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In Praise of Yainer Diaz

A couple of years ago, we put together the following tome on the 10 greatest trades in Astros history.

Another trade should be considered for the Top 5, much less the Top 10. Almost exactly three years ago, the Astros traded OF Myles Straw to the Guardindians for relief help in the form of RP Phil Maton. Oh, and James Click (not Jeff Bagwell, not Reggie Jackson, not Craig Biggio) had them throw in a minor league catcher named Yainer Diaz from A ball to top off the trade.

  • Straw gave Cleveland about two years and two months of low BA/ low power baseball—.239 BA/ .309 OBP/ .610 OPS with two home runs and 54 stolen bases out of 62 attempts. He impressed them so much that he is spending 2024 at AAA, where his hitting stats are almost identical to those at the MLB level.
  • Maton gave the Astros what they wanted with 2 years and 2 months of solid relief – 8-5 with a 3.67 ERA over 165 appearances before letting him walk after last season.

But Diaz,….well as a friend of the blog, Steven, commented a few days ago….

“Yainer is a special talent. He is never going to win any OBP titles but his bat-to-ball is rival to current day Altuve – probably not 25 year old Altuve but heck who is. He is my new dude. Has been since even before his debut.”

After the trade in 2021, he struggled a bit in a very short stint at Class A Fayetteville, but in 2022, he was excellent at both AA ball (.316 BA/.367 OBP/ .871 OPS/9 HRs/48 RBIs) and at AAA ball (.294 BA/.343 OBP/ .930 OPS/ 16 HRs/ 48 RBIs). It earned him a very short cup of coffee at the MLB level where he had 1 hit in 8 ABs.

But that leads us to his last two seasons as he went from an inexplicable back-up to Martin (cool breeze) Maldonado in 2023 to the starting catcher this year. In 2023, he came in 5th in the Rookie of the Year competition despite being held to 355 ABs by one Dusty Baker.

Some interesting information about Yainer to date…

  • Yainer had 23 HRs last season. The most by an Astro catcher all time was a tie between Jason Castro and Brian McCann at 18 apiece. Of course (no fault of his own), Yainer only had 14 HRs as a catcher, as he also had 4 at first base, 5 as a DH and 1 as a PH.
  • His 60 RBIs last season show as tied for the sixth most by a catcher all time. John Bateman with 70 had the most by an Astro catcher in a season. Diaz with 61 this season will likely pass that, though only 44 of those are as a catcher with 17 as a DH.
  • Back in 1991, Craig Biggio scored 79 runs (78 as a catcher) before they decided to move Craig to second base to save the wear and tear of his light body. Diaz had 51 runs scored last season and 48 this season, so he may not reach those numbers, but his numbers will be plenty good.
  • The top three seasons of BA for an Astro catcher (reaching qualifying PAs) were all Craig Biggio at .295, .276 and .257. You need 502 plate appearances to qualify. Diaz, who is well on his way to 502 ABs this season is rolling at a .301 BA to date.
  • If Diaz continues his current pace for the season, he may end up with a slash of .301 BA/ .328 OBP/ .774 OPS and with 67 runs, 15 HRS and 85 RBIs. That would put him with the best BA, the fifth-best OBP, and the second-best OPS for a single season for an Astros catcher. That would also give him the second-best for runs scored, seventh-best HRs (though he had the best last season), and the best for RBIs.

Yes, his ability to DH takes away from his pure catcher numbers, but there is no doubt that he has the most bat talent the team has seen at catcher since Craig Biggio. Will this cause them to move him to 1B or mostly DH to save his legs along the way like Biggio. Maybe. But it feels like they will want to ride this pony, who is a better-hitting catcher than most, for a good bit longer.

In the meantime, I think I will place this steal of a trade at #5 on my list. Behind Jeff Bagwell, Justin Verlander (1st trade), Yordan Alvarez and Mike Scott. (No, I’m not reconsidering Bagwell at #1 on the list no matter how much he ticks me off as a pretend GM).

