May 13 2020

Astros’ statistical goals delayed by “IT”

Baseball is driven by individual stats. Yes, the idea is to have the best team at the end of the day, but having a bunch of individually excellent players is one of the surest ways to get there.  And of course in these unusual times of “IT” everyone’s plans of adding to their well earned career statistics is on hold as much as everyone’s dreams of taking that long planned summer vacation.

So what are some of the larger stats that will be delayed for later in the 2020 season (assuming it happens) or moved off into future seasons for some of the Astros’ players?

  • Jose Altuve – Jose is sitting at 299 doubles at the moment, so the next time he smacks one in the gap or down the line he will be up to 300 in his career. This does leave him only half way to Craig Biggio’s club record of 668. For the club he sits 10th in career games played at 1243. He should catch #9 Brad Ausmus (1259), but will have to wait to catch #8 Bob Watson (1381). He won’t be moving up from 7th place in runs scored (734 vs. 829 for #6 Jimmy Wynn), but should move up from #10 in RBIs (538 vs. 546 for Ken Caminiti). With a 200 hit pace he has a shot to move out of 6th place in hits (1568 vs. 1648 for #5 Lance Berkman and 1659 for #4 Cesar Cedeno). And unfortunately, he may move into #2 in grounded into DPs (144 vs. 150 for Craig Biggio), though Jeff Bagwell’s club record of 221 GIDP is very safe.
  • Justin Verlander – About 3 or 4 starts into his 2020 season, JV (2982 IP) should hit the 3000 IP mark. He is currently sitting at 70th place all time in the majors with 225 wins. If he had repeated his 2018 or 2019 seasons success he might have caught Juan Marichal (243 W) for 56th place. Instead he will probably be chasing Whitey Ford (236 W) for 63rd place.
  • George Springer – George is sitting at 160 HRs on his career and in 7th spot with the Astros. He will be chasing both #6 Cesar Cedeno (163) and #5 Glen Davis (166) and should catch them both. #4 Jimmy Wynn (223) was always out of reach.
  • Michael Brantley – Brantley had a good shot at reaching the 1500 hit plateau as he currently has 1374 career hits, but that shot has now moved out into the future.
  • Zack Greinke – Greinke with 2872 IP was on pace to hit the 3000 IP mark this season, but that will have to wait for another year. He was poised to make a huge leap on the career win chart. He currently sits at #107 with 205 wins. A 15 win season would have moved him all the way to a tie with #79 Jerry Reuss (220 wins). Now he is more likely chasing John Smoltz (213 wins) for 93rd place.
  • Alex Bregman – Alex enters 2020 with 99 career home runs, so the first time he has a chance to pose, he will be at the 100 HR mark.
  • Roberto Osuna – Amazingly, Osuna’s 50 saves has him in a tie for 9th on the Astros’ all time list with Ken Forsch. He will have a good shot to pass Ken Giles (#8 with 61) and Doug Jones (#7 with 62), but he is likely not catching Jose Valverde (#6 with 69).

So, these are just a few of the milestones that have been delayed or postponed due to “IT”. Thoughts?

 

 

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38 comments on “Astros’ statistical goals delayed by “IT””

  1. I am not worried about the mid-career stats. They are interesting, but what bothers me is “end of career stats” that get shorted. (An example would be with Altuve ending with 2980 hits). (Justin Verlander ending his career with 350 and not 365 wins )

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    • These two are very outspoken, but it may be that they do speak for the majority of players. If the players are willing to give up their pay and not play this season, there won’t be any baseball.
      Honestly, if the player’s hearts aren’t in it, they might as well sit it out.
      Let’s face it, the average player made $4.4 million last year. If they don’t have enough left over to make it through this year, there isn’t a lot of sympathy here from a guy who lives on social security and knows that if he gets the coronavirus, he’s a goner.
      On a lighter note, I now know a lot more about war planes. I will know a lot more about them and about Buckingham Palace in the next few days.

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      • Stay safe 1OP. I’m in the same category as you (according to the experts). As for war planes, I used to build model planes as a kid. The neat thing we have now is the History Channel and others which give us a pretty good look at these planes. I recently found a YouTube video about a WWII era PBY. My Dad was a navigator on a PBY and in his old stuff I found his old Aviators logbook. I still have his flight jacket and dress blues. I wish he was around to tell me more about it.

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      • I’ve probably shared this before, but my middle name is Lee. I am named after my great uncle Leroy Klug (my dad’s uncle on his mom’s side). Leroy died in the Pacific – he was the second man in an Avenger that was shot down in the Solomon Islands.

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    • No Play…No Pay. If they want to stay home that’s fine. I imagine that there are many others that would love to get a chance to play at the MLB level. Maybe I’d agree with them if there was a Zombie Apocalypse going on.

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      • OP and Z – The “I need to get paid for the risk I’m taking” is pretty hollow when compared to hospital workers staring the beast in the face for a smidgen of what the players make.
        If they were saying “I have close family members with underlying issues and don’t want the risk at any price” I could respect that.
        I do understand they had an agreement in place for 1/2 salaries rather than 1/2 revenues and that they don’t trust Manfred.
        Most of us would trade places with them in a heart beat

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      • I think the problem is that thus far we’ve had Snell, Bauer, and Andrew Miller making statements to the press and none of the three are what you would call eloquent. Snell has a lot to be concerned about though. He has no education. The Rays kept him in the minors as long as they could for contractual reasons. He then played for (basically) league minimum salaries his first three years despite winning the Cy Young in his second and starting 2019 off with some injury concerns. He’s finally set to make $7M this year, but his age, if he sits the season out and returns in 2021 it probably benefits him more than playing for the reduced amount due to projected long term earnings. Bauer likely either had a “see the light” moment or is sharing the consensus from other players. Recall he was upset when Spring Training was put on hold.

