I'm not sure it's so unusual honestly, I just think it's hell that it's happening at the beginning of the season. If we had got off to say a 30-20 start and then threw in a 7-16, no one would be happy. But at 37-36 we wouldn't have so many saying we need to start a rebuild. Now I don't know if this team will make a run this year or not, but no team with all the high end talent we have should be selling. Our roster is definitely flawed and some moves will need to be made, and if a majority of our injured pitchers don't come back it won't matter, but the situation looks even worse because it's the beginning of the season
I haven't heard a lot - just that some of the long term players think they will turn it around.... like Alvarez, Altuve, Verlander. Not a lot of blame put on the manager in part because of the poor play from Pressly and Hader and Abreu. One of the front office guys pointed out that those three have lost or blown saves in 6 games thus far. and that they would be over .500 if the pen pitched closer to their anticipated performance. Some of the guys feel it is just a matter of time until the pen does better. According to someone else I know that follows the Astros, the harshest internal discussions have been over a lack of defense and poor situational hitting. As for Abreu - he is really liked, and the team says little to him because of how hard he works. He is quietly working with the coaches after games and before. Feeling I get is that they would be a little surprised if Espada is gone - and the Astros would only make that move if an outside manager agreed to keep most the staff the Astros have. My frustration is that I have gotten blank pauses when I have discussed that Abreu doesn't just mean that there is no offense from his spot in the order, but that it has a cascading impact on the rest of the line up. With Diaz, the Astros should be average or above at every spot in the line up, and that churns the offense.... also the Astros need someone else that can work a count at 1st base.
Comment that Abreu is really liked is actually a bit scary after watching Maldy play every day last year as awful as he was
Yeah. Team synergy is important, but not to the extent of having a total void offensively at 1 position. Hated Dusty and the FO for Maldy fiasco last year. If we don’t do something to address 1b we are punting the season. Crane really needs to get his head out of Baggy’s ass. The best owner the Astros have ever had is turning into Jerry Jones.
Why do you say Caratini and Dubon are not a solution at 1B? Diaz can play there too. We have 10 average to above average bats on this roster: Diaz, Caratini, Altuve, Pena, Bregman (he will be), Chas, Meyers, Alvarez, Tucker, Dubon. Diaz, Caratini and Dubon could all play 1B Dubon can play 2B one or two times a week and let Altuve DH when Yordan wants to play the field. Diaz and Caratini can catch and play 1B respectively during that alignment. Alignment 1: Diaz or Caratini, Diaz or Caratini, Dubon, Pena, Bregman, Alvarez, Chas, Tucker, Altuve (DH) Alignment 2: Diaz, Dubon, Altuve, Pena, Bregman, Chas, Meyers, Tucker, Alvarez (DH) Alignment 3: Caratini, Dubon, Altuve, Pena, Bregman, Yordan, Chas, Tucker, Diaz (DH) I'd personally go with Alignment 2 like 60% of the time, followed closely by Alignment 1 and Alignment 3 more or less equal amounts of time. You don't have a single horrific bat in the lineup. Obviously with 10 guys playing all the time right now you have the ability to make sure everyone gets plenty of rest- like 1 time a week.
It's discouraging to see this possibly happening again, where a poor performer keeps getting playing time to the detriment of the team because people like him. Only difference is last year we had a talented kid riding the pine behind Maldy, and right now there is nobody behind Abreu to force the hand. Maybe if Loperfido comes up and starts on fire.
He made an amazing hire in Luhnow. He made a decent hire in Click. I think Brown is going to be well. That's the most important thing he can do as an owner is hire the right GM. I have little problem with how much money he has chosen to spend for the most part- though a couple years I feel like he got lucky and should have pushed a little harder at the trade deadline and worried a little less about the cap. I'm not sure there is anything else I have loved that he's done as the owner- but truthfully the things he's gotten right are like 80 or 90% of the job for an MLB owner so that's not a complaint- more an observation.
I don’t think Dubon is an above average hitter. The rest of your argument is sound. Caratini and Diaz can rotate at C/1b. Dubon should start max 2 games a week and be one of the best utility guys (injury replacement) in the league. 1b and Cf needs to be addressed. I am totally perplexed with the Myers benching. If you aren’t going to give him a solid shot you are downgrading the lineup with Dubon and screwing his trade value. There is too much favoritism to underperforming vets in this organization. Crane and Baggy need to hand over the reigns to Brown, who I believe will do the right thing and fix 1b and CF. That being said if Presley and Hader don’t turn it around we are totally screwed for 2024. I applauded the Hader signing and it shows that Crane is not cheap, just being too involved in personnel and relying on unproven talent evaluators like Bagwell and Jackson.
Jack Mayfield worked his ass off too. Let's bring him back and let him start 80% of the games. Taylor Jones and Alex De Goti too.... Working hard shouldn't really enter into the formula as some sort of extra credit.
You have GOTTA switch the lineup up. I’d go: 1. Altuve 2. Peña 3. Yordan 4. Tucker 5. Diaz 6. Bregman 7. Chas 8. Meyers 9. Dubon at first At this point what the hell do you have to lose???????
I said average to above average bats. I think Dubon, Meyers and Caratini are all probably average bats, I think Pena and Chas are probably a little above average as far as bats go, I think Bregman and Diaz are much better than average and Tucker, Yordan and Altuve are super star level bats. If Dubon, Meyers or Caratini are a little below average that's not a big deal- you can deal with "a little below average" at the 8 or 9 spot in your lineup if you have 3 superstars, 2 more fringe all stars and 2 more above average dudes in the first 7. I'd probably have Dubon playing like 5 times a week so that someone is more or less always getting some rest, but 2 starts a week at 1B, 1 at 2B, and 1 every other week at SS/3B sounds about right to me. I don't think he ever needs to play more than occasionally in the OF, personally, as we've got 4 guys (counting Yordan) already out there, so nobody should be playing too terribly much except maybe Tucker, but he's young and seems fit for it- so whatever.
I personally do not think that Dubon and Caratini are good enough. It is better than Abreu and Singleton - but that isn't saying much. I would far rather them go hard at Brandon Belt or if all else fails, Garrett Cooper.
Players are not fans or the front office. I agree with you though - at some point the organization has to accept that this Abreu isn't the Abreu for the last decade.
Yeah, I agree but they are miles better than Abreu at this point. The difference between Dubon and Abreu right now is like going from Meyers to Mike Trout. Yet we keep running Abreu out there.
Why not Diaz at first and Caratini at C? Caratini is a whiz pitch receiver who would help out the pitching staff and Diaz’s bat will play a lot better at 1B than Dubon or Singleton. Not an ideal solution in the long run but probably the way to get their best players out their for the time being until a trade can be made.
Loperfido appears to being groomed for centerfield. He is playing some 1st base, but a lot of centerfield and that is with Leon on the roster. The homers and extra base power from Joey is awesome so far, but he is striking out too much. I suppose an Adam Dunn, Joey Gallo profile would fit if he keeps striking out at this rate, but he would need to walk more to make it playable - and Dunn and Gallo at times were struggling to stay in the line up.
I don't have a problem with this - because it saves wear and tear on Diaz. However - they don't really seem to want him to play first at all. I personally think at this point you play Caratini/Dubon at 1st until the player development people say that Loperfido is ready or a 1st baseman hits the market in trade.
