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Jose Abreu is Released: Our Long National Nightmare is Over

On SNL back in 1996, Dana Carvey did a hilarious skit playing Tom Brokaw, who wanted to go on a long sabbatical to Barbados for the summer. His producer made him pre-tape all these announcements about potential big news items happening while he was gone, including many variations on Gerald Ford’s future death.

SU24 Ja’Marr Chase Performance Hero 16×9 – 8s (youtube.com)

Wonderful.

I feel like I should have pre-written something about Jose Abreu being released. Anybody (other than a certain Hall of Famer) who has been watching the former All Star 1B play this year, knew it was inevitable. He needed to go, was certain to go, had to go – it was just a matter of waiting until someone (Jim Crane?) had had enough of watching a player, who was a shadow of his previous self.

I did a little walk down memory lane on Jose Abreu back to the time of his signing with the Astros in November 2022 and was reading a lot of praise (including from me) on his signing.

But I did find the following post a few days after the signing of Abreu. Look at item #1 in my set of questions. It is a little scary in retrospect.

10 Astros’ questions for you to ponder – ALL THINGS ASTROS (chipalatta.com)

Even back then there were questions about the influence of Jeff Bagwell in the vacuum of no General Manager. Heck, this concern has continued even after they hired General Manager Dana Brown.

This is likely the sad end to a very good career. Jose Abreu was a Rookie of the Year, a three-time All-Star, and a three-time Silver Slugger, and he received MVP votes seven times and won it in 2020. Before joining the Astros, he had a sparkling slash of .292 BA/ .354 OBP/ .860 OPS with 243 HRs and 863 RBIs. He was reportedly a very good teammate and a good man. Just not a good ballplayer for the last season plus of his career. The month he spent in the minors in May was the only time he ever spent there since signing out of Cuba and going directly to the White Sox.

Looking back I did find the following very ironic post by Chip Bailey back in October 2013.

3 reasons the Abreu non-signing is a good sign for the Astros – ALL THINGS ASTROS (chipalatta.com)

Note – if the Astros had ponied up $59.5 MM like they did before the 2023 season, way back in 2013 they might have enjoyed having Abreu through all those great seasons. But alas, they did not.

Now, the Astros are replacing Abreu on the roster with a guy who sounds like a law firm or some kind of curio shop – Cooper Hummel. He apparently is a combined catcher/outfielder (shades of Craig Biggio) who has been playing some 1B in the minors. It is probable that Jon Singleton is the regular 1B for the time being, but we shall see.

As a friend of the blog, Jeff Chronister notes in the comments to our previous post…

“Now, that we’ve moved on from Jose Abreu, can we fix the other really big issues; Not enough starting pitching depth and an inconsistent/under achieving back end of the bullpen. And whatever happened to making the opposing starters go deep into the count? Nowadays we swing at everything no matter if it’s in the strike zone or not. I hope moving on from Abreu is enough to propel us to the playoffs but I’m afraid that alone won’t do it.”

Amen and a subject for the next post.

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41 responses to “Jose Abreu is Released: Our Long National Nightmare is Over”

  1. Sooo…. Dubon is our 1st baseman after having played a TOTAL of SEVEN games at first for his entire professional career. How disappointing. I had such high hopes for Espada and Brown. I feel a mini reset coming up…

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  2. I would like to point out that the Astros were:

    • 9-19 before Abreu went “voluntarily” to the minors
    • 15-10 while he was gone
    • 7-9 after he returned

    Just sayin’

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  3. I fully suspect that these clowns driving the clown car in Houston are going to screw aound and let Joey L get away in another stupid trade.

    I really don’t think Brown or Espada are to blame for this fiasco. They’re just yes men with limited influence on what happens.

    I think it’s all Crane and his very expensive man crush for Jeff Bagwell.

    But it’s his money. Why would I care?

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  4. I’m glad I was not the only one good with the Abreu signing. Remarkably, I don’t even remember the Astro’s bid for Abreu in 2013. Bagwell would have looked pretty good back then, but I’m guessing Luhnow had the hammer.

