Astros 2024: Raise Your Hand

Today we play a little game of…..if you thought (fill in the blank), raise your hand

Raise your hand if before the season you thought in mid-July…..

  • The Astros would be scoring 6 runs in a game with Jon Singleton, Cesar Salazar, Joey Loperfido and Trey Cabbage in the starting lineup and Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker, nowhere to be found.
  • The Astros’ best reliever is South African Tayler Scott, who has a 6-2 record and a 1.42 ERA in 40 appearances.
  • The Astros best starter, leading all starters in wins (9), innings (103), ERA (2.53), and WHIP (0.990) would be 30 year old journeyman, Ronel Blanco with 7 career starts coming into the season. Oh, and he threw a no-hitter, too.
  • The Astros would be within 2 games of first place in the AL West with one version of a 6-man rotation Justin Verlander (10 starts), Cristian Javier (7), J.P. France (5), Jose Urquidy (0), Luis Garcia (0) and Lance McCullers Jr. (0) starting only 24% of the games in 2024.
  • The Astros would be within 2 games of first place in the AL West with Ronel Blanco (17), Spencer Arrighetti (16), Shawn Dubin (2), Jake Bloss (2), and Blair Henley (1) starting 41% of their games. (Note: these pitchers had eight cumulative MLB starts before this season, and Bloss had never pitched above A ball).
  • The Astros’ ordained eighth- and ninth-inning pitchers (Josh Hader and Ryan Pressly) would struggle to stay beneath the 4.00 ERA mark. Hader would give up almost 2 homers per 9 IP, and the Astros would be tied for 18th in the majors in saves, yet the Astros would be 5 games above .500.
  • That Kyle Tucker would have only played in 60 of the Astros 93 games and Chas McCormick would have only 3 homers and a miniscule slash (.204 BA/ .263 OBP/ .573 OPS) after putting up 22 homers and a .273/.353/.842 slash in 2023 and they would still be contending at this point and be pointing at the outfield as an area of strength to trade from.

If anyone is holding up their hand on these…..c’mon, man (or lady).

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49 responses to “Astros 2024: Raise Your Hand”

  1. Nope. Never would’ve expected any of that stuff. Which is a big part of why I love baseball. Every day, you’re gonna see something different. But no matter how much things change, they also remain constant.

    One can track the passage of time with baseball. Before the DH/after the DH; before Jackie Robinson/after JR; before Hank Aaron/after #715; etc.

    Whether the 2024 Astros make the playoffs or not or possibly win the whole thing (or not) it’s going to be baseball history either way.

    And yes – picking on the owners/coaches is part of the fun for a lot of folks. Not the players so much (unless they’re atrociously bad like J Abreu) as they’re the ones people actually pay to see.

    But what real ‘Murcan doesn’t like criticizing the boss?

    This bunch in Houston never leave us with a shortage of things to criticize. Life is good!

    BTW, I laughed out loud and thought it was great to hear the boo-birds for Hader when he started walking batters in the 9th the other night. He needs to hear that!

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  3. Kind of sounds like our young outfielders (Cabbage, McCormick, Loperfido, and Meyers) may be going on the trading block for one (or more) of those pitchers. Hopefully not all of them. But the need for quality SP is critical at this point.

    Personally, I would stand pat with Dubon backing up Singleton at 1b. With the rate of Big Jon’s progress and development since he stepped into the role. He has been playing a solid anchor to a very good infield.

    He needs to learn how to handle left handed pitching, but hiring a competent hitting coach could accomplish that. If he does that, he could end up being as good as Gurriel. Maybe….

    To me, it’s all about the starting pitching. Without it, this season (and possibly next season as well) is a bust.

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  4. KC & Boston slugging it out this weekend. Great opportunity for our boys to pick up ground in the WC race. It’s all in their hands.

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  5. McCormick starting lieu of Joey L. What’s the kid gotta do to get his chance? Be a sucker for the high heat the way Chas is?

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  9. If Espada doesn’t get thrown out of this game by this a__hole umpire, he needs to just go ahead and install a tampon dispenser in his office.

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  13. Good job by both Pressly & Hader. Great start from Brown! 17-4 is pretty darned good in anybody’s book! Keep on rolling, boys! Didn’t gain on Seattle but picked up in the WC on one or the other. KC or Boston.

