You will almost never get resistance in any working environment by handling well liked veterans with greater care. They only situation that will ever change in is if a bunch of new people start to outnumber and be kept down by said veterans, or if the veteran starts to force disproportionate work on the others. Baseball in particular, players operate largely independently of each other. One player sucking doesn't prevent you from playing well, so you are very rarely gonna get players coming out in favor of benching somebody they like.
We'll see, I tend to think this is merely a byproduct of our condensed schedule to get Maldy days off, not a slow changing of the guard. Diaz still isn't catching the likely October pitchers.
My only concern with increasing Diaz's playing time at C is whether or not he can physically hold up over the course of a full season. Something like a 60/40 or 50/50 split between Maldy/Diaz with Diaz playing a lot of 1B when not catching might be the best solution currently.
Normally I would agree with you and totally get the human nature aspect. However, the Astros have practically gone on marketing campaigns defending Maldonado and painting him as this amazing teammate, etc, etc. Hell, even in some broadcasts when Maldonado is playing awful they pull out some obscure stat to try and make the guy look better. If he is supposed to be such an amazing teammate he needs to be one of the few like you mentioned in your line of work that do the right thing and voluntarily step back. They sold him as the amazing teammate. Show me when the toughest decisions regarding his own playing time need to be made.
I don't think Anybody wants Diaz catching 75% of the games, or they shouldn't. He should at most be a 50/50 starter in the regular season. His bat looks too good to allow it to be worn down.
This is consistent with what I have heard and posted before. This isn't as simple as Brown throwing up his hands and saying he cannot do anything. Brown doesn't force Baker to play players and Baker doesn't force Brown to trade for someone. It sounds stupid, but that is largely the traditional model and that is what the Astros have in that regard. Brown knows the importance of relationships with Baker, Crane and in general within the organization. Brown privately has spoken to Baker and now he has escalated it by talking about it publicly. There is a protocol for escalating how it is handled. Brown in the past has had a temper, but its clear he wants to handle this politically. Also Brown and Baker are coming from two very different places. Brown sees what the fans do - that Diaz can hit (duh - he has reminded me of Carlos Santana since AA) However, it isn't just Baker that is concerned with Diaz - the coaches are as well, they don't like his selectivity (or lack of), they don't like the lack of discipline in game preparation and want to make sure he learns to do it the right way. Also, I cannot speak for all of the pitchers, but I know that unless something has changed in the last month, the pitchers WANT to work with Maldonado and have asked to have him behind the plate. The Astros also do not want to alienate the guy that really is the glue to the staff, and is about as good at preparation and research as anyone behind the plate, I have heard very smart people with Ivy League degrees say that Martin understands it at a level higher than they do. These concerns can be real - ask the Cardinals about it. At the end of the day, they need to play Julks less and sneak in more at bats for Diaz and try and see if the pitchers will compromise and have Diaz catch every 4th game. It isn't ideal but it is a compromise and sets up the Astros for the future.
Even more than Maldy starting, my concern is about Dusty all but refusing to pinch hit for him late. He should never hit in the 8th inning or later anytime the game is tied or the Astros losing. I like Maldy. He is a high IQ player and totally beloved in the dugout. He is a valuable member of this team and I wholeheartedly think the team should have enough run production to win despite him. When he does play, he should never swing at the first pitch unless it's a specific and rare occassion where it has been identified that he can ambush a pitcher careless with 1st pitches. And he should bunt whenever there is a runner on 1st with less than 2 outs or 1st and/or 2nd with no outs. That said, I feel due to age and declining abilities he should play much less than he does. And he should be pinch hit for much more often.
Yeah, FWIW I agree with you. I am not in that dugout, I don't know how behind Diaz really is when it comes to knowledge and game preparation - but it seems to me that Maldonado should start 108-120 games this season, with Diaz getting 40-50 starts and playing DH another 40-50 games, play 1st 12 games a season and have him pitch hit when it is a high leverage situation. I get the egos involved - Maldonado and Abreu don't want to lose playing time - but Maldonado isn't losing his starting spot and is 37 years old. As for Abreu, he knows he isn't going to play forever if his OPS is 500's. The Astros are not trying to make him anxious but the reality is that if he doesn't hit at least 100 points higher on his OPS in June/July, that the Astros will replace him with someone that will, for at least part of this season.
This has nothing to do with Diaz vs Maldy. Diaz with experience with Framber is likely better than Diaz without experience with Framber.