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55 responses to “In Praise of Yainer Diaz”

  1. I wonder at what point the Yordaddy trade might eclipse the Bagwell one? 500 HR. HoF? Both? Guess he would have to stay an Astro most of his career …..

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  2. Yainier had a bad May. Otherwise he’s been solid all year. And his numbers continue to improve. I suspect he’ll get the OPS up over .800.

    But most impressive is that he’s figured out left handed pitching this year. And he’s grown comfortable in the DH role. His catching OPS and DH OPS is exactly the same at .776. 2023 was not a fluke. He’s growing his game.

    He’s got a great demeanor. He’s a smart ballplayer. He’s one guy I’d like to see locked up for a long time.

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  3. On a totally separate note, is it possible that Framber might be maturing, at least somewhat? Last time out he even looked solid playing his position. As much as I’ve been a detractor, where else will we find his innings? He’s our anchor. And I might be all wrong about this, but he could take somewhat of a team friendly deal to stay with this group of guys. There has got to be a certain level of security in that for him.

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  4. Thoughts

    • I did want to say about Yainer that he carried this team in June and July when the other folks were a lot more up and down. It kind of reminvded me of what Kyle Tucker did for chunks of 2023.
    • Hunter was very good and then perhaps lost focus a bit with the huge lead or sitting for a long time during the Astros offensive onslaught.
    • I know that sometimes we wish the Astros would save some of these pile on runs for the next game or for when they play a close one. One positive was that they were able to give the top four in the bullpen a day off. That is always a positive.
    • Why do I keep feeling when I see Red Sox manager (and former gang leader of the cheating scandal) Alex Cora, kind of like when I saw OJ Simpson free on bail? (OK – way over the top Dan P – calm down). Remember that even though there was cheating going on at Boston when he went there, somehow the only one punished was a video assistant. Cora was only punished for his part in the scandal with the Astros. Very convenient for MLB who wanted to confine this to one franchise.
    • On the broadcast today they were showing how Bregman’s homer on Saturday (423 ft) was his fifth longest all time. Seconds later he launched one 441 ft – the longest of his career. Then Yordan hit one “only” 428 ft.
    • It was good to hear that Justin Verlander had a good outing of 62 pitches at Sugar Land on Friday night. Maybe one more outing and he will be back.
    • They said that Tucker would be meeting the team in Tampa and might be close to running the bases. If I remember correctly, Kyle is from the Tampa area – so I guess that makes sense.

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  5. Good morning! Tropical Storm Ernesto should be forming today, right in our vicinity. The hope here is for a quick passing and cistern filling rain.

    Alex Cora might be a nice guy in real life, but he does not impress me. He helped stain the Astros. And he got a relative free pass. Is he that good a manager? It sure is a tough division, but outside of his rookie managerial season, there is not much to write home about. That said, he’s just gotten a three year extension worth 21 million.

    Heck, we could give Joe Espada a three year extension for 3 million dollars and there would be some offended baseball fans in Houston. We’ve ridden Joe pretty hard at times this season, but for all the personell lost to injury, trade and incompetence, he’s remained steady, if imperfect at times. He has kept the Astros together.

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    • Yeah – in the middle of summer here in Houston, sometimes the only break from the heat and the drought we get is a tropical storm. But we hate to wish for it – because sometimes it is like Tropical Storm Allison and it just sits here and dumps 30 inches on us.

      Has Cora done much for the Red Sox since the 2018 season when he might have been using some “methods” to make them the best hitting team in the majors? (Hey – I’m not a hypocrite about this – I think the Astros deserved to get punished – but I also thought the Red Sox deserved to get punished – but they had no Mike Fiers taking them down).

      Espada is like most managers. He is a much better manager when the team is playing well and winning. If you look back, we were whining about Hinch and his lineup choices and his bullpen decisions too. Maybe not as much as this, but Hinch was not stuck with Abreu and Montero for a season and a half.