    I don’t think we’re going to see a whole lot of improving on the club in an attempt to wake up and make a run on the playoffs. Brown said as much this morning. Publicly anyway, he insists this team is good enough to have a 50-20 stretch at some point. Yes, when asked, he said that.

    Maybe Hummel is only here until Loperfido has finished doing his 10 days of time with the Space Cowboys. But he is 29 which makes him a significant long shot. I missed the press conference. Is Frenchie Dubon our new starter at first?

    The first essential thing got done today. The team itself has to do something now too. They have to play better. We’ll see what happens. I just don’t think we have the horses.

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    • Supposedly Singleton is the 1B but Dubon Will platoon against certain lefties.

      Tigers’ pitcher may be the best in the majors – 8-1 1.92 ERA 96 Ks in 79 innings

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      • Thanks guys, I’ve had a chance to read some of McTaggart’s comments on the press conference. Frenchie just exposed himself at first. Regardless of how much infield a guy has played, it does not automatically qualify one to be a first baseman. But it’s fair to say that Dubon is probably the most capable right handed bat we’ve got right now to play first with a guy like Skubal throwing. We don’t have a very good line up against anyone right now.

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    • dave, I was just noting that Dubon has been playing first base, as well as starting tonight and that he has sparse experience at that position. To be clear, I have NOT heard of him being anointed at the position.

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  5. That was a refreshing win. Not many teams beat Skubal. I’m so pleased to see Hunter regroup the way he has. The talent is there.

    I know Joe Espada wanted to secure a win tonight, but I think Abreu leads the league in appearances. And Hader got used, which means he’s only going to pitch tomorrow or Sunday, regardless of how close either game might be. Taylor Scott was warming next to Abreu. Why get him up if he’s not going to pitch in a four run game?

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  6. That was a well played team victory and a heck of a good effort from Hunter Brown. Now let’s see if they can win more than one in a row.

    🙂

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  7. Good morning! Delighted to be going across to the big island first thing to see the dentist. Implants get old too.

    The Sugar Land Space Cowboys are now 44 – 23. From the experts, it does not seem that anyone over there can make a play on a ball, but some of those guys sure can hit pitching at that level. I’m willing to bet that a couple of them will ultimately hit big leaguers too. Let’s get some of those guys up to the big club this summer. Zack Dezenzo is playing again. Could he be our future first baseman? Will Wagner is back on the 7 day injured list. In the minors, that could mean 7 weeks or 7 months. I hope he gets his .419 OBP back on the field soon. I like his pedigree.

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  8. One of my buddies sent a tweet from someone named Tyler Stafford:

    “Hearing from sources that Jose Abreu got so mad when he was released that he tried to punch Jim Crane but he was already in the other room by the time he finished swinging.”

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  9. Verlander has struggled over his past two starts. He looked to me that he was laboring. He’s just been scratched from today’s start due to neck discomfort.

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    • On the Astros’ mlb page, they are showing Arrighetti starting today and tomorrow. That is one way to address Verlander’s injury.

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  10. Thoughts on Friday’s game

    • Very rare that a guy who ends up with a 5.00 ERA at the end of the game dominates like Hunter Brown did last night. He has a 3.56 ERA in his last 11 starts and 1.74 ERA in his last 5 starts
    • I know the Astros only had that one really good offensive inning, but a lot of teams would like to have a 4 run inning against Scooby Doo Skubal. That guy has gereat stuff.
    • My favorite hits were of course Scooby Dubon’s home run and that beautiful triple to the right center gap by Bregman. Just beautifully done.
    • Hitting on Hunter again – the most impressive thing about his starts, even more than the scoreless seven innings or the 9 Ks was the zero walks. He was very zoned in and ahead of the count.
    • Dubon is not the ideal first baseman but he is certainly a better bat than Abreu and Singleton. I wonder if we will only see him when lefty’s are starting.

