Moose also plays 1st base, though not as much. Had we landed him, I'd have kept him at third, and move Bregman to SS until Correa comes back. When Correa and Altuve are both healthy, sort things out then. But it's all moot. If we add a bat (barring an extremely unlikely Realmuto trade), I really want him to hit left handed, as our lineup is very righty-heavy, a point I've made clear.
White has an OPS over 800 combined last year and this year. He should be on the roster rather than JD Davis to be honest.
If I was the manager, tomorrow's lineup: Kemp 2B Bregman SS Springer CF Gurriel 3B Gattis DH White 1B Reddick RF Tucker LF Maldonado C No Marwin, as we face a lefty, and I think he's due for an off day (plus he flat out sucks). Kemp, Bregman, and Gurriel all back in their natural positions. Reddick down in the order, Maldonado catching McCullers (and getting his first start as an Astro). White has actually been productive during his stay, give him more AB's. I do like Davis, but I'm acknowledging that it may soon be time to part ways with him, and he has been a liability at times. Kemp has totally earned a spot on not just an MLB roster, but on ours.
Gurriel has been hot for a couple of stretches and he hits with runners on. That makes it hard to complain but he is on pace to hit like 9 or 10 hr’s. He’s not having quite the season I was hoping for offensively. I would like to see him tear it up the rest of the season. He is capable of doing more than he has. We have all seen him crush it like a natural power hitter and hit hard line drives in the gaps. He can rake a little more than he has to this point.
I love Yuli, but, being 34, he is due for a regression, which is too bad. I didn't think he'd start to regress until next year, but the hand surgery probably played a role. Actually, from what I've heard we should be lucky that he recovered that quickly, and that he's displaying more power than usually expected. And he's also showed more power as the season progressed (and therefore further removed from the injury) so that's good. And yeah, that lineup is obviously weak due to two big injuries, but it's about as good as we can do.
Another backhanded post in support of Davis or Reed. Its also funny to see you write about regression like an "expert", yet you're clamoring for them to get Hunter Pence. You really need to stop.
I'm really not worried about the offense unless the Correa situation doesn't correct itself. Injuries and some slumps, it happens. If you replace Tucker, Davis, and Marwin with Kemp, Correa and Altuve the offense looks light years better. Tucker could still figure it out, but even if he doesn't find his footing, I'm confident Kemp is at least a solid big league hitter to replace him. This recent nuclear meltdown by the bullpen is substantially more alarming. We managed to piece it together somehow last season using mostly starters, but that's a tough spot to put yourself in.
They're back to having a bullpen that can't strike anybody out, ala 2015. Pressly should help. Giles not being an idiot would really help. Rondon regressing and Devo/Harris going into their annual post-ASB funk. I still feel Peacock needs more appearances/innings to stay sharp and get more consistency. McHugh has been relied on more and more, interesting to see if his arm is having issues bouncing back.
It looks like they are gonna have to force the issue with McHugh. It's never a good feeling to rely on somebody working in such unfamiliar territory, but his results demand it. Rondon has still been great, we're all kind of grouping him in with all of the others guys who have struggled, but in reality last night was just one bad outing. His previous work has been just fine, so I don't think we should be too down on him yet. Joe Smith and Sipp have also been good recently. Sipp has an 0.44 ERA since May 8, and was the one guy who we could rely on in 2015, as maligned as he's been since then. I don't think all hope is lost with the pen, but these recent performances make us all uncomfortable as hell moving forward.
This team seemingly has a lot of problems at the moment. I'm concerned about what has happened to the starting pitching. Injuries have obviously decimated this team a bit but it shows we have very little depth. We've got too many dead bats in the line-up now. The Rangers have made us look awful these last two games.
IMO, the pitching has done what had to happen, regress a bit. The April/May numbers were unsustainable. I think what we see now is. Having two of your top 4 bats on the DL is hard. But I really expected the rest to pick it up some and haven't. In the grand scheme of things, we have only been down one bat for a prolonged period. I think decimated is a little overstated. Wake up call.
That is a 4 by Yuli's name ... am I reading that right? Did the infielders draw positions out of a hat? Keep it in the air if at all possible, our infield defense is gonna be....suspect.
I was wondering about this also. I guess the alternative (with these players) is Kemp at the 4 and Davis at the 7?
