And it seems that McCormick has developed into a way better player than Meyers and they got him to be the player they needed for the playoffs and now into this year. Maybe there's a connection; maybe it would have happened regardless. But given how well it's worked out, this isn't an example of Baker's methods being poor - it clearly hasn't been a negative for Chaz.
That seems like some pretty specious reasoning to me. A player consistently shows he is the better option and improves his game with more time somehow making the managers choice to not play him correct. If he had played Chaz often and he got better he would have got credit for that too...so either way Dusty made a great decision in your mind. If Chaz had gotten more playing time as he should have maybe he gets better sooner instead of still being part time starter heading into his 3rd season.
I think if you are known to play great defense, you get more action. Meyers, Siri, Straw, Maldy, and Dubon have a reputation of being good defenders so they get plenty of action. McCormick and Diaz do not have that reputation so they have an additional hurdle when it comes to batting. Baker obviously knows better than me, but it sure sucks when you have guys like Maldy and Meyers stinking up the joint. I say this as one of Maldy's biggest supporters last year and I was definitely on the Meyer's bandwagon when he got called up.
You're assuming people are robots, though. Part of managing people is understanding what motivates them, what drives them to be better, how to get the best out of them. Dusty's reputation for his career is that he excels in this people-management part of the game. The two things that people complained the most about last year - Yuli constantly playing and Chaz not playing enough - both worked out perfectly in the playoffs. Dusty believed Yuli still had it - he was right. He wanted Chaz not to develop into a lefty-specialist, and he hit a big HR against a righty in the playoffs. The 2 years before, the complaining was his daily handling of the bullpen, and again, in the playoffs, almost every decision he made seemed to work brilliantly. Like I said, maybe it would have all worked out regardless - the unfortunate reality here is that we don't have a counterfactual to know how things would have worked out. But we DO know that his most-criticized decisions have repeatedly worked out well in the long-haul. At some point, maybe it's worth not overreacting to 15 games in April and who's getting enough playing time and how the team is handling any individual player. Maybe they think sitting Diaz for a bit or not putting him in pressure situations is best for his development. Maybe they think it will motivate a guy who was griping about being a catcher. Maybe they think time simply with the hitting coaches is good for him. Who really knows. And maybe they will be wrong and it will all backfire. But at some point, it seems that given the Astros' track record, maybe its worth not overreacting to everything and giving people the benefit of the doubt that they have a long-term plan in mind. I believe he started 11 of the team's first 14 games, was promoted to the leadoff spot pretty quickly, and has an 0.880 OPS. That's not being treated like a part-time starter or developing too slowly.
Which is amazing that the rocket scientists, lawyers, MIT dorks and corporate raiders come in and kick their asses with their spreadsheets just rubbing conventional wisdom “baseball guys” dicks in the dirt, but they still don’t give ground.
At this point in the season, these are naturally meaningless but still fun facts: Stros are 8-1 when Julks starts and gets a hit, 0-2 when he starts and goes hitless Stros are 3-10 in games started by Maldy, 4-1 in games started by Diaz at any position Stros are 1-8 when scoring fewer than 6 runs, and the 1 W was a 5 run outburst These are obviously the keys to our season. As an aside: SB numbers are nuts, MLB-wide 81% success rate. O's have stolen 25 bases, Twins have stolen 1
It’s silly to have Diaz used only as a personal catcher for Brown. It’s reasonable that his opportunities in LF and DH would be reduced with how well Julks has hit, but there’s no reason he shouldn’t be getting more opportunities at C and 1B. He should be at minimum paired with 2 of the SP and deployed at 1B once every 5 games to rest Abreu. That gets him playing 60% of the games, but also he should be used more liberally to pinch hit for Maldy in games Houston is losing. I assumed that was one of the main reasons for keeping Salazar on the roster. At this point I think Diaz is suffering because Maldonado is being resistant to resting more than once a week. Which would be fine if Maldy could hit.
Mark Grace was battling a case of ST VD on OD in '88 and so didn't get the start. I believe Kruk had a wicked hangover/food poisoning that year as well.
This is exactly why Salazar was on the roster, so Dusty would have no excuse not to love Diaz around some or pinch hit for Maldy. Maldy seems like a real *******. Castro was good his first year here but didn’t play in ideal situations (for him, against RHP) bc maldy. Then, Vasquez got run off. Now, this deal with Diaz.
Jake Meyers is one of the top 2 or 3 defensive center fielders in major league baseball. That's why he gets so many opportunities. He could be prime Kevin Kiermaier. Just needs to get his OPS around .675 and he would be an all star level center fielder.
He was well above average before his arm became a noodle, but he's definitely not top 3. Bader, Buxton, Kiermeyer are way ahead. Heck we had 2 on the squad that we traded away that are as good or better in Straw and Siri.
How do we know he was fully healthy? It seemed a little strange to sit him the first two games if he's clearly the guy in CF.
Diaz’s primary position remains catcher, but the team exposed him to first base and left field in the minor leagues and during spring training. His defense is uninspiring at all three positions. If Diaz sticks with the Astros it will be at DH, because his defense just does not play any position at the level needed by a team that is trying to win a championship. The Astros have a hole to crawl out of and carrying Diaz just to get him a few at bats does not make sense. Right now fielding the best team possible should be the priority. If he had the potential to be a starting catcher he would be a top 5 prospect for the Astros but he just does not. Right now he is #20 on my most valuable prospects list.
This is a conclusion that is not supported by anything in the article. He has one of the best pop times in the league and a very strong arm. He does not have an issue with passed balls. He probably sucks at framing but so does Maldy and that won’t be a skill anyway in a year or two. He has also looked good in the limited opportunities he’s been given at game calling, and again, Maldy is probably not very good at that either. What am I missing here?
