Last year this blog invented the acronym YIE (Yes It’s Early) when 18 games into the 2015 season we presciently pointed out that the way the Astros were winning during an 11-7 start might bode well for a full season.
Well after collecting millions on T-shirt and souvenir sales (The YIE lunch boxes brought in $250K on their own) – YIE is returning at a 90 degree angle from last season.
After a 5-11 start that has a lot of 2013 stink to it, the natural thing to say is “YIE, but this does not feel like it will be a special year like last season”. So, what is bothering the loyal fans so much about this season?
- Starting Pitching – Last season, the Astros led the league in ERA as a staff and the starters were 2nd in ERA at 3.71. It is no surprise that they are 14th (next to last in the AL) with a 5.51 ERA this season. They are last in BA against (.301) and OPS against (.849).
- Relief Pitching – Last season they were 4th in the AL with a 3.27 ERA. Right now, they are 13th in ERA at 4.78 and have given up the second most HRs in the league. Last season they gave up 45 HRs in 157 games appeared compared to 11 in 16 games this season.
- Hitting – They were 5th in runs scored in the AL last season and they are 6th in runs scored this season, so no problem. Ha! As we all know they are not only leaving ducks on the pond, they are leaving swans, geese and various aquatic fowl all over the lake these days. The Astros are worst in the AL in strikeout % at 26.9% and they are worst in putting balls in play at 59%. As has been pointed out before they have an AL worst .174 BA and .229 OBP with RISP and this becomes a microscopic .111 BA and .172 OBP with RISP and two outs.
- Fielding – Last season they had the third least errors in the AL, this season they are tied for the 3rd most errors in the AL. Surprisingly, they only show giving up 4 unearned runs this season. That seems low, but a lot of the time errors don’t always result in runs, but in extended innings that sap the pitchers.
- Stupidity – They have been caught stealing 6 times in 21 attempts, including 2 times they were picked off and thrown out trying to make it to the next base. They have been picked off without attempting to advance another 4 times and 5 times they have been thrown out on the bases (trying to stretch a single to double or advancing on a sac fly attempt). One of our loyal readers had pointed out that they were losing a preposterous runner per game.
- No comeback kids – Last season, especially early, they specialized in come from behind wins and owned the late innings. This season 4 of the 5 games they won, they held the lead the whole game. Only in the opener against the Yankees did they trail, scoring a run in the 6th to tie the game and 3 in the 8th to win it.
- The black holes…..
- Jason Castro – In 42 PAs, he is putting up (actually putting down) a .132 BA/.214 OBP / .451 OPS line. Only 1 run scored and 1 RBI and no HRs for Mr. Castro.
- Carlos Gomez – In 55 PAs he is just a tad better with a .189 BA / .218 OBP / .482 OPS line with 3 runs scored, 1 RBI and 0 HRs.
- Luis Valbuena – Compared to Gomez and Castro, he is putting up an almost robust .214 BA/ .283 OBP / .545 OPS with 3 runs scored, 3 RBIs and 0 HRs. So how do you feel about YIE and a harbinger for a bad year after 10% of the season?Can they snap out of this without a big shake up?
- Is this just normal baseball where teams have these types of streaks hit them in different parts of the season?
- This could go on, but it is depressing. On top of this, the guys are not having fun. Was Hank Conger the center of fun for the team last season?
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
141 responses to “YIE: The 2016 Astros’ flip side”
The centers of fun are still there, but they’re currently disgruntled about something, despite the paychecks. The stupidity bullet is more powerful than a locomotive.
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Take out the 1st two games and our golden boy SS is putting up Gomez-like numbers. The Astros desperately need Correa to pick it up.
