think Javier could be the 2 starter with an offseason of work and getting healthier.

My ideal lineup would be this

1. Pena - SS
2. Altuve - 2B
3. Alvarez - DH
4. Correa - 3B
5. Paredes - 1B
6. Diaz - C
7. (New acquisition) - LF
8. Smith - RF
9. Meyers - CF

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Need at last one or two more left handed bats. Cole platoon with Meyers would be a start.

txags92 said:

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Beat40 said:

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If you decide to rebuild now, you're guaranteeing 3 years minimum really bad seasons. Then, after that, it's hoping year after year your team will at least make the steps back to .500 to then springboard to 90+ wins. Again, what the Astros did from 2011-2014 and then the success coming in 2015 is really rare. Please remember that.

It could work out, but it just seems like a hell of a knee jerk reaction. I know you're in the camp of firing hitting coaches and Joe. D you think this team has the talent to win the division next year given we don't lose the most WAR to injury next season and there are new coaches?

That's where the struggle is for me with going straight to a rebuild. Injuries quite literally ****ed the Astros last year, we miss the post season one year, and it's time to blow it up.

As a fan - I want to watch my team play post-season baseball. I think there is a path to do that the next 2 years at minimum if the right SP and BP guys are added. Where I sit right now, I'm willing to gamble for a shot at 2 more pennants and maybe struggle 5-10 years after that.

Just doesn't also sit well with me to basically tell Altuve to **** off in his final years of his career.

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I tend to agree with you unless we get Luhnow and/or some of his eval guys back to pick the prospects and do the draft picks. My opinion is that if we are just going to run it back again next year with no changes to the coaching staff and everybody a year old, then just go ahead and start the rebuild. Over and above the injuries, everybody hitting except Jake and JP had sub-par years versus their historical averages. We have a heavily RHH club with aging players and an overstaffed IF/DH situation. I don't think it is viable to not do anything other than add a SP and shore up the BP.

I would much prefer that we get some new coaches (hitting at least, but I also don't think Joe is the guy), and make some targeted trades to increase the flexibility of our infield. Paredes needs to be an every day guy for us and he can't do that if Walker is playing 1B every day and Correa is the everyday 3B, unless you think Paredes can handle 2B, but then how do you get Yordan DH chances if Altuve is stuck there?

Having Yordan and Altuve both better off as a DH than in the field is a problem that will stick around until one of them is gone. I think Urias has more potential upside than Dubon and would prefer to see us platoon Cam and Sanchez in RF and have Cole/Dezenzo to backup CF/LF depending on who is DHing. Packaging up one of those guys with Walker to get a LHH 2B with some power would solve a lot of issues.

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Package some players with Walker and trade to TB for Brandon Lowe.

Tatis has come up as a dud so far in this series.

tjack16 said:

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I think Javier could be the 2 starter with an offseason of work and getting healthier.

My ideal lineup would be this

1. Pena - SS
2. Altuve - 2B
3. Alvarez - DH
4. Correa - 3B
5. Paredes - 1B
6. Diaz - C
7. (New acquisition) - LF
8. Smith - RF
9. Meyers - CF

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Until Javier proves he can go deep into games he doesn't belong near the top of a rotation.

Love him - but that's just the truth.

Paredes' first three months:
.254 | .358 | .468 with 17 HRs and 46 RBIs

Were very similar to Walker's last three months:
.264 | .318 | .489 with 17 HRs and 51 RBIs

Over those stretches, Paredes had 42 BB and 59 K to Walker's 17 BB and 84 K.

If they could both carry something similar to that for the entire season in '26, it's kind of hard to say that Paredes is the clear choice at first. I think you're finding a way to get them both in the lineup.

Also, for the year, Paredes had a 33.8 hard hit percentage with an average exit velo of 87.4. Walker, meanwhile, had a 46.1 hard hit percentage with an average exit velo of 90.9, which trailed only Yordan among regulars. Walker also led the team in barrels.

What hurts Walker is that he's historically driven the ball up the middle, and was no different this season. Given the typical outfield positioning at Daikin due to the Crawford boxes, he loses a lot of doubles and singles in the gap. And at 35, asking him to become a pull hitter for the first time in his career likely isn't happening…but you have to wonder if maybe he tried to pull the ball a little too much at home. Has a team ever done a home-away platoon?

texasaggie2015 said:

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tjack16 said:

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I think Javier could be the 2 starter with an offseason of work and getting healthier.

My ideal lineup would be this

1. Pena - SS
2. Altuve - 2B
3. Alvarez - DH
4. Correa - 3B
5. Paredes - 1B
6. Diaz - C
7. (New acquisition) - LF
8. Smith - RF
9. Meyers - CF

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Until Javier proves he can go deep into games he doesn't belong near the top of a rotation.

Love him - but that's just the truth.

