Hello Loyal Readers and thank you for your patience. This has been an interesting week away and perhaps my longest period without posting an article since Chip and Brian were sharing scribe duties. This was a combination of a vacation where I just did not have access to the writing tools for the blog and returning to a “dead” home with no electricity after the vacation. Everything is good now and I am inspired to share some thoughts with you today.
Some questions have come to my mind lately and in the spirit of producing a quick post – I will both share my Q’s and my A’s.
- What hurts the Astros more, an inexcusable loss where Framber Valdez lets a five-run lead turn into a two-run deficit in the drop of a hat or the news that Jose Abreu is somehow cured (statistics to the contrary) and will return to take up a roster spot and supposedly a lineup spot as well?
The return of Abreu, in my mind, might hurt the Astros more. We have seen over and over where this team bounced back from an awful loss to business as usual. But one must wonder what the team’s psyche is doing when they see the front office making a move that does not improve the club. Does this lead to grumbling and doubt behind the scenes?
- How do the Astros handle the return of Chas McCormick and Jose Abreu?
Handling denotes two things….First, how do they handle the roster machinations involved in adding these two back into the mix? There is no way they let go of any of their pitchers at this point in the middle of their 500 games in 501-day run. (Where is my exaggeration font?) There are four possibilities out of the position players. Grae Kessinger, Jon Singleton, Joey Loperfido, and Trey Cabbage. Singleton would have to be DFA’d, and since they may need him when they finally decide that a first baseman that can’t hit Florida League pitching is no longer a major leaguer, that should not happen. Sending Kessinger down leaves them way too thin in the infield, though they may just use Dubon as the main backup in the infield and bring Kessinger back up if someone gets hurt. Cabbage seems to be the one sure player to be sent down. Sending Loperfido down would seem to be a travesty of demoralizing dimensions (see question 1. My guess is that Cabbage and Loperfido get sent down and the teeth gnashing will be heard from outer space.
Second, handling also means – how do they handle the usage of everyone with Chas and Abreu back? Assuming Cabbage and Loperfido are back down – there should be room for Chas, but he may not be quite the everyday player he was before his injury. There is no way to sit Tucker (ever) or Meyers (at this point). Meyers has been tremendous the last few weeks. Chas has to take ABs away from Dubon it would seem and maybe even a bit from a struggling Yordan?? As far as Abreu goes, I would hope he bats against leftys and occasionally against rightys, but I am afraid he will be Mr. Everyday until Jim Crane has had enough and OKs his release along with a certain H of F advisor.
- What is the bigger surprise so far – Jeremy Pena or Jake Meyers early season performance?
The knee-jerk answer is Meyers, who looked like a candidate to be sent packing the last couple of years. But though I expected more out of Pena, I did not expect the excellence we have seen from him at bat. For once, it seems that a player who said he worked on a new swing in the off-season not only did it but apparently ended up with the right swing. He is no longer the sucker for the out-of-the-zone slider and is able to go down and launch line drives on pitches, even at the bottom of the strike zone. Pena is second in the AL in batting average, and it does not look like a fluke. And Meyers, though he lacks a handful of ABs to be a qualifier, has the second-best BA (.290) and OPS (.885) of the normal starters, and this matches the eye test where he is squaring up pitches every night.
- Who gets sent down when Jose Urquidy returns? And what about Luis Garcia? And what about Lance McCullers Jr.?
This question probably goes hand in hand with what role will each of these pitchers play when and if (especially if, when we are talking about Lance) they return.
Adding Urquidy—Assuming Ronel Blanco is back in the rotation when his suspension runs its course this weekend, the rotation should be Blanco, Verlander, Valdez, Javier, and Urquidy when he returns. If they go six-man, they should go with Spencer Arrighetti and send Hunter Brown to the bullpen, sending down Parker Mushinski. If they go five-man rotation, they might send Arrighetti down to the minors to stay stretched out and send Brown to the bullpen, keeping Mushinski.
