Why are the Astros 15-24?

The frustration of watching a team flounder which was expected to flourish has set in with the Houston Astros’s fans. This is not going to be a bash Carlos Gomez (though he has earned it) post. No, this is just a summary of the major failings of the team up to this point in the season.

Offensive Inconsistency – They have scored the 8th most runs/game in the American League, which is smack dab in the middle of the teams. The problem is that they tend to go through true hitting droughts as they have scored 3 runs or less in 17 of the 39 games to date and they are 2-15 in those games. The high flying Bosox have only ten times scored three runs or less in a game. It is hard to be consistent when you have to give so many ABs to players like Jason Castro, Luis Valbuena, Carlos Gomez, and Preston Tucker who are struggling to get to or stay above .200 and any ABs to Jake Marisnick and Eric Kratz, who have struggled with the .100 mark. Note Tucker is heading down and Kratz out as of this writing.

Very Bad Starting Pitching – Even after a spurt of decent starts on the recent homestand – the starters are still 14 out of 15 in ERA in the AL at 5.09. When you go from 2nd best ERA in 2015 to second worst in 2016, you have lost the solid foundation that the 2015 season was built upon. To date about 1/2 of the games have been started by a pitcher with a 4.65 ERA or higher. Last season 153 of the 162 games were started by pitchers with ERAs 4.50 or lower and 114 games were started by pitchers with ERAs under 4.00. Dallas Keuchel has a 5.58 ERA, a 2-5 record and four games where he has allowed 5 runs or more. Last year his ERA was never higher than 2.51 any time during the season, he did not lose his 5th game until July 26 and he gave up 5 or more runs in only 3 games all season!!

Unreliable Bullpen – The bullpen has been improving overall after a horrid home run filled start. However, it still is not solid with a one run lead and the game on the line. It seems like every time the team is ready to go on a little run, the bullpen coughs up a late inning lead. And it does not help when the fielders can’t catch a fly ball – see the note below.

Bad fundamentals – The team has been consistent in one area and that has been in the area of being a low baseball IQ team. Whether being thrown out or picked off, failing with situational hitting or bad fielding (e.g. Letting three flyballs / popups drop in the last two games in Boston) the team seems to have a bonehead play or two every game.

Questionable Management Decisions – It has been noted that A.J.Hinch has been making some questionable decisions with a short bench late in games, specifically with using a pinch hitter like White and then immediately pinch running for him. There have been problems with the lineup, with the use of certain players who are in a death spiral slump and with righty-lefty matchups that don’t make sense. In some cases it is hard to fault him, such as over-using Will Harris when he is the only sure thing out of the bullpen. The overall feeling is that Hinch is being out-managed, which exacerbates a tough situation.

Inadequate Coaching – Whether waving players into obvious outs, or not assuring that they have sun glasses on playing in sun-drenched Fenway Park or not being able to coach up hitters or pitchers – this year’s version of the coaching staff is a disaster.

The Front Office Stinks – What else can you say? They made no moves to improve the 1B, 3B, DH and C black holes in the lineup, other than bringing up Tyler White. They traded away the farm for a not ready for prime time set-up man (so far) in Ken Giles. The strong farm system they were developing has been weakened with trades and has obvious holes at OF and C. The tandem pitching system has been a double whammy that does not seem to develop starters with stamina or relief pitchers ready for the big time. Maybe the June draft will help them redeem themselves a bit, but don’t count on it.

OK – your turn to moan and complain, but one basic question – what should they do now?

 

 

361 responses to “Why are the Astros 15-24?”

  1. Now we sit back and watch Wojo get picked up, and become a very good pitcher, with another team. Wouldn’t surprise me one bit.

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    • Who cares? He has been horrible for us and it’s time to move on. It seems like we want to complain no matter what. We keep a player who is struggling and we keep saying ‘cut the bum’, but then we get upset when the player is cut. Are you really worried what Wojo is going to do elsewhere? Really?

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  2. So all the new kids ride the bench. Why did they bother to make changes. They’ll only get to play if someone gets hurt or needs a day off. No wonder this team has no heart.

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  3. I will be curious to see how Mr. Hinch chooses to use Kemp and Moran.