    Let’s see if the Astros can roll now – they took out the Tigers ace and they have the White Sox up after the Tigers. But what are they going to do for pitching if Verlander misses time?

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    • Frenchie is indeed a much slicker presence at first than our other two guys are/were. So since he’s only played 8 games over there in his professional life, why the refusal to use other excellent athletes over there. Although I have not seen Cabbage play the position, I have seen enough of JL over there to know he’s better than S. I did miss the briefly posted ( by the Space Cowboys marketing team) and then quickly pulled X video of JL making a cool play in the hole. It can only be a Communist/ maybe Socialist plot.

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      • By the way, “over there” is a redundant reference to first base, brought on by a long lunch, all the fault of visiting family from our America.

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  11. So what happens now that we might only have four starters? Any trade for an arm that can give us five innings just got more expensive.

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    • daveb –

      Well we just slide Brandon Bielak back in there – huh?what? gone?

      Forrest Whitley? injured again???

      Let Blair Henley work down that 135.00 ERA?

      J.P. France should be able to come back soon? Right? (Nobody knows if he is still alive, much less his injury status.

      OK – I’m thinking that you could grab Shawn Dubin and stretch him out. Or Seth Martinez, but I hate to lose him from the bullpen.

      Beyond that if you want to stretch a bit – top prospect A.J. Blubaugh has a 4.00 ERA in 11 starts at AAA, unless you want to give Henley a second shot, but Blubaugh is not on the 40 man

      Other than that – trade time?

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  12. I am not a doctor and I don’t play one on TV but I do like Dr Seuss, Dr Scholls and Dr Robert (for any Beatles’ fans out there) but I would point out that Javier left the rotation with neck discomfort prior to his eventual surgery.

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  13. I hate to sound like a grumpy old curmudgen (even though I probably am one) but what is it with this “discomfort” BS? Discomfort?

    I can remember the first Kennedy assassination, but for the life of me, I can”t remember a day that I didn’t have some kind of discomfort. How else do you think I got so grumpy? 🙂

    Wish I could’ve gotten a day off work every time I didn’t feel good. My jobs never worked that way.

    At this point, if I ever do have a day with no “discomfort”, I’ll report directly to the crematorium!

    Modern ballplayers are a bunch of spoiled brats.

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  14. You scared of that little baseball, Jon boy? My sister coulda caught that!

    Good God, these guys SUCK at baseball!

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  15. Another single digit pitch count for the opposing pitcher in the first inning!! This is getting very, very old.

    Espada once again blew it with the starter. He should have had the bullpen getting stretched after the first walk in the second by Arrighetti. But no, he had to let the score double and more.

    I am freaking ticked at Espada and am officially on the band wagon for a replacement already.

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  16. “I am freaking ticked at Espada and am officially on the band wagon for a replacement already.”

    I’m right there with ya, sarge. We need a manager who knows what he’s doing. Espada is just a professional bootlicker.

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  17. Goshdarnit, the Astros lost another close one last night. The excitement of another nail-biter must have kept the fans on the edge of their seats.

    Astros baseball: Relentless!

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  18. Thoughts

    • Well, our euphoria at the release of Jose Abreu lasted until the news on Justin Verlander’s neck hit us yesterday morning. Pick the worst place for an injury and this team seems to be much obliging.
    • This is not hindsight – I was not really wanting them to start Arrighetti on short rest. He had finally gotten into a groove and frankly short rest works about 10% of the time it seems.
    • They still have not announced the starter for this afternoon’s game. It feels like they have to bring somebody up unless they are going to start Blanco on short rest also. Yesterday was almost a bullpen game and there is a chance today could be also. They do have tomorrow off.
    • Positives from yesterday? In the Astros 71st game, Chas McCormick, who hit 22 home runs in 115 games last year – hit his first this year. Jon Singleton had a couple hits playing in you know who’s spot. Yainer Diaz continued his recent surge with a couple more hits. Local kid Nick Hernandez did the best job of saving the bullpen with 3.2 innings of one run ball.