Adding Garcia – If….he is stretched out and looking good – he should take Urquidy’s spot, and Urquidy should go to the bullpen – probably sending Mushinski down.
Adding LMJ – Well, the gut feeling is that you can’t tie your hopes to Lance being the starter throughout the end of the season and the playoffs. Send him to the bullpen and send Brown down to the minors.
Of course, injury or trade can undo all of this in the interim, but it’s fun to speculate.
Any questions you would like to ask Dan P today?
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
61 responses to “Astros 2024: A self-inflicted Q&A”
I actually get why they are bringing Abreu back so soon. They need to make a decision pronto. Either send him into that great goodbye or he’s back at least enough to help. But just letting him hang doesn’t do anyone any good. If that means sending Joey down for a second, then play him at 1st exclusively in Sugarland. As for Chaz, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt after last year. If it was because of his hammy and its alright now then welcome back. Dubon needs to go back being the super sub, not an everyday player.
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William – I guess my real problem with the Abreu situation is that it is based on lies ….
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I get they say he’s ready when he probably isn’t but could that to be well we gave him another try and it didn’t work so see ya later?
Espada is blowing smoke like this organization has done forever
Yeah, if we were up like normally it wouldn’t bother so many but I think this is sort of out of respect for him.
Yeah, I’ve been saying that all season but there are a lot of big egos in the way.
Anyway, he has to be on a very very short lease. My fear is he does great for a couple of weeks then goes back to his mean.
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I’m less interested in what Abreu’s numbers are at the GCL and what the ball is doing coming off his bat. I don’t think he’s going to learn anything from an assignment to Sugarland so there isn’t much use taking AB away from someone else there. Regardless, I doubt many people would say that Loperfido, Singleton, or Cabbage represent strong candidates to be a WS winning 1B this year. I guess they need to see him back at the MLB level to decide whether to eat the money and go get a rental for the back half of the season or roll the dice he finds the groove and contributes. Quite frankly, he doesn’t need to be an MVP…he just needs to provide positive contributions.
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Devin – Here is how I look at the 1B options
Abreu – Not only his hitting but his fielding were awful this season – hard to believe even an inexperienced Loperfido is worse. Beyond that I am concerned about what his return to the lineup tells the team – especially if there is no evidence anything has improved since he left
Singleton – He’s not very good at hitting or at 1B (range-wise) but so far this season better than Abreu. (His -0.1 WAR better than -1.5 WAR for Abreu). I like how he works the pitchers, but then does not punish them when they do pitch to him. He is what his WAR proclaims – replacement level (from AAA) player
Loperfido – I like him – the stage does not seem too big for him. I am angry that they never played him at 1B with Abreu gone – I think they were afraid that people would see that he was OK in the field and very good at the bat.
Yordan – Too late for now – but if Yordan hits better when he is in the field and if there is a log jam in LF – they need to work with this guy to play 1B where he is not likely to get hurt. He is a decent athlete – I don’t know why he couldn’t work on this for an off-season and see if its a possiblity. (Don’t hold your breath for this one to happen).
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Dan – Yordan started as a first baseman. He played it in Cuba. He played it in his first season in the minors. He was moved off for a reason. I have not seen what that reason was. The only thing I have seen is that they liked his skill set as an outfielder at the time.
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I think Abrue should be sent to Sugarland to see if he can hit AAA pitching before he probably becomes a black hole again for the Astros. Singleton has been an improvement so far over him.
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First shoe dropped, Chas activated and Cabbage optioned.
Left field is now crowded. I would assume Dubon is going to start playing some CF as well now as 4 guys share 2 spots.
Realistically, defensive lapses aside, the Astros are probably a better team if Singleton and Abreu are both released and Loperfido is installed as the everyday 1B that can be spelled by either catcher. But the Astros are not dealing in reality nowadays. This sounds convoluted, but Singleton has not earned the job, nor has he earned being released and may not be done earning one or the other.