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      • If you look at the 22 and 23 Red Sox, both teams finished 78-84 and well out of the playoff race. Both teams had decent offenses despite some glaring holes in the lineup, but the pitching wasn’t pretty. It’s a problem their front office hasn’t fixed. I don’t think you can compete in that division without a couple of aces.

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  7. One other thing about Yainer – he did not let being put in the cleanup spot bother him at all. Sometimes guys try too hard to be THE cleanup hitter and fail.

    Batting 4th he’s slashing .333 BA/ .360 OBP/ .822 OPS with 9 doubles, 4 home runs and most importantly 31 RBIs. Impressive.

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  8. Yainer’s hitting in the minors outpaced his growth as a catcher. Then he got stymied by Baker and he didn’t have much chance to develop as a catcher. Now he is gaining experience being a leader on the field and seems to be gaining the confidence of the staff and the dugout.

    When he settles in for the long haul, I believe he will find much success with this club.

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    • I , like every one here, am happy that Click had the great move to include Yainer in the trade. I regret that Dusty probably robbed him of rookie of the year honors, but hope Brown can tie him up for many years with the Astros. I have enjoyed Dezenso at first base. He seems to be an upgrade defensively from Singleton, younger and more agile, and from what we’ve seen, a probable higher ceiling. I ask all of you, what’s going on with Chas? He was so impressive last year Is it his timing from lost playing time?

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      • Perhaps it is the loss of PT that has robbed Chas of his timing. No one in the lineup swings at and misses more P in the zone than he does I think. The booth, weeks ago mentioned Espada giving him advice on his swings, I can’t remember what it was. It must not have translated because Chas is still struggling.

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  9. I saw a post today that the Royals are the first team this year with 5 pitchers who have gone 100+ IP. I wondered how far off Houston is. We have four:

    Blanco – 128, Brown – 127.1, Framber – 125, Arrighetti – 105
    After that we have Verlander! – 57, Hader – 51.1, Abreu 58.2, and Scott 54.2

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  11. Having a brain freeze here – rules question. Watching the game. Pena is on 1st, 2nd open. Count is 3-2. He takes off for a steal but the pitcher throws a ball so Singleton gets a walk. If the catcher had thrown to second and they tagged out Pena, would he be out (caught stealing) or safe as it’s irrelevant, awarded second on a walk to the batter at home plate?

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      • thanks sarge

        I kind of thought that, then had a brain freeze and doubted myself.

        I guess that’s why the catcher didn’t bother going through with the throw, thinking about it!

        great win of course, watched the last few innings in the yard house

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    • It’s worth noting that Pena is advanced to 2nd by the walk, but his actions can still put him at risk. If he slides off the bag, deviates from his established baseline, etc. the fielder could tag him out. I don’t recall the level, but I saw a middle infielder receive the throw down and fake like it went into CF on exactly this scenario and tag out the runner who instinctively took a step off the bag towards 3rd while looking for the overthrow.

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  12. Will Wagner makes his MLB debut with the Jays, going 3 for 4. Is the Kikuchi trade going to end up as one 10 worst in Astros history? I hope not.

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    • AstroNut, we know it won’t always be so easy, but that gapped double in his first major league at bat just looked sweet. He’s got a really nice compact swing. We will look back on losing WW with chagrin.

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    • I’m following the Blue Jays boxscore every night to see what our former prospects do. I sure hope this turns into one of those trades that is great for both teams. I didn’t like giving up Wagner because I felt like that was Brown adding too much value in that deal. I didn’t mind him getting moved because he was blocked by Altuve and unlikely to be used as more than organizational depth in Houston.

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      • But could he have been moved to 3rd base?

        As for Yanier, he lost a whole year because Dusty (for whatever reasons) and now he is becoming everything that we thought he would be.

        I’m perplexed as to how we can literally suck the 1st few months of the season and now have transitioned into world beaters. Anybody got an answer to that one?

