mtutiger

I'm not saying Hinch is largely at fault. I'm saying that he largely avoids any blame in the bad times and when he makes mistakes because of Al Avila. I like AJ Hinch, but I'm gonna call it like I see it. And call it out when the fanbase tries to have it both ways.

But when they got it going and turned it around last year with the big club, it was all because of Hinch and the coaching staff. Too bad the old forum is gone, because the receipts would be easy to find. And when it happens again this year (because it probably will to a degree), it'll be because of Hinch. So now that things aren't going, why does Hinch avoid credit for that as well? It logically doesn't make sense. I like AJ and hope he manages here for a long time, but the fanbase sort of wants it both ways when they credit him in the good times and deflect blame from him during the bad.

It's ridiculous, I know.

I am absolutely convinced that this ballgame wouldn't be 4-0 right now if he had chosen to pick just about any other reliever out of that bullpen to pitch to the top of the Astros order, as opposed to the guy with the absolute worst peripherals. And saved that guy for the following inning to begin by facing the lower part of the order. But somehow, that's probably Al's fault.

Idk, Hinch makes some mistakes too. And the degree of disapproval of Al (not unjustified) kinda helps shield him from any scrutiny when he does make them.

Could be worse... Bally State Media is blacked out for me this series, but I can only imagine how they are polishing this turd

Bullpen games are what they are, but I dont understand why you can't bring in a pitcher who maybe has better peripherals or stuff to handle the inning with the top of the lineup. It isn't like there's a rule saying the two long guys have to pitch back to back....

And at worst... he gives up the salami

Putting him out there with this part of the lineup was such a huge mistake. At best, he's probably limited the amount of innings he can go after this one

It feels like they'll lose by more today

Don't like putting Hutchison out for the top of the order... would rather they go with Vest or even Joe for the top of the lineup

Some things never change!

Yet another pitcher the Tigers will make look like Tom Seaver lol

He looked relieved lol

Dusty fielding the B team today lineup wise...

I swear, whether its the wildlife or the flora and fauna, everything in Texas wants to kill you 🤣

This is so spot on... And even on the latter point, does signing Correa instead of Baez or, say, Gausman instead of ERod make *that* much of a difference record wise to this team, with the way they have played so far? I doubt it.

And it's Texas... with all the tree pollen and ragweed this state has floating around in the air, it has to be one of the worse for allergies

My own theory is that Hispanics, despite the oft-frequent debate about the degree to which they are culturally more conservative than the average white D, are a lot less black and white on these cultural hot button issues than white voters more generally. Put another way, it's possible that Hispanics are more open to something like a 16 week ban than the average D, while still being opposed to all-out bans on the practice compared to the average R.

From the latest UT poll released this week. Net negative, looks like

The problem is that state parties like the Texas GOP often beget the direction that the national party pursues. I dont see this situation being different

Is this true though? Polls of Texas continually show that a majority of Texans support a right to choose in at least some cases, while the Texas GOP legislates otherwise. The only thing it tells me is that there are far more single-issue pro-life voters than pro-choice voters.

I dont get the dismissiveness that nothing more will happen. But again, I see hardcore anti-choice pols in action everytime I flip on the morning news where I live, so nothing would surprise me at this point

On the question of Avila... the org made a bunch of hires on the developmental side, particular on growing the use if analytics in player development. (Ryan Garko, Gabe Rivas, Stephanos Stroop, etc.), and got a rid of Dave Littlefield and others as well. From a practical standpoint, if you sack Al Avila, wouldn't the likeliest outcome be that you risk losing these guys you just hired and replacing them as well? It's not even that I'm saying that Al has done a good job or not but rather that the org has, while way too delayed, made a lot of personnel decisions and reorg already even with him still being here. The likeliest outcome, imo, is that he ends up in a President role and that someone else will end up GM sooner or later. If he was at risk of being fired, I'm not sure they would have made all the org moves they did beforehand.