    Let’s do it again tomorrow, Astros!

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  15. Hey hey hey! That was a fun one to watch! The Angels Willie Calhoun walked it off with a 2 run homer in the b10!

    I’ve got to confess. I would have NEVER thought the Stros could get back within 1 game of Seattle before the ASG. But here they are.

    This is gonna be a fun summer!

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  16. I’m probably the first guy, with my June 1 deadline, that preached forgetting about 2024 and preparing for 2025, with trades for guys like Bregman, Framber and maybe Chas or Jake and then releasing Singleton so that the Sugar Land guys would get more playing time and we’d hopefully get some more pitching on the roster.

    Well, the Astros were down by 10 games on June 18. I sure look like an impatient, rookie Astro fan today.

    I still don’t have any clue how this season will go, but it has been the most fascinating campaign that I’ve witnessed for at least the past decade.

    I’m not even going to be concerned about the starting pitching right now. I’ll leave that to the experts.

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  17. July was the month to move up in the standings because August is when the Astros will face a brutal schedule, mostly against teams who are playoff bound.

    I would not be surprised if the Astros brought Colton Gordon up in September to get a look at him in the bullpen. This is his last season of minor league protection.

    I am like the rest of us, surprised at the recent success of the team in lieu of the injuries.

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  19. I love you, Julia. But that dress needs to go in the burn barrel immediately! Orange is much better for redheads than blue.

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  20. I tried to post this earlier, but NOOOOOOOO – so I’m back.

    TOF – Really nice news waking up to the Angels walk-off win.

    Daveb – There are two amazing things here – one is how quick the Astros made up ground and two how they did it without all their bullets – overcoming so many injuries. It helped that the M’s have been floundering but without the Astros rolling it would not have mattered. Yes, fascinating.

    Last night – Hunter was very good again – gave up that homer to Seager in his last inning – it happens. Meyers is nailing one every night it seems and this one went out. Bregman with another blast. Yordan came back after one day out and had the two hits and a ribbie. ANd Altuve had the big 3 run blast and tied the Toy Cannon for 4th all time on the Astros homer list. Bullpen did their jobs and we are one game back of the M’s (ZERO in the loss column) and 1.5 back in the Wild Card.

    OP – I liked Aledmys, but he just could not stay healthy. Had a pretty good bat most of the time he was here and very flexible – good insurance policy in the minors.

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  21. So what’s the story behind this Ryan Wills being such a dickhead umpire? Did somebody in Houston piss in his mess kit or what?

    I hope the cooks in all the restauraunts in Houston are Astros fans and spit in this jerk’s lunch!

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  22. Tell me how this whole umpiring crew isn’t bought & paid for trying to give this game to the Rangers. Once a Bushie, always a dirtbag, I guess…..

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  24. President Trump was wounded in an assassination attempt at his campaign rally in PA a few minutes ago. The assassins first bullet grazed his right ear and then his SS detail took him to safety.

    Thank God commies can’t shoot worth a flip. No further details at this time.

    Don’t much care who wins this game anymore, though….

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      • Prayers are in order for those who believe! Still no official news on how serious his wound is. His right ear was bleeding profusely (as they do) and blood visible on his cheek and neck.

        Hearing reports now of other victims. Possibly dead.

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  25. I want to be very careful I don’t pass along rumors. But don’t want to leave this hanging there.

    Newsmax is reporting (Salcedo is on now) that President Trump is alive and safe. His wounds are not life threatening. The current Resident also made a statement to the same effect. So who really knows? We know how he is….

    One rally attendee was killed as was the would be assassin. Naturally. That SOP with the see eye aye. Can’t have a coverup with the shooter patsy still alive.

    Prayers for the family and friends of the innocent victims.

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  27. Terribly sad day in America. Seems to me we’ve lost too much of what we once had in our country. At the same time, it’s been quite a few years since we’ve dealt with an assassination or an attempt on the life of a president, past or present or a candidate for the office of President of the United States. It can’t be allowed to happen.

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    • “…it’s been quite a few years since we’ve dealt with an assassination or an attempt on the life of a president.”

      Yes. About the same amount of time since we’ve had a POTUS who wants to eliminate the Deep State lurking within our government.