What is likely happening on Friday – Loperfido is going to be optioned to AAA, Chas will be back to being the starting LF with Alvarez and Dubon both seeing time out there, and Abreu is going to split time withe Singleton at 1B. I also assume Yainer DH days are at an end, as he hasn’t been hitting enough right now to substantiate it, and you might see some days where Abreu and Singleton are both in the lineup. Other teams will call that a quality start.
Am I thrilled about Loperfido heading to AAA. Of course not. I assume he isn’t either. But he will go to playing once or twice a week with Chas back. At AAA, he can take swings everyday. And while this feels like an exercise in stupidity, Abreu will earn his actual dismissal soon enough.
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I think Joey should play the outfield, he’s not done well in limited starts at 1st, my guess is he goes down and plays 1st exclusively. He has a terrible arm but is athletic and hits.
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I’ve seen Loperfido play first in CC. I’ve watched him play at least a dozen full games on MILB. He’s had 56 starts there, about 20% of his total minor league starts. He’s made 4 errors at first in 2 plus years of minor league play. He’s an excellent athlete. He’s got more range at first than either of the other two guys. He is already serviceable at first base. And Astro will at some point wonder where the guy has been hiding.
But William, where did you get this idea that JL has a terrible arm? He’s easily stronger in that department than both Chas and Jake. He’s more accurate from the outfield than Dubon. I’ve watched him many times in MILB. And here in Houston, with one real opportunity to throw a guy out, he bare handed a ball off the scoreboard, turned and threw a very nice one hopper to Altuve to cut down a good runner. I’ve not seen one of our guys make that particular play before.
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Barring a trade of some sort, I think Loperfido gets sent down too. I hope that apartment he got settled in last week has a month to month lease on it. Or maybe he’s got Bielak’s old place.
And to those on Espada’s case for trying to spin positive words about the Abreu fiasco, he’s just a rookie manager toeing the party line. Brown said pretty much the same crap. Bagwell is dangerous.
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I just read this article https://www.mlb.com/astros/news/framber-valdez-allows-8-runs-3-home-runs-to-angels and am really not feeling too good about it.
I am afraid that Joe Espada is simply a younger version of a toothpick chewing moron named Baker.
Why in the hell didn’t he have a reliever warming up going into the 5th inning last night? Why did he leave an obviously beaten down Valdez out there after the 2 singles and the first 3 run homer?
The idiot even said he saw the problem.
““When you start seeing fly balls out of Framber’s performance, you know his stuff is starting to flatten out in the zone,” Espada said.”
OK, Joe. So if you saw it happening and knew what it meant, why in the name of little green apples making you sick didn’t you DO anything about it?
Just WTF do you think your job is, Joe?
Dumbass…….
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I was listening to Barrels and Bats (Fangraphs) and they said he didn’t have a good arm, the did say it was better than Jake’s though. If he plays first it won’t matter but I think his athleticism would be wasted at first. But if that’s what the team needs then let’s do it. I too think Bagwell had something to do with how he played at SL.
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Dan, so much to unload here. I hope I don’t offend any of the customers with my responses to them. I’m pretty fed up. And yes, I think all this business can/will certainly affect happy team chemistry that has been growing over the past couple of weeks. Looks like we’ve already got a lively discussion going. Glad you got some time off and I hope you did not have to throw a bunch of food out. That happens here.
Wonder why Abreu is making his re-entry way out in Oakland? No fans? No press? No Astro fans? Polite Astro fans that might finally lose patience and boo the wrong guy? I feel bad for Abreu. His career is ending and it’s not going to be a graceful exit. My guess is that Crane has told Bagwell to fix this mess. Unfortunately, the guy that creates a mess is usually not the right one to fix it.
So yeah, the Abreu conflict certainly trumps the Framber issues.
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If Bagwell is running the operation, I think he directs Dana to send Loperfido down, whether it be under the guise of getting more work at first or reducing the strike outs. All I know is that the kid has hits in 33% of his at bats, line drives mostly. Is a K worse than a pop up or DP grounder? Tucker, Altuve, Bregman, Springer, Bagwell, none of those guys found a way to get hits and get on base as Loperfido has over his short sample of play when they first came up. As you said, he’s a smart ball player. He’ll struggle at times, he’ll strike out, but he’ll figure it out and make more contact if given the opportunity. He’s a spark on this team, apparently already well liked in the clubhouse. And he knows what to do on the field. That’s obvious.
