Nah. I don't know if the Astros would be better with Maldonado elsewhere and a better hitting catcher - sometimes I do feel that way. However, Maldonado certainly is a big part of the Astros dynasty and pitching success..... in the 6 seasons he has been with the Astros, they have finished first in pitching 4X and second one time - the only outlier being the COVID season. The coaches and players also say he is a big part of it. I don't think the success is because of any single person - but I do think that Maldonado is one of the people involved. I personally would really like Salvy Perez from the Royals or Diaz to get 50+ starts - but that doesn't change the past.
I'm not a huge Maldonado fan. I would definitely like to see Diaz get more ABs because I want to get a sense of how good of a hitter he will be. However, having said that, it annoys me so much to read people on this message board who speak as if they know for a fact all the reasons behind the decisions Dusty makes. People on here and their podcasts making statements like this is Dusty's "war on math", suggesting the only reasons he has are his "gut" and/or just liking certain players better and showing preferential treatment. But the guy is known as a players manager. Managers that routinely play favorites and bench guys for silly reasons don't typically get to be player favorite managers. I think some of us need to accept the fact that there is information, probably really important information, that goes into the Astros/Dusty's decision making process that we will NEVER know. And maybe, just maybe, they deserve a little bit of the benefit of the doubt when it comes to all that, because the team's success over Dusty's tenure is pretty damn incredible. Alright, I told myself last season I wasn't going to get sucked into Maldonado discussions again. It's the same stupid **** over and over. People keep saying the same things (including me now, I guess) as if this argument has changed even a little bit season to season. I'm not a huge Dusty or Maldonado homer, but I think they hate they receive here is way above and beyond what is deserved.
JV has left Maldy and been awesome so far. Morton left Maldy and was awesome. Cole left Maldy and was awesome. The Astros have been awesome at pitching because the Astros have awesome pitchers mainly, and because they have really good defense as a minor part of that. Which is essentially what you are saying. I suspect it would take about 2 weeks and/or a couple big HR’s from Diaz before the pitchers say Maldy who. And- as I always say- pitchers are the ones to ultimately call the game.
JV has left Maldy and been awesome so far. Morton left Maldy and was awesome. Cole left Maldy and was awesome. The Astros have been awesome at pitching because the Astros have awesome pitchers mainly, and because they have really good defense as a minor part of that. Which is essentially what you are saying. I suspect it would take about 2 weeks and/or a couple big HR’s from Diaz before the pitchers say Maldy who. And- as I always say- pitchers are the ones to ultimately Read what I quoted again. He’s literally said maybe it’s why the astros have built such a dynasty. Ignoring that the dynasty started before he got here and during the dynasty other catchers have had better winning percentages than him. Has he been a part of this? Sure. So have a shitload of other people. Is he the lynchpin/reason? Ab****ingsurd.
I think the staff's perception of Maldy is based on what the pitchers think. I don't think any of the pitchers ever complain about Maldy catching for them even if he is a black hole most of the time in the lineup. I still want Diaz to get more burn just to keep Maldy healthy if he is indeed that important. I'm more worried about Bregman and Abreu batting like crap. They are two former MVP type guys that are batting closer to 200 than 300. If they get going and the young pitchers can hold down the fort, I think we are in pretty damn good shape for the post season especially if Gilbert or Dirden work out this season and Brantley can be healthy enough to play DH once in a while.
Whether Maldy is healthy or not doesn't really matter, there's no need to keep him fresh. He's gonna give the same results he always does. He's gonna be an offensive black hole in October (.411 OPS last 2 postseasons), its just something we have to account for building our lineup. I don't like it, but I've accepted it, even if I would like to see Diaz start more than once every 2 weeks.
The Astros *do not care about his offense. So simple. Yet it seems incomprehensible to so many. You can not say it enough. The Astros *do not care about his offense.
I'm not sure if this is the case. I don't expect more rest to turn 4 years back off the clock, but I hope more rest would help his defense.
As long as Bregman keeps walking more than he's striking out and hitting the ball as well as he always has (which he is doing this year) you don't need to worry. It will happen and it will come. I posted the stats on that upthread. It will be fine.
Rock Line-up AB(b)A Altuve Bregman Alvarez spinal TAP and Tucker Abreu Pena run DMJ or is that DMC? Diaz McCormick Corey Julks
More interesting stats: Astros have now given up 5 or more runs 4 times in May. All 4 are Diaz starts (out of his 5 total). Montero has give up 16 earned runs this season. 3 have come with Maldy catching. The other 13 have been with Salazar and Diaz.
Interesting stat- Diaz catchers era is better than Maldy’s on the year and Diaz now catches the worst astros pitchers and Maldy the best. You are an silly human being.
Games after the Astros score 10+ runs: 2021: 13-7 average 5.35 runs per game. 0 shutouts. 2022: 4-9 average 2.7 runs per game. 3 shutouts 2023: 0-1 and it was a shutout. I think that 2 years ago the Astros scored 10+ runs 20 times and here we are nearly 1/3 of the season and it's only once is a very telling stat.
I didn't say Maldy was the lynchpin. I said the Astros seeing things that everyone else doesn't is what makes them great. And you can't accept that they see things in Maldy's value that you don't. The Astros win through a lot of different things - and they consider Maldy a big part of that. And their 2017 team won through hitting in the playoffs - their entire bullpen had become unplayable and was imploding basically every other day, which is why Morton and LMJ became legends. Maybe - but I'm glad I'm not the one that spends every day being angry at one of the best teams in Astros' history while they just keep winning their way. I can't imagine looking back on the last few years of Astros fandom and being miserable every single day because they didn't play the guys I hoped. It's interesting that your "6-0!!!" sample size with Diaz winning early in the season was big enough to post about daily; but my May sample size is just ridiculous and makes me a silly person with silly posts.
JV was at his best as an Astro and demanded Maldy as his personal catcher. Cole was at his best an Astro and demanded Maldy as his personal catcher. Framber, Astros' current ace, wants Maldy as his personal catcher. The pitchers who apparently call their own games keep asking for Maldy. They've been to 3 World Series in 4 years with Maldy. But internet-fan is pretty sure they should go with Diaz. If I'm Dusty, which do I go with?
Astros were 49-7 with Pena batting second last year. Pena has 20 AB's in the 2 hole this year and in those 20 AB's he has 3 of his 6 home runs. But yes....let's keep batting him 6th.
In fairness, Chirinos was the primary catcher in 2019 and JV gushed about him. I even remember an interview where he said he was a little surprised by how much he liked throwing to him. Chirinos caught all 6 of JVs playoff starts in 2019.
Oh absolutely - to be clear, I'm not saying that Maldy is the *only* catcher that works well for the Astros. I'm saying the Astros value certain things in a catcher, and they aren't necessarily the traditional metrics we all can see. McCann, Chirinos, etc may have had those things and been great parts of the team that also brought offense. But right now, it's between Maldy and Diaz, and I think the Astros are very clearly indicating that they feel - and have long felt - that Maldy is excellent at those things and conversely don't think Diaz has whatever those traits/skills/work-ethic/etc are (right now). For whatever reason, Astros pitchers consistently gravitate towards Maldy and that should be telling us something. But Vazquez got something like 40-50% playing time last year in Aug/Sept, so the Astros don't have a problem using other catchers. They just have to be the right ones.
