If neither Garcia or France would be starting a playoff game, and Chas/other guy would be starting in the playoffs, you probably want the position player. The Astros are not in danger of losing the division, so decisions should be made to give them the best chance to win in the playoffs. If the Astros lose a starter, France is still irrelevant unless 3 other starters are hurt going into the playoffs, in which case the team is a mess anyway.
McCullers sure has looked sharp. The playoff rotation of JV, Framchise, LMC, and Javier is looking about as good as any team out there. And the bullpen is looking as deep as any team in history especially with Garcia, Brown, and Urquidy available for multiple inning appearances. I sure wish Gurriel was hitting well (or Brantley had stayed healthy) because that one lineup slot is about the only thing keeping this team from being the most stacked in franchise history.
Who SHOULD and Who WILL are unfortunately two different answers. LF SHOULD? The one closest is Yordan getting the bulk of LF duties with the home field advantage which then leads to the question of who plays DH? I have no problem with A Diaz receiving the (Brantley) swing man role with Yordan in the playoffs. WILL? I can't help but expect Dubon in CF and McCormick moving to LF for at least half the games. 1B SHOULD? Mancini/ Henderson / Gurriel WILL? Gurriel /Gurriel / Gurriel.
Should be Hensley. Must have had Henderson, Texas on my mind. Selling some property near there in New London just East of the school that exploded in 1937.
Rickey? He's only 63, he could probably steal you a base if the pitcher's asleep. Much respect for the phrasing, btw, that's one of my go-to's
The age of bringing back an old timer for a paycheck (and to sell tickets) is long gone. But some of the age records are due to this phenomena. Now they have well deserved pensions and funding set aside for special financial needs. This is a change I heartily approve. And I don't like many. My first though when you mentioned Ricky was the Satchel Paige 1965 appearance with KC. His age 58 appearance should not be an age record. But his 1953 appearance at age 46 should. The honest truth is Henderson has been part of my vocabulary my entire life. It's where my dad was born as the closest hospital to New London. So sometimes my fingers just do their own thing if the beginning of a word which is close like my car likes going to a familiar location all on it's own if the route to where I'm going is familiar.
It’ll be Gurriel at 1B and Mancini in LF. I would prefer Diaz in there over Gurriel but if they were going to do that then Diaz should have been playing over Gurriel everyday for the last month. You don’t bench a guy for the playoffs. It’s not that big of a deal because Gurriel is still decent defensively and doesn’t strike out much; maybe he will find one last power surge in October.
Garcia started postseason games just last year while banged up so I'm not buying he wouldn't be needed next year. The best way to increase World Series odds is to win the division. The easiest way to reduce the Astros chances of winning the division is to reduce the pitching depth. If the Astros have 4 SPs pitching better than Garcia and healthy next postseason, and the Astros have clinched a Top 2 seed, yes, having the better batter would help.
There is no power surge left man. You can hope he has a babip fueled run where he hits a couple ground balls where they aren’t and maybe a coupe doubles down the line. That could happen and is well within the randomness we see from baseball. He has to stop hitting 6th though, dude needs to be hitting 8th.
Diaz should've been playing the last month? He was on the DL starting Aug 17th and his 1st game back was 9/13. Yuli "decent" defensively? He's certainly regressed offensively but he's still d@mn good with the glove.
I know it kind of depends on if teams buy 2021 Mullins vs 2022 Mullins, but maybe Urquidy+Leon would interest them. Since I'd do that trade in a heartbeat, I'd guess they'd want more.
At this point, Mancini may get a start or 2 at 1B but the team is rolling with Yuli. Like it or not. The bigger hope is that they drop Yuli in the order to 7th or 8th. As for LF: Chas must start in CF and I think he does. That leaves Alvarez, Diaz, and Mancini in LF. Again I could see Mancini getting a start or 2 but that would be the most and possibly, not likely. Diaz and Yordan are both better fielders and will likely split LF. When Yordan is in LF I can see Trey getting the DH but when Yordan DHs, it looks like he sits in favor of Diaz. My prediction: Gurriel starts at 1B all but one game (Javier start, most likely but possibly JV, where Trey starts) Trey gets 1 start in LF. Most likely when Framber starts. 2 series. Potential 12 games: 1B: Yuli 11 g, Trey 1 g LF: Yordan 6 g, Diaz 4 g, Trey 1 g. DH: Trey 6 g, Yordan 5 g.
Read what he said... He said "I would prefer Diaz over Yuli, BUT IF THEY WERE GONG TO DO THAT, he should have been playing every day. " So in other words, if they were going to make a change of that magnitude, they should have been doing it for the entire month, because they aren't going to bench Yuli for the playoffs.