      There are no coincidences.

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  28. Scoring 6 runs a game with a less than stellar lineup, amazing. And they are winning games. The bugger is the LOB/RISP stats, which has not been great over the season. After outhitting the Rangers last night those woes came back to haunt them in this loss. Being unable to get timely hitting when needed has not been a factor during their current win streak but how long can that last? And can they correct this? Watching their abysmal 1-2-3 up & down innings, leaving RISP with 1 or no outs is hard to watch but they keep winning thus far. Evidently Cintron and Snitker have addressed Bregman’s own words and play, and the teams, ‘we swing too much’. According to that NYT article the coaches have held team meetings to search for balance to their aggressive bats. I hope they find that balance quickly to continue their domination while working on the P end.

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  29. Having Alejando Mayorkis in charge of the Secret Service is like hiring Jeffrey Dahmer to cater your wedding reception.

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  30. For some reason, I am having a lot of trouble finding one f__k to give whether some guy (from a country that is NOT America) who doesn’t even speak English is gonna play in a totally meaningless exhibition baseball game.

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  32. Bases loaded nobody out and they can’t score. Pfft.

    Snitker & Cintron should both be unemployed before dinner….

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  33. That right there is why Adolis Garcia can stay in Arlington and they can choke on that contract for all I care. He’s too good to run that one out.

    We don’t need another showboat. We’re all stocked up.

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  35. I went to the game today. We had our chances. At this point, I think Dubon is the last guy I want at the plate with the bases loaded and nobody out.

    But we gave up two, 2 run dingers to the same guy. Why not Abreu, Pressly, Hader late? They were off yesterday and won’t be playing until late next week. Maybe it would have been 2-2 going into the 10th inning. Sometimes I just can’t figure out Joe Espada.

    Bottom line though is that we’ve entered the break right in the thick of things. My credit goes to the guys on the field. I’m not convinced we’ve got the right guys in management positions though. It will be fun/not so much fun when we find out.

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  37. These past 2 loses this less than stellar lineup performed exactly how I posted above. They had the bases juiced with no outs and could not score a run. In the 9th they had RISP to tie or win the game and scored 1 run, unable to hit the ball beyond the infield. I mean, surely this bad luck won’t continue I hope. Perhaps Tucks return will aid their cause. If they lead or take a lead the P has to be stellar to win. Their P has done just enough but those bats have to liven up. Before they pilfer the farm to make a WS run I hope Snitker and Cintron can get this lineup to work counts better. The swing and miss with the callups is expected. Some of our vets have to do a better job of recognizing and executing.

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    • I hate drafting catchers in the first round. From 2002 – 2023 there were 68 catchers taken in the first round. There are only 7 who have posted more than 10 WAR across their careers:

      Mauer
      Posey
      Yasmani Grandal
      d’Arnaud
      Zunino
      Wieters
      Jason Castro
      Will Smith

      So, I’ll try to focus on the positives and ignore the historical results. Having a catcher who gives a pitcher the confidence to throw a slider in the dirt when a runner is on third base can help that pitcher’s development. I’m hoping Janek can hit enough to move up the system, but have only seen highlights on the computer thus far. Keeping my fingers crossed.

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  39. I like the Astros top pick. I like the fact he was in their top 20 and they got him at #28. I like that he is from a local university and grew up in Texas. I like that he plays a top position. Will be following his career closely.

    One game out of first at the break. Hopefully Tucker will be back next week.

    Watched a WNBA game yesterday. 3-point shooters have gotten incredibly better than the last time I watched.

    Watched one hour of the entire Scottish open this week and it was the last hour. Glad to see a Scotsman win, but European golf and camera work of it is incredibly boring. Jim Nance tried to make it exciting but the whole laid back atmosphere over there is like chicken broth for dinner.

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    • OP – I was watching the PGA tournament final round on Golf Channel on Sunday. Lots of no-names with the big names across the pond. One guy was leading down the stretch by one shot over three guys and two shots over another guy. At the 18th the leader made a bogey and the guy two strokes back made a birdie – so it was a very crowded 5 way playoff.

      Two guys were knocked out on the first hole and finally they had three guys missing the green on a par 3. The guy farthest away holed it from off the green. Actually quite entertaining.

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