Astros need help, but where?

Anyone watching the Astros stumblebum along through their recent 3-10 stretch heading into Tuesday’s games would be:

a) Surprised they still are in a decent playoff position as they sit in the last playoff spot but only a game and a half out of the first one. We will ignore their deficit in the AL West for now.  

b) Certain that this team needs to be searching for help in these last 6 weeks leading up to the trade deadline.

Yes, this team needs help as they seem to be struggling recently in all three areas – starting pitching, relief pitching, and position players.

But looking closely at each – there are reasons for and against each need.

Starting Pitching

By the opinion of most pundits, adding starting pitching before the trade deadline should be a slam dunk. Drilling down….

Why trade for starting pitching….

  • This was always an area of concern as far as depth goes heading into the season after losing Justin Verlander to free agency and losing Lance McCullers Jr. on his first day pitching in Spring Training.
  • The need seemed to accelerate as the Astros lost Luis Garcia for the season to Tommy John surgery, lost Jose Urquidy indefinitely to inflammation in his pitching shoulder, and lost one of their 40-man roster subs in Forrest Whitley for at least 3 months.
  • Then the almost-expected gut punch of losing Lance McCullers for the season occurred
  • And with their buzzards’ luck this season – Urquidy may not return
  • Beyond that, there are certainly questions about the internal options as Shawn Dubin (just called up) has been bad, Whitley is gone for an extended period, Brandon Bielak (just sent down) looks like an AAAA career guy, and Ronel Blanco may be Bielak 2.0. 
  • The Astros have had very good success in adding a big piece to their rotation in trades for both Verlander and Zack Greinke at the deadline.

Why not to trade for starting pitching…

  • Even with all of the above, the Astros starting pitching has had the second-best ERA (3.36) in the AL and they have led the league in innings pitched (409.1 IP).
  • Jose Urquidy has started to throw off the mound and is having 120 ft long toss, which may signal a return in the next month
  • J.P. France has done very well since his call-up, looking like he belongs in the majors and belongs in the rotation of a contender
  • How much starting pitching, do you need for the playoffs? Normally a team can live with four pitchers with all the days off in the playoffs, maybe five. So….Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, Hunter Brown, J.P. France, and Jose Urquidy would seem to fill that bill.

Bottom line – They have to be looking. But whether they can match up their need with the fact that they do not have the most robust set of prospects in the minors is really the biggest question.

Relief Pitching

This was thought to be a strength of the team after the lights-out performance in the 2022 playoffs and the good early season performance (with one exception) of the bullpen in 2023. But after the way, things have gone lately….

Why trade for relief pitching

  • Rafael Montero, after having the only really outstanding season in his nine-year MLB career was signed to a large (for a set-up reliever) $34.5 MM / three-year contract. He has been the worst choice out of the bullpen with a 6.67 ERA which is approaching the abysmal 7.27 ERA he was sporting in 2021 when he was dealt from Seattle.
  • Closer Ryan Pressly, who played in the preseason World Baseball Classic(hint hint), was solid through May, but has given up runs in 6 of his last 8 appearances. Even though some of those were unearned runs (including tied to his own error) he still has looked pretty shaky lately.
  • Bryan Abreu as the supposed heir apparent for closer, has good numbers overall, but he has been wobbly at times, going scoreless for a handful of games and then giving up runs for two or three games in a row.
  • Phil Maton was brilliant through May (0.68 ERA) while mostly working in the middle innings of relief. In June, he has been used more in higher leverage situations, and his 4.00 ERA is more matching his career numbers.
  • Ryne Stanek posted a brilliant 1.15 ERA in 2022 and is now posting a dumber 4.70 ERA in 2023.
  • Folks like Brandon Bielak and Ronel Blanco would have been expected to fill the extended relief roles, but they have had to step into the starting rotation instead. Seth Martinez, who ably filled that role with a 2.09 ERA in 2022 is wobbling along with a 4.40 ERA in 2023.
  • Shawn Dubin was brought up to be a multi-inning option for the Astros and after giving up 5 runs in 3 innings of work looks like a multi-inning gasoline can firefighter option instead.

