The 2025 Houston Astros season is best summed up by Dr. Ian Malcolm, chaotician and three-time Survivor of various islands or valleys filled with dinosaurs.
It's September 29th, and the Astros' season is over. The last time we had a regular-season season finale that didn't follow with a playoff game was October 2, 2016 also against the Angels. That was 9 years ago. The lineup that day featured the likes of Colin Moran, AJ Reed, Tony Kemp, Tyler White, and Max Stassi. Brady Rodgers got the start. We used 5 pitchers, of who I've heard of one.
That team was a season away from the season every one of us had been waiting our whole lives for. What will our Hometown 9 look like a year from now? It's anyone's guess, but the large consensus around the TexAgs thread is that a lot of change would you us good.
Let's start at the top
Manager: Joe Espada: 2 years, 175-148 record 1 division title, 0-2 playoff record
My personal opinion is that Joe Espada is a p%%#%y until proven otherwise given his refusal to retaliate when our batters kept getting hit. He was a perfect bench coach for Dusty Baker in that he could remember all the players names and what positions they played, as well as reminding Dusty about key in-game decisions like, we're not in the NL anymore and Washington isn't the Senators anymore. He gets along good with the all the players, that this does not a good manager make. He strategizes like he's a high school coach where you get courtesy runners and can bring a pitcher back into the game and it is EXHAUSTING. However, the fear is there that Dana and Crane think Joe got a raw deal because of injuries and will hang around for year 3. If he gets canned, who do we get next?
Hitting Coaches: Alex Cintron and Troy Snitker. The biggest joke is there are 2 of these idiots. I'm sad to post this while they are still employed .I though they'd be fired after the last pitch. The Astros' steady transformation from a team that Billy Beane and Jonah Hill could be proud of to the Local Free Swingers #713 Union was baffling and agonizing during a season in which our offense hit some huge low points. Nobody but Parades and Caratini wanted to work the count and it turned into a billion 9 pitch innings. Get these idiots gone.
The Offense:
4.23 runs per game. A year ago it was 4.60. That equates to 60 fewer runs scored in a season. In theory, you'd like to score more runs as opposed to less.
2025 gave us the revelation of leadoff Jeremy Pena, but only because Altuve's feet hurt. JP missed 37 games hurt but batted .304. In 96 (WHOOP) leadoff games he hit .371 with a .783 OPS.
2025 also saw Jose Altuve play 19 positions and bat 50 different places in the order. The best of those were DH and batting third. He hit .268 with a .484 slugging % as the DH and hit .276 with a .516 SLG hitting third.
So DH / batting third seems like a no-brainer for 2025 except for alll the myriad of questions that come from there.
If Altuve is your DH, who plays 2B?
Don't you ****ing say, Dubon!
**** you!
Is it Ramon Urias?
Is it Isaac Paredes, who becomes the best lard-ass second baseman since Ronnie Belliard?
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Because Correa isn't moving from 3B and Pena is SS and Christian "Deadman" Walker is playing first unless you trade his Sean Berry RBI poser ass, so then Paredes is the choice, but then what are you doing with Urias?
Utility guy who can't really hit?
Uh, sorry buddy, Dubon has that job ON LOCK.
Do you bring Walker back for two more years of fewer HR and RbI but a lot more strikeouts? Does anyone want Diaz and his amazing combo of 20 walks in 567 plate appearance? Cooper Hummell walked 14 times in 104 plate appearances by comparison.
Was Diaz just a product of no more Bregs and Tuck? His average fell 43 points and his slugging fell 24 points after falling 97 to years ago. He also swung at a slider vs. Emanuel Clase that cost a lot of people on Fan Duel.
And that's just the infield.
Because if Altuve is DH, then Yorcelain (thank you) Alvarez has to play left. And if you can get hurt stepping on a flat surface, you don't want to know what horrors await having to run in a field of grass. But if Yordan plays DH, then Altuve is back at 2B certainly not LF please.
Then there's the rest of the OF which you assume as Preppy Jake back in CF with Cam Smith getting the sophomore start in RF after a decent campaign for a 22-year-old. Does Zach Cole become your LF after his 15-game streak with an .880 OPS and a .553 SLG?
Whatever happened Zach Dezenzo?
Was he the secret son of Doug Dascenzo? What do we do with Sanchez who we have for 2 more years? I yelled "JESUS" a lot more this year than normal, but it wasn't because he was going well.
Then there's the pitching staff.
#1 There could be a CBS comedy called "Everyone Hates Framber". It would have a 100 percent market share on TexAgs.
#2 Hunter Brown is 1 or 2 for Cy Young if we could hit
#3 I hope Costanza keeps it going In 2026.
#4 Outside of those guys, all of our other starters when a combined 23-32 or something like that. I had to separate the fact that Ronel Blanco and Ryan Gusto are not the same person. Javier came back from injury and went 2-4. Arrighetti went 1-5. Lance went 2-5. So, not great.
Who will stay, who will go? Can we drive Lance out to a farm somewhere in the country and save $17 million?
The bullpen is,more stable, only injuires wore it down. Between Hader, Okert, Abreu, King, and Sousa you had five guys with ERAs between 2.28-3.01. I'll buy that for a dollar.
So here are my questions 3 for all future posters as we go along.
1) If you could only get rid of Espada OR the hitting coaches who would you choose?
2) Who is your 5-man rotation in 2026 ? (reasonable free agents apply)
3) Who is your starting lineup/defense in 2026? (reasonable free agents apply)
The Golden Age isn't over, it just hit a speed bump!
