My most blessed thoughts and prayers for everyone on a most blessed Holy Weekend.
Today I’m just throwing out a few diverse thoughts on our favorite team.
Cam Has “It”
Sure, he is only slashing .223 BA/ .296 OBP/ .745 OPS, but that is for a team that is averaging only .223 BA/ .304 OBP/ .635 OPS. He’s not dragging them down, that is for sure. After his big Friday night – 2 HRs/4 RBIs, he is tied for the team lead with both his 3 HRs and his 10 HRs. But more than that, he seems to have that “It” factor that the top prospects have. He’s flying around the field on defense, hustling down to first, flashing leather and a superstar smile at a position he never played before. After a tough start in his last 9 games he is hitting .290 BA/ .333 OBP/ .978 OPS.
He could prove us wrong, but he feels like he belongs and that he is not going anywhere.
The Pitching Coaches
Last year, the coaches turned Ronel Blanco, Hunter Brown, and Spencer Arrighetti into above average to excellent starting pitchers, while getting solid major league reps out of Tayler Scott, Bryan King and Kaleb Ort.
This year, they have had to get good starts out of Hayden Wesneski and Ryan Gusto and those guys have been solid. Meanwhile, King has moved up to a seventh inning spot, while Steven Okert and Bennett Souza have looked good in their usage. Even Josh Hader looks much sharper this season.
Yes, I know there has been regression with Scott and Blanco but give it time. This coaching staff has been performing mini-miracles along the way.
Running Number Three?
The Astros have been the best of the three pro sports here in Houston for quite a while now. But this week or two the focus will be elsewhere. The Rockets have made a comeback from oblivion like the Astros as they went through three very bad seasons followed by improvement last year and a jump up to the two seed in the Western Conference this year. They start a 7-game series against the Warriors tomorrow. The Texans have been on an upswing and next week’s draft will grab a ton of attention around town. Meanwhile, the Astros struggle, bumping along below average.
Yes, I know for a lot of sports fans here in Houston football is and has always been their be-all for their existence. But there is no arguing that the best pro sports team in town since 2017 has been the Astros and that grip on the top rung of the ladder may be slipping.
Walking the Highwire
A few years ago, running the Astros was not as difficult a job as it is today. Yes, they had to handle losing a George Springer or a Carlos Correa or a Charlie Morton or a Gerrit Cole, but they always seemed to have a Kyle Tucker, Jeremy Pena, Framber Valdez or Hunter Brown in the wings on top of the superstars like Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman and at times Justin Verlander still on the team.
But things are getting tougher as even more talent is gone in a short window (Bregman, Tucker, Verlander, Ryan Pressly, Yusei Kikuchi) and a wonderful player like Altuve is showing his age a bit.
Dana Brown is having to walk that tough highwire where he is trying to not totally tear down the club but having to reload on the fly. Does he trade a resource like Framber Valdez while he still has trade value, but also has value to the present club? How does he get a younger team and a more relevant minor leagues while still contending?
Right now, he is not attempting to sustain excellence as much as sustain relevance. That can be a difficult thing to do.
So, what are you thinking about these days?
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
23 responses to “Astros 2025: Weekend Thoughts”
Am mostly thinking about work, about family, whether my kids are safe (they always are but as a parent you always worry), about the state of my pension, about whether my health will ever improve (nothing serious, sinus annoyance), about wines, about improving my golf (down to 14 now) and about our head scratching and frustrating Astros who can be so bad one night and then so good the next night. Where’s the 8 game winning streak coming from? I don’t see it. And without it I don’t see us winning the division.
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The one thing giving me hope is how bad the AL West is. If you look at any advanced stats we are better which usually works out to our advantage. We are no longer the team to beat like we are used to but we are far from the worst.
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A peaceful holiday weekend to all.
I made a couple of points about Cam Smith this morning on the post from earlier in the week. He looks mature. After 11 K’s early, he’s had mostly competitive at bats. He’s not swinging at stuff all over the plate. He already does things in the outfield that Chas, nor Dubon or Jake can do. It sure is refreshing to have a guy with an arm out there. He’ll get more accurate too.
We could end up with a very solid pitching staff. Gusto and Wesneski have been big difference makers in the rotation. It’s way too early to write Blanco off, but he really has regressed. After leading the league with just 6.1 hits per nine, he’s at 9.7 and 5.4 walks per nine so far. Way too many baserunners.