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      • Yeah Devin – apparently only the pitchers who are good at pitching and not so great in speaking are the only ones speaking out.
        I guess I should appreciate them being candid – but it works better when eloquent people are candid….

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  3. So, I guess the one statistical goal I should have included was $$$.
    I get a little twisted about the $$$ the players are complaining about, but it is far more likely that all the owners can weather an economic storm like this than the players.

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  6. Oh Blake. You might be a great kid, but you’ve come off as stupid and selfish and sort of a bleep too. The part about risking your life, a bit dramatic. I’m 65 years old so I guess by nature I just don’t have the patience for this stuff anymore. Especially right now. When one thinks about what people in our lifetimes have really risked, yeah it’s a bit offensive. It will never happen, but I’d love to see each player get to decide whether to play or not. OP, maybe the vast majority would prefer to sit. But maybe the 40 man roster would produce 30 guys that are really anxious to get back out on the field.

    One other thing. Maybe I’ll take some grief for this, but I think in general, people are more selfish than we used to be. I don’t think we care about each
    other as much.

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  7. Several years ago, I attended the Vintage WWII air show in Harlingen. We went with my father-in-law and an old family friend (Both are now deceased). They could hear a plane engine that was out of sight and tell who made it, what plane, and RPM and horsepower. It was a beautiful day.

    Now we have to bring up players not happy making $2-6-10 Million. All those guys and ladies back then (to include MLB HOFers) played for FREE. And YES, they were actually rising their lives.

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  8. The other thing is that if baseball is not played in 2020, there will be a whole lot of finger pointing and fans washing their hands of the game once and for all. But alas, the vast majority will still come back to baseball in 2021, assuming it starts up again next winter. A significant number of fans in all brackets won’t have the same disposable income however. It will be interesting to see how that impacts the game.

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  11. Art Howe is pretty sick but unless he takes a bad turn he should be alright.
    He and OP and me are in that demographic that if we get this virus…….
    Snell and Bauer are self centered microwave kids. They want it ALL and they want it NOW. I have kids their age, thank goodness I reared them with REAL brains, and not sh*t. Sorry but that’s exactly how I feel.

    Finding out that the older I get the slower I heal.

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      • It is hard to know what to think – Harper ($330 MM) and Arenado ($260 MM) signed contracts that together approximately equal what Jim Crane and partners paid for the Astros as a team.
        I think if Snell had said that with his family situation or his feeling about safety that he would not come back folks would respect that. But he muddies the waters with his “I need to get mine….”statement. He basically is saying that he would not be complaining if he was not getting a pay cut. Well most of us that still have jobs have had pay cuts and 36 million have filed for unemployment.
        Ball players you have the right to have your own opinion and the rest of the world has the right to hate you for it.

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    • I’m not defending Cashman, but after reading the article wonder if there is some context missing. Is he really talking about only 2017 or is he pushing the narrative that the cheating continued in 2018 and 2019? There were members of that 2019 team that can’t get over the fact they lost to us in the playoffs.

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  15. Somebody please help me. I am finding myself caring less and less every day about whether the MLB ‘reopens’ – this season or ever. I am a lifetime baseball fanatic. What on earth is going on! Somebody please remind me of something – anything – good about the MLB version of the game!

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    • Wow Mr. Bill – there are 30 teams, but here are some reminders from just one team….
      – How Justin Verlander ignores how bad the umpire is calling the game and throws one gorgeous pitch after the other
      – The laser relay throws that Carlos Correa makes – twirling on a dime and almost blindly tosses a bee bee to gun down an unsuspecting runner
      – The way Jose Altuve at that pint size can square up any pitch and launch it anywhere in the ball park
      – How you have to drop what you are doing and watch every at bat of Yordan Alvarez waiting for the next unworldly bomb to be launched
      – Watching George Springer start another game with a leadoff dinger
      – Seeing the hitters look almost helpless against Ryan Pressly’s breaking stuff that seems to end up in another time zone
      – Sticking with Alex Bregman as he works count after count and then finds the pitch he has been waiting for.
      – How Yuli Gurriel’s unusual swing always seems to make contact when it is most needed
      – Seeing Michael Brantley hit the ball solidly no matter where the pitch is thrown
      – Watching curve after curve from the arm of Lance McCullers as he bulldogs his way through the lineup
      – How that long looping Griffey-esque swing of Kyle Tucker can end up in an exquisite tater
      – Watching Myles Straw motor from 1st to home like some video game character
      – Seeing major league hitters unable to make contact with another perfectly placed Zack Greinke slow ball
      I know there is more, but this is a good start

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    • Mr. Bill, I have some good news – they play baseball at varying levels of competitiveness all around the world and in your community. While the MLB product may be full of selfish jerks, you can still find a group who plays not for the money or glory but the simple love of the game. The fresh cut grass smells just as good (probably better since normal folks can get closer to it) and the hot dogs taste far better (because they’re cheaper).

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