Speaking out of both sides of my mouth: Why (why not) the Astros are OK

Watching the first 10 games of the season for the Astros dark thoughts intertwine with optimism in looking at the 2016 team. The following is a smorgasbord of why the Astros are OK or Not OK going forward.

Ok. Tyler White is a brilliant hitter and a huge upgrade at first base.

Not OK. Even Ted Williams cooled off to hit .406 in 1941.

OK. The Houston Astros were a playoff team last season and on paper have a better team all the way around this season.

Not OK. That and a nickel will only get you about 1/100th of a Starbucks coffee today. Last year is dead and gone like Jimmy Hoffa.

OK. Everyone knew the early season would be a struggle with the schedule they were facing.

Not OK. It is not that they are losing, but how they are losing – not pitching when hitting well, not hitting when pitching well, losing a gross of runners on the base paths, the bullpen giving up dingers like a Home Run Derby, etc.

OK. George Springer has 5 tools and the only thing holding him back has been freak injuries. Let him play 150 games and watch the stats mount.

Not OK. Hitting and hitting with power are supposed to be two of those tools, but those tools both seem to be circular ceiling fans so far this season.

OK. Carlos Gomez was one of the very best players in 2013 and 2014 and was down in 2015 because of injuries.

Not OK. 2013 and 2014 feel as far away as 2003 and 2004 when watching him play this season.

OK. Jason Castro, Luis Valbuena, Scott Feldman and Carlos Gomez will be playing for new contracts and should be doing their best to make big bucks in the future.

Not OK. The operative phrase is “doing their best”.

OK. As long as the Astros have Kid Keuchel leading the rotation they will be fine.

Not OK. The Kid’s beard may turn all grey from trying to lead this pitching staff.

OK. Lance McCullers Jr. will return and give this team a shot in the arm.

Not OK. Some people think the kind thing would be for Lance to help the team with euthanasia.

OK. Ken Giles will figure things out – he has great stats the last two years.

Not OK.  Vince Velasquez seems to have figured things out in the City of Brotherly Hate.

OK. A.J. Hinch showed himself to be a steady hand on the tiller last season.

Not OK. Captain Smith was well thought of until the Titanic was sitting at the bottom of the ocean.

OK. In Luhnow We Trust

Not OK. What have you done for us lately, Jeff?

So where are you on the OK / Not OK scale?

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204 responses to “Speaking out of both sides of my mouth: Why (why not) the Astros are OK”

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  1. I didn’t say anything when Folty got traded. Or Nitro. Or others. I think they may make decent pitchers at some point, workhorse types if they don’t wash out on the way there.

    When I heard we traded VV, the only thing I thought is there goes Johan Santana again. If that guy stays healthy, he is going to wreck us.

    I think Giles will be fine, but he isn’t worth VV assuming he stays healthy. A healthy, 200 inning VV in three years will be Cy Young material. Of course it all could come out in the wash if he averages 50 innings a year through 3-4 years of injuries before being just another former major league player.

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    • I did not like losing Vince because I thought he could have been effective in the pen until a rotation slot opened up.

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  6. Man…..I’m so glad we didn’t sign Kasmir this winter. He’s gone back in time to 2011.
    YA know, I don’t get the love for Gomez in center. Why don’t we let Marisnick play a game or two…..he’s a MUCH better defensive center fielder than Gomez. Oh…..I forgot, he’s making $9 million. That’s why.

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    • Kasmir has done the same thing for the Dodgers that he did for the Astros. Had a great start his first game and won, but has been shelled in his last two starts.. My opinion of Kasmir is that he has the same problem as the Tin Woodman in the Wizard of Oz.

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  7. I’d love to see Jake in center.
    I never understood the ” we gotta pay em so we gotta play em ” scenario.
    Gomez looks like he’s just putting in his time till he can move on.

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  8. I was out with friends last night and mlb the TV. They kept flashing back to the highlights of the game and I thought maybe we get 2 in a row. Then I saw the the 1 run 5th and McHugh managed to get out of the jam but I thought that was it for him.Then another two in the 6th and now it’s 4-3.And then Fields gives up a long ball in the 9th to add insult to injury.
    I’ve told Sherman and Peabody to stop sending us back to 2011-13 in their blasted “Wayback Machine”. It’s supposed to be 2016 and better than 2015.
    It sure seems like we score a couple of runs and then somebody unplugs the “scoring machine”. We need a back up generator to keep it up.

