Bregman/Yordan/Abreu/Tucker/Pena/other guys or Tucker/Bregman/Yordan/Abreu/Pena/other guys WRT Dusty and his regular season regular seasonings: I totally reserve the right to b!tch about some of his decisions, and I'm 100% sure I will. He's been absolutely brilliant in the Postseason.
He likes to try **** out in the regular season and justifies it with old school justifications to keep the media off his back. He can't just say, I was just curious what would happen.
Opening day lineup: ( what I expect, not what I would choose) Pena SS Bregman 3B Alvarez LF Abreu 1B Tucker RF Diaz DH McCormick CF Dubon 2B Maldonado C Dubon and Diaz start over Hensley and Meyers because Cease is a high K pitcher and they strike out less, and Framber is a high ground ball pitcher and Dubon is the better defender. I expect a pretty even split between Dubon and Hensley at 2B but Dubon will play when ground ball pitchers - Framber, Brown, McCullers- start.
I really don't know what to think about this. It looks like Realmuto is being a jerk and deserves some sort of punishment. Ejection seems extreme.
If you're worried about Ks (and not defense), starting Dubon over Hensley at 2B is questionable to me.
Defense with Framber on the mound is still the #1 reason to start Dubon in my opinion, but K's are a factor with Cease on the mound. The MLB average is 22.9% K rate. Cease was 30.4% last year and 28.4% for career Dubon was 11.3% last year and 17.2% for career. Hensley was 17.6% in very small sample last year, but was 22.2% in AAA.
Catcher wasn't even looking, he just assumed the ump had put the ball in his glove. Ump immediately goes all "don't showboat me, I'll showboat you" like a petty thinskinned jackass.
I am very ok with this lineup and batting order. Good grief this lineup is going to be LOOOOONG if we ever get to a point where we have a full strength lineup with Brantley and Altuve. Wowzers
If I was the catcher I'd just tell the ump to put the ball in my glove. Apparently the "pitch" before was a timer violation, so there may be more this than we know. eta: What she doesn't mention is that the ump had already thrown the pitcher a new ball
This is by far the fairest and most accurate assessment of the Astros I've read from any national publication. It almost sounds like they've been hanging out here. https://www.foxsports.com/stories/mlb/mlb-26-and-under-power-rankings-no-1-houston-astros
The problem is that Hensley has so few MLB plate appearances that his big league numbers are basically worthless and there are much fewer sources for minor league numbers.
While I think Hensley will hit strikeout pitchers better than Dubon, if the sole basis of who plays is based on not striking out, Dubon is a better bet than Hensley on not striking out, IMO. Hensley has the better eye and hits the ball harder. Dubon is much less likely to swing and miss (ball will only travel 5 feet, but it won't get to the catcher) and it is hard to get a called strike against him as he swings at everything.
My eye test is pretty solid. Hensley is more selective at the plate. Dubon may make more contact. This is why you're supposed to look up swing and miss numbers, since you're all about numbers.