Why to not trade for relief pitching

  • Even with the dropoff lately, the bullpen is still within the top 5 in the AL
  • The drop-off in June is a fairly small sample, and it should be expected that this talented bullpen should bounce back with a good run of games.
  • I’m out – can’t think of another thing to argue.

Bottomline – Unlike a month ago, when the bullpen was putting up some of the top stats in the MLB, much less the AL, the bullpen looks like it could use a shot in the arm. And it just does not look like that shot comes from within unless Montero, Stanek and Martinez suddenly figure out what they did last season that they are not doing this one.

Position Players

Statistically, this is the area where there is no question the team could use some help as their stats – .245 BA (seventh in AL) .314 OBP (seventh) .712 OPS (seventh) 4.41 Runs/Game (eighth) all are falling just slightly below league average. This is also the area where it is not certain what the team should do.

Why trade for a position player help?

  • Michael Brantley has been out for almost a whole year with shoulder problems/ shoulder surgery, and he’s only 6 months younger than our other problematic “senior citizen” Jose Abreu. Can we really count on him returning?
  • Yordan Alvarez is a beast when well – but his when well has been getting to be more problematic as he tends to have soft tissue issues like the baseball equivalent of Yao Ming.
  • Martin Maldonado is one of the worst-hitting players ever. Can we afford to have him as our backup catcher, much less our six days a week starter?
  • Jose Abreu is hitting like he is 46, not 36. Can the Astros afford to continue to roll him out there at 1B – contract be damned?
  • Despite his big salary, Alex Bregman has been sub-par beginning the season again and only lately has started to show some life.
  • Guys like Corey Julks, and Jake Meyers have just been OK so far, and slumping a bit lately.

Why not to trade for position player help?

  • If the team believes that Brantley and Alvarez will be back in July – what position are you going to replace that their return does not solve.
  • If you are giving up on Maldonado’s bat (and believe you/me Dusty Baker isn’t) wouldn’t it make sense to trade him away and hand over the catching to Yainer Diaz and Korey Lee?
  • Yes, you could go chase a 1B, but who is going to tell Jim Crane that the guy he ponied up so much money for is going to be riding the pines?
  • You could be thinking you are adding another veteran bat, and that pumpkin could turn into Trey Mancini 2.0.

Bottomline – This is the toughest call and may tie into the team’s knowledge of what really is happening with Yordan and Uncle Mike. A second-half lineup of Jose Altuve 2B/ Michael Brantley LF/ Yordan Alvarez DH/ Alex Bregman 3B/ Kyle Tucker RF/ Yainer Diaz C/ Chas McCormick CF/ Jeremy Pena SS/ Jose Abreu 1B with Mauricio Dubon waiting in the wings sounds pretty darned good – which is why Dusty will not let it happen.

Of course, the team has a lot of hurdles to cross for any or all of these trades to happen. They have to have the will, the available prospects, the trading partner and many other factors lined up to make this work. This will be a fascinating area to watch over the next 6 weeks.

 

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54 responses to “Astros need help, but where?”

  1. Weren’t the Phillies below .500 at the All-Star break last year? There is really no need to panic until the very last moment with the new playoff format. By the way, I heard rumors today that Aledmes Diaz might be on the trading block. (just kidding….I know the Astros don’t want him.) 🙂

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    • If we could trade Dusty for Aledmys, I’d go for that.

      Starting Pitching: I don’t think we have enough prospects to trade for someone better than our current starters.

      Relief Pitching: Would any other team want Montero and his ridiculous contract? Miller & Murphy will have to fix him. I think we’d promote another arm from the minors before we trade anyone.

      Position Players: It seems that Jose Abreu has already turned into Trey Mancini 2.0.

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  2. Good guys win tonight with a great performance from Framber. Believe the two runs he gave up were due to being gassed. He’s very emotional and sometimes it takes it’s toll in a bad way.
    Bregman with a 2 run dinger, Diaz with a couple of singles, Julks also, Abreu with 3 k’s.
    Until the last out, a strikeout by Pressly, he had two hard hit balls and a 4 pitch walk. He’s not the closer that he was but don’t know who else we’d have.
    I believe Yanier Diaz is the real deal and should be catching more but at DH when he is not. Batting cleanup is a good spot for him right now.

