Gattis put up an OPS of only .644 (over 100 points under the AL average) for the entire second half of 2017, and in the postseason put up a very decent .858. So to say that he's been struggling in the regular season over quite a sigfnificant sample size is not far from the truth. Can he turn it around? Maybe. If he can't Tyler White or any number of other minor leaguers are ready to give it a shot in his place.
Yeah, the concern with him has always been his ability to sustain his bursts of success over a full season. So while it's early, etc. - in terms of Kyle Tucker, while most of the focus is on a LF-for-LF swap (ie Fisher), Gattis' potential struggle could be an under-the-radar factor. If they potentially only have to upgrade Fisher, Marwin is likely the easy choice now that Gurriel is set to return. But if they ALSO have to possibly upgrade Gattis... Also, I don't know at what point we lock it in, but Stassi now has 111 MLB PAs and a very respectable slash of .276/.345/.449/.794. If he continues to produce at that, or better clip, Gattis becomes even more vulnerable.
I really do think that Stassi is going to become a solid long-term offensive weapon. His Achilles' heel is his strikeouts, but he consistently a) elevates the ball, and b) hits with very high exit velocities. That leads to a high HR/FB rate and SLG in spite of the Ks. He's good about not swinging at pitches outside the zone, but he does tend to whiff a lot. Not sure if he can make any adjustments at this point to get the K% down. I fully expect him to put up an OPS of at least .800 this season, which would be great production from the catcher position.
If the World Series was today, Houston’s best 25 man roster is probably: CF Springer 3B Bregman 2B Altuve SS Correa RF Tucker 1B Gurriel LF Reddick DH White C Stassi Bench: McCann, Marwin, Marisnick Rotation: Verlander, Cole, Morton, Keuchel, McCullers Bullpen: McHugh, Peacock, Devenski, Hoyt, Harris, Smith, Giles, Rondon Would not be surprised at all to see Houston shopping for a DH, a lefty reliever, a closer, and possibly even a catcher at the deadline. Gattis and Sipp are good clubhouse guys and aren’t in heavy-use roles, so they will be fine for the regular season but I don’t think either guy is somebody you want on a playoff roster at this point.
Date OBP RC+ 4/3 0.346 125 4/7 0.324 101 4/8 0.297 84 4/10 0.316 92 4/11 0.326 97 He had one very bad day. His slugging being down is almost completely canceled out by his OBP being up besides for the one bad you knee jerked on. That's not struggling. That's a non-great player having a bad day. He's not that much better than this.
Counterpoint: he had one very good day (3/4; 2 doubles). In his other 38 PAs: .176/.263/.235 with a 34% K rate. Plus, as @pw1993 pointed out - and you ignored - his final 109 plate appearances last year: .226/.248/.396/.644. Again, I'm not near ready to write the final chapter on Gattis' season - just pointing out that his slow start (which, again, it categorically is) might be a factor in how they manage Tucker IF it continues. (And I'll admit, my first post was far more declarative than I intended. I worded it poorly, for sure.)
Based on the start to the season by Marisnick and Fisher, I fully expect Tucker at some point this season.
I didn't get that impression from some posters earlier. But given that, I would bring him up as soon as he's ready.
He's probably ready now, but given how the current financial system works out it would likely cost the Astros 10-20 million dollars if they called him up now, versus waiting 2 months so he's not a super 2 player. This is obviously assuming he's actually a good MLB player. There's no way the Astros want to call him up right now given the possible finances of it, but Fisher and Marisnick are making it really f**king difficult.
They must feel that super 2 is likely going to stay in the next CBA negotiations. Because if it is eliminated, holding Tucker back now won’t make much of a difference.
They have to plan for that eventuality regardless. Assuming no one takes hold of LF in the next month, Tucker will be here as soon as that date passes. Even if there's an injury, I'd expect Kemp or Davis to be back in the time before that date comes.
At the beginning of the season it seemed very unlikely he'd be here anytime soon. However, with Marisnick and Fisher playing as poorly as they are (I know it's only mid-April but the fact is that neither of them have taken control of the LF spot) I could see Tucker being called up in the next month or so (if, and only if, the offense is still struggling). If the offense gets going (even if Marisnick/Fisher are still playing poorly) they won't call him up until the Super 2 deadline has undoubtedly passed.
Offense needs some lyfe. I know it's still early and teams have been pitching great against us (so it seems)... but we need a jolt. I live in LA and the hype behind the Angels reminds me of us in 2017. They are for real. I believe we are better in a 7 game series but we need to have a shorter leash on Fisher and our LF situation. If we let it go on for too long and the offensive slump continues. We could find ourselves 7-10 games back of the Angels (yes we can catch up but is it worth the risk?...). I trust the FO/Luhnow but it's getting a little worrisome. We gotta take hold of the division. I can almost guarantee if Astros brought up Tucker, it would work wonders...
Well, if it’s eliminated, there will be no added financial benefit to keeping him down. They’ve already guaranteed the extra year of club control.
Its easy to focus on Fisher, and I agree this is an area in need of upgrade and we have a guy waiting in the wings. But our offensive shortcomings go way beyond just him. Marisnick, Marwin and Gattis have all been pretty terrible in addition to Fisher. Even Springer and Bregman are struggling. If the rest stays the same, replacing one guy will be a marginal improvement to our overall offense. Of the rest, Gattis comes to mind second, after Fisher, as the guy most likely and easily replaced. But even here, I dont expect any player movement until the end of May at the earliest.
Agreed. It's very feasible to say that Marwin may be due for a decline from what we saw last year. Fisher may not become what we thought and Gattis could continue to struggle. Maybe he needs game action on the field to get that rhythm back. It's tough to play the wait game but it is a long season...