If Dana has the decision to make, then maybe Kessinger, already rusting on the bench, goes down. And for Dubon, he should get a couple of infield starts per week. And he should play defense late for Altuve. And pinch hit when contact is required. But he’s not needed in the outfield. Chas should be brought back into whatever rotation Joe hopefully determines. And while I’ve never thought Jake was a solution, he should playing most days, as long as he’s hitting as he is now.
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I’m on record saying Joey should be the starting LF. The strikeouts are something we just have to learn to live with.
But I have to temper expectations. He has a .571 BABIP. He has that BABIP without an exceptional LD percentage or above average exit velocities. Part of me lends that to his ability to barrel pitches in the zone a little more often than, say, Singleton, but part of me also realizes that BABIP is not maintainable. Kyle Tucker is a media darling right now in the early MVP race and he doesn’t have a .571 BABIP. Those strikeouts will frustrate us at some point.
As for his arm, there are various scouting sources saying his arm below average. It’s why he was never tried with any seriousness on the left side of the infield. To be honest, ideally, he would be one of the hottest 2nd base prospects in baseball, but that position is currently occupied and will be for some time.
Defense is weird. He has logged 104 innings in the OF and has had neither a chance to make a “crazy” catch or show off an arm. It’s been pretty routine fly balls for him so far. Another reason I don’t like WAR because that has translated, somehow, into a negative dWar. It was the fangraphs guys that said defensive metrics don’t matter until about 1000 innings though because they can be see off, especially for outfielders. Long term, to be honest, I think he would be a heck of a guy to be your starting CF’er, he may not have the laser arm but realistically, that will impact once every 10 games on some random play, meanwhile he will be batting 4-5 times a day with much more opportunity to impact the game.
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When he heads cross-town back to Sugar Land this evening, I hope a real effort is made by the powers to be to play him at first base while at the same time keeping him sharp in the outfield. That only makes sense.
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I think Pena and Jake are both equally big surprises. Could Jeremy have turned into an All Star over the winter? Across the way, several folks were talking about putting Dubon at short last fall. Now they want to give Pena an extension. He sure looks good though. But it’s still early. Someone will stop hitting when someone like Diaz starts. And last night Diaz hit the ball hard three times and got robbed once.
I really don’t know what will happen as all of our familiar pitcher names trickle back on to the 26 man roster. But we can’t have too much pitching, right? I don’t think anyone would have the audacity to move Framber, but I’d applaud that kind of a gutsy move if it brought real talent. But alas, Framber probably has scared some folks away with his erratic nature. One big shout out to Taylor Scott. He’s our feel good story of the year so far.
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I suggested using Pena as part of the lure for a Cease deal. I was not enamored with his first 2 years. I didn’t think he would ever adjust to laying off the outside breaking ball. But he has. Honestly, in hind sight, it’s obvious that the way he has handled velocity his whole career that the motor in head was fast enough to make that adjustment.
Cease has looked good this year. But he would be one more contract year coming headache to deal with. This is why I don’t get to run a baseball team.
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I wish we could go back and make our own moves. Back in November I was all set to trade Bregman and Framber. Both guys would have brought significant change and financial flexibility. My main acquisition for the rotation was Seth Lugo. If he holds up, his 15 million a year for 3 years will be a heck of a wise deal by KC.
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Welcome home, Dan. Happy to hear everything is OK! Hope the time away did you good.
I’ve got to say that Heinz Abreu hurts the team more than an unreliable Valdez. Framber pitches every 5 or 6 games. Two games out of three he’s darned good. The third game, he’s God awful, I guess. That’s 2 or 3 losses/month maximum and perhaps as low as 1/month.