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  3. The only way the Astros should trade for a starting pitcher is if that guy is a top of the rotation guy. Bieber, Cease and Burnes have had reporters in their respective cities start the rumbles. Two of the three are not FA’s this year, but the press in those cities has started the season early thing to get better quality and quantity prospects back. Other than that, you are still rolling Framber/Javier/Brown/Urquidy of the playoffs and hope France is healthy and available to fill Garcia’s role from last year. A top of the rotation guy that can fit in between Javier and Brown and push Urquidy to the pen for the playoffs is the the closest thing we can do to repeat last year.

    Not being able to trust Montero in cleanup duty much less the 8th inning of a playoff game really weakens this BP by moving everyone up a spot from last years. Maybe worrying about playoff roles is a bit premature as they don’t look like a playoff team right now. I still have confidence they will get this thing figured out.

    Far more worrisome to me is to fix the thing that could keep you out of the playoffs. Last night Verlander did not have his best stuff. We put up 4 runs on him in 7. We got 8 hits. He still only had to throw 94 pitches to get through 7, despite the hits and runs. We did not draw our first walk until the 8th. And this was in a winning effort.

    Here is the thing. In the playoffs, you may not be able to get to aces of winning pitching staffs early, or maybe at all. What you can do is not chase. When you don’t chase, you can have them out by the 6th. And then you can get to a bullpen. You can make games 4-7 uncomfortable for an opposing manager because you worked bullpens early.

    This offense, chases everything. I love Yainer, I think he is a foundatonal piece, but he needs to learn to take a ball, or even sometimes a pitchers pitch strike, sometimes. Julks, Meyers, McCormick, Pena, so many guys not working counts to get pitches they can handle and work pitch counts. Nightly 6 of the 9 spots in the order are guys that depend on the pitcher to make mistakes – live Verlander did last night with some curve balls he left in the middle – and not guys that can force counts into their favors more than a smattering of times. You couple that with Maldy and Abreu, two of the worst hitters in baseball with everyday jobs, that spells disaster.

    I got to tell you Dave – you wanted Nimmo. They should have went and got Nimmo. That was the contract to give, not Abreu. His OBP and the position he plays would have fit this team like a glove and allowed Altuve to permanently bat 2nd.

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    • Steven
      – One plus thing is that as you say the team can go get a top of the rotation guy and slide him into the third spot (rather than the 1st or 2nd spot).
      – I agree that the biggest problem with trading for starting pitching help is that there are not likely very many options out there
      – The bullpen is problematic unless Montero and Stanek find their way back to 2022. The plus side is there are usually more choices in this area at the trade deadline. The problem may be what to do with the roster at that time. Would they be releasing someone?
      – Interesting when you look at taking pitches like you were talking about – the four runs scored….Altuve sac fly on a 2-0 pitch, Bregman HR on a 3-0 pitch, Altuve RBI single on a 2-1 pitch.
      – Yeah Nimmo sure looks better than Abreu. Question – what is worse – a guy who stops earning his 3 year contract from the outset or a guy who might stop earning his 8 year contract 3 or 4 years in?
      OK – I know…

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      • Funny you mention that Dan, I don’t think Burnes, Bieber or Cease are better than Framber and CJ. The question is are you ready to trust Urquidy or France with a playoff start, and do you expect Brown to not have a Brown inning that loses a game 3 (and are you ready to give Hunter a game 7)? We know how much Dusty trusts Urquidy, he threw exactly 0 innings in the playoffs last year despite being on the playoff roster the entire time.

        Outside of a playoff rotation we don’t need help. Not from starting pitching, not in the pen. Our pitching problems are small compared to other teams. They could add a BP arm – but is giving up players like Perez or Durdin in a trade worth slightly upgrading Stanek with another 98MPH arm from a non-contender? I don’t think that is this teams issue. Neris, Maton, Abreu, Pressly, and in spots and matchups even Stanek give this team plenty of 6th inning beyond options for a playoff team. Blanco and France would also be down there to bridge if needed. Another injury though could change it all. And what if Montero pitches the second half with a below 3 ERA?