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Even if Correa reverts back to the wunderkind you still have a roster full of relatively high priced veterans who are not performing. Castro, Gomez and Valbuena may be the most egregious but you also have Gattis, Feldman and Fister stinking it up along with Fields and to some extent Sipp. Of the high priced veterans only Rasmus and Gregerson are playing up to expectations. I actually think underperforming vets can become a cancer real quick. I expect Gomez’ act only plays well if he is playing well. Otherwise its a me me me show that wears thin. The guy has been in the game too long to be so emotionally wrecked. Who cares if he’s sexy if he sucks on the field?! An infusion of youth might help some. We do need McCullers back and give me a good reason to deny Devenski a start. Hoyt for Fields seems like a no brainer as does Moran for Valbuena (as a 5-6 year veteran do we really expect him to improve). Unless the high dollar guys have a sudden change in fortunes I think they’re a millstone around our necks.
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Fister has pitched well. If Springer doesn’t lose that ball in the lights he has an ERA in the low 3s.
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I’m kinda glad they are not having fun because that would make this condition terminal.
Yes it’s early but:
We currently have two position players in the top six in all of baseball when it comes to WAR, Altuve and Rasmus. Rasmus has done what he was doing in the playoffs with the bat, PLUS, he has the second highest walk rate in all of baseball. Altuve is #3 in all of baseball WAR because he has BBs to add to his hits.
Yes it’s early, but it’s not finished. This team could get hot.
Yes the pitchers are not pitching well, but they are looking at their teammates leaving everyone in scoring position and doing stupid stuff on the basepaths.
Yes the hitting sucks, but they are behind a lot on the scoreboard because the pitchers are giving up a ton of runs.
Yes it’s early but Giles has quite a bit of negative WAR and Gregerson has quite a bit of positive WAR for a guy who has had few appearances. Giles made the closer decision easy and Hinch made the right one.
Yes it’s early but Gomez has been awful.
Yes, its early, but our screaming about Tyler White was justified. Now he has to stop swinging for the fences every time and go back to hitting the ball. He’s off balance because he’s trying too hit the ball too hard.
Yes, it’s early but baseball found a Correa weakness. He is having a lot of trouble distinguishing between Outside, and Outside Corner. Pitchers gave up pitching him inside and until he stops chasing, they will flirt with that outside corner because he has shown not enough consistent power leaning outside.
Yes it’s early, but Neshek’s pitches are not at the knees like they were in his All-Star year in ST. Louis. He cannot live upstairs, period. Upside down throwers have to stay down because their pitches are moving up into a hitter’s zone when they get away. He was never high when he pitched for the Cards.
Yes it’s early, but Keuchel got hit hard because he had no command low and he left more pitches up than he ever did before. The pitch he threw Desmond for the home run was as bad as the one Odor hit out the night before. Keuchel almost never throws up around the eyes.
Yes it’s early, but I’m tired of hearing about Castro’s great handling of pitchers making up for his horrible bat. If we had great handling of pitchers we wouldn’t be 5-11.
Yes, it’s early, but I’m tired of hearing the Astros announcers drool over the power of this team. We don’t watch to hear nonsense. We want to be entertained and I want to hear somebody, anybody, address the failure with something real. Why is everyone on this team choking? How about telling us why. Are there problems on this team that are not being addressed. Why don’t we hear about somebody calling out this team for their ridiculous mistakes
Yes it’s early, but has anyone ever seen the kind of luck that makes a SS field a ball and just fall down on his ass, costing a run. How does someone let their glove break in the middle of the game and let a ball go into the dugout? Drop two popups, run themselves out of so many rallies. The Astros have holes in the middle of their bats, too. Take pitches right down the middle and swing at balls in the dirt.
Yes it’s early but I’m going to turn on Root Sports anyway. Maybe I haven’t been preparing for the games well enough.
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OP – has Neshek been hanging with big Jon getting high?
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“It gets late early out there.”
Wonder if Yogi was talking about Houston.
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Chemistry doesn’t look real good right now. They could really use some strong veteran leadership on the roster I think. Dallas made an attempt in an interview I saw but to me it sounded closer to throwing teammates under the bus than leadership. But maybe I am just grumpy. If they dont get their heads out of their rear ends when they run the bases, I may volunteer to drive that bus.
