Altuve (hopefully not Alvarez) hurt a lot. Unforced errors are really frustrating to me. The Astros should be able to play 8 average or above hitters 2 out of every 3 games provided Alvarez isn't hurt long. The Astros have played 8 average hitters or better once this season and this is with assuming Dubon is average (he has been this season, but I'd guess he will regress to a slightly below average hitter).
We saw this last year as well… rarely saw the best possible lineup consistently, till the playoffs. Less margin for error this year with injuries and better performance from divisional rivals. All that being said, hovering around 10 games over .500, with full knowledge of the extent of their roster (with everybody having gotten more playing time than deserved), should equip their GM to know exactly what they need to go forward. Whether or not those needs are attainable depends on the market.
Moving forward (at least until Brantley returns/the trade deadline), I'd like to see something like the following lineup once Yordan is back: Altuve 2B Tucker RF Yordan DH Bregman 3B Diaz C Meyers CF McCormick LF Pena SS Dubon 1B
The Astros last season had JV, Garcia, and Urquidy all healthy, great years from their 7 best players, and likely underperformed in the regular season. This season, I don't think they will have the margin of error that they did last year. I think the Astros players have done a great job putting themselves in their current position considering everything. On knowing what the Astros need going forward, I'd really like to see Meyers, Chas, and Diaz as full time players without needing Alvarez to miss a bunch of games for it to happen. I think that would help the offense and defense, but seeing is better theorectical.
I honestly don’t care about the batting order, I just want to see them consistently play 8 of their 9 best active hitters.
I would too… but would also like to see Bregman/Tucker play up to their standards as I don’t expect Meyers/Chas to be able to carry this team even if they are automatically in the lineup every single game. They’ve got similar strengths/weaknesses. They do seem to be interchangeable in their current version. Brantley was thought to be a need enough to cut him a decent check…. And if he’s never coming back, they would seemingly still have that need.
I wouldn't see it as Chas and Meyers carrying the team. The great hitters could carry more if they didn't have to give Abreu, Maldy, and Julks piggyback rides. On Diaz, I want to see more, but he looks like he's going to be a Tucker/Bregman level hitter. The traditional stats aren't there, but his peripherals are. If Diaz is that level of hitter, he's going to be able to carry some weight.
I fully believe Diaz is in the long term plans and his development is important on all fronts. I don’t believe him being carefully “eased” into the situation is simply Dusty being stubborn. Obviously injuries and Abreu’s ineptitude may force him to accelerate that process. Not sure if Chas/Meyers are in line to be career Astros. Jake’s inconsistent consistency (on both sides of the ball) is something they can live with when he’s an 8 or 9 guy. Chas is fine and is the type of player most contending teams have near the bottom of the order.
Between McCullers, Abreu and Montero that's exactly $48 million tied up this season with a collective WAR of: -1.8 That's really difficult to overcome.
Move Pena back to his death spot in the lineup and Abreu back at his comfortable fifth spot, yep y'all enjoy the next two weeks of extremely inept offense. Thanks Dusty!
Me too and most every Astros fan, although I haven’t given up on Abreu yet. Maldonado or Dusty needs to go.
Jake’s been pretty consistent for a while now. I think he is the real deal, but he will be expendable when Gilbert is ready. Last night’s miss by Myers was not aggregious in my opinion. His speed is one of the reasons he even had a chance at that ball. It got out there really fast.
