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Astros 2024: Talking about options

In many ways, if you consider a baseball season beginning the moment the previous season is in the books, it is a year-long series of options. Starting in the offseason, there are a plethora of options, though the budget often reduces the scope and size of those options. Who do you keep? Who do you let walk? How do you replace those who you let walk? Do you upgrade anyone who is still here? Who do you look to promote from the minors? Who do you try to extend? What free agents do you pursue?  And, on and on.

As things move along, the range of options narrows significantly. The team makes choices in Spring Training that move them in a particular way. Sometimes the injury bug eliminates specific options as happened with the 2024 Astros (Lance McCullers, Luis Garcia, Jose Urquidy, JP France, Cristian Javier). The team may opt to be busy or silent at the trade deadline. After the deadline, the number of options narrow considerably, and the focus is mostly internal, with some minor moves to pick up other team’s flotsam and jetsam.

So, what kind of options are there to be addressed down the stretch….

The Alex Bregman Conundrum

Especially with Kyle Tucker unavailable, the Astros really need Alex Bregman in the lineup and as a DH he launched a homer in his first bat back from his elbow injury. But playing 3B….here is from Jeremy Rakes article at mlb.com….

Bregman said his elbow will be a “fluid situation” for the rest of the season.

“I threw today for the first time,” Bregman said. “The arm felt good. I didn’t feel any pain or any discomfort or anything. It’s just going to be one of those things to take day by day and see how it feels the rest of the year moving forward.”

If Bregman can’t play 3rd, but the Astros need his bat in the lineup that points to him at DH and Yordan Alvarez playing left field, which is not necessarily the best choice from a defensive side or in keeping Yordan healthy.

But what if… Breggy plays first base? This was brought up by Sean Salisbury on his morning show on 790 AM here in Houston. It seems like an elegant solution. On days Bregman is playing first, Yordan can DH and rest those knees. Bregman has not played first, but you would think as good an athlete he is, he could play as good or better than Singleton, Diaz or Caratini. It would seem to be worth a try.

Running short in the Bullpen

One of the problems with running a 6-man rotation is that it shortens the bullpen options by one. The fact that Ryan Pressly is hurt means that not only is the bullpen short, but combining Pressly’s injury with Tayler Scott’s recent struggles means the back end of the bullpen is extra short. What can be done.

Well, the Astros followed my next piece of advice before I published it. Sign Hector Neris.

Astros To Sign Héctor Neris – MLB Trade Rumors

He was 12-7 with 5 saves and a 2.69 ERA over two seasons with the Astros in 141 appearances, and most of those were high-leverage appearances. Over the two seasons, he pitched in five postseason series and only struggled in one of them, giving up 4 runs in 2 innings in the 2023 ALDS. In the other four series, he sported a 2.19 ERA and had three scoreless appearances in the 2022 World Series. Yes, he struggled this season as the Cubs closer, but he could slot in the seventh inning until Pressly comes back and gives some depth to the back end of the bullpen.

The other option for the bullpen is that ten days from now, the roster will expand by two to 28 players, and one of those (and possibly two) will go to the bullpen.

That second spot ….

In attempting to get more offense with Kyle Tucker out and Bregman maybe out, the Astros have had a lot of configurations with both catchers (Diaz and Caratini) in the same lineup. There is obviously some risk here. If Diaz is at DH and Caratini gets hurt on a foul ball behind the plate, Diaz would move into the C spot, and the Astros would lose their DH that game.

It feels like that other expansion spot on September 1 could well go to catcher Cesar Salazar, who hit well earlier this season in a short call-up and has had a solid year at AAA with 43 RBIs and a .780 OPS.

The Rotation

The team has said they will use a 6-man rotation with Justin Verlander back. A few choices will occur here as we go along. How will the Astros handle that when they hit their off days (Sept. 3, 9, and 26)? Will they choose to keep that 6-man rotation order and have everyone with an extra day of rest? Or will they skip someone who might need extra rest – (Ronel Blanco??) and have the other 5 guys pitch as though that off day was the sixth man?

And even more critically, what will they do when/if they go to the playoffs? Traditionally, they have used 4 starters in the playoffs due to the travel days and the days off between series. Who would the 4 be this year? It is easy to say that it would be Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez, Hunter Brown, and Ronel Blanco based on their performance in the regular season. But….if you think Blanco is either exhausted or the other teams have the book on him, you might easily throw Yusei Kikuchi as a second lefty starter and have Blanco and Spencer Arrighetti as your long relievers during the playoffs.

The lineup

Let’s say you get Kyle Tucker back in time for him to ramp up for the postseason and they find some super glue to re-attach Bregman’s elbow. They will certainly have some interesting choices with their lineups. One thought….