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  20. Talk about coaching, looking at the offensive struggles this season, which persists, a change in hitting coaches would not hurt my feelings. Too often the game plan at the plate does not compute or is competitive.

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  21. It is Blanco, who pitched 6 innings of 1 run ball on Tuesday. So, I guess this is four days rest – I hope it goes well.

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  22. I hope I’m wrong but I think we’re seeing the end of this road for the Astros. Things that have contributed to this are as follows (IMHO):

    Not signing James Click to a multi year deal. Allowing Bagwell, Jackson and whomever make decisions impacting all aspects of the team. Signing Rafael Montero to a ridiculous contract. Signing Jose Abreu to a decidedly bad contract. Bringing back JV (Father time catches up with everybody). Not going with a “youth movement”. Overpaying for Josh Hader. Trading Brandon Bielak when our pitching was already suspect. The LMJ debacle (did somebody not do their due diligence on his medical)? Kendall Graveman signing IMO. We’re probably going to lose Kyle Tucker to FA. Hiring Joe Espada as manager (who would have thought that he’d be this inept (my words). Having Dusty Baker make some decisions that obviously hurt the team (can you say Martin Maldonado?) Refusing to play Chaz McCormick a the “right times”. I could go on. Yes we did win a WS under him but his last year cost us another IMO.

    Other issues that will impact: Jake Meyers and Chaz McCormick are not the answer in the outfield. That are just too streak to be everyday players. Alex Bregman upcoming FA. Do we resign him or allow him to see FA and if departure is eminent then trade him and get something for him. Same for Framber and Tucker. Not exercising Pressley’s mutual option for 14MM. Same for Verlander and his 35MM. The highest payroll ever is really hand-strapping us. Framber isn’t worth a big contract so trade him if we can’t get a team friendly deal.

    Hopefully Dana Brown’s expertise in drafting quality prospects will start something good. Hire a president of baseball operations who understand what it takes to put a winning team on the field. Although not perfect, that’s exactly what Luhnow did. And to win you must have pitching, pitching, and more pitching. It seems to be running hot and cold and the injuries’ are killing us. Is there something going on here? Oh well, let’s see what happens next.

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  23. In his wake, DFB has left devastation and destruction at every ball club he has ever managed. Especially amongst the pitching staffs of those clubs that were foolhardy enough to hire him. Why would anyone think that Houston would be an exception?

    Crane is now gathering the harvest that was fertilized by his hubris.

    Enjoy playing with your World Series trophy, boys. It’s gonna be a LONG time before you get to touch another one.

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  24. “Manager Joe Espada said on Sunday that Verlander could return as soon as this week’s upcoming series against the White Sox in Chicago.”

    Yeah, well. Espada’s credibility is right up there on par with Hunter Biden, so time will tell how bad JVs injury really is. I, for one, don’t believe a word out of the dunderhead’s mouth.

    Hopefully, he’s not hurt as badly as Tucker. Whose injury was poo pooed by the same dunce.

    “Espada added that Verlander pitching in Chicago is a “strong possibility,” depending on Chicago’s pitching lineup.”

    Oh! So now the opposing team determines what our “strategy” is going to be? Sounds innovative, Jose. Did you learn that while you were bobbing and jiving under Dusty’s desk?

    What a moron. Bootlicking, butt kissing Didn’t Earn It idiot bureaucrat ___hole…..

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  28. And Hader blows the shutout. Great job. At least he didn’t blow the whole game again.

    This team looks so lethargic. Even when they accidentally win. I think this season is dead and buried. They give up too easy and have a manager who doesn’t even know what the word strategy means.

    Pretty sad, really.

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  29. Watching/listening to the Mariners Direct TV feed. I don’t know who this broadcast team is, but they’re hilarious!

    PxP: It’s Big Dumper seat cushion day at the ballpark.

    Color guy: I know. I’ve seen a bunch of em with this crowd today.

    Odd. I don’t remember Seattle for having particularly fat-bottomed girls. Chicago, OTOH……..

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