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I agree with you. We need to get the team over to the Texas Medical Center for an operation to cure their case of CRIS (Cranial Rectal Inversion Syndrome).
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Wow – you folks are bringing it today – lots of great thoughts here.
Well another what if – on the first batter of the game. Gomez double pumps and then he short hops Valbuena who can’t catch it when they have the runner dead to rights.
And the Bosox don’t pass up knocking in a RISP.
Frustrating
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I am continuing to wonder why we are using a CF who seemingly can’t get to anything hit out there.
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That’s simple to answer: Because our real center fielder is playing right field and the outfield is using radical shifts that put them in precarious positions to fail.
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Then you have an interview with Hinch in which he gives a long list of things they’ve done wrong but finishes by saying, basically ” We’re committed to being aggressive on the bases, swinging hard, and doing what we’ve been doing.” Seriously?
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It does make sense for him to say that, no matter how ridiculous it makes him look.
I think he’s indicating that A.) he’s not driving this clown car, Luhnow is, or B.) what’s to blame for the sub-par record is the pitching and not the offense.
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I was hoping the Astros could trade Gomez at the deadline, but I don’t think he would return much now. The base running reminds me of some of my summer league teams as a teenager. One would think that these major league players would have long ago attained enough street smarts to avoid stupid when on base.
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I’ve never been water boarded, but it’s got to feel similar to watching the Astros against a knuckleballer.
Here, Astros, take my fingernails.
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I’m done.
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I haven’t commented too much. But I believe the majority of my comments have been whining about whether the starting rotation would hold up.
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When Bill Brown sorta asks Ashby why the Astros are playing so badly and you’d think Ashby might mention stuff like Springer getting thrown out stealing 3B with nobody out and Correa at the plate.
But instead, Ashby starts talking about the 2005 club starting 15-30 and Brown picks it up and starts talking about other times things turned around years ago. That’s what I hate. Nobody with this club thinks there is anything wrong.
It’s like tomorrow everyone will wake up and stop playing like a moron.
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Kind of like the emperor’s new clothes.
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How many times are they going to strike out looking with guys on?
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Those borderline calls seem to go against the ‘Stros more often than not.
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Till they finally replace the hitting coach?
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I decided not to watch tonight TG SOS UGH. Think 60-102 maybe?
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McHugh’s true water is finding its level. This team needs one more legit SP and 3B or they are toast.
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McHugh and Keuchel the night before. They can’t find the plate and the hitters are just waiting for the down the middle pitch and Whamo!
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I’m done with dumb shifts. Our pitchers lack velocity and the ability to locate their pitches. Shifts with balls straight down the middle of the plate = free hits ( unless it’s a Houston batter…then they strike out and complain to the ump).
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How about those 6, 7, 8, 9 hitters. Collectively they (5) are hitting .175 (26 for 165). Oh well, we need a couple of more #1 draft picks so we can trade them away. Sorry, there are no silver linings in this cloud.
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Knuckle ballers are tough but they CAN be beat. I felt a huge let down when I logged on to find out the had another loss tonight. Once again Devenski came in and gave this team a couple of innings…..with no runs allowed. When in God’s green earth is Luhnow gonna “see” this kid?
GIVE. HIM. A. CHANCE.
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Broken record, Becky. They’re not going to make any changes. They just keep banging their heads against a wall expecting different results.
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He is getting a chance…just like Oswalt so many years ago. They are trying to limit his early innings, but stated a plan to use him in higher leverage situations as he has shown he can get it done. I’m shocked, but thrilled they are even giving him innings rather than running out Peacock right now.
My fear is they will swap him with Feliz at some point to stretch him out as a starter (meaning he gets to throw 80 pitches or 5 innings) at Fresno.
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I would like to know what Springer was thinking trying to steal third with no outs. He may be a 5 tool player but there was no excuse for that. He needs to sharpen his base running skills as do most of the other players.
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I would like to know if he was thinking at all….