        The rest of the lineup could take some mentorship from Altuve, Bregman, and Tucker. Corey Julks has all the talent he needs to be a starting LFer in the big leagues. His bat to ball talent is good enough. He has 20-25 HR power. He has speed. He covers LF moderately well. He is just too aggressive. Now changing that is the hardest thing a hitter has to do. The vast majority that show up, that struggle with the ball vs. strike and the pitch to hit, do it because they can’t read fast enough. That is the natural part of the talent. Even Maldonado takes advantage of bad pitches some. But he can’t force bad pitches. He has to wait on them. There are too many guys in the lineup that can hit some but they can’t force bad pitches.

        It’s like comparing Pena to Correa. If Pena is going to hit the same number of HR’s and also play stellar defense why do we need Correa? Because Correa works a pitcher. He has far fewer at bats where he grounds out on the 2nd pitch on a pitchers pitch. He takes walks – which help when he isn’t hitting well because all big leaguers go through stretches of not hitting. In a vacuum replacing Correa with Pena is a no brainer, same power, almost as good defensively, and its 28M versus 1M. No brainer. In this lineup though, we let one more guy out the door that does what we wanted – works counts, works pitchers, draws walks, forces pitchers to throw hittable strikes. We let Springer leave, because again, we look at the 20M+ versus the fact that McCormick and Meyers are just happy to be here salaries, and we think, no brainer, but its one more bat not working pitchers.

        I’m not going off about Crane being cheap like Bopert would. He spent money, he just didn’t know McCullers and Brantley and now Abreu were the wrong investments. Maybe he should have. Those of us that think so get to do so with the power of hindsight. I’m betting he ponies up to keep Tucker, at least I give it a 55/45 proposition.

        In the end, they get to the playoffs, Framber and CJ, if healthy, will do their thing. We will still be right there. We will just have a few more warts to contend with. And our offense will be better with Yordan and Brantley than it is right now.

        As for your last question -it’s fair. We don’t KNOW that Nimmo will stop earning 20M a year after 4 years and be on your neck dragging you down for 4 years, but it’s a fair bet. We do know he would be an immediate upgrade of, as MLB network laughingly referred to him as, Jake the rake. We do now know that Abreu hits like he should be getting a league minimum salary, if not just retired.

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    • I think we need the best starter are can acquire. A stronger rotation will make the pen better.

      Yainer has gotten 4 starts behind the plate in June. Maldy, 15.

      Yainer is hitting .346 with a 1.025 OPS in June, Maldy .140, .445. That’s almost an automatic out.

      I’m not worried about Yainer. Steven, you and I both know he’ll get better at the plate. He’ll get more selective and patient. But heck, if Maldy was not in the line up all month, without his almost automatic out, we might have pulled out a couple of those losses.

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    • Steven, yeah Nimmo is a pro. His lefty bat would have fit in very nicely. But no way he would have gotten 8 years from me! I think we’ll find another outfielder in house for 2024. In the meantime, I hope Chas gets recognized for being the best bat in the Jake/Julks rotation and sees more everyday play, at least until Brantley shows up. But I’m still dubious about that too.

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  4. The “plan” for Urquidy

    June 20:
    RHP José Urquidy (right shoulder inflammation) to throw bullpen Wednesday.
    Urquidy, who threw 10 pitches off the mound Sunday for the first time since he was injured in April, is scheduled to throw 15-20 pitches on Wednesday. The plan is for him to throw four times in the bullpen before progressing to a live batting practice session, followed by a Minor League rehab stint.

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  5. Steven, last note for now. I don’t think our guys are necessarily being encouraged to be selective. Take a guy like Frenchy. If he changed his own game, he might turn himself into a starter on quite a few clubs. You used Julks as another example. Pena tries, but just has not yet leave the stuff off the plate alone. Jake and Chas have the same problem. It’s got to be a team effort up and down the line up.

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  6. Did anybody notice Yanier saying something to the umpire about the called third strike in the 8th. The pitch appeared to be inside and he was about to stroll to 1st. That’s what I’d like to see from these guys. They get called out on questionable or outright bad pitches and they casually walk to the dugout with nary a word. Come on guys, show a little emotion, get fired up. It may lead to better things. And yes you may get tossed but I’ll take that if it fires the guys up.

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  7. Good start to today’s game with a lot of help from the Mets – Dubon double, Tucker gets on with catcher’s interference – two wild pitches score one run – Bregman single scores another – 2-0 headed to the second

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    • Dan, I hope you weren’t thinking of the Astros signing Singleton thinking that he would catch fire… Oh never mind.