The staff, especially the pen, will remain a work in progress. Some guys will go away. And some old names will be back. Regardless of what roles guys take, we’re going to have more good arms in the 13.
We’ve got three pretty good major sports teams right now. And we had the Coogs back in the Final. It’s a fun time for Houston.
Heck, I keep counting our effective starters. Dana would be irresponsible not to be considering all options as it applies to Framber. But we would not be getting a Tucker type return though. Just bring more young athletic quality Dana. And we’ve got to get a lefty bat or two sometime during the season. It might cost us a minor leaguer, Chas or Jake, or Zach. But it needs to happen.
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A peaceful holiday weekend to all.
I made a couple of points about Cam Smith this morning on the post from earlier in the week. He looks mature. After 11 K’s early, he’s had mostly competitive at bats. He’s not swinging at stuff all over the plate. He already does things in the outfield that Chas, nor Dubon or Jake can do. It sure is refreshing to have a guy with an arm out there. He’ll get more accurate too.
We could end up with a very solid pitching staff. Gusto and Wesneski have been big difference makers in the rotation. It’s way too early to write Blanco off, but he really has regressed. After leading the league with just 6.1 hits per nine, he’s at 9.7 and 5.4 walks per nine so far. Way too many baserunners.
The staff, especially the pen, will remain a work in progress. Some guys will go away. And some old names will be back. Regardless of what roles guys take, we’re going to have more good arms in the 13.
We’ve got three pretty good major sports teams right now. And we had the Coogs back in the Final. It’s a fun time for Houston.
Heck, I keep counting our effective starters. Dana would be irresponsible not to be considering all options as it applies to Framber. But we would not be getting a Tucker type return though. Just bring more young athletic quality Dana. And we’ve got to get a lefty bat or two sometime during the season. It might cost us a minor leaguer, Chas or Jake, or Zach. But it needs to happen.
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Whitley called up.
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I hope we finally find out about the guy. I remain dubious.
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Good Easter morning. That was a quality baseball game last night. Wesneski keeps keeping the Astros in games. I think I would have walked Machado in the 5th, however that decision should have come from the dugout. But we got 5 solid innings from the 3rd of our Tucker guys. 5, 6, 7, 5 innings so far from our other back of the rotation starter. And only 4 walks to go with 25 K’s. The WHIP is 0.87.
Christian Walker had a real impact last night. It’s coming on a regular basis soon. Paredes keeps battling at the plate. Even Cam Smith fought a tough pitch out to right center that dropped in. He’s much better than he was on Opening Day, just a few weeks ago.
And what an encouraging outing from Taylor Scott. 6 outs. No baserunners.
I don’t know if and when our club will win 5 in a row, or the 8 in a row that Sargeh would like to see, but two is a start. This club does have holes. But we’ll be more competitive when guys hit more. That will happen. And just to remind, we’ve been a slow starting team before.
2019 10-10
2020 10-10
2021 11-9
2022 11-9
2023 10-10
2024 6-14
2025. 10-10
We’re not dead. We’re late bloomers. It’s springtime!
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Good Easter morning. That was a quality baseball game last night. Wesneski keeps keeping the Astros in games. I think I would have walked Machado in the 5th, however that decision should have come from the dugout. But we got 5 solid innings from the 3rd of our Tucker guys. 5, 6, 7, 5 innings so far from our other back of the rotation starter. And only 4 walks to go with 25 K’s. The WHIP is 0.87.
Christian Walker had a real impact last night. It’s coming on a regular basis soon. Paredes keeps battling at the plate. Even Cam Smith fought a tough pitch out to right center that dropped in. He’s much better than he was on Opening Day, just a few weeks ago.
And what an encouraging outing from Taylor Scott. 6 outs. No baserunners.
I don’t know if and when our club will win 5 in a row, or the 8 in a row that Sargeh would like to see, but two is a start. This club does have holes. But we’ll be more competitive when guys hit more. That will happen. And just to remind, we’ve been a slow starting team before.
2019 10-10
2020 10-10
2021 11-9
2022 11-9
2023 10-10
2024 6-14
2025. 10-10
We’re not dead. We’re late bloomers. It’s springtime!
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Not much I can add to what daveb put out there. Hader even after giving up that bloop double bore down and kept the run from scoring. Walker’s nice over the shoulder catch helped with that.
And it was just weird seeing Yuli hitting against us. I guess because they deliberately stuck him up there with the tying run at second and the last out of the game – it struck me strange.