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Although it does not appear the trades Luhnow has made of prospects for major leaguers have worked out I think, to some extent, he is hamstrung by Crane’s low budget mandate. Luhnow cannot pursue a high salaried player in a trade as Crane will not approve it. Thus, he has to go after guys like Gomez, which if he was performing like expected would be a bargain at $9M, and Giles. Now, with all the trades of top level prospects we don’t have as much starting pitching depth as we thought and Martes has been getting hit hard in AA so he does not appear ready. Crane is going to have to get off his fat wallet and allow Luhnow to pursue a good starting pitcher in free agency next offseason. We may have to over pay to get him, but our starting pitching is really the core of the problem. I’m not concerned with the offense as I feel good that it will turnaround, but the starting pitching, for the most part, has been abysmal. McHugh’s velocity is down from 2014. He was throwing 92-93 and now is around 89-90. He is no longer an MOR so our team has a #1-2 and 4 BORs. It’s tough to win consistently with this type rotation and it is incumbent upon Crane to loosen the purse strings for next season.
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I’m going to be very optimistic here. Martes was outstanding last year and took a huge jump in prospect rankings because scouts loved him. This year he has walked a lot of hitters and does not appear to be be pitching well.
In fact, because I have not been able to find a word about what any pitcher in our entire minor league organization is throwing, I think Martes is working on another pitch and that is why he has suddenly not been finding the plate and getting hit. It’s just like what happened to LMJ his year in Lancaster when he worked all year on his changeup and had results like what Martes is getting now.
There is only two reasons Martes could be this bad. He’s working on a pitch or he’s hurt. If he were hurt, he wouldn’t be pitching.
Martes has a major league fastball and a plus curve. Those don’t just disappear. He’s throwing a third pitch 50% of the time and it’s not there yet.
That has to be it.
I would love to listen to minor league games and see if our affiliate announcers are saying what out pitchers are throwing, but I really don’t have the desire to do that. Even articles about pitchers don’t say what they are throwing and neither is Jayne Hansen. The information well on the Astros has dried up, kinda like their hitting.
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I’m not down on Martes at all. I’m just saying he won’t be our savior this year. The one big difference between him and LMJ is that LMJ was doing it in the hitters haven that is Lancaster while Martes is having his struggles at sea level, but otherwise, I agree with what you are saying.
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Tim, did Bopert finally convince you about Crane?
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Last night the Astros got hammered 6-2 and got six hits.
The Fresno Grizzlies got hammered 8-1 and got 3 hits.
The Corpus Christi Hooks got hammered 9-3 and only got 7 hits.
The Lancaster Jethawks got hammered 11-4 and only got 6 hits.
The Quad Cities River Bandits won 3-2 and ONLY GOT TWO HITS!!
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So are you saying Dave Hudgens has been able to spread his hitting philosophy throughout the minor leagues too?
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I’m saying that what the Mets and their fans said. Hudgens doesn’t have a clue and nobody listens to him.
I read what Chris Carter said about his own hitting yesterday. He’s learning stuff he never did before and he worked on it all offseason. Sound vaguely familiar?
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Yeah he said he was trying to hit the ball where it is pitched – hitting it to center and the other way. I thought that was Hitting 101 – when in a slump try to hit the ball up the middle or the other way – go with the pitch. Hudgens never worked with him on this??? Unbelievable.
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Astros are 5-12 and their winning percentage is .294.
If the Astros win tonight and then overnight the Astros go from a .333 team to a .500 team for the rest of the year, they would finish with a 78 -84 record.
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Tyler White’s slash line for his first 9 games: .483/.529/.897/1.426.
Tyler White’s slash line for his last 8 games: .107/.194/.357/.551.
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I made a comment about that on CTH. Coincidentally, White is getting the day off today. MarGo is starting at 1B and, thankfully, Tucker is starting at DH.
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So is this more Hudgens Magic? AJ Hinch telling him it’s ok to swing hard? White trying to “be” a cleanup hitter? Natural regression from hitting .483?
