Just call up Gilbert by Mid July and I'm good with this terrible news. Feel bad for uncle Mike. It's just 12 million, nothing another patch on a jersey can't pay off.
Rafael Montero - 3 years 33 million - 6.15 ERA Jose Abreu - 3 years 60 million - .525 OPS Michael Brantley - 1 year 12 million - DNP
The entire position player roster is falling short. Last year fwar : this year current fwar projection: Bregman 5.5 : 4.2 Tucker 4.8 : 4.1 Altuve 6.6 : 2.4 Gurriel/Abreu -0.9 : 0.2 Alvarez 6.7 : 5.4 Pena 3.4 : 2.5 McCormick 2.0 : 1.5 Maldonado 0.5 : 0.2 ADiaz/Hensley 0.8 : -0.5 Brantley 1.2 : 0.6 Dubon 0.1 : 1.0 Meyers 0.3 : 1.4 Castro/Vazquez/YDiaz -0.8 : 0.5 And that’s with a lot of projections forecasting improvement, especially in Abreu, Bregman, Diaz, and Maldonado.
I actually believe the pitching clock is screwing with the hitters more than the pitchers. I think they will adjust.
I haven’t looked at the numbers outside the Astros. But I do not think the pitch clock is the Astros culprit. Looking at those numbers, obviously Altuve’s absence looms large; his projection of 4 less wins represents half of the total shortfall. And Abreu’s struggles are so bad they can’t possibly be linked solely to the pitch clock. I think Altuve’s injury took some emotional stability away from the club. I also think his absence (combined with Brantley being out and Abreu sucking) shortened the lineup and forced every hitter to generally face a fresher more confident pitcher each time up. If Brantley is out for the season then I really think this team needs to add a star level hitter. Kris Bryant would be my target.
The 12 million dollars to Brantley won't really make a difference. We still have plenty of financial flexibility to acquire someone who can help us out this year. If Abreu doesn't get it together, then that will hurt us more but it's way too early to make that determination. The biggest problem right now is that 4 players that are normally elite hitters are not playing or hitting like dog ****. Altuve, Brantley, Bregman, and Abreu. All these guys are all-star/MVP candidate players. There is still hope for 3 of them. We also lost a very consistent hitter in Chas. The only good news from the offensive side are that Dubon went from very negative to positive and Julks has been serviceable. Hensley has been a disappointment which has been made worse with Altuves injury that made Dubon the full time 2B. We just need Altuve and Chas back and either Abreu or Bregman to start hitting again and we will be fine. If both start hitting, then we will be cooking with gas.
Pitch click isn’t screwing with hitters more than pitchers. Offense and the run environment league wide is up- the Astros just have a culmination of suck pretty much everywhere. Good news is we are about to get healthy. Better news might be that we have enough dudes on hand that this lineup- should we choose to use it- will probably be back to our normal 15-20% better than league average as opposed to our 12% worse than league average aberration (I think it settled in here when everyone is back) Altuve/Peña/Alvarez/Bregman/Tucker/Abreu/ Chas/marisnick/catcher. on days where Diaz catches that’s only 1 below average bat in the lineup (marisnick). Yes I know Diaz numbers don’t show him average but I believe he’s going to be a positive offensive player once he settles in and gets regular playing time. Yes I know Abreu has numbers that show him as a terrible offensive player but I think he’s got to be some combination of hurt and in his head. True talent level on that lineup is pretty high and the defense in the OF should be outstanding.