    He has said already he sees Moran getting more time than Kemp – completely understandable, since Moran has a consistently lower BA, a significantly lower OBP, and strikes out a lot more.

    I suspect he intends to play Kemp only against the absolutely toughest pitchers in the MLB – to set him up for failure. He might give him one at bat vs. Sale and he might start him against Hamels. I expect Hinch is fully planning on Kemp to be the odd-man out the day Gomez gets back from the DL. I hope Kemp stays positive, and does so well with the few chances he gets that it makes it impossible for Hinch to keep him out of the line-up. I guess we will see. Part of that will depend, I suppose, on what Jake Marisnick does with the starts he is fixing to see. He is batting all of .100/.129/.262 right now. Will his numbers go up with more chances, or will they go down?

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  4. So they send Gattis down to practice catching so he csn be the back up catcher.
    He comes back and immediately is put in the lineup as the DH. This really doesn’t make any sense.
    Looks like Luhnow and Hinch can’t get on the same page.

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    • The whole ‘Gattis is going to Corpus to hone his skills as a catcher’ nonsense does not play. He only played four games at catcher for Corpus. Most of the time he was the DH. And tonight, he is DH-ing, and back in the clean-up spot though he is batting .203 with only 1 HR, only 7 RBI, and 22 Ks in 64 ABs.

      And yes, I have seen the splits. I know Gattis is hitting .500 lifetime against Carlos Rodon in all of 6 ABs. But that was all in 2 games last year, when Rodon was a raw rookie and struggling mightily. Does anybody really believe he repeat that success against a more mature, improved, Rodon, when he himself is anything but improved?

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  5. Sandi, I think calling up Kemp and and Moran were a panic reaction and “let AJ figure out what to do with them later” move. As long as they both start tomorrow and get to play the entire game, I won’t argue the approach. But if one or both sit tomorrow, then I will *spit*.

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  6. I know I will get ripped apart for saying this, but with our lack of OF depth, assuming he signs a minor league contract, I’d be open to bringing back Robbie Grossman. If Brett Wallace can finally figure it out maybe RG can as well. We need some OFers in Fresno and he’s still young enough to give it a shot.

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  7. I’m not sure letting your gassed starter walk the bases loaded in a tie game in the seventh is the way to go…

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  8. White having a monster game, but man…they sure can’t wait to take him out for a PR. I mean, I know he’s slow, but c’mon…

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      • I’ve decided that they have waaay too many guys in Spring training to monitor everyone. That’s what happened to the starters this year, they only pitched 4-5 innings….and consequently they started the year behind. Can you tell I’m pretty disgusted with this year as it is? There is absolutely no excuse for them to be playing this bad…..N O N E !!!!

        Liked by 1 person

    • Looks like Tyler White brought some of that water with him tonight! Can’t wait to see Kemp and Moran this week! Actually, I can’t see them but Robert Ford calls a good game.

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  9. Nice to open the series with a win, but an imperfect win it was. If this club keeps playing games that are not all so crisp, Hinch too will find himself looking for a job.

    And Tim, you’re right. Luhnow might need to make a couple of deals for Grossman type ballplayers. How could this organization be so lacking in outfield depth? Hard to fathom, but easy to recognize. You’ve got to hold the guy who built this superior system accountable.

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  10. Not pretty, but a win is a win.
    My imagination, or did the boys look more relaxed last night?
    Kuechel is tough to figure out. He looked unhittable for awhile but then lost it.
    Giles was impressive but Gregerson is beginning to look over worked.
    Just can’t seem to get everything clicking at the same time. Sigh!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Yes, it wasn’t a clean win, but this team needs wins no matter how ugly they appear. They lost 2 winnable games in Boston and if they lost last night it would’ve been too much to take. Hopefully, they can win tonight because Sale is looming on Thursday.