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A pretty good game last night but a couple of takeaways. Still having trouble getting runners home with RISP. We had mucho chances but could not seal the deal. Overall good defense, especially by Jake and Cam, great catches. Framber managed to come back after a couple of ricochet hits so I’m happy with his effort. Taylor Scott was hit hard and gave up the winning run so he continues to be somewhat of a liability. When are we going to see Forrest Whitley? Otherwise the bullpen held it’s own. Now if we could learn to hit we might move up in the standings. Oh and is Christian Walker the second coming of Jose Abreu; another 60MM down the drain? How about we look to draft a hitting 1st baseman and stop signing 35 year olds? What do you other guys think?
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I think we’ll be pleased with Christian Walker before long. But I wish Zach Dezenzo was playing everyday somewhere. How are we going to find out if he can play when he’s sitting? He’s got 15 at bats on the season.
And unfortunately, we don’t seem to have any real first base prospects in the system. The experts frequently talk about drafting the best athletes rather than targeting specific need areas. In our present situation, I have to disagree. Again, I think Walker will turn out to be a good acquisition, but it’s been too many moons since we’ve developed a guy for first base in house.
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I think we’ll be pleased with Christian Walker before long. But I wish Zach Dezenzo was playing everyday somewhere. How are we going to find out if he can play when he’s sitting? He’s got 15 at bats on the season.
And unfortunately, we don’t seem to have any real first base prospects in the system. The experts frequently talk about drafting the best athletes rather than targeting specific need areas. In our present situation, I have to disagree. Again, I think Walker will turn out to be a good acquisition, but it’s been too many moons since we’ve developed a guy for first base in house.
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Zach brought his bat to Daikin park tonight.
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I really struggle with the fact the majority of fans seem to not care that Tatis, Jr., was banned 80 games for using PEDs. It felt like he was constantly coming up to the plate. I’m glad to move on to the Blue Jays series.
In other news, the A’s are calling up Nick Kurtz. Thinking about dave’s comment on drafting a first baseman, well, Kurtz is a real-deal first baseman and hitter who was picked 4th overall. From that same draft we’re playing a guy in RF who could have been converted to 1B and might fit in there down the line still. There are rumblings the Red Sox could promote Roman Anthony but have him play 1B. He would be a legit CF in the majors, but getting some production at 1B would be more valuable to them right now.
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It was a painful experience listening to the announcers from ESPN last night for the Astros game. One was absolutely an Astros hater. He stated, “(E)veryone hates Altuve.” I need to fix what he said to reflect its accuracy… “I hate Altuve and everyone else should also.” If everyone hates Altuve, then why does he get elected to the All-Star game each season?
Next, the genius stated, “Alvarez isn’t doing well because the Astros traded away Tucker and Bregman, who protected him in the lineup last season.” Well, I guess Mr. Walker, who averaged 33 Hrs and 94 RBIs for the past three years along with Mr. Paredes, who averaged 23 Hrs and 74 RBIs over the same three years, amount to only chopped liver as protection.
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It seems that as we move through the starting rotation for a full month, we are finding out who our ace is. It might just be that this team is finally getting its footing and realizing that they still have the talent to win.
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That was a pretty complete game of good baseball last night. Just glimpsing the top of the second inning; Springer on third with nobody out and getting stranded. Hunter showed zero concern. Got two overpowering K’s and then a fly out. Ho hum. I hope Framber battles to keep his “ace” designation. If nothing else, it makes him more valuable to team and self both.
Speaking again of Dezenzo, if the Astros are going to keep him on the big club, he’s got to play. Even if he starts a game at first, and in right, and in left when Jose takes second, at least you’re giving him three shots a week. Cam and Walker will be fresher for it in August.
Whitley got outs last night. I’m not sure the ball was always going where he wanted it to, but it’s an excellent start to the series. The Astros can use both Abreu and Hader two nights in a row if needed. And then another day off on Thursday!
We’ve won 3 of 4 against some pretty good pitching. It sure would be nice to see Blanco get into a groove tonight.
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That was a pretty complete game of good baseball last night. Just glimpsing the top of the second inning; Springer on third with nobody out and getting stranded. Hunter showed zero concern. Got two overpowering K’s and then a fly out. Ho hum. I hope Framber battles to keep his “ace” designation. If nothing else, it makes him more valuable to team and self both.