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  9. I think that game was lost in the bottom of the seventh when Hinch refused to have his catcher(who hits like a pitcher) sacrifice bunt the runner to second with no outs. He pinch hit Marwin for Valbuena, which meant he was playing for the tying run(Gattis was also on the bench) and Marwin delivered a single. With nobody out and the top of the order due up and the shift on for Castro, the bunt was the perfect call. Castro hit into a double play on the first pitch, but not before the pitcher threw to first base to see if Castro was going to square around, which he didn’t. The next pitch was the perfect time to bunt and Castro hit a weak grounder and was thrown out by four steps on the tail end of a DP. The Astros never got another baserunner.
    Why pinch hit for Valbuena with a lefty on the mound and then let Castro, who can’t hit anybody, face a lefty and hit away? That’s crazy. In a world of Moneyball, basic baseball common sense goes out the window in chamber pot of statistical nonsense.

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  11. Springer, Gomez, Valbuena, Castro, Gonzalez, Duffy, Kratz and Marinick have 191 ABs in 12 games with a combined batting average of .178. They have only 11 RBIs amongst those 8 of the 14 position players who have played 12 games. They have 13 BBs and 68 Ks amongst those 8 position players.

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  12. I have to agree OP . When they let Castro hit in the 7th I threw my pillow at the TV, no brainer to bunt Margo to second, bad call AJ! We have to have the worst 7-9 in baseball. Valnobuena has to go. I have to assume that Margo, White much better options. Uncle Jeff bite the bullet send Valbuena packing bring up Reed!

    Find us a catcher will you !! Have no clue what to do with Gattis!

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  16. I can’t like on my phone, so like Sandy and OP. So how much have and will Uncle Jeff pay for Puff Daddy. I see he cares, 4-29 in Freson so far.UGH

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    • I think the Astros will eat the entire contract, minus the option years, eventually. Singleton will want the money and nobody else will pay for it. He willl eventually get the $10 million from us, nobody will claim him or trade for him and he will try out for another team after he is released. He will end up on the west coast somewhere. Colorado is on the west coast, too.

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  17. I thought the Astros and Rockets were bad, but the Maverick’s bench outscored their starters 40 to 30 yesterday. Wow!

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  19. Fresno pitchers issued 14 walks last night and Roberto Pena had three throwing errors on three attempted steals last night. Fresno lost in the 11th inning on four walks. a sac bunt and a single.

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  20. Don’t sleep on the Rangers this year boys and girls. I watched part of their game last night…….and I have never heard of some of these guys, but THEY CAN HIT! Delinno Deshields is picking up where he left off last year. We will regret letting that kid go.

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  23. Astros score on Altuve’s home run and on a wild pitch in the first, but are a perfect 0 for 3 w/RISP in the first inning. Runs left out on the base paths against the best hitting team in the AL.

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    • When Valbuena was batting (and so the numbers did not include his failure) they said the Astros were batting .190 with RISP and .125 with RISP and 2 outs so they have been failing against everybody not just the Tigers.

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  25. At some point, the bats have to improve at least somewhat. I’m more concerned about starters not holding on to a lead.

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  26. Why does Kratz set up low and outside for ball four against Gros? Sipp threw him nine pitches and Gros could not hit them and then the catcher puts his mitt outside the zone, Sipp nails the mitt and it’s ball four. Crazy stuff going on with the Astros right now.

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  29. All day long I felt like we were behind instead of ahead. Giles hung in there after a couple of weird fielding plays. Gregerson was awesome!. Feels good to win a series.

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  30. Never seen this one before dept: Ian Kinsler let a harmless pop fly drop in front of him so he could force speedy Rasmus at second and allow pokey White to take first. The awareness it took to do that is so beyond me.

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    • I think I’ve seen it, but it’s been a long time. Heck, we used to talk about doing in in little league. Another thing you don’t see today is the “hidden ball trick”. Seem to recall Rusty Staub got victimized by that when he was a mere youth. Pitcher gets ready on the mound, Rusty takes his lead from first. First baseman grins, shows him the ball and tags him out.

