The Astros are taking a well-deserved day off in Chicago on Monday. OK, well-deserved by the fans who have watched about all they can stand in the early season. So, today we will throw out some gripes about our team in the early going.
The Guy Wanting the Big Bucks – We’ve been told that it is likely Alex Bregman will be playing for someone else come 2025. At this point his early season bagel-fest is getting old and perhaps we are ready for someone else to fail at the hot corner. So far, he has flown under the radar due to the large Hindenberg overshadowing him (to be discussed at a later point), but for a guy who told us how hard he worked in the off-season, how he was ready to hit the ground running, etc. etc….. this is bad. .213 BA/ .302 OBP/ .582 OPS with 0 Hrs and 5 RBIs. He’s slashing an equally bad .222 BA/ .308 OBP/ .597 OPS against righties as his .200/.294/.561 against lefties. His .074 BA/.071 OBP/.220 OPS slash on fly balls emphasizes how many of these are just pop ups – 27 of his 65 balls in play and just two dropping for hits.
The Guy We Want the Big Bucks Back From – A guy (Jose Abreu) who is slashing .068 BA/ .138 OBP/ .223 OPS with 0 HRs and 1 RBI after 59 ABs is making us want to slash our wrists. There is no way you can split this apple without worms squirting out of every slit. He’s awful against righties .071 BA/ .111 OBP/ .183 OPS and awful against lefties .059/ .200/ .318 OPS. He’s terrible at home .121 BA/ .216 OBP/ .368 OPS and just unbelievable on the road .000 BA/ .036 OBP/ .036 OPS (though he has his only RBI on the road with a sac fly). He has a .000 batting average against 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 0-2 and 3-2 counts. He has a .000 BA with runners in scoring position and he has a .000 BA in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 8th and 9th innings. Yikes!
The Other Guy We Might Want the Big Bucks Back From – He looks kind of dashing on the mound with that hair flying in the wind, but the big-time left-handed closer the Astros never have had is still not really here. Josh Hader has appeared in 11 games to date and has given up runs in 5 of them. He has yet to save a game cleanly, giving runs up in both his saves to date. He’s blown a third shot at a save and has two losses on the season. In the other game he gave up runs in, he took a game the team was losing by a small margin (2-1) and blew it up to a 6-1 deficit in the ninth before being pulled after earning only one out. Oh, and it could be argued that his addition to the closer’s role has poisoned the well for the guys who led the team in saves in 2023, Ryan Pressly and Bryan Abreu.
The Guy Who May Want Out of Town – Last year’s closer Ryan Pressly had struggles at times, but the last time we saw him before 2024, was in a solid postseason show in 2023, where he had 5 scoreless appearances with 3 saves and a win. To date he has been as bad or worse than Hader as he has given up runs in 5 of his 10 appearances in 2024. He has no saves, but two blown saves and a loss. He has had a little bit of bad luck as there was an error behind him in one blown save and a catcher’s interference in the other, but he showed little spine in holding the rope either time. Is his spirit crushed in moving from the most successful playoff closer in team history to a set-up man?
The Guy Who May Be Wondering – Why Me? – Joe Espada has not done a great job to date, but the fans have to wonder how much control he really has over things. If he sat Abreu down for a week (or a month) would he get a visit from one of the OG Mafia in the front office? If he dropped Bregman to the 8th spot in the lineup would he be getting reminders from the GM to look at the back of the baseball card? But he has to be wondering why the baseball gods waited for him to take over to have so many injuries to the starting staff and so many awful starts by his hitters and pitchers.
The Guy Who May Be Held Responsible Without Being Given the Reins – The whole description from Reggie Jackson on how the front office is being run made a lot of fans wonder about a lot of things. But the biggest question for most of us is what this means for new GM Dana Brown. How much power does he really have? And how much power should he have? Jim Crane basically let James Click go after winning the whole enchilada in 2022. Will he point the finger at himself and his cadre of retired GM wannabes or at the guy he hired to take Click’s spot if the Titanic keeps on taking on water?
Those are my gripes for the day. What are yours?
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
55 responses to “Astros 2024: Off-day gripes”
Lost another early morning post. The post ghost is back!
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As far as I know, I am the only ghost here, Dave.
But to the Dan’s point … I am afraid I at a loss. There is no point in pointing out the glaringly obvious. Who knew there was an iceberg out there? Somebody please cue the music to ‘My Heart Will Go On’.
Competing for the number one draft pick seems like a reasonable approach at this point. The good news is that we don’t have to worry our heads about how to blow this team up – the team has already done that – to itself.