Abreu kills up to 3 Astros rallies every game. And he’s never been a nimble speedy first baseman, either. Singleton is adequate and performing well.
“What is the bigger surprise so far – Jeremy Pena or Jake Meyers early season performance?”
They both have surprised me. Jake in a negative way (up until recently) and Pena in a positive way.
Pena has been making defensive plays that recollect days long past with that strong accurate jump throw play he has mastered. And others. He’s playing like he wants an MVP trophy this fall.
Watching him and Altuve race each other for the league lead in hits is a lot of fun.
I’m hoping Jake is able to keep this hot streak going all summer after it finally got started.
But the way it usually seems to work for the Stros (ala Straw and Toro) their career best hot streaks will start after they are traded away.
Ahem.
But I don’t want to think about Bagwell before the game starts. So ’nuff said.
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Loperfido sits again tonight. Tomorrow the Angels have a lefty scheduled. I hope they’ve already told him he won’t be getting on the plane Wednesday evening. It’s easy to figure out.
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That’s too bad. The kid was just starting to figure things out. We’ll see him again. Maybe sooner than we think right now. If, by some miracle……no. Not gonna type it. 😉
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So we’re gonna take this guy out and put in Heinz Abreu? Really?
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Was that boo birds I heard after that Pillar solo shot? If so, it’s well deserved.
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“Shoulda put a glove on that foot.”
Gotta love Blummer….!
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Fun game! Pena stakes yet another claim toMVP status!
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Tucker is the MVP and it’s not close.
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And this is why the MVP is elected. Opinions differ.
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Good morning!
Our Astros have a chance to win another series today. Dan, as you noted, these guys do bounce back. And an 8-2 homestead would by any measure be an excellent result. Maybe these guys can win at home consistently.
Pena and Jake keep hitting. Forever?
Tucker keeps raising his future value. Bregman and Framber don’t.
Got to give Jon Singleton credit for coming up with an important dinger when really needed.
One of these days Yainer will start elevating the ball. He’s making sharp contact on those ground balls, but they just make for nice double play balls.
I guess I’m old school. I know the percentages, but I’d still rather see a capable hitter get a bunt down in the 9th or 10th inning and move the man to third base with one out, forcing the infield in. So many ways to score from third.
Javier is a concern. If his mechanics are bad as Joe suggests, doesn’t that create an injury risk? Maybe we’ll see him and Urquidy sharing a start one day soon.
With good health, we’re going to end up with solid pitching staff. For today, we need an inspired outing from Hunter Brown.
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Thoughts
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Scott reminds me of a 2018-2019 Ryan Pressly. I have a feeling he is going to be very good. When he grows up.
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A shout out to our friends at the Crawfish boxes today….
Astros Crawfish Boil: May 22, 2024 – The Crawfish Boxes
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Per Dana Brown, Abreu will now play a couple of AAA games before heading out to the West Coast. Too much public outcry?
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I hope the boo birds leave droppings on his head the moment he steps onto the field at MMP. He doesn’t belong there.
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Hunter Brown’s walk in music should be Come Out And Play by Offspring.
Except for Hunter, it is sung; “You gotta keep it on the corners!”
Hey!
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That wasn’t the corner, boy….
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Brown did not get the memo, TOF. In a hitters count pitch to the corners rather than down the heart of the plate
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Hunter pitched a very good game. Like dave said, 6 innings and 2 runs ain’t too shabby at all.
He was doing a heck of a good job painting the inside edge to the righties with his fast ball. But any time you play that game, you’ve gotta (sing it now) keep it on the corners. Hey!
He missed with one and Odell made him pay. Those guys are professionals, too.
Hunter Brown’s name will have the L next to it in the box score. But he is not the one who lost this game.
That was a team failure
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Anytime we get six innings and 2 runs from our starter, we’ll win most of those games.
It’s a tough team to watch sometimes. Frenchie drove in the only run and became the goat on the same play. Every old lady up in the crowd knows you never make the first out at third base. That’s what’s hard to stomach.