Jose Altuve 2B

Alex Bregman 3B

Yordan Alvarez DH

Kyle Tucker RF

Yainer Diaz C

Jeremy Pena SS

Jake Meyers CF

First base – this spot for rent – ok Jon Singleton / Mauricio Dubon

Chas McCormick/Dubon – LF

It sure looks a lot deeper with Tucker back.

Bottom line—even though this would be considered a time when the options are limited, there will still be a lot of decision-making going on behind the scenes as this team drives for a potential eighth straight playoff appearance.  

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62 responses to “Astros 2024: Talking about options”

  1. All of the above. And as Steven suggested this morning, what would it cost to bring Yuli back home too? Defensively anyway, he’d probably play the best first base of any of our guys, and might just hit a little more. And the first skipped start should certainly go to Ronel, unless the Astros were to take a page from our minor league habit of using two starters for 3 innings each. That could be an option in the post season too.

    Anyway, this might be the weirdest Astro season ever. If we do make it into post season play this year, I’ll be impressed. I’m still not convinced the M’s won’t bottom out (maybe they have now) and make some sort of recovery, but I think their starters are gassed too. Regardless, we’re thin in a lot of areas. Is anyone having a career year on the Astros right now, except maybe for Yanier? Caratini? Some of our guys are remarkably frustrating to watch, but when the line up options are so limited, it’s much harder to get good games out of the marginal guys especially. So I’m going to continue to be quietly frustrated when things go bad, but I’ll marvel at the good moments and hope we still have enough of them left to play in October.

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  2. I’m not going to comment because I’m pretty much disgusted with the Astros right now and don’t want to say something I can’t take back.

    But your use of the phrase “flotsam and jetsam” does take me back to better times spent in West Germany sitting around the hash pipe listening to records. Yes, those made of vinyl! Good times…..

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  3. Gamel is starting in RF tonight with his astounding .217 BA. WooHoo! Boy, oh boy! I’m ALL fired up now, by jiminy!

    What a freaking joke……

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    • But he’s STILL hitting in front of Meyers! BwHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

      That really is funny! BwHAHAHA!!!!!

      Stop it, Joe! Yer killing me here…….

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    • The joke has produced two singles and 2 RBI so far tonight.

      Honestly, .217 is an improvement over Chas and his .193 AVG and .543 OPS, Cabbage , Leon, and pretty much any other option.

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    • Almost a pun there. Gotta be some kinda joke in it with names like those!

      But a pun isn’t really a joke, I don’t think. Unless your first name is a single letter…..

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  6. Good morning!

    Entering Thursday nights game, I was thinking a split would be great. And now it’s much easier having won the first game of the four game series. Maybe we should think about another win tonight. These days I look forward to having Hunter Brown on the mound. And the O’s have their own pitching woes right now.

    Steven, I think maybe Bregman is going to take first base from Yuli. Alex needs to stay on the field if at all possible. We can’t have Yordan out in left daily.

    I never know what to expect from Arrighetti, but the guy keeps making progress. His August stats are stunning at a time when some guys are wearing down.

    We got six runs out of six singles and four walks. I like when our guys walk.

    We’re going to have a fresh pen tonight too.

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  7. Thoughts

    • Had noticed that Burnes had not been pitching very well lately, had come off a game where he gave up 8 runs in 4 innings.
    • Burnes kind of did some melting down – in the 4th inning he tried that third pickoff throw on Altuve and when it was not successful, Jose was given second base. Burnes kind of lost it a bit after that giving up hits for two runs. Then he threw away that bunt in the 6th and ended up giving up 4 runs that inning.
    • Gamel gave them two big line drive run scoring singles which is two more than you would expect from a .217 hitter.
    • Serengeti or is it Spaghetti (my brother and I have nicknames for him was really good though my mom kept complaining about his long stringy hair. He made up for an underwhelming start last time.
    • Going in you think Burnes vs. Arrighetti – man we are in trouble – but we weren’t.
    • Back end of the lineup did most of the damage for once. Good.
    • Getting 3 shutout innings from Dubin and Ferguson was great though I think they did warm up Abreu along the way.

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  8. I’ll just kind of piggyback on multiple comments –

    The Orioles don’t impress me. We have the better of the two between Rutschman and Diaz (oooohhh that statement would set the baseball world on fire). We have to pitch around Gunnar, thats OK they have to pitch around Yordan, who is better. We certainly have the better rotation. And we just gave it to their ace (granted his own defensive mishap sealed his fate). We have the advantage in every pitching matchup the rest of the series.

    Not really a fan of Bregman on 1st, if he cant make 3-4 throws over to 1st his elbow is more of a concern than I want. Is he trying to force the issue to not sit out the rest of August because he needs the stats for this FA?

