I'm guessing that fan outrage helped lead to some of those articles being written. Astros fans b@#$ing and complaining helped the team.
Agreed, 2023 as a whole was not a disappointment. He was great and he will bounce back from his most recent playoff performance
As for position players and run production I think this team has 5 players who will and should play everyday. Alvarez, Altuve, Tucker, Chas, and Bregman. Each were at least 14% better vs both RHP and LHP for the year by wRC+, except Bregman. He finished 6% below vs LHP, but was +26% in the 2nd half. Also: catcher belongs to Diaz. There was an early season concern vs LHP, but he was slightly above average in 2nd half (103) while continuing to kill Righties (161). I don't include him above because catcher is never an everyday or even nearly everyday position. That leaves 3 positions: 1B, SS, and LF/CF. Abreu is going to be the 1B the majority of the time but I think due to age and injury risk he should be given 4-5 days off per month. He was very good vs Lefties in 2nd half (130) but still slightly down vs RHP (91) which is not good for a 1B. This will be an opportunity to add a bat to start vs RHP once per week and help with an overall weakness of this team. Pena has been the everyday shortstop and he is in there for his glove, not bat. However he is very weak vs RHP (82, 89 in 2nd half) which is a problem for 2 reasons. 1) it is a general weakness for the team so difficult to make up for it w/ other bats and 2) the players who back him up are similarly poor vs RHP ( Dubon 84, Kessinger 55). Dubon was 102 in 2nd half, but much of that was a hot streak that is likely not sustainable. CF is in the same situation. Chas has earned an everyday role, but due to his reduced range this year, lack of arm strength, and other OF on the team bring better suited to CF (Dubon and Meyers) it may be better for him to play LF. The issue is the same as SS, Dubon, Meyers (78) and LF Julks (85) are weak vs right handed pitching. It's worth noting that while Chas has made himself a better than average hitter vs RHP (114) he is still much better vs LHP (177) So, as constructed this team is always going to have at least 3 players starting vs RHP that are well below MLB average. I would like to see at least 1 and possibly 2 hitters added who can mash RHP and play +50% of the time at CF, LF, 1B, DH, and/or SS. The trick is doing it with a weak farm system and little money available under the CBT.
That’s interesting. I know it seems stupid to labor the point and I could totally be wrong but I’m not sure that MLB article is correct. Johnson spent a year in Japan and my understanding of service time and free agency rules is that players who are released by a big league team that then play professionally overseas are not subject to service time requirements for free agency if/when they return. I have seen MLB.com articles get that kind of stuff wrong in the past which is maddening considering you’d think they’d be the ultimate source for that kind of info. I did a cursory search and couldn’t find anything directly addressing/explaining that scenario. Any explanation of free agency strictly says players must have 6 years even if they are released by another team but it doesn’t address players who come back from Japan/Korea. This article about Merrill Kelly’s extension notes he was set to be a free agent after 2022 even though he was short of 6 years service time. https://www.mlb.com/news/merrill-kelly-gets-two-year-contract-extension It’s a shame Mike Fast doesn’t still post here because he could surely clear it up.
He's a great regular season player but he has yet to show up in the post-season outside of World Series game 1 last year. His post-season numbers are very, very pedestrian. Is he capable of elevating his game or even just playing at the same high level during the play-offs? He has such a flat disposition I'm not sure he has that fire. That being said, I still want to extend him. He was one of our most important players in 2023 and a big reason they even made it to the dance.
I would put OF high on the list. It'll be interesting to see how Brown's regime views McCormick. There was a ball in game 7 (may've been game 6?) that he couldn't get to in CF, and it made me wonder if Dusty was alone in his diagnosis of Chas as a viable CF? I'm not solely basing any opinion on that one play - I just wonder if the view extended beyond Baker. I would also place SP high on the priority list. Framber was not good after the ASB, and I hope they have their finger on why - but there's reason for concern; JV is JV but how much do you really want to stack on him? After that, it looks like more quantity than quality: Brown, Urquidy & France all struggled at times; you have no idea when Garcia will be back and how he'll respond; and I wouldn't trust McCullers to be in the rotation... And that bring us to Javier. If he can't develop a 3rd pitch, I don't think he's a long-term starter in the league. He may have been tired this year, etc - but I also think a 2-pitch pitcher you've seen becomes significantly less effective. But those two pitches would be Hell coming out of the pen. Last thing: as rightly excited as we all should be about Diaz, everyone should keep in mind that he has almost no plate discipline, and at least some of his success can be tied to the league seeing less of him. Once teams figure out he swings at everything, he's going to see fewer strikes and is going to have to make adjustments. Every one should tap the brakes on his full-fledged arrival. It might happen - and I hope it does: but I definitely think they need a viable second C.
The entire league already realized Diaz swings at everything, it's not a development the league hasn't figured out yet. In fact, teams have known that pretty much all season, you still have to throw it somewhere near the zone to get him to swing, at which point he can hit it. I'm not worried about his offense at all.
By fWAR, 2023 was Tucker's most productive season. I think overall he was really good, although we can see now that he's not really in the same tier of hitters as guys like Alvarez when there was some hope in 2021 that he might in fact be that good of a hitter. He just doesn't barrel the ball often enough to be one of the very best hitters in the game, although he's clearly substantially above average.
I like the idea that you can solve Diaz simply by not throwing him strikes, like the rest of the league is so ****ing stupid they haven’t tried this one simple trick.
He appears to be deeply depressed. His body language is so negative. May be personal issues and nothing to do with baseball.
I'm looking forward to a stress free Halloween this year. Experts saying we have a "winter like" cold front this weekend. Spring training just several months away.
Possibly, but if those fans b*tching and complaining leads to Ausmus being hired as manager..well the not so bright fans get what they deserve.
Yes, his temperament seems to be phlegmatic, but I have noticed a significant change in the last few months. He appears depressed. It may be his response to the slump or it may be personal issues. I bet his friends and family knows. Somebody knows. I wish him well.