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I tend to agree but I was saying of the options we have… he's the #2 guy. And I'm unsure if we have the assets or willingness to spend enough to get a pure #2 quality starter

They're going for it. We'll see.

iBrad said:

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Paredes' first three months:
.254 | .358 | .468 with 17 HRs and 46 RBIs

Were very similar to Walker's last three months:
.264 | .318 | .489 with 17 HRs and 51 RBIs

Over those stretches, Paredes had 42 BB and 59 K to Walker's 17 BB and 84 K.

If they could both carry something similar to that for the entire season in '26, it's kind of hard to say that Paredes is the clear choice at first. I think you're finding a way to get them both in the lineup.

Also, for the year, Paredes had a 33.8 hard hit percentage with an average exit velo of 87.4. Walker, meanwhile, had a 46.1 hard hit percentage with an average exit velo of 90.9, which trailed only Yordan among regulars. Walker also led the team in barrels.

What hurts Walker is that he's historically driven the ball up the middle, and was no different this season. Given the typical outfield positioning at Daikin due to the Crawford boxes, he loses a lot of doubles and singles in the gap. And at 35, asking him to become a pull hitter for the first time in his career likely isn't happening…but you have to wonder if maybe he tried to pull the ball a little too much at home. Has a team ever done a home-away platoon?

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I think the difference in the two is that Paredes strikes out less than half as often as Walker and hit equally well at home or away. See below for Walker's home/away splits. His OPS was .171 higher on the road than at home and he struck out 11 more times at home in 71 fewer ABs. We should not be paying $20M for a hitter that can't hit in half of the games each season when we can get a guy like Paredes to play the position for $14M less who has basically the same overall stats and hit equally well at home or on the road. "Finding a way to get them both in the lineup" is pretty much impossible unless Paredes is playing 2B, which then means you are platooning Altuve and Yordan at LF/DH.

Home
AB 257
R 28
H 52
2B 10
3B 1
HR 8
RBI 34
BB 22
K 94
Avg .202
OBP .279
SLG .342
OPS .622

Away
AB 328
R 44
H 87
2B 14
3B 0
HR 19
RBI 54
BB 18
K 83
Avg .265
OBP .311
SLG .482
OPS .793

I was looking at PAs for the season, and Dubon ranked 7th on the team at, I think, 398. More than Caratini, more than Jake. He has benefited from injury maybe more than any other player. However, he probably gets over 420 or 450 without the acquisition of Sanchez.

By the way, of the top 9 hitters (all over 380 PA) Dubon's 88 was the lowest wRC+. I suppose that's not terrible for a 9 hole. Also btw, he ended up with a slugging only 3 points lower than Cam. That can't happen again if Smith is part of the future.

EastCoastAgNc said:

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Man the Padres just got screwed on a strike 3 call that was clearly a ball

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Need ABS, but umps need to be better. pic.twitter.com/W0l0fKirA1

— Michael Schwab (@michaelschwab13) October 3, 2025

Should be 3-2 now with 1 out and 2nd/3rd

EastCoastAgNc said:

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San Diego gave up all those players at the deadline just to get knocked out on the wild card.

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They do that every year and are always back in the playoffs.

I haven't seen anyone that has discussed the clubhouse issues mention the possibility that the Correa trade might have had something to do with the disfunction.

The team had a leadership void and some guys were starting to step up in the absences of Correa and Bregman. The entire dynamic changed when they brought Correa back in. I'm a huge Correa fan, but him coming in shifted the entire clubhouse balance. Young guys who were starting to step up as leaders had the rug pulled out from them.

I think a spring together will give things a chance to find equilibrium, but bringing in a lead dog changed a lot of the chemistry.

Just a thought.

I'd rather them establish themselves as good hitters

What a play by McMahon flipping into the dugout

And what a game from this Schlittler kid...

Yankees rookie Cam Schlittler's night is over. He went eight shutout, allowed five hits, didn't walk a batter and struck out 12. He is the first pitcher in baseball history to go eight innings, walk none and punch out 12 in a postseason game.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 3, 2025

How is this the first time I've ever noticed that all 3 games in a WC series are on the same field? That doesn't seem fair at all. Maybe fair for the division winner as a reward, but for the 4-5 seeds that are WC teams, it should be a 2-1 format.

Yankees look a little more built for the postseason the last 2 games. Good pitching and good defense

Booma94 said:

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superaggie73 said:

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How is this the first time I've ever noticed that all 3 games in a WC series are on the same field? That doesn't seem fair at all. Maybe fair for the division winner as a reward, but for the 4-5 seeds that are WC teams, it should be a 2-1 format.

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They had 162 games to have a better record. The road teams are teams that wouldn't have been in otherwise. 3 road games are better than no playoff games. We don't need add extra days and have the World Series being played over Thanksgiving.

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If that's the case, then get rid of that round all together. It's stupid that it is completely different than all other rounds.