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      • If the Astros thought Wagner was going to be a producer at the plate, they sure should have found a spot for him. And that might have meant first and second base ( on a night Altuve DH’ed) and maybe even some DHing of his own. For 2025 that might have meant some third base too. With so many bad bats in our regular line up, it was a shame to lose Wagner, an 18th round pick. I think he’ll keep getting on base and will eventually find a home in the infield.

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  13. Thoughts

    • While my writing negatively about the Astros offense …..Astros 2024: The offense is wimping out – ALL THINGS ASTROS (chipalatta.com) . triggered them to turn it on all of a sudden – apparently this current post about Yainer led to him hitting a two run double off the Green Monster on Sunday and a three run bomb last night in Tampa. So, I have power for good and for evil.
    • After all these 400+ homers the last few days, Bregman’s 356 footer in the first inning seemed like one of those small fish you throw back (where’s my silly font?)
    • Mr. Ort – who my brother and I have been calling Gort (check out The Day the Earth Stood Still – the 1951 version) has been pretty impressive in sopping up non-leverage innings.
    • Another nice day of rest for the back of the bullpen.
    • After so many games where it looked like the runs were being spooned out like the porridge in the movie Oliver! (I’m in a movie mood today) – it is nice to blink and suddenly a 1-0 game is 5-0.
    • It was good to see Framber not melt down when his shutout was handed away by young Pedro Leon.
    • I was looking at the Astros 26 man active roster and was shocked to see Aledmys Diaz on there. He played in his first two games with the Astros – July 22 and 23 and not a hint since, unless I’m missing something.
    • Not that I want him taking playing time away from someone like Dezenzo

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  14. Part of me wonders if the Astros should “Biggio” him. Craig was a fine defensive catcher, not a gold glover, but a good one, and they still moved him out because they saw they wanted that bat in the lineup 160 games a year, and they wanted him to focus on hitting. It’s a hard choice to make when you have what is arguably the best hitting catcher in baseball.

    Yainer swings a hard bat. You heard them talk about the acoustics Tampa and how the ball sounds off his bat. He is a unique talent.

    The team is better if Yainer catches and DH’s and they find a real first baseman. BUT, if they don’t have 15M+ to find a first baseman with, Yainer is that solution. You can’t trust Caratini to not have bonecrushing slumps with too much exposure (a career issue for him) so he has to split time with someone else (Salazar?), probably someone you add from the outside. But it would be cheaper than a premium first baseman.

    On the flipside, if they make no moves in either regard, which is possible given that they need to find a 3B and another SP more than a 1B, then you are arguing Singleton PT versus Caratini/Salazar PT, in which case that is a debate to be had. Singleton is probably the better “in the box” option, and none of the three are particularly athletic of Singleton/Caratini/Salazar, so it might just be another season of mixing and mashing who is hot and who matches up better. Who knows, maybe they come up with some hybrid where Yainer catches some and plays 1B some next year (say, against lefties). Maybe Dezenzo wins the job outright, or at least takes over 3B (I’m skeptical of either).

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    • Steven – you are pointing out a lot of intrigue for the off-season and for the future. In my mind I would keep Diaz at catcher for a few more years where he gives you such an advantage over other catchers instead of to first base where he is just another good bat, but what do I know.

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      • Dan – think about this – do they resign Bregman? If so, where is the money coming from for a 1B, when you need at least 1 more SP? Say you get them both to come back, Bregman at 3/90 with an option and Kikuchi at say 3/45, where is the money to resign Tucker and Valdez? Someone is walking right. I have to think there are machinations going on in the background with money people and the personnel people and getting it all to match. If you believe 3/90 with an option (or opt-out, whichever is more appealing), then you agree with me and we both expect Bregman to be a Met. The Mets just seem like the place to go if you are an aging, declining superstar that still wants 7 years.