I just wonder if this F.O. will do better -or worse -than the prior one in regard to its ‘dump contract’ trades:
Remember Roy Oswalt for the dynamic trio of Jay Happ, Jonathan Villar, and Anthony Gose?
How about Lance Berkman for likely future (not) Hall-of-Famers Mark Melancon and Jimmy Paredes?
Or Hunter Pence for Jarred Cozart, Josh Zeid, Domingo Santana, and a surefire MVP prospect named Jon Singleton?
My point: when the F.O. cashes it in and trades Bregs, Framber, Javier, KTuck, etc. do not expect anything but a salary reduction – and a whole lot more years like this one – in return.
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Abreu is done. Happens. It’s not the steroids era anymore, guys can’t get “help” maintaining insane bat speeds to make up for their slowing eyes. He is still a better option than Singleton or Loperfido though because while Abreu may not be able to repeat his June of 2023 they certainly aren’t going to hit .292 with 5 dingers and 21 ribbies either.
Bregman is always competing with the Bregman of 2019. He hit .219 in April last year. He did his 1st dinger on Apr 11 last year, and followed it with another on the 12th, but then didn’t hit another until today. He is a little behind, and btw, a little older also, but I don’t think he is anywhere near the biggest issue because there is no reason to think he won’t get warm in May and hot in June.
They have given up 6 runs or more 9 times. No surprise, 0-9 in those games. No other team has given up 6 runs 9 or more times except the White Sox, who are 0-10 in that area, and 3-19 overall. This thing comes down to quality starts and critical 6th/7th inning relievers.
We have guys like Altuve, Alvarez, Tucker, Bregman, Verlander, Valdez, stars. We have great support guys like McCormick, Diaz, Pena, Javier, Garcia, McCullers, B. Abreu, guys that are supposed to be helping you win. Yet, it always seems the game is being decided by someone named Blair or Spencer or Seth or Taylor or Jon. And when guys like Hader don’t perform, and guys like Abreu and Pressly start showing their age, and critical moments in games are not being decided by stars or even their supporting cast, it can roll downhill on you.
Just one note, I don’t know where Bryan Abreu is. I griped a few days ago about his pitch selection. To heck with the signs, just bring it here Ricky. But that fastball isn’t 98. It’s been 95 and flat. He hit 97 in his last game, so maybe his arm strength isn’t where he wants it yet.
If they go 3-7 in their next 10, you may start hear the sportsmaps and athletics of the world start talking about a trading exodus with Bregman and Verlander at the top of the list followed by Valdez and Tucker, and get somewhat of a soft reset.
I don’t know when I would call the season, but it wouldn’t be after the next 10. I guess it would depend on how close I was to .500 in June, and how far back are we. But I wouldn’t trade anyone that is under contract for 2025, because this team can still compete, if it can get the rotation off the IL. But it has to take steps to address depth and the bullpen.
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I think you trade Tucker first. You start by trading the guy who brings back the most in a trade, if you are looking to build for the future.
The longer the Astros wait to tear it down, the less they will receive from others in a trade.
You stuck to the plan for 12 years until the plan stopped producing. It’s time either for a new plan or reupping to the best part of the old plan.
The Astros have a core to start over with Altuve, Alvarez, Javier, Diaz, Pena, Bryan Abreu and Hader. A few trades and a few high draft picks would get the Astros rolling to the next good Astros team.
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I certainly get where you are coming from. I could sit down and write a new book in 2 hours and say trade all 4 right now. But I would give it some time. If by June 15th you are seeing no progress, start the Tucker bidding war. Maybe Bregman is hitting by then too. Maybe Valdez has made 6 QS in 8 appearances too. But if that those things happen, maybe you won’t be 8 games out and 10 games under .500.
Who knows where this ends up. So much depends on the muscial chairs that is this rotation. The Hader deal looks worse and worse not because of he owns 2 of those 16 losses but because it was the proverbial “eggs in a basket” that we didn’t need – we needed overall depth.
The thought that the Astros are not even having a conversation substantive enough that it makes the rumor mill that is Chandler Rome with Brandon Belt is amazing and tells me they aren’t serious. Belt isn’t a fix all but he can bat at least 6th 4 times a week and swings from the side we could use some help with. But it’s not my 5 million dollars to spend I guess.
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Test.
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I’lll try posting one more time. I was all for a small but significant change in personnel this past winter. Bregman and Framber for youth. Seth Lugo as an FA starter. Arms to replace the guys we lost from the pen. Arms, plural. Who knew?
