I think this is a key part of all of this. When you have Altuve, Bregman, Correa, and Springer in their primes, and a still deep pipeline of talent in the minors, you're going to be good regardless. You're not *needing* to sign anyone so you can be pickier. So the people you're signing help fill gaps and if they don't work out, it's not overly destructive to your team. Plus, it helps when payroll is low enough that you have flexibility. The In recent years, with the core players aging, leaving, and/or getting expensive, you have to supplement that with better free agents to fill the gaps quickly and keep the window open - and that means taking more expensive risks. In the Astros' case, they haven't worked out. But if Abreu, for example, even manages one good year before falling off, it might mean an extra WS and the whole narrative is different.
Me too, it amazes me that there's all of this doom and gloom around the Stros after they just missed the playoffs by one game. This is despite a record number of injuries to the pitching staff, Yordan, Parades and having Espada as the manager. I just hope Espada didn't ruin Hader's career. Let one of the young bats come through for them and I believe in the new pitching staff. This is a playoff team with depending on how the bullpen goes a chance to win another WS. Of course they will need to be able to overcome Espada.
Yet the farm system has given us top 5 ROY candidates in Hunter, Pena, Diaz etc.... Not to mention developing pitchers at a very high rate. I just wish Luhnow was still making the calls on this mini shifting. This isn't a rebuild.
IMO Hader`s health is a key factor in our ability to close out games this year, if he isn't 100%, those close games which we would typically win with him in the 9th could be a toss up..................hoping for the best and ready for some baseball baby!!
I'm ready for some baseball too I'm hoping they give Blubaugh a chance to close. I don't have a lot of faith in Abreu as a closer due to his control issues. But he's an elite set-up man. Some guys aren't mentally built to close out games.
Abreu has gone 16 for 18 in traditional save opportunities in his career. He’s been one of the best and most consistent relievers in baseball the past 4 years. Y’all are way overreacting to those two bad appearances late last season.
Abreu also wants a bag and is on the last year of his contract. We are lucky to have him. If Hader hadn't had some issues at the end of the year and this winter . . . he might have been trade fodder. He's not gonna take the closing job from Hader, but on an open market, he could easily be a top 20 or top 15 closer in the league. And he will get paid.
I think that's a bit hyperbole. No way that games in which Hader would have a 1 inning save situation become a toss up without him. At worse, Abreu pitching the 9th with a lead instead of him has 10% worse chance of a loss. I would actually say its even lower than that. Now if you look at the cumulative effect of someone else pitching the 8th instead of Abreu and someone else pitching the 7th instead of that person then, yes, there will be increased occasions of losing those games. But if you look at games where the Astros are winning after 6 innings, the percent of games blown will still be much less than a 50/50 toss up.
No more panicking after they see Nick Allens numbers. Dude is hitting .500 this spring. Solves a lot of issues.
I'm not saying we don't But not having him will not cost the team 10+ games. Maybe 2-3. I don't want to discount 2-3 games but they certainly aren't the death of a season. Injuries open opportunities for others. If Paredes doesn't get hurt, they (probably) don't bring back Correa. If there isn't a rash of injuries they don't need an offensive spark or have an open spot for Cole to get MLB PAs. He isn't considered an important part of the 2026 team. So maybe Hader's injury gives someone like Blubaugh, Ullola, or Pearson a chance and he becomes a Wipeout leverage reliever. This team is better with Hader but if he is healthy for the postseason and leading up to it after some unknown becomes the next Will Harris or Ryan Pressly because he was hurt, I will be stoked.
I basically agree, but I think we missed the playoffs by a tie-breaker last year. So yeah each win is important, especially the ones we give away in the late innings that we should’ve nailed down. We definitely need our 19 million $ man in his spot and, if he isn’t, it could easily play a large part in not making the playoffs again. I know Abreu is a stud, but his bad pitching in Hader’s role at the very end of the season really hurt the team and was a fairly large contributor to the Astros’ terrible death spiral finish last year. We only needed 1 more win. It was excruciating. A player’s injury opening a door for another player is nice. We had a ton of injuries last year. No studs came out of the stable to rescue us. It might be the same this year. Imo, this is a team of few strengths. We don’t have the luxuries we used to have in the depth department. We need our best players.
I guess you didn’t see that he’s hitting .500. He’s obviously turned the corner offensively. So I have No Worries.