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    • That pretty much sums up all we’ve been saying here. This team will never be good. Our talent will leave as soon as they can and no good players will come here. Case in point, Cole Hamels,

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    • I read that article – a lot of it is the exact opposite of the truth. If this organization has a problem – and it does – it is most definitely NOT in how it treats veterans. Carlos Gomez is a case in point. He has been mollycoddled despite being a horrendous mess since he’s been here. He has been trotted out day after day, and given chance after chance. He just keeps screwing it up – and embarrassing himself over and over again in the process. The organization has given him nothing but respect – it’s the fans and the press who have had enough, and let him know it. Even now, with the DL stint, he has been given an undeserved chance to fix himself. What would not be ‘kind’ or ‘respectful’ would be to just let this man completely destroy himself – which is what he was doing on the field and in interviews.

      The problem of this organization is in how it treats its young up and coming players. Veterans get whatever they want – or need.

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    • Very good article.

      Particularly poignant was this: “….After they tried to lowball Brady Aiken, were accused of keeping George Springer in the minors as punishment for him not signing a long-term, below-market contract extension, tried to reduce an agreed-upon deal with Ryan Vogelsong, and treated former manager Bo Porter as if he was a faceless inconvenience, the word got around the league as to how the Astros treat their employees and negotiate.”

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      • 1) We shouldn’t have drafted Aiken in the first place
        2) Don’t know if it really WAS punishment, but George was hot and cold until this year, so he actually might have needed that time
        3) Vogelsong sucks, and we dodged a bullet by not signing him
        4) Bo Porter was not a good manager (although better than Mills for sure), and was quite abrasive.

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      • It’s a good article if it coincides with an agenda. But there is a ton of bull in that article, especially if you read the articles he links to. The article on Aiken he links to pretty much puts Aiken and Close in the bullseye because it outlines the timeline of events in sequence and it is readily apparent that Aiken and his agent were caught with their pants down and the Astros were justified in what they did. Even though Close knew the score about Aiken’s elbow, he also threw his other client under the bus to save face. Aiken is not a good way to try and prove the Astros are cruel. Aiken is a good way to prove they are not stupid.
        Gomez’s story is not a good way to try and prove the Astros don’t care about their players.
        Vogelsong is not a good way to prove that either. He is a guy whose arm was not in good shape, the Astros caught it and made another offer. Nothing had been signed and Vogelsong got caught, bitched, and then would not elaborate any more than he did because he did not want to reveal what the Astros discovered in their physical.
        The Springer story was different. All of us were upset that Springer was kept down because of the Super 2 issues etc. But this article insinuates that the Aastros did it out of spite for him not signing a contract, and yet he offers no proof whatsoever that this is true. He just throws it out there and waits for some person out there to pick it up and declare it to be gospel.
        That’s where you entered the story!
        Particularly poignant, like a poop pot! You are a sniffer who sniffed out a fellow Astros basher.

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  11. I understand there are problems – possibly systemic problems going on here. But after a very successful 2015 season, I am not giving up on this team 6 weeks into the 2016 season. There have been signs of improvement lately with the team and they are in almost every game the last couple of weeks.
    Yes, they may lose guys when they are able to go into the open market, but that is not happening in 2016, 2017 or 2018 from what I can tell.
    I will give up when I sense give up in the team – when they stop rallying, when they just don’t care. I think they have been caring too much and playing tight.
    Anyways that is my personal thoughts. I can be wrong as anyone about them.

    Liked by 2 people

      • They have a very cheap team option for 2018 and 2019. I expect them to work out a different longer contract before they invoke those.

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      • The last two option years are at twice his current salary, but incredible value for the team based on his career numbers. They will most certainly and happily exercise those options.

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    • For my part, I have given up on this team, as presently configured and managed, making the play-offs in 2016. If this team makes it to play-offs, a bunch of changes will have to be made or a bunch of much better teams [including Texas and Seattle in our division] will have to simply completely disintegrate.

      I am not, however, giving up on the players who are the ‘Astros of the future’. To be precise, I am not giving up on Altuve, Springer, Correa, T. White, Kemp, Moran, Bregman, Reed, PTuck, Fisher, KTuck, Laureano, McCullers, Devenski, Musgrove, Feliz, Shirley, Heineman, Stubbs, Tanielu, Guduan, Paulino, Gustave, Martes, Yuhl, McCurry, Grills, Armenteros, Deemes, A. Abreu, Riley Ferrell, Dykxhoorn, Deetz, etc.