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  31. Marisnick didn’t miss one fly ball hit to center today…….
    Nice to see Giles not let that error get to him today. He still makes me hold my breath when he comes into a tight game like today.
    Let’s hope this team is starting to fire on all cylinders.
    Good series win…..it doesn’t get any easier the next three games.

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  32. Thoughts –
    – Giles was totally dominating in getting the two strikeouts and the ground out that should have been the easy 3rd out. The Valbuena error and the mis-timed odd wad jump by Altuve had Giles a little shook up – Hinch did a great job of settling him down and he got an easy 3rd out.
    – When Valbuena messes up a key out like that – his already shaky value is even lower. I think Valbuena already means – Can’t hit.
    – Altuve after a slow start to the season is putting it all together and hitting for power. His HR got the game rolling and his 2 RBIs later were the difference.
    – I guess Springer has caught fire like we hoped – up to .269 BA and .802 OPS
    – Kratz comes across as from the Cody Clark (4 hits in 40 ABs) school of hitting.
    – I sure wish Fiers had dug in and held on to more of that lead.
    – Gregerson has been excellent, Neshek very good and Sipp scares me.
    – Kind of surprised they did not pinch hit Correa some time along there, but glad they could win and give him a rest.

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  33. Whatever Alex Bregman learned in spring training is paying off mightily. In his tenth game for the Hooks today he hit his fifth home run and got his 12th and 13th RBI. Suddenly, he’s Chris Bryant.
    Bregman hitting .400 in AA and Moran hitting .323 in AAA.
    Woe is me! What to do with all these young inexpensive ballplayers?

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  34. Pray That Uncle Jeff doesn’t screw it up for a while and trade a bunch for conger and carter, Reed a first, Bregman in LF, and Moran at 3rd.

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  37. This just blew my mind. Do you remember the start Carlos Correa had in Corpus Christi last year? Alex Bregman’s start there this season is way better than Carlos’s was. After ten games every stat line is higher for Bregman. All the percentage stats are higher and Bregman has 3 Ks in 10 games, while Correa had eleven.
    The most startling stat however is that Bregman is hitting .400 with a .341 BABIP.. Yes, I double checked. His batting average is .400 with a much lower BABIP.
    After ten games last season, Carlos was hitting .341 with a .448 BABIP. His BABIP in Corpus ended up at .439 and his BA rose to .385, so it seems Carlos’s BA was always inflated by an unsustainable BABIP.
    But Bregman’s BA is not. Bregman surely can’t keep this up, as he has hit in every game and already has as many homers as Carlos got in his entire AA stay. But Bregmans stats are staggering considering he has only three strikeouts and five home runs, and has a BA 59 points higher than his BABIP.
    This is worth keeping an eye on.

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      • You’re welcome. Thanks for the reply. CC is facing a pitcher tonight who started against them in one of their losses. He struck Bregman out once and Bregman later homered off of him. His name is Mike Mayers. He was not the winning pitcher in that game, as CC’s bullpen didn’t do well.

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  38. Hello and best wishes to everybody. Hope you are not flooded. I tried 3 times to go to work this morning and could not make it. Hope not too many of you are having bad times and hope no home floods. God bless.

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    • Some of my friends here on OK have had their culverts wash away or flooded and can’t get out. We have lots of hills here so we don’t have the lowland flooding, but we do have rivers coming out of their banks.

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    • Yeah, it was booming in shale country south of San Antone, and now they got splash towns (recreation for the families) ghost towns cause what they thought was happenin’ ain’t happenin’ no more. It’s just a reminder to reindeer your big dreams
      [reminder = reign in]. Scuse me, but folks done lost their homes just this mornin’

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  40. Guys, the three Rangers’ starting pitchers we are slated to face – Holland, Hamels, and Griffin – are all undefeated this year, with ERAs under .330. What do you say let’s change that!

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  41. Kingwood is checking in! We live in a higher part of Kingwood, so no street flooding in my area. Dallas and Ft. Worth are still getting rain, and I wonder if tomorrow’s game will be cancelled. The big airport and Hobby have cancelled a ton of flights, and I wouldn’t try to go by bus. The city of Houston is a HUGE mess!