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      • Yes catch fire to the end of a doobie….
        I really don’t wish the young man bad things. If he’s really cleaned up his act – it would be a great comeback story. But he’s basically repeating what he did here. In AAA he hits pretty meh (.232 for his career) but always had a solid OBP (.382) and OPS (.806). He gets brought up to the majors and he can’t hit (.166 BA/ .283 OBP/ .599 OPS).
        Now I will say he only has 125 games at the MLB level total – but he has not earned more than that.
        No. I don’t want him here – we already have a 1B that can’t hit.

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  9. This team just has too many gaping holes to fix with what is or could be available. It is not pretty, but it is just the way it is. I recommend the F.O. just let this ugly season play out, with no major trades or acquisitions. We’ll finish 3rd or 4th in the West this year -but next year hopefully we’ll be a little more healthy.

    PS. Two on and one out in the bottom of the second – I just successfully rooted for Maldy to take a called third strike so he wouldn’t hit into a double play. That’s what has become a good result for this team.

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    • My man the CC. Hang in there Mr. Bill, if we can limp into the All Star break still standing, say playing .500 ball between now and then, we’ll make a run. And the big Maldy in the room…..will Dusty finally get a directive to use his best talent and replace Martin with Diaz as his regular catcher? I’d love to see a three catcher situation. Bring up Lee to be back up. Use Diaz at first and catcher. Use Maldy as the mentor. Maybe he’d graciously accept that role. I know, probably a long shot. Regardless of what happens, Crane is not simply going to let the season play out. He wants 3 million fans this year.

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  11. Sent these comments earlier but it did not post.
    7 plus walks today! Impressive. Even Maldy made an effort to not swing at marginal pitches in the zone earlier. Steven, it appears some of the Astros got the pitch selection memo, except Pena. He looks like Maldy/Abreu hacking at the plate. Really want to see this kid get off. Has to much talent but is struggling mightily on offense. Dusty let Diaz catch the TORP’s and rest Abreu more when Diaz not catching.
    I think, and I’m not alone, the Dusty ship and soured and sailed for many fans. I’ll say no more.
    I can’t see the Stros pony up for a front line starter. Do we really need one?
    Another lefty bat? I dunno. Who? Fix some of the guys we have and I see much progress in the making without any major acquisitions.

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    • Old School, we have old issues with posting here! Seems if we get too long winded, the comments disappear, especially if you might be using an Apple project.

      You sure are correct about Dusty. His complete loyalty to Maldonado, now hitting .133 in June, has really cut into his support from fans and all the various levels of todays baseball media. The Astros must prepare Diaz to catch the guys he has not been catching. Is Framber going to freak out the first time he’s throwing to Yainer?

      I’m at the point where I’m a bit sorry for Maldy. He’s got to be exhausted. And most importantly, he just does not have the skills any longer. That’s got to be tough on a proud, maybe stubborn man who sees the 24 year old kid sitting in the dugout, ready to take over.

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      • Maldonado isn’t watching the 24 year-old kid sitting in the dugout. He’s watching the 24 year-old DH trotting around the bases, who will be sitting in the dugout when Alvarez comes back.

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  12. Good morning! I sure hope Cristian Javier simply needs a small tweak to his delivery. Apparently he made mention before the game that he was out of sync. Regardless, it was a tough win, which would have been a painful loss. We had some bats step up. And Julks has to get some credit for adding a real spark. He hit the ball, made a big catch and knew when to take off on the squeeze.

    Steven, the folks across the way are talking about our impatient Astro hitters all of a sudden. They must be sneaking peeks over this way. We’re worse than I thought though. At 3.73 pitches per at bat, we’re 27th in MLB. Alvarez and maybe Brantley can help. But our young guys have to do better.

    I also noted a catchers ERA comparison between Maldy and Diaz in Climbing Tall Hill yesterday. We talked about that here a couple of weeks ago. Dan, I think they are stealing our stuff. That’s a compliment!

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  13. Dan, since you mentioned him, I keep looking at Zach Dezenzo. He was playing at Ohio State just last year! 12th round pick. In 2022 he broke the school record with 19 homers in 51 games, with a 1.114 OPS.