      I am at the point of giving up on A.J. Hinch and on all his on-field coaches. I am at the point of giving up on Jeff Luhnow and his cadre of geeks. I quite frankly don’t know enough about Crane yet to give up on him. I don’t buy the ‘open the checkbook’ nonsense. Leadership is about so much more than throwing money around.

      I have reached the point of giving up on certain players – namely Gomez, Valbuena, and Marisnick – ever contributing anything significant to this team.

      I have not reached the point of giving up on Gattis, on Keuchel (although I think he needs to shave his beard in acknowledgement that he is not the same guy who won the Cy Young last year), on McHugh, on Feldman, on Fiers, or on Fister. I do, however, have serious reservations about each of those guys, and I do believe each of them has to bear a part of the blame for making this team the mess it is today.

      Liked by 3 people

  12. The Carlos Gomez situation is not as much a reflection on the team as it is a reflection on Carlos Gomez.
    Last season Gomez was hurt, but they let him play, to the detriment of younger player’s careers, and he sucked so bad they finally had to sit him.
    This season he has been terrible and his play has reflected the play of the team, as they have played terribly as a team. They could have cut him(they would have to pay him anyway), but they didn’t. They have allowed him an opportunity to get attention off of himself with this move.
    Gomez hasn’t changed a bit except for his lack of production. He won’t change his swing, or his in-your-face attitude, or his demeanor. He’s a divider. He’s always been a divider and an instigator. Still, the club has done everything to allow him to get his career turned around. I think the club has given him more than he deserves.
    I want to remind everyone about the overweight third baseman for the Red Sox that they paid a fortune to. They benched him for Travis Shaw long before he had a shoulder problem, and nobody accused them of treating him shoddily.
    I consider the article from “knuckleball” to be something that belongs in the chamber pot.

    Liked by 1 person

    • With the exception of Gomez the article has some merit. Just one example is holding back Springer because he wouldn’t sign an extension, trading Cosart for daring to criticize the way the pitchers are trained.
      There are other instances, little things, that make me uneasy.
      They do ( in my opinion ) overly respect the vets and treat the young future players like cattle at an auction.

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      • I think the article has very little merit. Springer wasn’t quite ready and he did struggle for a few weeks after getting brought up. They didn’t hold back Correa or LMJ and Correa was a much better prospect than Springer. Didn’t the Cubs hold back Kris Bryant last year for monetary reasons? It happens all the time and it’s not isolated to the Astros, but the haters want to give too much credence to a rogue author.

        Primarily, I agree with what Mr. Bill said above except for not spending in free agency. What happens when you don’t supplement your team via free agency is trades like the Gomez and Giles trades. Thus, we can’t have it both ways. I’m not suggesting doling out $200M contracts to guys in their 30s, but eventually, you have to quit shopping at the five and dime stores and go to Neiman Marcus.

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    • It’s time for “Celebrity Death Match”. Tonight’s contestants are hard punching Rougned Odor of the Texas Rangers who has recently come off his hay-maker of Juan Bautista and Carlos “the bat breaker” Gomez who is as of yet unproven in the ring.

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      • Have to say, my money would definitely be on Odor if that were a real match-up. More likely, one will be on suspension and the other on the DL, and never the twain shall meet [at least until the next scheduled series].

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      • When Reed comes off the DL, perhaps we need to consider bringing him up just to provide some size, muscle, and brawn if we have to combat the much more experienced bench-clearers from Arlington?

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  13. I am a bit more middle of the road on some of the Astros’ treatment of players:
    – Yes, they lowered offers to both Aiken and Vogelsong after having misgivings following medical examinations. (Heck I wish they would have looked at Carlos Gomez that tight) – I have no problem with those decisions
    – They likely would have brought up Springer immediately if he had signed a club friendly semi-long term contract. I have a problem with this two ways. If Springer was not ready – signing the contract would not make him any better. If he was ready I don’t like this holding them down – (but understand that this is how the money game is played).
    – They gave Dallas Keuchel the biggest salary yet for a pitcher in his position in the offseason – they could have low-balled him but did not.
    – They did give Jose Altuve a pretty nice contract for a player coming off a fairly mediocre 2013 season. It is club friendly, but they did not have to give him any security.
    – They have been good at signing certain draft choices like LMJ to over-slot money – they could just pocket the savings but they spent it on better players.
    – I think they have been cheap on both their manager hirings under the new regime and it may prove to be a mistake in the long run.
    – They did not need to go bring in guys like Gomez and Kazmir, who cost them $$$ even for short term needs. They could have just stayed with what they had or brought up someone from the minors, but they did not back off from spending the money.

