A troll on social media (who now got the block I guess he has always been wanting) decided to try to roast me over this post from a couple of days ago.
I posted this as an open message, but I thought it would be good for you - the actual readers of this site - to see this content here. Here is my open letter discussing my thoughts on the Astros managers - past and present.
For those who think I spent all season bashing Dusty last year unfairly, let me be very clear.
My issues with Dusty were very focused:
1. His complete and utter addiction to playing his favorites. Typically, these were older and completely incapable veterans for whom their negative impact on the team was well documented. This included Maldonado, Gurriel and Jose Abreu. Dusty seemed to be on a one-man crusade to be the champion of all players older than 35 in an age where the sport is played at a speed where a vast majority of players in this group cannot and will not compete. One man’s denial of the aging curve in baseball does not make it go away.
2. His tendency to run his baseball team like it was a social experiment program and not a merit-based program. He was proud of promoting some players based on their racial and familial ties while disregarding their performance history.
3. His constant criticism and belittling of young players and refusal to give players in their first few seasons regular and logical playing time. He often thrust them into nearly impossible situations and then pointed to their inevitable failure as a sign they were incapable.
4. The completely incoherent and illogical excuses provided by Dusty for his actions which led one to believe he had no idea what he was doing or did not want to explain because the real answer was tied to the previous issues listed. Even when Dusty made the right move, probably due to the suggestion of his coaching staff, he gave an explanation which was often confusing at best. By contrast, Joe Espada provides very clear and compelling explanations for what he does even if the moves did not work out. Even including Joe admitting he might have made a mistake which is something I don’t think I ever heard Dusty admit. I have had maybe ten times this season a real unaddressed question to why something happened. I had multiple weeks last year where I had ten unanswered questions.
If my bitching about those issues last year felt repetitive and unfair, it was because the same issues were NEVER being addressed. The only response was “that’s Dusty being Dusty” as if that was a real answer and not just a highlight of the problem.
This year, this fan base bitches about Joe Espada without a core philosophical disconnect. It is honestly just the uneducated toddler like whining that things are not going the way you want with often a completely dumb and uninformed perspective.
(Addition- If you don't understand why Joe Espada is making the moves he makes, the root cause is likely centered around your unwillingness to accept the world of expected stats and matchup-based personnel deployments. If you were a MoneyMaker member you would have this data on this site nearly daily. Joe Espada is NOT alone in how he makes these decisions. It is the norm in the MLB. This site has tried to give you a sneak peek into this kind of data while recognizing that the team modeling is even more advanced. This just wasn't the norm with the previous manager, or he just failed to be able to explain the key data that was used while generally being dismissive of the fan data.)
If folks on this app find it odd that a superfan would defend the transparent rookie manager against the barrage of unfair incessant bitching while previously complaining about the senile delusional manager who never explained anything then I guess you will have to find it odd that I prefer a data-based decision maker.
I have said that I will always defend our young players because they have potential. It is really the same dynamic.
I am generally very supportive of Joe Espada because even the decisions the fan base does generally does not understand I often see in the data sets I generate. Most of the complaints seem to come from fans out to "even the score" for wrongs they think were pushed at Dusty as if the complaints about Dusty were not the same as they were in virtually every stop he had before coming to Houston. If fans think they want to blame ME for the team deciding to move on from Dusty Baker, then I demand I get a huge bonus for helping propel the team forward. You can send your donations to my PayPal account,
I am only partially kidding. Some trolls owe me for all of the times I have been proven right and them wrong.
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