After the latest Astros meltdown, a four-game sweep at the hands of the Seattle Mariners, a friend of the blog, Zanuda, wrote the following in response to a detailed comment by another friend of the blog, vewill1, “You’ve made some good points. Now the question is, what are the Astros going to do about it?”
The Astros hopefully are not in a full-fledged panic at this point. Because even if it were justified, full-fledged panic is not the best operating mode for anything, especially a baseball team.
The good news is the team still has a 2-1/2 game lead over the Oakland A’s and a 4 game lead over the Seattle Mariners. The bad news is that the lead has been shrinking faster than an ice cube on the sidewalk outside of Minute Maid Park in August.
The Astros made moves leading into the trade deadline. They were having catcher problems with poor play by Tim Federowicz, so they picked up veteran Martin Maldonado, who has done a better job as a catcher, but who has done the unthinkable and has been a worse hitter than Tim F. (.130 BA/ .192 OBP/ .410 OPS). They went and picked up two relievers, the Twins Ryan Pressley and the Blue Jays Roberto Osuna, the latter bringing along baggage and possible bad karma from a domestic violence charge. They have had a mixed bag of appearances, but their last ones contributed to two of the Astros losses to the M’s.
At this point, the Astros starting pitching has been good, but not as great as it was to start the season. It is wounded with the loss of Lance McCullers Jr., but that bird has yet come to roost with the many off days putting off the need for a substitute starter. The hitting was hit and miss before the multiple injuries (Brian McCann, Carlos Correa, Jose Altuve, George Springer and the rejuvenated Jake Marisnick) and has been mostly miss with them out. Correa’s return yielded its first plus with an opposite-field punch shot in the Astros three-run rally yesterday. The relievers have been good except when they have not. They were spotless on the recent road trip and spotty during the ongoing homestand. They are missing Chris Devenski currently.
So, back to the subject of this post. What can the Astros do and what would you do?
- Stand pat. They have two All-stars in Altuve and Springer, one year removed All-Stars in Devenski, a team leader in McCann and a big glove with an off and on bat in Marisnick set to return before the playoffs.
- Make a deal at the waiver deadline. It worked in 2017, but is there someone who would both pass waivers and would be better than what they have or potentially have out there to pursue? What position would be worth pursuing and worth the loss of prospects?
- Make a deal due to “insider trading”. The front office has not been very forthcoming on the injury front. If they know more than they are saying about the Jose Altuve injury, say, would that result in a move?
- Wait until the cavalry comes September 1? They can bring up more bodies on the first day of the next month, but is there anyone in that bunch (A.J. Reid, J.D. Davis, Garrett Stubbs, Drew Ferguson, Yordan Alvarez, Dean Deetz, Josh James, Brock Dykxhoorn, Rogelio Armenteros, etc.) who would a) Make a difference?….b) Get an opportunity to make a difference?
What will the Astros do? What would you do?
CHIPALATTA 
Becky, Preston Wilson interviewed Reddick before the game on TV. When asked what the team needed to do with Springer and Altuve out. Guess what he said……………………. “We need to play small ball.” He must have your cell number.
LikeLiked by 1 person
EXACTLY!! You don’t get runs when you ground in a double plays!
DAM—–IT!!!
LikeLike
He also said: “Stay within ourselves, not try to do too much.” Straight outta Bull Durham.
LikeLike
The M’s, did us a favor by beating the A’S today…..we are 1 and a half games in front of the A’s.
LikeLike
YAAAAAAA-HOOOOO!!!! 3 runs ALREADY!!!!
LikeLike
Kevin, you promised not to watch tonight to turn the MOJO. For Pete’s sake, don’t tune in now !
LikeLiked by 2 people
Was Kemp not up to the challenge of leadoff or did they not give him time. Know he likes hitting out the 9th spot. And they must have heard us today complaining about offense as we have received some this eve.
LikeLike
7-0!!!!! Thank you Lord!!!
LikeLike
Gattis first hit since Aug 1, really!
LikeLike
JB Bukauskas was simply awesome tonight for Buies Creek. He shut out the best team in the Carolina League on one hit over 7 innings.
LikeLiked by 1 person
10-1 !!!!! I wonder if someone had a closed door meeting today. I feel sorry for Verlander…..he must be thinking where those runs were YESTERDAY!!!
LikeLike
I feel that any minute I’ll wake up.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Was Kemp swinging for the fence on that at bat he just struck out on?
LikeLike
The DaveB Family is still screaming.
LikeLike
Astros pitchers tonight.
17 strikeouts
1 walk
12-1 !!!
LikeLike
Came home early feeling poorly. Ate dinner and went straight to bed.
It’s obvoius that I’m the jinx along with Kevin
Funny that Reddick said that they need to play small ball and then they break out in a game where they hit 5 HRs
I had noticed Kemp swinging out of his shoes lately. That’s not what he does best.
LikeLike
Here’s an idea, Dan. Why don’t you and Kevin watch the A’s, the Mariners and the BoSox for foreseeable future?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Now that’s interesting. Sandy and astrocolt45 together make one person.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I was watching a bit of Phillies/BoSox last night, thinking “Man, JD Martinez in our outfield…” But hey, the Astros gave him a plenty fair shot.
LikeLike
RT, don’t forget that he was on the Bo Porter team. Lots of guys were down on themselves. BO played Crowe and Grossman many times in lieu of JD.
LikeLiked by 1 person
-It’s August 16th and the Washington Nationals are below .500 and 9 games out of the division lead. Incredible
-Houston is the only division leader with a losing record in their last 10 games. It is time for them to step it up because this is the last quarter mile.
-The difference between Correa’s three run double and a double play was about four feet and everybody on the field knew that was the biggest play of the homestand. That ball going through and down the line was so unlike what has been happening to the Astros for the last month.
-Hasn’t Charlie Morton done enough for the Astros to try to extend him for a year or two?
-Remember when I said White could be leading off the way he has been hitting. Anyway, Springer will be back Friday night.
-What the heck! Did I see Correa knock down a scorched grounder that took a bad bounce and he fielded it behind his back?. Then he threw the guy out!?
-Can White play 1B and Gurriel play 2B and let Altuve DH? Then Gattis goes and hits 2 HRs in one game after sucking for weeks. Now Ole Faithful Hinch has to play Gattis because he’s a bear again instead of Pillsbury Doughboy.
LikeLike
Concerning Correa’s double, anyone else wonder if Arenado had been playing 3rd……?
LikeLike
Arenado wasn’t on third and the Rockies didn’t care if their pitcher pitched them right out of the game. That is the way the universe works and it might have woken up a team that was asleep. We shall see.
LikeLike
And concerning Correa stopping ball behind his back, anyone else wonder about anyone else at all? Prolly not.
LikeLike
Diane, looking at Correa fielding that ball as it was behind his back, it appears to me that he overran the ball to begin with and was lucky enough to slap it down when it was behind his back.
LikeLike
I’m not impressed by hitting HR when your team has a good lead.
LikeLike
Wahoo I took one for the Dan allata team!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you Kevin and Dan. Much appreciated.
LikeLike
Tomorrow we get a HUGE piece of our “core 4″….and not a day too soon!
NOW…. if somebody would just own up to what’s REALLY wrong with Altuve.
The A’s, AND the M’s…..are licking, their chops to play us…..so let’s hope the “on the road” Astros show up!!!
LikeLike
I suspect that Jose will have surgery soon after the Astros parade in early November. Hopefully, it will be of the arthroscopic variety, giving him time to be ready for 2019 ST.
LikeLiked by 1 person