But I don’t think we can start tearing down now. I’m still giving it until June. We have too many historically good players that will start producing at some point. Abreu is excluded from that conversation.
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Bregman after game 93 on July 15, 2023: .238 BA and a .718 OPS. I’ve said for a couple of years now that he’s an old 30. He’s got to wake up sooner than last year and help get the offense going.
The brain trust has got to get Abreu out of there. I don’t think his presence is healthy at this point.
I think Abreu and Pressly were stunning when the skinny lefty was signed. And as polite as they’ve tried to be, I guessing Hader is not very comfortable either. But all three of these guys have got to dig deep and pitch. Pressly is not done. He’s got enough pitches to use if executed correctly.
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Spell check correction. Abreu and Pressly were stunned……when the skinny lefty was signed.
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I sure hope this team does not have to be broken up. I say this because I have absolutely no confidence that club management, whatever the hierarchy, is capable of rebuilding or even retooling this Astro team. They’ll have to get lucky.
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The team has France, Arrighetti and Verlander lined up for the Cub series. Really need to pull together as a whole and make positive things happen.
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The day off (actually two since I didn’t bother watching the game Sunday) was wonderful. Hope the boys used it to reach down with both hands and pull their heads outta the rectums to prepare for today’s game.
I’ll be watching. But with absolutely no expectation of seeing any good baseball.
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Bregman still 4th. Abreu 8th. I hope Joe is making his own crappy line ups.
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Steven, how do you manage longer post, can’t seem to get mine to work?
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I don’t know. This new format certainly has its moments but I haven’t lost a post in months. I do always copy them before posting though just in case.
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My mind feels like a soggy mass revolting against thought of a hopeful outcome for this team. Steven, I am feeling what you are saying, to the point where I am not ready to give up on the Stros season yet. An old R&B song came to mind, ‘It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday’. The current situation has me feeling this way. However, if they cannot turn it around by mid season, perhaps before, then my stars align with OP.
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Always comes down to a QS. France lost this game in the 1st and guys started going through the motions. They are now 0-10 when surrendering 6 or more runs.
If they can get France and Brown out and Javier with Framber in the rotation they will have a chance to string some QS and get a 3 game win streak and that’s his it starts. Not to late but it gets later every loss.
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Our wounded warriors will return (I am doubtful of McCullers longevity). Hader and Abreu will mellow out (will Pressly?). Can we get decent mid relief or better from France/Brown once the IL empties? Apart from Dubon, we have no bench to speak of. Abreu is a wash and our stars/support guys run hot/cold for now. That can’t last all season, can it?
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Under no circumstances do I see Crane backing up the Brinks truck to facilitate improving this tm short term. The dead $$ tied up in non performers is an albatross difficult to overcome. Will the rule by committee be disbanded? Can Espada/Brown right this ship over time with help from CRANE and a little luck from the BB gods?
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Here we go again. I’m going into the other room to watch paint dry.
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It sure didn’t take long for this game to devolve into an obscenity. France doesn’t have anything they can’t hit.
Oh well. See y’all tomorrow!
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This has to feel like a bad dream you can’t wake up from for Espada. Over the weekend I questioned whether he’ll make it to the All Star break. I think he will because our two pitching coaches are going to get canned first.
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Personally, I think that the only move now that makes any sense at all. It may not be 100%, but valid nevertheless. And Crane has to do something.
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Fellas, the front line starting pitching from last year are all on the injured list. That is why the team is floundering right now. Once all of the horses heal up, the hitters should be producing by then and the team can sneak into the wild card playoffs..
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The Stros had just as many hits as the Cubs, 6, and were 1-4 with RISP. After scoring their 2 runs the offense fizzled and died, a common theme in this early season. On any given night 4-5 of our better hitters go Ofer. With that being said, does anyone here oppose the idea of Espada moving Diaz into the 4 hole until Bregman wakes up? The kid is not an auto out though there is some risk of him expanding his strike zone. In his funk Bregman has expanded his zone. Just curious.
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I’d move Bregman to the bench and put Dubon at 3rd for a couple games. It’s not that I expect Dubon to maintain his decent hitting and/or be more productive than Bregman, but I’d like to see them send a message to our impending free agent that his job is to get on base and drive runs in. To Diaz’ credit, he’s taken a number of pitches the other way to do just those two things. Bregman would rather weakly pop up.