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It’s not Hunter’s fault the top four guys in our batting order (of which Alex Bregman STILL should not be one) went 1 for 15 today.
That’s pitiable…..
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Has anyone notice that Altuve probably swings at more pitches out of the strike zone than any other player in MLB. Sure he gets a lot of hits but if I were pitching I’d rarely throw one down the middle. If he was more PATIENT he’d draw a lot of walks and definitely have a better BA.
I see Mr pop up/ground out is at his old tricks again.
A better game by Hunter but the long ball with men on bases just kills us.
A good home stand but it could have been 7-3 or even 8-2. Hopefully, we’ll have a winning % road trip.
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“A good home stand but it could have been 7-3…..”
Since it was 7-3, are we to take it you approve?
Yes, we’ve all noticed that about Altuve.
One of the great things about baseball is that it teaches so many life lessons that transcend baseball, economics, or politics.
One of those lessons (for me) is that when you love someone the way Astros fans love ‘Tuve, you love them in spite of their faults.
Fact is that despite his shortcomings (he’s not the best baserunner I’ve ever seen, either) he’s still a generational Hall of Fame player. We’re lucky to be here to see him play.
Jose Abreu, OTOH, is a whole different kind of story.
Have you ever seen the movie Misery?
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Yes I have but don’t remember all of it’s details, just the plot and some things but I get your point. I hear now that Abreu is headed for Sugarland to “tune up/catch up/etc” but I don’t expect anything good. Listening to Strange/Palillo/ Jordan and also Granado/Zerlien they put a lot of the Abreu fiasco along with Montero on the secret society of Bagwell, Jackson and ultimately Crane. It honestly appears that there’s a lot unknowns in the organization about who is really running the show.
Furthermore they seem to say that Click was run off by the “non analytics” group, (including Dusty Baker) and we are now paying the price for their, “shall I say hubris and incompetence” (my words not theirs)
Hey let’s give Bregman a new 5 year 150MM contract but we can’t afford Kyle Tucker. (that’s sarcasm in case you didn’t get that).
On a positive note, Jake looks good, Pena is trying out for MVP, Caratini is doing well, Yordan maybe starting to heat up and there are some good results from the pen. And let’s not forget King Tuck! Lot’s more work to be done to get back to the top of the hill though.
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What a pitiful bunch of losers the Astros are today!
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Good to hear from you 1oldpro! I trust your family is well. I already know you’re staying busy in your retirement!
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For a brief period I was able to refrain from cringing when Bregman came to bat, in particular with RISP. He had it figured out, I felt assured enjoying him driving in runs. Would he stay that hot? Probably not. What I did not expect was his bat to abruptly transform back into a pumpkin. This is surely a crazy game.
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Dan, Meyers would be the bigger surprise for me. He has always hit in spurts as far as I can remember, but not this long. Hope he continues to be an offensive force.
The other day there was a clip of Garcia working his way back to the saddle. Julia discussed him briefly. Nothing was said of LMJ, which leads me to believe we won’t see him for a long time, if at all this season
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It is truly sad to see this teams figureheads trying to make good on bad bets and terrible contracts. Sometimes you have to cut your losses. The fandom will know, should know, at least after seasons end, if the owner has learned his MLB lesson.
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Good morning! I like to sit here as the sky goes from dark to light. Usually, early in the morning I’m not too pissed off at our Astros, regardless of how bad they might have contested the previous contest. But damn, we gave that series to the Angels. On Monday night they were thinking about getting home until the unthinkable happened. Framber’s arrogance insulted them. And then in a fitting finale, Frenchie did the unthinkable on the bases yesterday afternoon.
But it’s still too early to write these guys off. Framber has me very concerned. I think perhaps he might have some mental health issues that simply won’t get talked about publicly. A late scratch against the Rangers. Why? His elbow injury. Why no MRI? He was out for 26 days without a rehab assignment. Why? It just does not up add up. I hope Framber finds a balance. We all know people that can’t.