    I don’t know if players hate the organization or not. The Rockets have the same type of stat driven, “players are numbers not people” and they went through a huge swoon this season. Was that because of how they treated the players or because putting together a team is not just a process where you mix and match numbers, but where you get the right synergy between people?

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  14. After reading the article I have mixed feelings. I don’t know if it was out of desperation that Luhnow felt like he HAD to make the trades for Kazmir, and Gomez, or if he was trying to be the “smartest kid in the room”. The problem I have with the Gomez trade, is if Luhnow knew about the reason the Mets backed off because of Gomez’s….medical results. *I F* Luhnow knew about the reason the Mets backed off, but traded for him ANYWAY…….I have a real problem with that. Someone was talking about the lack of outfield prospects in the minors, you need to remember who we have traded, or out right released. It really pi$$es me off that since he was signed by the Dodgers, Kazmir is putting together some mighty fine games. Which brings me back to the article Nance posted…….if those accusations are true, this organization had better clean up this mess…IMMEDIATELY.
    Old Pro…..isn’t Correa just the BEST! I love the fact that he has his family here. A true good guy, and we are sooo blessed to have him on our team!

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    • ‘It really pi$$es me off that since he was signed by the Dodgers, Kazmir is putting together some mighty fine games. ‘

      Uhh…Kazmir has a 4.89 ERA last time I checked (compared to a 4.17 ERA during his time here). Glad we didn’t resign him.

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      • He has given up 10 long balls in his eight starts and the Dodgers, a team that is supposed to be pretty good, is 3-5 in his eight starts. The tale of his season so far is that he has pitched 46 innings in those starts and appears to be a #5 starter who is not an innings eater.

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      • He has as many wins as our “ace” does. How many wins did he have with us, after the first win in Kansas City? Really.

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      • Becky, all I can say is that I have read a couple of articles expressing the Dodgers’ concern about his pitching.

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      • Becky,

        This is not intended to be mean, but wins is a horrible measure of a pitcher’s success. I give you Jeriome Robertson in his lone year with the Astros as Exhibit A. I also give you Nolan Ryan of the 1987 Astros as Exhibit B. There are many, many other exhibits.

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  15. Corpus played early today and won again, 5-2. Nice job on the mound by both Cy Sneed [5.0 IP, 7 Ks, 2 R, 4 H, 0 BB] and Evan Grills [4 IP, 2 Ks, 0 R, 2 H, 0 BB]. Nice job at the plate especially by Bregman [2-4 with a HR, 2 RBI and an SB], and J.D. Davis [2-4 with a solo HR]. Yesterday’s hero, Trent Woodward, got 2 hits as well. Chan Moon chipped in two singles from the 9 hole.

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  16. Fresno is off today. Joe Musgrove is slated to start Thursday night’s game against the Memphis Redbirds. Keep it rolling, Joe!

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  17. There is something kinda weird going on in CC, though. Vasquez got hurt and is on the DL. But today’s game is the second game in a row that Conrad Gregor, a first baseman, has played LF and Derek Fisher has not played at all. Anyone know something about this. Fisher is still listed on CC’s active roster.

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    • Vasquez is on the DL and I read on WTHB that his leg was splinted on the field before he was taken off.
      Mott Hyde is also on the DL and WTHB said that he stood up before he got in the ambulance. I’m guessing there might be concussion issues there, as his head hit Vasquez’s leg.

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      • KRISTV in CC has said on their website that Vasquez “reportedly” has a torn ACL and that Hyde has a busted lip and nose, but no concussion.

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  18. Well, tonight we get to see Moran and Kemp in the starting line-up – but not the guy who went 3-4 with 2 HRs and a double last night.