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France has been around long enough not to lose his composure when an ump does not give him a couple of close calls. Instead of finishing the first inning down by two, he grooves a three run shot. He’ll be the first starter is sit when Framber shows back up.
Diaz is still growing into his role. He does not need the added burden of hitting clean up. Bregman does not either apparently. Put Yordan or Tucker for there goodness sakes. Put Pena or Bregman in the second slot. It might help. But guys have to hit, regardless of where they are.
It gets tougher and tougher for me to imagine this team stabilizing and becoming something close to being a .500 club at the beginning of June. They are going to need a heck of a month of May
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I’m thinking a bit nostalgic this morning. I did shut down the game after the first inning last night And I went to “2015 Houston Astros” on Wikipedia. Springer was making 517 K. Jon Singleton was getting 2 million a year. Altuve got his first All Star nod. LJM was a 21 year old rookie and had a heck of a year. Correa stunned the league with his play. We tasted the post season. We played a bit young, but KC had their hands full. We’ve had a heck of an almost decade long run. I appreciate this little group here because we generally are able to keep things in perspective. Our Astros are not losing on purpose. Personally I think there are guys off the field making it tougher for the guys in the field to win. I do look across the way, less and less, for perspective. The words and terms used by some Astro ‘fans” to describe the way our players and the way they are playing today is flat out despicable. But for me, if this run has indeed ended, it’s been a remarkable decade of watching professional baseball. Very few fans will ever get to watch such a sustained run from their own favorite team. I’m already looking ahead to see what the next few years bring. Let’s hang in for awhile and see what happens!
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Left hand closer we’ve never had? We had the best of all time…BW
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Absolutely right Kelly – just a senior moment on my part.
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But lefty relievers has been a black hole in the organization for what seems like forever.
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Don’t forget Joe Sambito.
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We say thanks to the crawfish boxes for linking to us….
Astros Crawfish Boil: April 24, 2024 – The Crawfish Boxes
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On first base – I wouldn’t go to Loperfido until Loperfido makes me. I’m not worried about ESPN Houston’s people doing the “well in the last 5 days he has 2 hits and 435 strikeouts” it’s baseball. It happens even to Aaron Judge.
I am concerned with what we have done in the past calling up guys (like Singleton and AJ Reed) out of need instead of them earning up, looked at their numbers at AA or AAA before the callup, and the way hitting and striking out both went the wrong way back in the minors after bad major league experiences, and get worried.
Yes, sometimes you call up Altuve out of need, even telling him it’s only temporary while they hunt a new 2B, only to find your 2B for the next 15 years. But the battlefield is littered with corpses of minor leaguers that were forced into roles before they were ready to be forced into those roles, and their careers disappeared after.
If you have to answer 1B for a short term, call up Salazar, put Caratini behind the plate most days, and pencil in Yainer at 1B for now. Keep Loperfido’s positional flexibility be a strength, and let him force your hand by having scouts and coaches at AAA tell you this guy is ready. It seems the only reason people are talking about Loperfido is because of Abreu.
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As many have noted I tend to agree that we should try to put Diaz at first, Caratini at the dish, Dubon at third/center. I’d change the batting order to put Peña at #2, Alvarez at #3 and Tucker @ 4. Then Caratini or Diaz & 5/6, Dubon @ 7, McCormick at 8 and that leaves the DH at the 9th spot. Just a suggestion.
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As frustrating as Alex is this early season thing is kind of his thing. There is zero chance the Astros would consider sitting him.
Pena has hit well in the 2 spot in the past. He seems to be comfortable in what he is doing where he is too. I wouldn’t throw my remote at the TV if I saw him penciled at 2 tomorrow, but I wouldn’t do it. I would drop Diaz though. After a while his struggles with RISP has to be looked at as more than just small sample. I think, given the way he would chase out of the zone last year, and his problems with RISP, that he sometimes puts undue pressure on himself in some at bats.
Yainer Diaz is my favorite player. You can find posts of me almost 2 years ago, before we even signed Abreu, saying we don’t need to spend money at 1B, we have a kid we can bring up that is ready. One, I doubted his defensive prowess, but while he isn’t Gabriel Moreno back there (another guy I wanted when I knew the Jays had 3 catchers) he is fine behind the plate. But I wanted him out from behind the plate because I want him to play 155/160 games. His bat is just that good. But there is a button stuck right now, and pressure at bats he just isn’t handling well. He has go to relax. Not Bregman relaxed, but relax. Ideally I would like to see him hit 7th right now. Clean up or 5th will be there for him in 2 years.