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He isn’t hitting the pitch up. Either he makes an adjustment or we have a mirror to Preston Tucker.
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We might want to re-read and then ponder the following.
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I said our #4 and 5 pitchers need to pitch well and we needed to get baserunners home. I also said we needed two relievers from Fresno ready to go. The first one was Devenski.
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By the way, it does not seem that Joe Sclafani got picked up by anyone, unless he’s playing outside of the US. Maybe he decided to go home and start his career as a stockbroker.
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It’s telling that none of those things occurred. A bit unexpected, too.
Luhnow said that Moran was an “injury or slump” away from coming up. So maybe we’ll see him sooner than later.
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I’m fortunate enough to watch the games via MLB.com media. I always choose the opposing teams audio feed. I get a much more candid commentary that way. Everyone is surprised that our talented young team is playing so poorly. And Springer was not spared last night after his boneheaded attempt at stealing third base.
Collin McHugh has thrown 355 regular season innings over the past two seasons, 201 of them in 2015. Before that, he had thrown 72 ML innings in his entire career. A factor? At the same time, his ERA was well over 4.00 during the first half of last season. Maybe he’s just going to be a slow starter again this year.
White stopped hitting as soon as he was moved up in the lineup. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but why put a rookie in that position so soon. He’s obviously swinging from his heels. I’d rather see him back at 6 or 7 where the lineup really needs help.
Our guys simply can’t keep hitting as bad as they are. Even Castro will eventually hit .217, or something in that range. But our pitchers can’t keep up that 11 something ERA in the first inning. When you are losing early, the whole game changes. Everyone is pressing.
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Maybe I’ve been looking at this from the wrong perspective.
Instead of blaming the players, past and present. Maybe I should be looking at the wacky way this organization is run.
Over shifts, over swinging, bad hitting coach, etc. maybe that’s why guys get worse when they come here and better when they leave.
If that’s actually the case. Our guys will leave as soon as they can and no decent free agent will come here regardless of how much we offer them.
We’re doomed.
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Sandy – this describes the conclusion I reached in 2014.
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3 ABs with RISP and 3 popups. Yuck
At least Fiers did a good job of limiting the damage in the 1st.
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After 2 IP the Astros are 0 for 5 with RISP. At least Castro knocked in a run with his out.
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And did you know….who Jake (2 nohitters) Arietta was traded to the Cubs for?
Scott (0no hitters) Feldman
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I was surprised Buchholz bothered throwing another fastball after getting the count to 2-2. He made Rasmus look foolish with those curveballs.
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Yes – thank goodness we were the benefactors of questionable pitch selection and location on that one!!
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Rasmus= Astros MVP
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No doubter right now. Altuve loses by a couple of inches due to way to many TOOTBLANS.
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Altuve should’ve been benched for that gaffe. Then again, Hinch should’ve been benched for pinch-hitting Gattis for Tucker, so I guess it all works out.
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That one is on Pettis. He did not tell Jose to slide. And the Astros announcers danced around that one, too. Political correctness in the booth.
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I laughed when Ashby mentioned Fields’ stuff.
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100% blame Pettis there. The whole play was behind Altuve. He is trusting his third base coach to tell him to go to third. Pettis was out of position and did not give any indication a throw was coming. Altuve had every reason to believe no slide was necessary based on Pettis.
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The Boston announcers blamed both Pettis and then Altuve for lollygagging into third. I agree.
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Not perfect, but shades of last season.
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Edison Frias gave first place Frisco two runs in the first inning but CC gave up no more the rest of the night. The Hooks scored runs in the first, third and fifth innings and got a total of three hits on the night for a 3-2 win.
Reymin Guduan came in to get a save in the bottom of the eighth with two outs. He struck out all four batters he faced. Guduan is a lefty with a high nineties fastball. and I mean, real high nineties.
He was in the Top 30 Prospcts for the Astros last year but fell off that list. Maybe he’s a sleeper.
