I think you go after McCutchen regardless if Altuve is back or not. But would either Donaldson or McCutchen clear waivers? I could see a team claiming either players. They need to call up Beltran and have a special guest. I know he wasn't hitting last year but was apparently helping out in the locker room. Have him come in for the day and rally the troops.
Yes. Make a change for the sake of making change. Going nearly a month without a win at home requires a shake up. Jake got a wake up call when he was sent to the minors. Sometimes drastic measures are needed to get out of a rut.
Who cares about who gets benched in a playoff game? The goal right now is to win the division and avoid the crap shoot that is the one game wildcard playoff. Evan Gattis right now has no business near a major league lineup, and the Astros have no bench even when Springer returns. Cameron Maybin made key contributions in September for the Astros last season. That kind of help would be welcomed right now.
He was acquired because they lost Jake for the season and they needed a backup who could play CF... the point is that Luhnow can make that sort of move at any point, but its unlikely to be the true difference maker of a turnaround (and Maybin last year was not the reason they rebounded from a bad August). Springer coming back on Friday is going to be welcomed. McCann and Devo coming back next week will be welcomed. Altuve starting to run on a treadmill and will be hitting tomorrow with a rehab assignment soon after will be welcomed.
I’m not making changes for the sake of it. I’m making changes because my eyes tell me that the Astros have a ton of holes in their lineup right now, and a small addition could help them fend off the hard charging A’s until they get Altuve back and Correa up to speed. Also, Springer returning does not take away the purpose of adding Granderson. If the Astros play Marwin at 2nd until Altuve returns and Kemp in left field, the Astros only bench outfielder is Derek Fisher. Granderson would be a significant upgrade on Fisher, with the added benefit of being the lefthanded half of a DH platoon with Gattis or White until Altuve returns.
Putting Marwin 5th in the lineup, is beyond dumb, A.J Hinch has arrogance when talking about being swept by the Mariners. "Do I have a Panic Look in my Face". It's not about panic, it's about needing to put the best hitters with better avg in the lineup. Astros need to trade for a Big Bat and calling up better contact hitters, after a poor showing by J.D Davis, Tyler White, Marwin Gonzalez, Evan Gattis, Yuli with no power. Bregman right now is the only trusted hitter. Correa and Springer are terrible hitters with their poor avg. The A's are winning the Division, playing like Sharks. The most unknown team, I don't even know their Starting Pitcher Names, Mike Fiers is One Pitcher, still winning. The Astros are going to be a 4 or 5 games back of the A's when September Starts. The constant 3 for 1 trade really has depleted the Hitters, Pitchers in the System. Gilberto Celestino trade for Pressly is going to hurt the Astros. Pressly has been really bad.
I know what led to Maybin being acquired last year, and I never said he was the catalyst for the September turnaround last year. I simply believe a small move like that can help the Astros win a game or two right now that might be the difference between winning the division, facing the Yankees in the wild card game, or even possibly missing the playoffs.
Hinch said something really disturbing in the PC after the game. He mentioned how the entire dugout tensed up after CarGo singled in the 6th. Nobody on, two outs, winning by one with your ace on the mound, and the whole dugout tenses up because someone got a single? To me, that indicates that leadership, not injuries, is the biggest issue with the team right now.
The leaders, and the guys who perform the best under pressure, are injured. Springer very much keeps the clubhouse as loose as possible, and we know he can rise to the occasion. Altuve was the guy delivering the post-season locker room celebration speeches for a reason. We aren't privy to the true clubhouse dynamic, but it doesn't take a mensa specialist to figure out that those two guys make a sizable enough impact. Now, if you want to use this to slight Correa... go ahead. He is a distant 3rd, IMO, for the "big 3" which you now have to include Bregman as part of that equation as well.
Then it is basically a move to make a move... like Major said. Unlike last year, they have 3 position players and 2 pitchers on the DL who are expected to be back. There's just not that much room on the 40 man roster for moves to make a move. If one of those guys isn't coming back, then they have a window.
If I counted correctly, we went 20-8 in Sept. last year.....going .500 in the remaining 42 would get us 94 wins. That may be close to where we settle.JMO.
I think they'l be better than that. As of just last week, they were exceeding last year's record. With Oakland being right there, they're also going to be in a position to have must-win games... something they didn't have to worry about as much last year. I think they'll rise to the challenge.
The Astros have literally imploded before our eyes. I think Hinch is in denial. They just can’t overcome all these injuries. The fact is this is a very different team without Altuve out there. Springer is also very important. Correa...not so much imo.
Springer is hitting .250 in 2018 and far less than that since May. How exactly is he going to turn this offense around? His OPS of .760 isnt exactly the kind of OPS teams design an offense around and his OPS in June/July was a lot lower. Altuve - Yes. Springer? No. He's been slightly above average this year. His WAR is only 2.2 The injuries only came recently and we can't only focus on the injuries to hitters and ignore how fortunate the health of our Starting Five Pitchers has been. Not even one missed start 115 games through the season! On balance the 2018 Astros have been a healthy group. They've also been an underachieving group and it's ok to admit the obvious. Still time to turn it around, but clock ticking and Seattle and Oakland aren't scared. Oakland is playing so much better baseball than us since June 1st. It's night and day difference.
A Lefty is going to start for the Rockies, it is a loss for sure. The Offense Problems are Low Avg by Every player, even Altuve has a low Avg, low hr by his own standards Correa, Springer have fallen off Bregman is the only improvement as a hitter. Gattis, McCann, Marwin, Marisnick, J.D Davis low avg are not MLB material Tony Kemp, Tyler White have good avg but not stepping up much during the losing streak Kyle Tucker is just in the batters box just staring at the view of the ballpark, what is he even thinking, staring at strike 3.
I think the Astros need a huge surge from the offense, Offense is the only weakness, I want to Callup Yordan Alvarez and Seth Beer right now, send Tucker down for the rest of the year.
Derek Fisher or Kyle Tucker represent the team’s only backup outfielder until Marisnick’s groin heals. Both should be in AAA. A small waiver trade acquisition (Granderson or someone else) could easily be better than both in the short term. That’s not making a move simply for the sake of shaking things up. Then, as I already mentioned, the Astros could also use a left handed bat to platoon with Gattis or White at DH until Altuve returns and you can have Marwin in that role. At the moment, there’s no clear timeline for Altuve’s return. It could be next week, it could be in early September.
To me, its indicative of the psychology of the team. They expect not to score many runs. Last year, they expected to score on anybody.
I think we are going to have to get it done with the guys we have. Its extremely unlikely we land a guy with a Verlander type impact at the waiver deadline this year. The look of our team right now is that we cant win without our key guys out there, at least at home. I am not saying we are better without those guys, but we certainly are still capable of winning some games. In a nutshell, we have stopped believing in ourselves. That must change before everyone is healthy again because by then, it maybe too late.