        Spencer seems to have righted his ship, and probably has become a member of this rotation going forward. That gives you Framber, Hunter, Blanco, Arrighetti and Garcia. I would think Kikuchi, if he pitches well, will be welcome back. Maybe not, maybe that is where they go with the savings, taking a chance that those 5 are it. That is scary, but that is money pit this team has dug. And this is all before anyone even gets to discussing Tucker.

        Even if they let go of all 3 of Bregman, Kikuchi and Verlander they will still be over the cap. Signing a first baseman seems, unlikely. But if you can solve it with a guy that will hit .285+ with 20 HR and can be threatening enough to make you regret giving Yordan free passes, finding a catcher to team with Caratini is a much more cost effective solution.

        BTW, guess who is on 1B tonight!

        Dave – Whitcomb is really on fire. But he is another guy achieving big in a PCL where the pitchers consistently try and enter the witness protection program. I’m also never a fan of a guy that might turn 26 before he gets here and struggles in year 1 of most levels. He may not get that opportunity in Houston.

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      • Diaz has the 3rd best OPS by a catcher in MLB despite the earlier slump. If you moved him to 1B he would have the 8th best OPS at that position in the league. The takeaway is that he’s an extremely valuable hitter in the lineup. My opinion is you can find stopgaps at 1B easier than you can at C. I’m happier with his defense than with Caratini or Salazar’s. We’re going to be over the cap in 2025 – may as well steel yourself for that now. There aren’t attractive 1B options right now, so my suggestion is to use whatever warm bodies you can and then as we approach next summer’s trade deadline decide whether we need a hitter badly enough to acquire one.

        I think throwing $30M annually at a starting pitcher is madness and something Brown will avoid. This could be a painful offseason, but at this point I’d probably try to move Tucker to another team willing to give us a return that includes at least one top starting pitching prospect and another who may not grade out as TOR but could potentially be an innings eater. That would be my starting point. I don’t like the trades of stars for prospects in most cases as the returns seldom pan out, but I think Brown needs the money in the budget moving forward and Tucker is destined to be playing elsewhere in 2026 regardless.

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  15. There seems to be something afoot – one of my friends sent me a snippet that shows all these OFs being promoted – Kenedy Corona to AAA, Luis Baez to AA, Kenni Gomez to A+, Rabel Colon to A ball.

    It begs the question who is being promoted from AAA to the big club or is something else happening. Whitcomb might head up and then they send Aledmys packing. Unsure – maybe they had not filled in behind Dezenzo and I missed it.

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  17. I’m thinking about Zack Dezenzo getting a look in left field. It’s amazing to me that an athletic guy like Zack never played any outfield in the minors. Same with Will Wagner, although he’s not the speediest guy around and has an arm more like Chas/Jake. And Shay Whitcomb, another good athlete, apparently without a real solid infield path to the majors, has played just 10 outfield games in MILB.

    It was just a couple of months ago that everyone was wringing their hands over whether Joey Lops would get a shot at first base, even having started 60 plus games at first in the minors. Has Jeff Bagwell been demoted?

    Steven, tonight we’ve got one of our favorites over at first base. I wish Yainer blessings. Unfortunately, we’ve got Chas/Jake/Frenchie in the outfield, maybe the most anemic outfield trio in the game right now. Seems like it was just yesterday when we were brimming with highly touted outfield prospects!

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    • I think they all 3 have sub .200 averages for the last month, and the power is gone. That is one offensively anemic OF.

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  20. I tried to post 2 days ago the Stros had their answer at 1B crouching behind the plate. Agree with Steven on them splitting time with Caratini/Salazar or someone else if they go that route behind the plate. With Cranes $$ pitfalls, I hope they pursue, sign Tuck rather than resign Bregman. Can’t see them doing both.

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      • I know Pressley’s contract for 2025 is based on his vesting option which he has but it has a $2MM buyout if I understand it. Is he guaranteed the 14MM or can we pay him the 2MM and release him. He sure ain’t worth 14MM.

        I’ll take back what I said earlier as Pena came through but bases loaded with one out and Jake strikes out and Dubon grounds out. What a rally killer. Maybe that what these guy’s nicknames should be (Rally Killer).