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    • Arlington forecast calls for 80% chance of rain tomorrow [thunderstorms]. Chance of playing? Probably less than 25%.

      For Wednesday the chance is 60% and the forecast is just for scattered thunderstorms. Chance of playing? Probably about 35%.

      For Thursday the forecast is a 50% chance of morning thunderstorms. Chance of playing? Probably about 75%.

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      • Bill, Mlb fields are built to take a lot of weather these days. I’ll bet you a cold one that they get at least two out of three in.

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    • Diane, you’re right of course. But in the grand scheme of things at the MLB offices in New York, they are plotting the best way to make those games happen. That’s reality.

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      • Don’t be sorry – we really appreciate it – it was very scary for quite a while and so far 4 people have perished. Very sad.

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      • Of course, don’t be sorry! I’ve been texting, emailing and trying to call Houston family all day, not always getting through, but everyone seems to be dry enough and safe, although getting anywhere seems to have been impossible early. Terrible to lose people though.

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  43. I am going to the game Wed, weather permitting. I sure do hope they come to play, if we don’t show against the Rangers I’m going to be hearing about it for the next week.

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    • I’m going to the game on Thursday.

      Last year, about this time, a struggling Rangers team came to MMP and swept a hot Astros team. It is time to repay the favor.

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  44. Singleton struck out four times today as Fresno’s designated hitter and is now hitting .121 for the season in AAA.

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  46. There not being anything I can do right now to help the flood victims, here are some random observations about the first 11 games the Astros have played:

    1. OBP and BARISP are still our biggest problems on offense. We have three guys with excellent OBP [Rasmus .431, T. White .429, and Altuve .397. We have one with really good OBP [Correa at .340]. Two are decent but need improvement [Springer and Tucker, tied at .321] Beyond that we are just not good at OBP [Valbuena .268, Gonzales .250, Castro .242, and you don’t want me to put the numbers up for Gomez, Marisnick or Gattis. They are absolutely obscene and unacceptable.

    Bad BARISP almost always happens to team with low OBP. Improve the OBP, and that will improve the BARISP. That will result in more runs, and that will result in more victories.

    2. Regarding the #4 position in the line-up. Colby Rasmus, who has hit in the clean-up position all year, has 8 RBIs. That’s a lot better than Gattis or Carter did for us last year, and if Colby could keep up this case over the course of a year he would exceed 100 RBIs [as would White, and Springer, Altuve, and Correa]. But ultimately we are going to need a guy like T. White, A.J. Reed, Colin Moran, or maybe PTuck to take over the #4 spot. Right now T. White is our RBI leader, with 11. How long will it take until he – or Reed, or Tucker – moves Colby a little further down in the line-up [5 or 6]?

    3. Teams have figured out that after T. White we don’t have anybody consistent enough to hurt them. That is why T. White leads the team in walks, with 11 – with the next highest being 6 [Altuve and Correa]. See # 2 for a possible solution to this.

    4. Our pitching staff’s biggest problem is demonstrated by the WHIP stat. Keuchel’s woes have come from the walk side, so his departures from the mean haven’t resulted in as many runs as have the departures of the others. McHugh’s, Fiers’, Fister’s, Sipp’s, Giles’ and Fields’ – and to a lesser extent Feldman’s – woes, however, have pretty much all come from the hit side, so their mistakes have been costing us runs in buckets. Thank Heaven for Fields, Neshek, Gregerson and Devenski! The return of McCullers should help a lot – but Fiers is either going to have to get it together or we will be completely sucking wind – and crying over the absence of VV – every fifth day. If he can’t get it together in the next couple of starts, first Devenski, them Feliz or maybe even Musgrove, is going to have to be given a chance to start and do what Fiers has thus far been totally unable to do. If we can get the Fiers’ leak stopped up, hopefully we will be able to address the Fister fissure as well. Feldman is probably the least toxic of our F-bombs at this point.