And at some point we have Jose Abreu on his way back to the big club, now likely this weekend after playing a couple of games in Sugar Land. Just another bit of turmoil we don’t need, but management usually creates these situations and has a hard time resolving them. Jose, by all accounts a good guy, has to be uncomfortable with this whole process. And if he fails, he’ll likely hear it at some point from what has always been a very supportive Houston fan base.
I hate to see Joe Espada get picked on so much, even if some of it is warranted. He had to start the season with his entire rotation missing and a constant revolving door of guys just trying to get outs here and there. The back end of his pen forgot to show up. And whatever relationship dynamics there are between Bagwell, Brown and others, I don’t think it’s real healthy.
But for right now, our guys need to go on the road and get closer to .500. We’ll see what happens.
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It was a series that we lost to the talented kids. Their third baseman is a legit hitter. They have the best defensive SS (and probably the future just best SS) in baseball. Their first baseman is literally my favorite player on the planet not wearing an Astros jersey. They hit a lot of HR in this series and not all of them were on a tee. Some were good pitches. The Angels have some consistency issues from their relative youth as a group, but they can hit. They don’t have the pitching to win, but that seems to be an Angel thing. Long story short, I think the Astros competed and all 3 games were there, they just didn’t get it done and lost the series. Those are going to happen. What’s important is they didn’t walk out there and have 2 uncompetitive losses.
I didn’t see yesterday’s day game as I was at work and saw the loss come across my phone before I could do hide spoilers, but I have read and heard about phantom HR and the baserunning blunder. Game 1 we had the winning run at the plate in the 9th and couldn’t get it done. These things happen. It’s not a 9-2 loss where no one hit and the starter gave up 8 runs in 2 innings. It’s baseball, competitive games lead to competitive series, and you don’t win them all, unless you are the 2024 Phillies. They seem to win them all.
Off to Oakland. Hopefully the players wear some of that disappointment of losing games that were right there because that is positive motivation, not the deflating motivation of uncompetitive losses. Let’s see what Abreu does to the apple cart. None of us are going to get a say in it, that much is obvious.
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One thing certainly encouraging is that our pitching situation has mostly stabilized and barring new injury, our staff should become a strength. That’s remarkable when looking back to the beginning of the season. And at some point, we’ll actually be storing an arm or two in Sugar Land.
But our offense sure is not making things easy on us.
Some folks want to leave Jon Singleton alone at first base. But he’s been terrible against lefty starters. Only 12 starts, but a .121 BA, .167 OBP, .212 SLG and a .379 OPS. Abreu sure is not the answer, but neither is Jon. Singleton will give us a bomb every now and then but really, Espada should be given another option to work with.
On May 23, 2023, Alex Bregman was hitting .219 with a .682 OPS.
On May 23, 2024, he’s hitting .209 with a .607 OPS.
Last year he did not get going until late July. History tells us our wait might be similar this year too. I don’t know how we justify continuing to give him at bats in the clean up position. And he’s been terrible in high leverage situations.
Yordan is coming around. The OPS is already .925 against lefties. He’ll start hitting righties.
Altuve was due for a big slump after his hot start. Hopefully he’ll settle down, get more selective and be a big help in Seattle. We know he’s streaky.
What about Jake? He’s got a .347 average against right handed pitching, .207 against lefties. One of these days he’ll stop seeing fastballs. We certainly need his bat right now.
Yainer. Hard hit and exit velocity are up. Unfortunately, he’s hitting far too many ground balls and far fewer fly balls. And he has to stop swinging at terrible pitches.
Frenchie Dubon hangout to stay in the action until he cools off. It will happen.
We’ll never see everyone hit at the same time. But it sure would be nice to see most of them get going. We need to start another solid stretch of mostly wins.
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I’m encouraged by the series even dropping the two games. Our next 10 presents a huge opportunity getting 3 at Oakland, 4 at Seattle, and then at home against Minn. We need those head-to-heads against Seattle and Minn and can’t afford a let down against an Oakland team with some scattered talent. I’m hoping we can make up 2 games on Seattle across that stretch and then just keep in climbing afterwards. I agree with your assessment of our pitching and think, especially if Espada will go 6 man rotation at times, it puts us in a position to outlast these other teams during the summer months.