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So Joe moved Bregman up to #2 tonight. Why not? It’s not as if there’s a winning streak to worry about…..
C’mon, boys. Play like you remember how tonight, please.
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This one certainly didn’t take long to get fugly, either. Do believe I’ll go with a sci fi movie this time.
In all fairness, I don’t think any team could just “fight through it” after the loss of their entire starting lineup. Can’t be done.
As far as what to do at 1b? I’ve got a six foot chunk of 4×4 out on the junk pile that could play as well as Singleton did in the b1……
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Finally, the Stros catch a few breaks. Catch up guys
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Altuve is 1-15 with RISP.
Lops has hit his 11th. Bring him up before he strikes out again. We need a spark in the worst way.
If it does not work, it won’t kill him to go back down.
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Oh heck, he struck out.
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Astros strand two runners in like 5 straight innings – the latest they get 1st and 3rd with one out and Caratini hits a screaming liner towards left field that the 3B snags followed by Meyers striking out.
It just feels like – one hit and the gates will open.
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This one has actually been somewhat fun to watch after that disaster in the first.
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Here’s my best idea in years. Sign Kyle Tucker. Now. Change the vibe!
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Might change the fan’s outlook but I don’t know if it has an effect on the team. Question is how many doles left for the dolemaster?
He is still paying Greinke 12.5M a year. Montero gets 11M a year for being a gas can. Abreu. Abreu. Abreu. Such a bad contract I have to say it 3 times. Brantley got 12M from him to play a few weeks of baseball. McCullers? All this dead money, add in Hader’s contract, which may not turn out to be “dead” money but when you had Bryan Abreu waiting in the wings to replace Pressly probably an unnecessary contract, it’s well over 300M.
I feel like, listening to interviews of Bregman and Tucker, Bregman fully intends to test FA and see what’s there and Tucker is open to signing something now. But given the contracts Crane has put himself under, does he have 320M to offer? But I really have no idea what either are looking or what take into consideration right now. The largest offer I know of the Astros ever made was to Correa, and Tucker will probably require double that offer.
Kyle Tucker is no Yordan. He is no Bagwell. He is no Altuve. But what he does better than all those guys – consistency. He plays everyday. His 162 game average for his career – .273, 30 HR, 108 RBI, 25 SB. This year – .281, 32HR, 110 RBI, 32 SB. He is as consistent a presence I’ve seen.
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Steven I don’t know if Crane has any inclination to pay Tucker or anyone 320 million over a bunch of years. You are right about Tucker’s consistency. And I think we both agree that he’ll play well for quite a few years somewhere.
My exercise for the day, using Baseball Reference.
Tucker has put up a 19.5 total WAR over 580 career games. That’s 1.0 WAR every 29.74 games.
Bregman is at 35.4 total WAR over 988 career games, or 1.0 WAR per 27.90 games. Pretty solid. But Bregman peaked in 2019, his year 25 season. He has not come close since. I can think of one particular factor that impacted his production post 2019.
Yordan is of another universe. Despite a significant negative dWAR, he’s put up a 18.9 total WAR over just 507 games for a 1.0 WAR per 26.82 games.
And my favorite Astro ever, Jose Altuve has put up a 50.8 WAR over 1693 games for a 1.0 WAR every 33.32 games.
So Tucker can certainly be compared to these particular guys you’ve mentioned. And to me, the consistency and what I think will be a long, healthy career are added plusses.
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I don’t find WAR useful in telling me a lot. But we agree on this – he is consistent, and he is built like a ball player. No player is immune to missing 40 games for a broken hand, or a half a season for a knee, or an entire season for an achilles. It can happen to any of them. But there are players that are more susceptible. Mike Trout is a superior player to Tucker. But is he really? Availability is the most under rated quality out there. You can argue that availability is what kept Yordan’s price down, because standing in a box he is generational, at least that’s what I read into the stats. And Tucker, he is built like a guy that was born to play this game.
It reminds me of my time in the Army. We had guys that would sit in the gym, get themselves up over 230 pounds of just muscle, but stick a ruck on their back in boots and watch them tap out after 4 miles, while the tall, thin dude is still walking right now. That guy’s name is probably Tucker.
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Good morning!
Hopefully at this point Spencer Arrighetti can go back to Sugar Land and work on his game. He’s at least kept his composure when guys like Brown and France have not always.