    He’s not supposed to be very mobile, so the experts seem to think he might be best suited for first base or leftfield. But in just 76 games since joining the Astro system he’s played mostly third. Bregmans replacement?

    A, A+, AA so far it does not matter where he plays. He’s compiled stats of .336/.422/.518/.941 so far. I love the OBP and for a guy that’s 6’4″ and 220 stealing 16 of 18, he must have some ability. Another reason for me not to think our demise is just around the corner.

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  14. I was happy to see a number of things in this mini-two game winning streak against the Mets:
    – For once we chose to match up a good pitching performance with a better pitching performance followed by matching a big time hitting performance with a bigger time hitting performance.
    – After Framber, who was really great – gave the bullpen a fair rest on Tuesday, they were used like crazy on Wednesday, but they do have today off
    – Like was mentioned above – most of the Astros let the Mets pitchers miss with their pitches yesterday and then were able to put the bat to the mistakes.
    – Gotta love what a kid like Julks is bringing to the club with some big hits, stolen bases, decent fielder and he lately has learned to take walks – 1 walk in his first 27 games, 4 in his first 45 games, but 8 in his last 11 game including 5 in his last 4.

    Other thoughts
    – Now it’s fine (well maybe not fine – but OK) to have Maldy starting games at C, while Diaz is filling the DH spot but when Yordan returns there has to be a change. Maldy has started 15 of the 20 games in June is “slashing” (Missing) at a .133 BA/ .220 OBP/ .442 OPS rate with 1 double, 1 HR and 2 RBIs in 45 ABs. Salazar started 4 games at catcher, Diaz the other 4. Diaz for the month in 15 games played is SLASHING at a .333 BA/ .339 OBP/ 1.023 OPS rate with 5 dbls, 5 HRs and 10 RBIs. Yes, he needs to walk more, but right now I am enjoying when he makes contact.
    – If I am a pitcher, I will only throw sliders 6 inches outside and 6 inches below the strike zone to Pena until he shows me he can do something other than swing at it.
    – The weird thing to me this year is that outside of Yordan’s very impressive streaks, we have not had anyone really go on an insane streak at the plate. This is highly unusual. Maybe Bregman is starting to heat up like that, but I keep looking for someone to carry the club for a few weeks at a time and it is not happening. Diaz might do that if Dusty would let him do it.
    – In a time when the Astros need hitting help – Chas has only played in 13 of the 20 games in June. He has made the best of that in and out of the lineup – in June .319 BA/ .396 OBP/ .949 OPS 3 HRs and 7 RBIs. With Yordan and Brantley out – they should be playing Julks in LF and Chas in CF 90% of the time and have Meyers once in a while and for late game defense.

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    • Now you’re going to get me going on Chas again. Whatever they do to snub Chas, however often they sit him when he should be playing, he still comes back and produces. Look at 2021, 2022, 2023. He’s remarkably consistent. He’s certainly not an all star, but he consistently produces above league average. Yes, Jake has had more misfortune, but he just is not able to produce the same way. And yes, right now, Julks should be out there too. Corey and Chas actually make it easier for Dusty to write out a line up, but unfortunately, Dusty does not seem to see it that way. If the Astros want to get Jake in there, they can make room by sitting the .133 guy. And they can put Frenchy at first again. Then you’ve got our best offense and a bunch of young guys running around out there.

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      • It’s tough calls. I remember writing about range numbers before the season -they had practically the same number of career innings in CF – Meyers was at 2.62 plays per 9 and Chas was at 2.15 per 9. Meyers defensive numbers were just slightly under the best CFers in the game like Rodriguez and was even higher than the last years AL gold glove winner in CF. Chas is FAR below average. I know he makes some crazy plays sometimes, but the numbers say he is a below average CFer. Now – disclaimer – both were right around 750 innings in CF coming into the year – and that is not really a large enough number to flush out all the short term oddities that can happen in defensive metrics.

        That said, you can’t have Meyers as your every day CFer if he is going to hit .220, especially on a team already struggling with a 1B and C that can’t hit. Chas is by far the better option, matter of fact as you like to point out, Chas is better than average in almost every category offensively as a CFer.