[url=https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWVjZjA1ZTQ3Zmh4MW9pM3RpYWR6MTliOWlxYjZvdzVicjdoNHpnM2tkMzBmeTVraiZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/gLBsZebfHr8Ak8AbLx/200.webp][/url]
It's September 29th, and the Astros' season is over. The last time we had a regular-season season finale that didn't follow with a playoff game was October 2, 2016 also against the Angels. That was 9 years ago. The lineup that day featured the likes of Colin Moran, AJ Reed, Tony Kemp, Tyler White, and Max Stassi. Brady Rodgers got the start. We used 5 pitchers, of who I've heard of one.
That team was a season away from the season every one of us had been waiting our whole lives for. What will our Hometown 9 look like a year from now? It's anyone's guess, but the large consensus around the TexAgs thread is that a lot of change would you us good.
Let's start at the top
Manager: Joe Espada: 2 years, 175-148 record 1 division title, 0-2 playoff record
My personal opinion is that Joe Espada is a p%%#%y until proven otherwise given his refusal to retaliate when our batters kept getting hit. He was a perfect bench coach for Dusty Baker in that he could remember all the players names and what positions they played, as well as reminding Dusty about key in-game decisions like, we're not in the NL anymore and Washington isn't the Senators anymore. He gets along good with the all the players, that this does not a good manager make. He strategizes like he's a high school coach where you get courtesy runners and can bring a pitcher back into the game and it is EXHAUSTING. However, the fear is there that Dana and Crane think Joe got a raw deal because of injuries and will hang around for year 3. If he gets canned, who do we get next?
Hitting Coaches: Alex Cintron and Troy Snitker. The biggest joke is there are 2 of these idiots. I'm sad to post this while they are still employed .I though they'd be fired after the last pitch. The Astros' steady transformation from a team that Billy Beane and Jonah Hill could be proud of to the Local Free Swingers #713 Union was baffling and agonizing during a season in which our offense hit some huge low points. Nobody but Parades and Caratini wanted to work the count and it turned into a billion 9 pitch innings. Get these idiots gone.
The Offense:
4.23 runs per game. A year ago it was 4.60. That equates to 60 fewer runs scored in a season. In theory, you'd like to score more runs as opposed to less.
2025 gave us the revelation of leadoff Jeremy Pena, but only because Altuve's feet hurt. JP missed 37 games hurt but batted .304. In 96 (WHOOP) leadoff games he hit .371 with a .783 OPS.
2025 also saw Jose Altuve play 19 positions and bat 50 different places in the order. The best of those were DH and batting third. He hit .268 with a .484 slugging % as the DH and hit .276 with a .516 SLG hitting third.
So DH / batting third seems like a no-brainer for 2025 except for alll the myriad of questions that come from there.
If Altuve is your DH, who plays 2B?
Don't you ****ing say, Dubon!
**** you!
Is it Ramon Urias?
Is it Isaac Paredes, who becomes the best lard-ass second baseman since Ronnie Belliard?
[url=
][/url]Because Correa isn't moving from 3B and Pena is SS and Christian "Deadman" Walker is playing first unless you trade his Sean Berry RBI poser ass, so then Paredes is the choice, but then what are you doing with Urias?
Utility guy who can't really hit?
Uh, sorry buddy, Dubon has that job ON LOCK.
Do you bring Walker back for two more years of fewer HR and RbI but a lot more strikeouts? Does anyone want Diaz and his amazing combo of 20 walks in 567 plate appearance? Cooper Hummell walked 14 times in 104 plate appearances by comparison.
Was Diaz just a product of no more Bregs and Tuck? His average fell 43 points and his slugging fell 24 points after falling 97 to years ago. He also swung at a slider vs. Emanuel Clase that cost a lot of people on Fan Duel.
And that's just the infield.
Because if Altuve is DH, then Yorcelain (thank you) Alvarez has to play left. And if you can get hurt stepping on a flat surface, you don't want to know what horrors await having to run in a field of grass. But if Yordan plays DH, then Altuve is back at 2B certainly not LF please.
Then there's the rest of the OF which you assume as Preppy Jake back in CF with Cam Smith getting the sophomore start in RF after a decent campaign for a 22-year-old. Does Zach Cole become your LF after his 15-game streak with an .880 OPS and a .553 SLG?
Whatever happened Zach Dezenzo?
Was he the secret son of Doug Dascenzo? What do we do with Sanchez who we have for 2 more years? I yelled "JESUS" a lot more this year than normal, but it wasn't because he was going well.
Then there's the pitching staff.
#1 There could be a CBS comedy called "Everyone Hates Framber". It would have a 100 percent market share on TexAgs.
#2 Hunter Brown is 1 or 2 for Cy Young if we could hit
#3 I hope Costanza keeps it going In 2026.
#4 Outside of those guys, all of our other starters when a combined 23-32 or something like that. I had to separate the fact that Ronel Blanco and Ryan Gusto are not the same person. Javier came back from injury and went 2-4. Arrighetti went 1-5. Lance went 2-5. So, not great.
Who will stay, who will go? Can we drive Lance out to a farm somewhere in the country and save $17 million?
The bullpen is,more stable, only injuires wore it down. Between Hader, Okert, Abreu, King, and Sousa you had five guys with ERAs between 2.28-3.01. I'll buy that for a dollar.
So here are my questions 3 for all future posters as we go along.
1) If you could only get rid of Espada OR the hitting coaches who would you choose?
2) Who is your 5-man rotation in 2026 ? (reasonable free agents apply)
3) Who is your starting lineup/defense in 2026? (reasonable free agents apply)
The Golden Age isn't over, it just hit a speed bump!
[url=https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWVjZjA1ZTQ3Zmh4MW9pM3RpYWR6MTliOWlxYjZvdzVicjdoNHpnM2tkMzBmeTVraiZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/gLBsZebfHr8Ak8AbLx/200.webp][/url]