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    • That article was written before Keuchel’s last game and doesn’t take into account that it was 35 degrees in NY for Kuechel’s first start and cold enough for jackets in the Brewer dome his second start.
      If not for these unmentioned factors, I might be worried, but that performance against a great hitting Detroit lineup is all I needed to see.
      Now, about the rest of that rotation………

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  48. To everyone here and family /friends in east Texas. I went through Alicia and Ike and then moved !! I hope you all avoid any major tough stuff right now.

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  49. Let’s see:
    – Singleton is lining himself up to take Gattis’ spot with that BA
    – Yeah op – Keuchel overcame the ice box and then shone back in MMP
    – I’m struggling with the RISP stats – yes 1/2 the guys are not hitting well – but the other half are – but nobody is knocking in guys with 2 outs.
    – This may be a repeat of last season where 2 of the 5 starting rotation spots are turned over due to performance. Please, be well LMJ

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  50. I agree with Mr. Bill. I want to see Devinski start a couple of times, before we send him back to AAA. I can’t for the life of me understand what Luhnow sees in Fister!
    He was pitching “ok” in his last start, until the error….then he completely lost focus and got absolutely hammered. That was a LOT of money to give to the guy…….. especially for a pitcher who hasn’t been good since he left Detroit. I’m not sure I would want him in the bullpen! The dude doesn’t have it anymore….and Fires is coming in a close second. You’re wasting a good talent in Chris Devenski by having him in the bullpen. Give. The. Kid. A. Chance.

    P.s. talked to my sister who lives in Dallas, and she has her doubts that the field will be dry enough to play tomorrow night.

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    • He was excellent for Washington in 2014. Granted, he was not good last year, but it was his worst year as a major leaguer. I’d give Fister a bit more time before we can get a feel for whether this is just a bad start or a continuation of last season.

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      • If he doesn’t break out of it by the middle of May, Luhnow needs to fish or cut bait with him. I understand he had a pretty good year in 2014…..but this is 2016 and he stinks.

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      • Even the announcers talk about his loss of velocity. He’s done.
        Waiting around is just going to put this team in a hole it won’t be able to crawl out of. Same with Valbuena, Gattis, and Gomez. The time do do something is now.

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      • Fister beat Milwaukee on the road and lost to the world champions at home, like two of his fellow pitchers did. So he needs a some time to show if he has it. I think he deserves that. LMJ is not near ready. Let’s stay behind our rotation for the time being.
        Fister held the Royals to one run in five innings, while his team got him no runs. I think by the time he threw that ball away in the sixth inning, he was spent and so were the Astros. The Royals ground them up with good starting pitching, hard hitting and a filthy bullpen.

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      • Becky, it’s only been 2 starts for Fister and one of them was a decent outing. I’m not saying he’s going to be good, but I’m not ready to pull the plug because of one bad start.

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    • Devenski was will probably stay with the club until LMJ is ready and I doubt that would be sooner than a month because LMJ is not throwing very much. I would not be surprised to see Devenski start a game the day before he is optioned for the first time.
      But, more than that, Devenski has a chance to stay if he keeps pitching well and someone else is not. He has options, so that makes him the first choice, unless some other pitcher is hurt or is terrible. So far, Devenski has looked better in his first chance than Peacock, Straily, Wojo, Buchanan, Martinez, Clemens, White, Cisneros, Zeid, Folty or Feliz did in their first shot. He’s got that going for him. He’s getting major league hitters out.

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    • From a stop-the-bleeding standpoint, Fiers has thus far been a scarier problem than Fister. In 16.2 innings, spread over 3 starts [Fister has only had two], the Fiersman has allowed 22 hits [6 of them HRS]. He has not given the team a chance to win. And he is supposedly our #3? He is pitching like a bad mop-up, long-reliever, not a starter.

      I wonder if Mr. Fiers is nursing an injury. He is no TOR, but he should be a lot better than this. Fister, not so much. I think he is what we are seeing. Topping out at 88 mph and throwing up in the zone are recipes for disaster. But he is an expensive off-season acquisition, and is only expected to be a #5 starter. I therefore suspect he will get at least 10 starts [compare this to Roberto Hernandez, who got 11 starts and 9 relief appearances for us last year – and did significantly better for us than Fister has or probably will – before we cut ties with him].

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