I've heard a lot about this, and don't want to disagree with it because of that. Plenty of people that know baseball better than me seem to have been OK with this. But you would think there would be "some" evidence that pitchers perform better with him. It's not that we're noticeably worse with him catching, there's just no sign whatsoever that we're actually better either. Framber and LMJ are the only guys that don't have better number throwing to other people, and Maldy has basically been the only guy Framber throws to so even that's hard to tell. Javier had the best work of his career throwing to Vasquez and was better with Castro Verlander threw to Chirinos in 2019 and was better with Castro last season Garcia also threw better to Castro, and was basically the same guy throwing to Vasquez Extremely small sample, but Brown has been better throwing to Diaz. Maybe he does do a lot in the locker room to help with game prep, but it doesn't show when he's on the field versus his backup. Basically the argument is that he's gonna be a malcontent and stop helping with game prep if he doesn't start 75% of the time.
I don't disagree with you - just what I have heard ad nauseum. Maybe Maldonado is a security blanket? IDK There is also a real chance all of this is mute, because at 37 years old and with his history of injuries, it is possible Maldonado really breaks down - and while no one will say it, I am sure there are some that hope that happens - Maldonado does all the prep without a bruised ego and the Astros get a bat behind the plate.
I don't want Dusty playing Maldy 50% of the time behind the plate unless they go to robo umps. I hate that framing is an issue, but until they go to robo umps, Maldy is a liability behind the plate. I want Diaz's bat. There are plenty of catchers that should be able to catch better than Maldy and DIaz.
I disagree that one thing decides whether he's an amazing teammate or not. From my understanding, Maldy spends hours per day prepping pitchers on the opposition for the better part of his career. I bet you that's the one particular thing every pitcher remembers about him. Moreso than his hitting, framing, runners thrown out, etc... I bet you that's why they like and prefer him.
Playing Maldy basically all the time drives me crazy too but we won a ws with him (and lost two). The real problem is obviously Abreu. If he continues like this, is there any universe where Diaz can become the main 1st baseman?
We're gaining traction folks... keep posting / tweeting / calling and questioning... yes, they may/(not) continue to win. But NOTHING is worse for an organization than the surface optics, feedback, criticism, narratives from the public/media. If DBrown really made it sound like this... then wooooweeee, bet that baby powder feels great on them nuts-- let em' swang Dey-Naw-Idea-Its-Comin... just because Baker's Doesn't has a career / a ring / successful seasons with the Astros DOES NOT MEAN HE SHOULDN'T BE KEPT IN CHECK / HELD ACCOUNTABLE / QUESTIONED & CHALLENGED FOR HIS DECISIONS/CHOICES who to play / put in the lineup. As stated earlier: I'm really surprised Maldy HASN'T gone to Dusty and told him-- this dude is next-gen, play/hit him as much as possible (even if they both have to be in the lineup at the same day: C/1B or C/DH). There is absolutely NO EXCUSE for playing Jose Abreu every game... no excuse... I don't give an actual **** if there are 19 and a half million excuses-- it doesn't hold water. Dude needs to ride pine & watch/learn how our boys get it done. You can't teach an old dog new tricks, unless they are willing to submit and know their place. Can we poach the White Sox hitting coach or whoever specialist he was working with up there??? That being said-- 7th/8th hole... AT BEST until he mashes and can accumulate 2-4/3-4 EVERY GAME especially if THEY-- read "HE" (aka "too-cool-for-numbers-guy talking-piece") wants to allow this abomination to continue. It's BLATANTLY obvious this dude is not gelling with our fierce offensive lineup... case-in-point: G1 of HOU/TOR... dude had to celebrate and/or get validation from his fellow teammates (AFTER MAKING IT TO 1ST BASE). Dude-- you ain't some rookie... stop trying to find out if you're accepted/appreciated in the eyes of your teammates. Get out there and be selfish and try to be the ace-in-the-hole for this team. IDGAF if you have to be a d!ckhead to people as long as you're getting the job done, doing what you were (in the eyes of the fans and probably the players, RELUCTANTLY) chosen to do. And piggybacking on the Maldy comment about expressing humility-- this dude is a pro, you're telling me you're ego is that big that you won't even CONSIDER to allow hotter hitters to hither hit?!?? As would most likely the rest of the Astros organization and the other 99% of Houston Astros family, friends, and fans. Sooner or later-- numbers and analytics factor into EVERYTHING... It's a new dawn, It's a new day, It's a new game And I'm feeling good