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      • Z, it is what it is right now. We’re getting great starting pitching and mostly solid pen work along with excellent hitting from the top of the order and a few hits from the guys we don’t expect anything from. Remarkably, to me anyway, it’s been enough to start a 7 game win streak at a time when I thought we were in pretty big trouble.

        Unfortunately, the Pressly deal did not include a mutual option. He’s ours for 2025.

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      • I agree with you that the starting pitching and top of the order has been exemplary. I just hate to see those opportunities wasted and every time Pressley comes in he almost always seems to give up a run or two. He’s not helping keeping my blood pressure down (lol).

        But who would have thunk 7 in a row. I’ll take that any day.

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  23. Will Wagner with another first inning double tonight, this one drove in 2 runs. Could he be the guy we most lament losing a couple of years down the road? Right now we’ve gotten 3 wins out of Kikuchi so it’s easier to rationalize the deal that shocked me.

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    • I am not too proud to admit that Kikuchi is doing much better than I expected.  But, unless we can sign him for a team-friendly deal in the off-season, his trade still looks to me like an overpay.  Maybe he will realize Miller & Murphy tweaked something with him like they did with many others and that he will want to stay.

      Yusei, I only hear your fastball zoom
      Yusei, they swing slow all the time, slow

      And I thought who got dealt was valuable
      And I thought that you don’t belong
      And now that you are dealing
      Now I know Astros fixed something wrong

      ‘Cause I dissed you

      Yeah, yeah I dissed you

      And you say I only hear what Dana wants us to
      Don’t look at baseball cards
      Don’t pay attention to statistics that you’re reading
      From anyone, anywhere
      I don’t understand if you really care
      I’m only hearing negative, no, no, no

      So you turned velocity on, you turned velocity up
      And fan bloggers are singing your song
      Haters will hate and opponents flail away
      Haters are dying ’cause opponents can’t rake

      Some of us take comfort when we jeer on the batters

      Who are crying like the day they were born
      Well, this is not that
      I thought that you’re throwing, but I’m blown

      And I thought we’d win forever, but I’m still not so sure
      You try to tell me geek squad’s clever
      And they will make you an All-Star, in every game with you

      You said that I was naïve, and
      Analytics don’t look strong, no
      I thought, ‘Hey, Brown can leave, Brown can leave’
      Oh, but now I know that I was wrong

      ‘Cause I dissed you

      Yeah, I dissed you

      You said ‘Stros “bought me ’cause they want me
      And one day they’d let me go
      They’ll try to sign me as a sleeper

      Or keep me ’cause you know they’re just so scared to lose”
      And you say, “Pray.”

      And Yusei, I only hear your fastball zoom

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        • What a pleasing early morning gift after a long day and night of tropical weather. Yusei is not quite so deserving yet! Thank you AstroNut. We’ll see how the Astro story unfolds over the next 6 weeks.

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  25. Thoughts from last night –

    Defense was shaky. Yainer missed one that most first baseman would have scooped. Chas did not endear himself to Yusei with that lazy fielding that turned a single into a double that resulted in a run. I’m not sure what Caratini was doing on a foul ball except hurting himself or the rookie. And Ryan Pressly continues this up and down year, he was an inch away from the Astros losing that game last night. Abreu has lit a couple of fires too this year, but not as many. Maybe they should be swapped.

    But, a win is a win, no matter how hard we tried to give it back. Kikuchi is now 3-0 as an Astro. Dana Brown’s grin probably hasn’t left his face.

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    • Steven, I’m going to give Yainer a free pass on last night. I wonder how much time he’s had to spend over at first base this year? We know he has not played there since 2023.

      We played a not so good game and got a win. I am pissed off at Chas though. Inexcusable.

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      • The error belongs to Pena, 100%. But Yainer might have a been out a bit early on it and took out a chance to adjust. Repetition would fix that for sure.

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