The Astros have had a tough schedule and a lot of injuries. However they have a softer schedule coming up and if they play below .500 against the Nationals, Cubs, Rockies, and Guardians and are 10-20 coming out of that stretch is anyone going to be all that upset? The rationale behind Espada’s hiring was the team was in a good place and needed continuity in leadership. That’s obviously not the situation now and while it’s not Espada’s fault all these injuries happened, is he putting the the healthy players the Astros have in the best position to succeed and is a first time manager the person needed to get the Astros through this stretch?
Amen, I was really stoked about Hunter B last night and then the inevitable happens, we don't get hits, calls or relief pitching. The one thing I keep coming back to is there is no spark on this team, no one seems to be enjoying playing and boy oh boy Espada is making some bone head moves, especially with Pressley and Hadar, he continues to put them in the wrong scenarios. I dont know who Crane is listening to but after listening to Baggs this weekend, I don't think he is the evaluator he thinks he is, one of the greatest Astros of all time but this group of Baggs, Biggio, Jackson is not cutting it. It`s early but its time for Espada to go, I am not a Buck S fan, I would go get Maddon and then if Abreau cant cut it, then he gone I feel like if this goes on through the end of the month the fat lady is going to start warming up
Cr It was a poor decision. You have gotten two innings out of him, he got you out of a jam. He is a young guy with the stuff to really help you. Put him in a position to build confidence. Take him out after two innings and go to someone else.
It will be the call of Crane with some influence from Brown. It can be as simple as the front office deciding they need a recharge and a collective reset. Not all of this is on Espada obviously, but I have not been impressed by him either.
Rage. Why sit your 116 mph exit velo 1B who has a 5 game hitting streak in favor of a corpse in a uniform?!?!?!
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/te...-kyle-tucker-alex-bregman-lineup-19408129.php “Just a different look, trying to sandwich Breggy in there between Yordan and Tucker,” Espada said prior to the game. “Trying to get Breggy going, just a little something different.” Bregman is off to a slow start. He entered Wednesday slashing .242/.299/.323 with no home runs in 16 games. His 18.9% line-drive rate was well below his 25.9% career rate and he had drawn just five walks over 67 plate appearances. He had driven in three runs from the cleanup spot, a product of his 4-for-16 mark with runners in scoring position. He was not alone in the latter category. As a team, the Astros had the sixth-most plate appearances in the majors with men in scoring position (205) but ranked 17th in batting average (.256) and 20th in OPS (.689) in those situations. Batting Bregman third split the two left-handed hitters in Houston’s lineup, Alvarez and Tucker, against a left-hander in Fried. Espada, however, indicated he might stick with the alignment for the time being. “It’s something I want to take a look at,” Espada said. “We did it in the spring and it worked out well. And just trying to change things up a little bit and see if we can spark here and get some more people on base, more opportunities for us to score some more runs.”
It’s not Espada that needs convincing. It’s the guy who paid $20M a year to sign him and his cronies (Bagwell) that need it.
If Hader ends up a bust like Abreu, only worse, it’s a double whammy because it will probably make Crane even more hesitant to sign free agents. Can only hope they still trade for guys at the deadline though getting Verlander a third time is probably unlikely.
If Hader busts, it will equal one of the most unlikely scenarios in baseball history. Right now is just an excellent time for posters who were against the move to beat their chests. Josh will be awesome.
I thought about this last night and came to the same conclusion. JV and Lance and nobody. This was mentioned quite a bit a couple of years ago. As the Springers and Correas left, the players replacing them may be perfectly good and valuable, but are not fiery. It appears even Bregman, who was fiery and emotional when they were here, has settled into the same type of player most others are - which confirms he's not a leader. It reminds me of the mid 90s Biggio/Bagwell lead teams - fiery between the foul lines, quiet outside them. I'm not sure who could become that. Maybe Pena? I think it's something the team needs. Looking at the future, I have no idea of the personalities of any of the prospects. I had hope for Gilbert but he's gone.
I think Espada has actually been more aggressive with Abreu than Dusty would have been had he been kept around. The correct move is obviously to just bench Abreu outside of emergency situations but I wonder if something like that, considering this being his first year as skipper and Abreu being a household name, if he won’t do more because of the risk in doing so. He is Crane’s signing, too, which adds more complexity.