    Your lineup looks good for the playoffs Dan. Not that it looks good, just that your projection is probably right. We will spend the offseason debating creative ways to upgrade 1B, CF, and LF and maybe replacing 3B, before we see that it doesn’t matter what we think it only matters what Dana thinks. Or maybe Jeff. IDK.

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      • Yes, Steven the east coast bias vs. the third coast cheaters would never put Rutschman below Diaz
      • The Orioles with their former Astros front office crew are trying to replicate the Astros’ success. They just don’t have the pitching the Astros did. That may be the most amazing thing we look back at 2024 about. The Astros lose five solid to above solid starters in McCullers, Garcia, Urquidy, France and Javier and they still put a competitive rotation out there.
      • The Bregman situation reminds me of the Bagwell situation (no not the front office Bags) at the end of his career. Of course he was already playing first base, but he just could not throw. I am assuming they are afraid that if Bregman comes charging in and lets loose with a throw across the diamond it could hurt him in such a way that he can’t bat. You do have to throw when you are at first base, but it is not near the length of throw trying to start a double play. It all comes back to they need Bregman and Yordan in the lineup every day but they don’t want to play Yordan in the field every day.
      • The lineup would look so much better if 2023 Chas were here and if 2020 Jose Abreu were here. Oh well – can’t have it all.

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    • One thing about Bregman, he never sits of his own accord. I don’t think he’s got 3 or 4 throws from third base in him. But either he survives at first at least a couple of days a week or sits when Yordan needs to DH. Yordan simply can’t go to left everyday.

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    • Sarge, it’s a tough one today. Bregman is at third. I’d love to see Whitcomb in the lineup, but where do you put him? I sure wish he had some outfield experience. Caratini does not hit lefties as well as righties, but I might have used him behind the plate and Yainer at first, but I guess the manager wants to give Dezenzo a start. Maybe Zack will hit a long ball and help us win the game. We’ll see!

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    • I’m not gonna play that game 2 days in a row. Yesterday, the joke was on me. Today it’s somebody else’s turn.

      🙂

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  13. Is Espada even watching this game? Nobody warming up in the Astros bullpen when Abreu gives up the grand slam? WTF?

    And still nobody out…… Oh boy.

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  14. Sarge, I do believe you called it correctly the Dusty Baker school of management. Stick to the preordained bullpen plan no matter how much damage it causes the team’s chances of winning.

    Espada is back in Mini Me DFB mode.

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  16. Ouch. That one really hurts. Good luck stopping those guys tomorrow.

    All the Astros look like they’re just walking around is a fog. No spirit that I could see. Just another day at work. Ho hum…..

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  17. Rumor has it that the Astros have hired Karine Jean-Pierre to do the “Injuries & Moves” daily updates on their website.

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  19. There must be a secret clock back in there somewhere while I try to compose lucid thoughts while on my first cup of coffee first thing in the morning. While I wander off to check the toast, I think one of those clock gremlins (relative of Bregman) call a violation on me a whisk my incomplete posts away.

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  20. Too much good rest seems to be bad for Abreu. But doesn’t anyone remind the pitcher where the ball goes if he gets a comebacker? The catcher, the infielders, the coaches all have to assume a pitcher is too absorbed with throwing to home plate to assume he’ll throw to the correct base. Those mental errors can screw a game up worse than throwing the ball into the outfield like Pena did. Thing is though, we should have put this game away well before the 8th inning. It was a team loss, in spite of Abreu getting most of the credit for losing it. And the M’s are seeing a ray of hope today.

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  21. Thoughts

    • A bad day when the Astros blow a 3 run lead (plus two) in the 8th and the M’s make up a 4 run deficit in the 8th and win it in the 10th.
    • We’ve seen it before with our other pitchers, especially Framber (despite some good plays by him lately) but our pitchers tend to panic in the field and this one cost us.
    • Pretty amazing grand slam pitch – a 98+mph fastball way above the strike zone and the hitter (who is one of the mlb best with 38 homers) caught up with it.
    • After 3 innings, I thought Hunter was going to be lucky to get through five innings, but I got much better and more efficient and cruised through 3 more. He gives up only 1 earned run in those 6 innings and continues to push that ERA down.
    • I guess Bregman was going to play third until Alvarez was scratched waking up with pain in his neck. Do we need special mattresses and pillows so our guys don’t wake up hurting? And I sure hope Yordan does not miss as much time as JV did with a sore neck.
    • Altuve, Pena and Meyers led the offense last night. Five runs should have been enough.
    • They need to get back out there and earn at least a split in the series.

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    • I’m sure Mike Lindell would be happy to make the Stros a deal on My Pillows. They are pretty nice and have certainly helped me with neck & back pain. I love mine!

      But I’m sure Mike would be on the persona non grata list in Houston…..