        The only thing I can guess – Dusty is hoping that Meyers catches some consistency because he has shown offensive flashes, but when he slumps, he goes for it all. He don’t half ass even his slumps. I think he has dropped 30 points off his average in 3 weeks. What he probably needs is the defense of Meyers and the hitting of McCormick combined into one dude, alas that is not what he gets. We know how important perceived defensive weaknesses are to Dusty.

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      • Steven, no doubt Jake is the elite guy out there. Right now Statcast has Jake rated 4th best in the outfield and Chas 27th. Nothing to sneeze at. That’s out of 124 guys. And of course, Chas spends time in left and a bit in right and gets moved over if Jake comes in late.

        Jake wins sprint speed 94 to 73. Arm 51 to 50. OAA 96 to 87. Jump 73 to 95. We’ve got two pretty good guys out there.

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  15. I’m happy to see the stat lines. I didn’t watch yesterday’s games (as I don’t often get a chance to watch day games) but the lines look good. I don’t know how much of those walks and pitch counts were because we had a good eye or how many just straight up “even Steven wouldn’t swing at that and he’s old” there was. But however it worked out – the result was pressure on pitchers, men on base, pitchers having to hyper focus into the zone and bam, mistakes happen. Every time the Rangers run up the score on someone it’s because of that pattern.

    I’m the radical. I think there is a chance that Abreu can finish the campaign at .235 – and if he does that and hits 10-12 by the end we will just have to live with it. Imagine he gets “hot” in July like previous seasons and actually gets to .250 and 20 by the end. But me, I’m the radical. The swings I am watching are not a guy that is just scuffling. He is old. He is swinging 10 minutes after the pitch has entered the crush zone. He fouls everything off behind the first base dugout. Every once in a while, a pitch is there, he guessed it, and he gets around on it. He finds some success when that happens because old doesn’t mean not strong. He is still a big, strong dude. He just doesn’t have the frequency in the zone anymore. So I don’t see it as a slump. I see this as just who he is. What does a team do with that? I am sure that Dana Brown’s geeksquad has told him the same thing, he probably doesn’t have the rose colored glasses on that you hear in interviews (what is he supposed to say?). But what can he do? He can’t walk in and tell the boss that 58.5 million dollars just went poof. They have to keep walking the guy out there and hoping it turns. Me the radical, I’m calling up Matty, putting him at 1B, and see if I can’t get a .240 with some power and some OBP from him until Yordan is back and Diaz can be slotted in. And I would release Abreu. But I get that is NOT happening, even if he is at .227 with 8 HR in August. It’s 58.5M. But man, Brown has to be frustrated with a signing he didn’t make costing him games and possibly his job before he has even gotten all his awards on his office wall yet.

    Montero is the Bizarro of closers. You know, when you are down 3-1 in the 7th, you think just keep them where they are and give the boys with bats a chance, here comes the closer to close it out, except Bizarro is closing it out for the other team. Another contract I would walk in and tell the boss, we got to eat. Montero’s saving grace is we have seen him be successful before, and it’s not like there is some kid hitting the cover off, throwing out 65% of runners, and has a better catcher ERA than he does sitting waiting to take his job. It’s probably worth holding onto him and seeing if he turns it around.

    So that’s my first moves. My second – call St. Louis. Why? Because they are 31-43, but they are in a win now window in a still winnable division. The age of their stars dictate that they need to improve what has arguably been the worst rotation in baseball. They have a young 2B that gets on base alot, and his lack of power keeps his name out of spotlights. Our strength, their weakness, that player’s strength is our weakness, lets have a talk. It would probably turn into nothing when they ask for Hunter Brown in return, but maybe they won’t. You won’t know unless you make the call. As for Donovan, yes, I know 2B is kinda taken, but he actually can play all over the field – can even be penciled in as your everyday CF.

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    • By the way, Salazar went down late yesterday, no corresponding move yet. Who’s coming?

      Dan and I discussed Abreu briefly a day of two ago. We’d be replacing Abreu with guy at 750K, so even if we got just a few bucks from someone and had to eat most of his salary, it would be a net savings and an almost guaranteed improvement in production and mobility. Remember Altuve played just 35 games of AA ball before getting the call. You never know.

      I can’t unload Montero yet. He looks healthy. He’s got his velocity. Outside of a couple of weeks last year, he remained focused. We have to try and get that back.