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Nice to finally get the monkey off our back….if only one game. I had to keep checking to see if we had scored, when I saw the slam by Rasmus! Mom shed a few tears today watching our son fly for the last time. A very emotional day for us.
Keeping my fingers crossed for a series win tomorrow. Make it happen guys!!⚾
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You must be so proud. Hell, you make me proud!
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Yes….we are extremely proud of that fine young man. The Navy is better off by having him in their fold. Our country needs a lot more like him! The heart of the ceremony is the formal reading of official orders by the relieving officer, and the officer being relieved. Command passes upon utterance by the relieving officer, “I relieve you sir!” And the officer being relieved responds, “I stand relieved!” That’s when the tears filled my eyes. The cool part of his ceremony today, is the new CO is a FEMALE!! She has three children, and her husband Flys for Southwest.
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That is just wonderful. Our country is protected by the finest men and women in the world.
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Becky, Congratulations to your son. He’s obviously a very fine young man. You deserve to be proud.
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Looking at the standings this morning, we’re 4 games back from Oakland and Texas. This is after being swept by the Rangers in a three game set and blowing the first game of the series to the Red Sox. I’m not near the ledge even if a few of you are jumping off. None of us expect Oakland to finish above .500, right? As for the Rangers, if you take away that sweep they are one game ahead of us in the standings. Those head to head games the rest of the way will be more important after digging ourselves a hole to start the year though.
OK, one complaint I haven’t heard elsewhere – Harris did a good job saving Fiers with only the one run allowed on the sacrifice fly…but it reminded me a bit too much of his September/October outings last year. I think Hinch needs to resist the temptation to run him out there every night.
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Devin,
I was thinking the same thing abou Harris. He got worn down late in the season from overuse and I’m already seeing the same trend followed. What we need is our 3-5 SPs going 7 innings to save the bullpen.
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Same from me. Harris is already doing a pretty good job. Ditto for Devinski, Gregorson, and Nesheck. Sipp is not on board yet and Giles, (well I won’t go there). I’m hoping we have some guys that can come up after the AS break or when they expand the rosters. We had a few last year but they never saw the light of day so we wore the others out. Let’s be smarter this year.
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There is no ledge.
If they have 35 or fewer wins after 81 games played, THEN it’ll be time to jump.
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Absolutely right, Tim. The starting pitching has got to do its part if we expect to repeat last year.
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Oakland and Texas have both lost. This is a big game tonight! Go, Astros!
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We already have the F-Bombs on the pitching staff.. Now we have to suffer through the Gosh-Awful G’s at 6, 7, and 8 in the line-up.
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Feldman not pitching great but 3 errors have cost him a number of runs and like 30 extra pitches.
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Our guys need to widen the strike zone with 2 strikes. The pitcher puts it at the knees and Correa’s staring at it.
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Interesting that they swing hard at everything…except borderline pitches with two strikes.
I’d love to see them foul off more of those close ones. Won’t hold my breath though.
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I think he is getting fooled – reading breaking ball in the dirt when really it’s just a low fastball. I also think a few times this year the runners on 2B crossed the hitter up trying to steal signs…
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Devinski comes in and again gets the job done. Strands two Redsox runners.I also notice that the more MarGo plays the better he seems to hit. Unlike “NoGo” Carlos Gomez who can’t hit squat. I was watching on ESPN but kept doing other things because I can’t stand to watch the 2013 ‘stros (been there before.
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No luck in the 6th – MarGo with Gattis on 2nd hits a shot right at the OF and Springer with two on hits one two feet short in right.
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I’m so frustrated with this team’s failure.
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Giles is driving me nuts.
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So just a thought…..when do you think it’s gonna dawn on Luhnow that he got screwed on the Ken Giles trade? When do you think it’s gonna dawn on him, that this kid *H A S* to go to the minors to work on his pitches? The dude looks like what he is…….a rookie who has no business in a major league game with the game on the line. He’s lost out there.
*3* errors……….OH. MY. GOODNESS.
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Good morning everyone. Our Astros are 6-13.
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