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  24. That’s rich. The PA playing John Denver’s “Country Boy” in the filthy, slime infested stink hole that is Baltimore…..

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  26. An inexplicable boner by Singleton. But lost on that play is the fact that Framber did not cover first, leaving a frozen Jon Singleton no choice but to make the play on his own. Had Framber been at the bag where he has to be, he likely gets a win today.

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  27. And I’ll add this. Over and over this year, we’ve seem flat out bad and sometimes dumb defense from some of our pitchers. We just gave two games back. We should be up 6.5 right now. We should be in a position to sweep the O’s tomorrow. Mental errors are really inexcusable at the major league level.

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  28. “Over and over this year, we’ve seem flat out bad and sometimes dumb defense from some of our pitchers.”

    So do you see this as a reflection on coaching staff in any way, Dave?

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    • No coaching staff will change Framber.

      As I said yesterday, when Abreu made his own mental error that likely cost them the game, I would have hoped someone would have reminded him beforehand where he was going with the ball if he got a comebacker.

      In general, a pitcher, like a positional player, can improve to a degree, but when someone has been playing the same position since childhood, you’re not going to see much improvement at the ML level.

      That said, the coaches have to try, even if the pitcher can pitch. In Framber’s case, he’s helped screw up a whole lot of his own games. Unfortunately, he’s invaluable in other ways.

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  29. Oh my, I’m gonna need an extra helping of Ranch dressing to go with that salad.

    But I’ll grant you you’re a real good dancer. All the way around the question. But thanks.

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      • Not vague at all. Just absurd. If the player (insert name here) isn’t coachable, ditch him and find one who is. Or ditch the coaches and hire a replacement for him.

        The young man is either a professional baseball player or he’s just a talented amateur.

        Or you can always just keep hiring the uncoachable amateurs from whichever stinkhole the boat stopped at and do it on the cheap so the rubes back home will keep buying your cheap, shoddy product.

        Kinda like how you find a landscaping crew…….

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      • Speaking of which, I wonder if Dana Brown has tried cruising by Home Depot in a pickup to find a competent first baseman.

        Might work…

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      • Those are (or rather were) Effie, May, and Dorothy Winters. And even 80 years later, their legs are probably still sexier than yours. But you dancers should really be nicer to one another. The cattiness is very unladylike.

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      • My mother was a Dorathy. She raised 8 kids while the chief went to work. Nothing remarkable about that. We got fed. We fought. We played.

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  31. https://www.mlb.com/astros/news/framber-valdez-astros-fall-to-orioles-after-key-play-at-first-base

    “Singleton initially took a step back…”

    Not exactly how they taught us to do it when I was young and dirt was a new invention. I guess they teach things differently in Houston, eh?

    “…said Valdez, who called it a routine play. “It was one of those things you can’t expect in baseball.””

    So which is it? Is it something unexpected? Or is it a routine play? This pendejo talks out of both sides of his mouth. What a moron.

    What’s even worse is the hack McTaggart goes ahead and publishes it. He must buy ChapStick by the truckload!

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  32. Good morning! Always a new perspective to appreciate first thing. It’s a stunning, still cool, almost peaceful morning, except for the dogs down below barking loudly for their breakfast.

    Framber remains the one guy that keeps getting my goat though. It does not sound as if he is willing to take any accountability for his spectator role in yesterday’s “big play”. He just about gave us six shutout innings. Until he forgot his job and did not go to the bag. And then he hung Singleton out to dry. Bad teammate. I’d again suggest we trade Framber in the off season, but there are very few 200 inning guys in MLB with his talent level.

    When we trot out a line up minus Yordan and our semi retired right fielder, we just don’t have the fire power to take advantage of Baltimore’s compromised pitching. Instead we’ve made them look mostly good.

    I think I’d like to keep Shay Whitcomb in the line up for now. So why not simply put Bregman over at first base? The job is too big for Big Jon, especially now, when every game is an important one.

    If we keep getting good pitching, we’ll likely win this division. But we can’t do dumb things this time of year. It’s time to get some timely hits, but our guys have to use their brains too.

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    • “….our guys have to use their brains too.”

      BwHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!! In that case, the Astros are well and truly screwed.

      Pardon me while I wash the coffee from my laptop……

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  33. Any MLB manager worth his salt would not allow these ESPN as_____s to distract his players during play on the field. We already saw it hurt the Stros once this year.

    I hate ESPN so much. Haven’t watched them in many years.

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  35. If Diaz takes his walk instead of chasing ball four for an out the score is 4-0. Think walks don’t matter? They do.

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  37. We knew coming into the month of August that it was going to be one hell of a test . Almost every series was going to be against a playoff contender. As of Sunday the 25th of August our record for the month is 14-8.

    The Astros have been terrific. Now they face one of the best teams in the NL in Philly. Go Astros!

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