      If we are going to give up quality prospects, then it’s a starter for me. Jose will get going and end up with an OPS well into the .800’s.

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  16. Any thoughts on what is the corresponding move here?

    June 21: C César Salazar optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land
    The 27-year-old backstop got into three games in his second stint with the big league club this season. He went hitless in four at-bats and has gone 2-for-18 with the Astros in 2023.

    Do they call up another pitcher because of using everyone up yesterday – like bringing Bielak back up? Matt Gage? Joel Kuhnel who they just picked up in a trade? Maybe Korey Lee gets brought up to play every 10th day? Or they could bring up Lee and send Diaz down because they are idiots. Or… they release Maldy and go with a Diaz/Lee combo (yeah- I know that ain’t happening).

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  17. I got it figured out. Maldy has agreed to become Framber’s personal attache and catcher. Lee comes up and catches 2-3 times a week. Diaz 2 to 3 times behind the plate and a couple of games at first/DH. Steven has arranged for Abreu to depart the roster. I think he wants to bring in J.J. for first base. I’m going crazy with Joey Lops. Steven, his BB/K ratio and OBP/OPS combination sold me.

    Dan, chances are we could flipflop a couple of pitchers, but with Salazar gone, we still need to have 13 non pitchers hanging around, right?

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    • Well considering how little they used Salazar – do they really need to have his spot taken (for the time being) by a position player – if they feel they need a bit more help on the pitching side?

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      • But you can’t go with 14 pitchers. Roster has to be 13/13. Dumb rule, but that’s the rule.

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      • Alas, it’s Captain Bligh we’re getting. But we can keep on hoping something more extravagant happens one day!

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  18. Chandler Rome, in yesterdays The Athletic column stated that’s it clear in the Astro clubhouse that Dusty Baker does not like Chas McCormick. It goes back to early last year apparently.

    Several us us have wondered aloud about this, but not since Richard Justice have we had a writer willing to be quoted on something this significant allegedly involving an Astro manager.

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      • Sarge, as Dan pointed out yesterday, Chas has some of the best club stats for June but only 13 starts. And he has the second highest OPS on the active roster for the season. That’s real. Julks has 15 starts, but still carries a 91 OPS+ to Chas’ 117 OPS+. Jake has 14 starts and is 2 for his last 36. Yes, 2 for his last 36.

        Dusty continues to play the wrong guys. You’re right, he’s making it tougher for the Astros to win under his direction.

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      • Do you think that things of this sort are why Dusty never won a World Series ad kept getting fired after what appear to be a great season for the other clubs he managed?

        I’d think a managers job is to put the best players out there so that they have a chance to win. It appears by this that Dusty does not adhere to this philosophy. Maybe we won in spite of him not because of him. Anyway, I think it time for a change if we want to have any shot at the playoffs.

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      • My response above is to make clear that the manager, of any club, should work to make certain that there is not any hint of bias in the clubhouse. If a certain player is not liked, make certain that the manager’s actions do not reveal that.

        As a supervisor, I made certain that, among my 103 employees, none of them thought that I did not like them. I worked HARD to treat them equally. Sure, there were some knuckle heads but I still treated them like the golden ones among the groups.

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      • Sarge, that’s the way it’s got to be. He’s unprofessional and incompetent if he can’t operate without bias.

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  24. Sheehan is definitely hittable, a bit erratic and will give up a walk. If the back of the lineup would quit bailing the guy out by chasing bad pitches for outs, not only will the Stros elevate Sheehans pitch count but maybe help get to the bullpen quicker.

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    • Yeah, I just watched the condensed game. Diaz was very guilty of going outside the zone tonight. Someday down the road he’ll learn to be more selective and that’s when he’ll become an excellent ML hitter. France sure makes it interesting, but hung in there.

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  25. So what does Urquidy and Brantley to the 60 day really mean? It is retroactive, so they are eligible sooner than the dreaded 60 day suggests. Adding Madris and Spencer to the 40 man, so when it is time to see Urquidy and Brantley people got to go.

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    • I believe Brantley can return to active status anytime because he was retroactive to opening day. Urquidy’s began on the day he was removed from the game in which he was injured, which was April 31st. So, he is eligible to return to active status at the end of this month. At least this is how I understand it.

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