8-4 over that time period not 9-3. Still, with the trashy lineup we trotted out most of last week with Yordan and Chas down and Dusty deciding to get Bannon and Hensley prominently involved as well as Maldy going 2 for 30 during that time 8-4 feels like a miracle. Our OPS+ is 94. That's bad. That's because of bad managerial decisions in part (hitting Dubon too high- hitting Abreu too high- playing Maldy so much- playing Hensley more than necessary) but mostly it's injury luck (Brantley and Altuve- all year- Chas- 15 games- Yordan- 6 games) being bad. How are we staying afloat? How about an ERA+ of 137. That's right- our pitching- even with the bullpen sort of sucking the first 2 weeks and Garcia and Urquidy trading blow up starts and LMJ being out is 37% better than league average. The pitching isn't over performing what they were thought to be quality wise and looks imminently sustainable. It's probably even going to get better when LMJ replaces Blanco. If that keeps up we are fine, regardless of how Dusty wants to mangle the lineup decisions in the strange strange way that he perceives to be best for the team.
It's a nice idea Maybe it happens next year when Maldy is retired. THIS team can have everything any manager, owner, or fan could want in an offense. Altuve - career 128 OPS+ and 8 consecutive seasons ( forget 2020) of 125 or better. Pena- 138 career OPS+ when hitting in #2 hole and even better so far this year. Yordan- career 162 OPS+. 136 is career worst. Bregman- 136 career OPS+. April is only month he does not have at least a .848 OPS for his career Tucker- 129 career OPS+ with 124 his lowest ever in a full season. Abreu - terrible start, but April is by far his worst month and he has never finished a season below 117 OPS+. 132 Career OPS+ and every month besides April is .834 or better OPS. Brantley - 124 Astros career OPS+ with 119 being his worst. McCormick- .111 career OPS+ and has improved each year. Or Meyers- 105 career OPS+ If you forget about 2022 where he was clearly still affected by shoulder injury. That lineup is more than good enough to cover for Maldy if the team wants him to catch everyday. But 1) they need to hit like they can and should 2) there is still no reason to play him over a guy who is outperforming him in every conceivable way.
Sure, on paper it seemed like a decent signing and I'm actually still hopeful that he'll turn things around. That said, I'm not the one getting paid to evaluate these guys and make offers. You know what I didn't like a few months ago? Going into free agency w no GM and letting someone like Bagwell exert influence over personnel decisions. Maybe someone like Click or Brown catch something vaunted baseball personnel expert Jeff Bagwell overlooked. It'd be one thing if Abreu was just running into bad luck but he's been wholly uncompetitive. Statistically one of the single worst players today.
There were three obvious candidates to replace Yuli this off-season - Rizzo, Abreu, and Bell. Rizzo was the best of three but probably not a realistic option. I don’t know who Click would have picked, but it is some ****ing funny comeuppance for Crane to have his marquee signing as GM potentially blow up in his face.
Calling up Bielak feels like they think Urquidy will miss only a handful of starts. Would think France would have gotten a shot if they expected Urquidy out longer term.
I'm very surprised they don't bring up someone like Gage or maybe Dubin. They won't need Bielak to start until the 9th because of the off day.
Crane singed JV to the extension and then re-signed him after TJ surgery. Crane gave Altuve his extension. Crane has always had final say on all bigger contracts… and in some cases (JV) the only say.
He signed JV against Click’s wishes… and Luhnow wasn’t necessarily pushing for an Altuve extension at that time.
QUOTE="Nick, post: 14617552, member: 263"]He signed JV against Click’s wishes… and Luhnow wasn’t necessarily pushing for an Altuve extension at that time.[/QUOTE] Where did you read that Click didn’t want to sign JV?
Its been pretty well noted that Click wasn’t on board with the offer with him coming off TJ surgery… Crane negotiated the contract and agreed to the player option (which he easily vested) which basically sealed the deal. Some say that was the beginning of the end for the Crane-Click relationship.