Looks like Jon Singleton is going to get more playing time, likely blocking any Loperfido promotion at least for the time being. My problem is that Jon is not a ML caliber player. He’s flat out bad at first. He’s slow. And he’s got 0 RBI’s in 39 at bats.
Caratini and Diaz have contributed 16 RBI’s. A bright spot.
What if Pena keeps hitting! What if he keeps running the bases like his HOF mentor?
Montero keeps getting guys out.
Maybe the water in Mexico will cure these guys.
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I was a fan of how Espada was willing to move the batting order. I am not a believer that batting order matters terribly much in any single game but at least he has a willingness to change it up.
At some point one of these three of France, Arrighetti and Brown have to start consistently getting out of a first inning. France gave up 5 then threw 4 more scoreless frames, Arrighetti gave up 4 then added 3 2/3rd before having to be bailed out but was bailed out.
Count me a Shawn Dubin fan. I loved his stuff the first time I saw him. He isn’t afraid of his stuff either, he will drill down on a hitter and not poke. I laughed when TK and Blummer started in on the Dooby number 2 stuff because Dubin literally can be the swiss army knife of the BP – he would probably right now give us better starts than the other 3, he can go out and give you a high leverage inning, or he can pick up the ball in the 4th and get you to the 7th.
I know everyone loves dumping on Singleton – but listen, right now, he gives better at bats and better defensive play than Abreu. Is that saying a lot, no. If Jeremy Pena were playing 1B last night that ball would have never hit the base and even if it did his hands are fast enough to adjust. He also had a rope hit at him that a good defensive first baseman would have nabbed (say Yuli) and gotten the kid out of the 1st inning, instead Arrighetti got left with a bag of spiders on base with 1 out. That said, he had 2 hits that were both hits because the ball was smoked, he is not chasing out of the zone, he is just better at bats than Abreu. I think the Astros are doing the right thing by making Loperfido earn that promotion and not panicking out of necessity because of the two 1Bs, one is terrible and the other is just bad. I do hope we start seeing some extra base hits from Jon though, I don’t want him to become his name sake and just Single-a-ton.
Early sample aside I still just don’t trust Montero. But so far, so good.
Ten more left on base. I thought I saw the other day that the Astros were on pace for over 1200 LOB for a season, which would be a major league record. They were 1-10 with RISP, keeping with their season pattern. This has to be the most frustrating part of watching them right now, I felt a sense of doom just watching at bats by stars last night batting with multiple runners on and coming up empty. Alvarez and Tucker both had chances. Dubin, Montero and Pressly put this team in a position to win that game last night. They did their jobs. First inning meltdown aside (which could have been avoided with a little better defense) the pitching did its job. This loss squarely belonged to the everyday 9.
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As usual, you folks are bringing a lot of good analysis to the blog.
I know it sounds weird but it feels like they are about to come out of the hitting slump. Its kind of like when a single guy is in a slump, he will start whacking the ball with no luck right before he breaks out.
Right now the team is doing whatever it takes to lose. Good start – bad bullpen. Bad start – good bullpen. Mix of good and bad pitching – the hitting is choking like they just ate 20 Saltines without water.
They really need Framber and Cristian back – because to have any chance of getting on a roll they need enough of their starting pitcher cylinders working to have a winning streak. I guess we will see – its a good thing they are getting decent bullpen performances out of some unexpected areas.
I’m not ready to give up – but they need to stop digging the hole.
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The darn cold weather has not helped either. When was the last time France and Arrighetti were exposed to that particular element?
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There are so many good comments I’m not sure who to reply to on this post. There is so much blame to go around for the losses it would be unfair to pin it on Abreu, but he is 0-17 with RISP this season and that’s no bueno. FWIW, the team is now trailing the division leading team from the other city in TX by 6 whole games! It could be worse as the Marlins are trailing in their division by 12.5 games already. Stop blowing saves, start hitting with RISP, find a couple healthy arms and the Astros can get right back into it. If they can’t, well, I’m still enjoying watching Altuve at least.
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For those who also follow Houston Texans football – on 790 AM this morning they said that Jeff Bagwell is the Jack Easterby of Astros baseball.
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Jeff Bagwell was a HOF player who spent his entire career as a player contributing to the Astros. If Bagwell had anything to do with advising Crane to bring Justin Verlander to Houston and lead this team to two WS championships, he has been worth more than his salary as an advisor.
Jack Easterby only contributed to the downfall of the Texans.
I can see someone trying to dramatize the decline of the Astros, but I don’t agree at all with the comparison of these two men.
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Scary as it gets but 1st inning drubbing not today.
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