Speaking again of Dezenzo, if the Astros are going to keep him on the big club, he’s got to play. Even if he starts a game at first, and in right, and in left when Jose takes second, at least you’re giving him three shots a week. Cam and Walker will be fresher for it in August.
Whitley got outs last night. I’m not sure the ball was always going where he wanted it to, but it’s an excellent start to the series. The Astros can use both Abreu and Hader two nights in a row if needed. And then another day off on Thursday!
We’ve won 3 of 4 against some pretty good pitching. It sure would be nice to see Blanco get into a groove tonight.
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Last nights game from Brown is about as good a pitched game as you can see in today’s version of baseball. This guy is about to enter his prime, I don’t know where he found this command but its not just gas. Last night he kept clipping the bottom and sides of the zone enough to fool either the umpire or the hitter. He was a pitcher last night, not a thrower. He lived that great Greg Maddux quote when asked the key to pitching – Greg said “make your balls look like strikes and your strikes look like balls.” Watching Jays hitters get frustrated because they realize this guy is on that level right now – it was art, not baseball.
Cam Smith felt overwhelmed early. He is now comfortable and thinks he belongs there. What’s amazing is he went down that journey of young guy overwhelmed to confident in a matter of weeks, when after his start I wrongfully assumed he would need to go to AAA to get back into a comfort level and confident before trying again later this year. He is back to being the front runner for RoY in this guys mind. He still needs to improve some of the angles he takes getting to liners, but it will come with time. What he is – the kind of athlete that can play the wing in the NBA or wide receiver in the NFL, and he is already in the top 20 of outfielders in runs saved.
Christian Walker’s offense remains on the milk carton. I get Astros fans angst about it, 3/60 for a mid 30s 1B is something we tried recently and failed. But Walker isn’t lining foul balls behind the first base dugout. He showed signs of coming around in a few games where he stopped chasing, but then fell right back into milk carton status with 3 k’s in 4 PAs. If it were me, I would keep him in the clean up spot and go forward, he has had some good, hard contact, he just needs to stop chasing. They mentioned last night that he has seen 28 counts of 0-2 in 65 plate appearances. That is not a recipe for success. I think they said he was 1-27 in that count, with one he worked back to a walk.
We are not going to succeed with a cleanup hitter that will hit 15 HR this year on his way to hitting .260 with a .300 OBP. That’s why I would just keep going with Walker.
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Complete ball game last night.
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Our Astros are now 12-11 in spite of their gruesome offensive stats. They are worse than terrible with the bases loaded. But, little by little, the OPS stats are inching up, pretty much across the board. Christian Walker was 3 for 3 last night. Even Pena got on base three times. The club will hit when Yordan and Walker and Diaz get going. And they will get going.
Ronel Blanco pitched an excellent game last night. That’s the guy I’ve been looking for. I saw 96 from him a couple of times last night. And if we see the good version of Framber show up and shake off his winter cobwebs, we’ll be in pretty good shape. Gusto and Wesneski have done all we could ask of them. If (always an if with Lance) LMJ comes back, and Arrighetti gets the thumb sorted out, we’re going to have some pretty good depth in the 13 man staff. If we’ve got extra starters, the pen is stronger.
And in general, we do have a better defense. Issac is a bargain so far. And we are being more aggressive on the bases, mostly with success. April has not been a push over schedule. And we’ve still got a couple of good teams to play. Anything over .500 will be fine with me.
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Our Astros are now 12-11 in spite of their gruesome offensive stats. They are worse than terrible with the bases loaded. But, little by little, the OPS stats are inching up, pretty much across the board. Christian Walker was 3 for 3 last night. Even Pena got on base three times. The club will hit when Yordan and Walker and Diaz get going. And they will get going.
Ronel Blanco pitched an excellent game last night. That’s the guy I’ve been looking for. I saw 96 from him a couple of times last night. And if we see the good version of Framber show up and shake off his winter cobwebs, we’ll be in pretty good shape. Gusto and Wesneski have done all we could ask of them. If (always an if with Lance) LMJ comes back, and Arrighetti gets the thumb sorted out, we’re going to have some pretty good depth in the 13 man staff. If we’ve got extra starters, the pen is stronger.
And in general, we do have a better defense. Issac is a bargain so far. And we are being more aggressive on the bases, mostly with success. April has not been a push over schedule. And we’ve still got a couple of good teams to play. Anything over .500 will be fine with me.
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