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    • And as I understood it from press conferences last year, the ‘Hinch way’ was supposed to be that if you hit a big hit or home run [or in this case two, plus a double] in a game, you would be rewarded by getting the start in the next game. That is the way you give young players with talent a chance – not pulling them the next game and giving their position to someone who usually plays a different position, who is hitting .46 points below you, who has less than 1/3 the home runs you have, and who has barely half the RBIs.

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  19. A nice bit of news for all of us Astros fans:
    The A’S swept the Rangers today!! Nothing makes me happy like the Rangers getting beat. As much as they would like us to be, the Astros will probably never have that “rivalry” with the Arlington idiots, our rival are the A’s. Am I right?
    I had a dream last night that Donald Trump bought the Astros! He played baseball in high school and was a pretty good player!! A girl can hope can’t she!!!

    Liked by 1 person

  20. I’m disgusted again. White has not just shown signs of breaking out of his extended slump, Dispite being turned into a part time player for no logical reason, he is 4th on the team in BA, 5th in RBI’s, 2nd in SLG and 2nd in OPS. The rookie has effectively worked he way out of his first ML slump, keeping both his dignity and stats intact. This club badly needs his solid bat in the lineup everyday.

    Tonight he is being replaced by a guy who has sucked against right handed pitching for a quarter of a season.

    BA .202 OBP .311 SLG .337 OPS .648

    White against righties?

    BA .259 OBP .344 SLG .469 OPS .813

    Any casual fan can see that White is a guy who hits lefties and righties both. We have two or three other guys on the roster that can make the same claim.

    Can anyone here tell me that I’m misguided?

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      • Tim, you had to dig for that two week stat. Valbuena has done little all month. In the past two weeks he’s raised his OPS from .541 to .640. How much lower could he go? In the meantime, Whites OPS has gone from .739 to .839. Really, when was the last time we had a guy at first with an .839 OPS?

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      • Dave,

        To raise his OPS to that level means his OPS over the 2 week span was much higher. You combine that with the fact Latos is tougher on RHBs than LHBs and everyone was aware who would be starting before the season started and I think Chipalatta land is making a mountain out of a mole hill.

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    • It’s a long season. I agree with your thinking, but believe Hinch is doing the same thing by not changing his stated lineup. The players appreciate knowing when they will play and what the role will be on a given night.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Devin, I’m glad you didn’t try to present stats to support Valbuena playing first tonight. At this point in a 16 and 24 season, I’d much rather see a guy play because of his stats. I’m not worried about underperforming players appreciating knowing when their manager is going to play them. Maybe you’ve touched on a reason why we have so many underperformers. We’re rewarding the wrong guys!

        Liked by 1 person

      • Latos struggles much more against LHBs and VB has been as hot as White over the past 2 weeks. The players knew yesterday who was playing and I’m sure everyone is fine with it.

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      • Ha! I like that…the Astros are just supporting the everyone gets a trophy mantra. Good call.

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      • Ha, ha, yeah Devin, socialism. Or third grade coed soccer rules. I’ll probably take sone heat for that one.

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  21. Castro’s unbelievably bad start to the season has kind of covered up a good recovery by him. In the last 21 games he is hitting .250 BA/ .417 OBP / .863 OPS. One of the things he has been doing is working walks off of tough pitchers including leftys. He really turned on that home run he just hit – he is starting to look a bit more like he did back in 2013.

    Liked by 2 people

  22. Playing with fire Hinch. Putting Giles in another high profile situation……is not a good idea two days in a row. Playing with fire.

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  23. I am enjoying watching our two 5′-6″ lineup bookends play tonight. Kemp sure can motor, really covers the ground out in the OF.

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    • Really, Billy? That was the right move. I really wish people would stop complaining just for the sake of complaining. You always want your best defense late in the game with a lead.

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      • I don’t complain ‘just for the sake of complaining’. The tv here at work isn’t that close to me and I misread what inning it was in. My bad.

        Liked by 2 people

      • I’m going to show this to my wife and explain that my complaining is just an effort to live longer with less stress. Thanks, Nance, for helping to improve my marriage.

        Liked by 2 people

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