I’m talking myself into the return of Abreu. I think if we could get the other teams to stop throwing him sliders low and away he could be productive. I’m not certain him just standing there and not swinging at any low and away pitches wouldn’t bring more value to the club. The thing is, over recent years, the value first basemen have brought to the lineups has been diminishing. Look at the top ones in the league…Freeman and Bryce Harper are clearly the top in the NL and the AL it’s probably Josh Naylor with an .841 OPS. No one else in the AL is above .800 OPS and no one in either league is topping Freeman’s .286 batting average. If Abreu comes back and puts up a .700 OPS it would put him in the top half of the AL. Singleton doesn’t have enough AB to qualify for this discussion, but his .697 OPS is being applauded by some Astros fans and derided by others.
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Dana Brown was interviewed yesterday and the question of Abreu came up.
There was some context before and after, but in there was the phrase “Jon Singleton is our first baseman.” He then went on to say he wasn’t sure how much Joe was going to play Abreu.
I expect Abreu to play. I expect Singleton to play more. I’m not sure if it’s beneficial to either player to have them both on the roster; they are both rhythm type hitters that need ABs to give whatever they are going to give you. We’ve seen part time Singleton; he stinks as a pinch hitter and he stinks playing twice a week. He barely doesn’t stink playing everyday. But he really doesn’t. We can nitpick our way through all kinds of splits to make the point that he does kinda stink, but I can see that. But I can also nitpick splits on even the Yordan’s of the world. The overall, he is a below average first baseman at .221 with a .697 OPS, and do you really want that batting 6th? But that is leagues better than what we were getting from 1B in April. And we are getting it at pre-arbitration level salary.
Abreu will not be joining the team on Friday though. It looks like he will not be in Oakland, but play another game in Florida before reporting to at least 2 games in Sugar Land.
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Outwardly, Jim Crane does not strike me as an incarnate of Jerry Jones 2.0 in that he has not visually demonstrated a capacity for glory. However, given the calamitous results of his foray into managing GM responsibilities with his cronies, I am beginning to wonder his tolerance for pain. At this juncture I am not fist shaking at Espada or Brown. It is obvious they have limited control. Why was Bagwell in Florida, not Brown? Unless there is an all out rebellion in the clubhouse, this Astro tm will have to forge it way forward despite front office interference. At some point Crane might end the charade, or we will be blogging madly for him to do so. The call for sanity is echoing in many podcasts/blogs
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Plenty of talent on that Angels team. It’s good to see them putting a relevant squad together. But one guy gave them the opener. Let there be no mistake there. Framber ignored the concept of “team game” and recklessly went off on his own with no reasonable explanation after his teammates had done their part by staking him to a five run lead. The real problem is that we’ve seen this before and we’ll see it again.
In the real world an employer would look beyond his talented employee, one unable to follow company protocol and consider severing ties. Reality though is that major league baseball is different. Team player or not, we’re stuck with Framber at least for the time being. Hopefully he’ll perform. But with a stinker on May 4 and a real stinker on May 20th, his WHIP is at 1.32 now. Likely he’ll give us a nice game this weekend. But his next bad game lurks too.
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It is hard to believe that Framber was the guy setting records for most quality starts in a row. Now he is lucky to go two or three before the next problem
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Yeah, He’s thrown about 135 innings post the All Star break last year, into his abysmal performance during post season play in 2023 and so far this year. It’s been wildly erratic.
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Some decent info –
No Abreu in Oakland at least – Astros Notes: Abreu, Garcia, Tucker – MLB Trade Rumors
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Maybe he’ll get his first starts against the Seattle rotation. That’ll be fun. So maybe too much negative press following the initial reports that he’d be in Oakland on Friday night? They’ve already changed his plans twice now. And Bagwell has gone on vacation.
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Who plays 3B if Bregman is given a day off or two.
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