What about Brantley at 1B at least occasionally? Mentioned a couple of days ago. I assume Dubon can play first well so it is an interesting idea. Astros manager Dusty Baker said Saturday that Brantley (shoulder) will play some first base on his minor-league rehab assignment, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports. Baker added that Brantley will see action at first base here and there once he returns to the active roster, probably around the second week of May. The rehabbing veteran started in left field in his first three games with Triple-A Sugar Land before taking a turn at designated hitter Friday. He's on his way back from surgery last August to repair the labrum in his right shoulder. https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/news/astros-michael-brantley-to-play-some-1b-on-rehab/
Abreu, Maldy, and Hensley's struggles have hurt the Astros. Maldy isn't too much of a surprise. Hensley has hurt the potential to use PHs from a roster construction standpoint assuming that the roster would be managed as constructed. Abreu....I expect he will be better than he's been, but right now the lineup feels like bad hitter great hitter great hitter bad hitter great hitter good hitter okay hitter black hole maybe bad hitter maybe good hitter Until Abreu starts hitting and as long as he's between Alvarez and Tucker, any time one of Bregman, Alvarez, and Tucker hit a bad patch, it really isolates the guys hitting into pockets in the lineup.
moderately decent lineup. wish Hensley's bum ass wasn't playing. Why Maldy gets trotted out there game after game is ****ing frustrating though.
This is what scares me We have had enough pitching that Dusty could play his BS lineups, and we still win a huge number of games We don't have that kind of pitching anymore, especially if Garcia is done. These games all matter, losses that occur that could have potentially been wins if we played our best offensive options can cost us the playoffs this year. And I don't want to hear about how we have started slow in years past and it's a long year and yada yada yada We don't have Verlander anymore We don't have Garcia now We don't have Urquidy now We don't have LMJ now It's not the same without all those guys. Play your best team until someone truly needs a break, or we risk not getting in
He certainly isn't going to risk playing Diaz and Diaz having another good game Makes it harder to justify only playing him once a week
Bregman in the 2 hole and Abreu cleanup again. Horrible Offensive showing so let’s put Hensley and Maldy back in the lineup!
Every year, the future is uncertain. Load management is important for a long season as the best team isn't going to be as good for long. The Astros problem is the manager isn't good at identifying the best team such that playing the best lineup is almost random (i.e., I think Dusty tries to win as many regular season games as possible with taking feedback from trainers on load management). Projections and current fWAR matchup right now on who are the best available Astros. The 9 best lineup (regardless of whether a guy is at DH or in field) of available players has been played 5 times in 30 games. Astros are 4-1 in those games.
I bring Morgan Ensberg forth from the dark and hold you to the light. Let not your past control Hensley's bat. Let not Hensley's future be as dark as night. I move you back into the light and bind you away from Hensley's bat. So mote it be.
Going to the game today. For as much s**t as I give Maldy, I'm OK with him being Frambers guy. For as awesome as Framber is, he seems to need a counselor on occasion.
Bregman needs to play to get himself right and he's still getting on base so I'm fine with him 2nd. It will happen just a matter of when. Hensley needs to get back to 2022 Hensley and he can't do that on the bench. I want him to play and be aggressive in the zone and not try to work the count. Abreu needs 2-3 days off to work with the hitting coaches to redo his stance and swing. Then put him back to the 6-7 spot of the lineup until he gets comfortable with his reworked approach.
Why are you considering Dubon (currently) a bad hitter? If it's based on history, that's fair, but this season he's been consistently getting hits and has a higher OPS than Bregman.
I think Dubon has been a life saver for this team and the hole at 2B. But Dubon has not been particularly good outside of a hot start for the first 9 games. Start of season thru 4/12: 9g .361 .395/.444=.839 4/13- now: 16g .275 .292/.362=.654 He only had 1 K in 38 PA during the hot streak, but has had 10 in 72 PA since. That's still way above average but not enough to overcome only a single walk with no power during that time. He is a great fill in but still should be the 8th or 9th best hitter on the team.
And the last 10 games to now, his OPS is .730 and that's with 3 Ofers. We can certainly find stretches with any player throughout the season where the stats can be manipulated based on a subset of games. That being said, I'd still rather see someone else leadoff and Dubon will be easily replaced when Altuve is back.
I'm basically at field level today row 3. There was some sort of school choir performing the anthem. Pena went and said hello and I swear there was a boy band level squeal.
All true. As I said, he has been a life saver. I just don't get the "play him at 1B." and " bench Altuve in favor of Dubon." talk. Even the .730 you reference is pretty pedestrian for a 10 game sample as a good streak. Fairly above average but not great. He is the best 2B on the active roster and should play every day, but counting on him offensively is an issue. And batting him leadoff really shows the weakness this team has at the top of the order.
