Maybe the pitching whisperer behind the plate called those pitches. Play him 155 games to maximize the ultimate whisper advantage
Exactly. He’s all but abandoned his fastball and hitters are just sitting on the breaking ball. WASH is one of the worst to go in with that strategy due to their high contact rate.
I get that he is basically a two pitch pitcher. He threw 4 straight fastballs to start that at bat and had two strikes and couldn’t put him away with the fastball so he went to the slider and it was fouled off… and then fouled off again… and then a homer. All three sliders were exact same location and velocity… at least throw them in different locations or maybe throw them in a different sequence. Either Maldy or Pressly is really stubborn because this isn’t the first time Pressly has been crushed because he throws the same pitch over and over…. It happened earlier this year and last year a couple of times. My “guess” right now is that Pressly’s stuff just isn’t quite sharp enough right now to put guys away with two strikes. He has had these periods in his career - basically ever year and he ends up being hurt or he gets better. I still think he is a good closer, but he either needs to listen to Maldy and let him call the pitches OR if Maldy is calling the pitches, he needs to stop calling the sequences he does.
Juan Soto had 2+ seasons of control remaining when he was traded last year. That's exactly what Tucker will have this trade deadline. Washington got: ( fangraphs ratings) SD #1 C.J. Abrams (60 minf) SD #3 Robert Hassell (50 RF) SD #4 MacKenzie Gore (50 SP) SD #5 James Wood ( 50 CF) SD #8 Jarlin Susana (40+ SP) Josh Bell for Luke Voit was also included in that deal and they are similar value, but just for arguments sake, let's say including Bell resulted in Susana bring including. Furthermore, Soto is more highly regarded than Tucker. Instead of a 60 grade, and 3 50 grade prospects, lets say Tucker is worth a 55, 50, and 2 45+ grade prospects. According to Fangraphs a 55 grade prospect would be top 14-40 of all prospects. 50 grade is top 41-119. 45+ grade would be top 120-144. With Brown and Diaz graduated, the Astros have no 55 or 45+ grade prospects and only Korey Lee and Gilbert are 50 according to fangraphs. All 4 prospects in the trade would instantly fall into the Astros top 6 prospects, with the best of them being #1. According to mlb pipeline Gilbert is a 55 and Melton, Barber, and Clifford are 50. So the 4 new prospects would all be in top 8. I wonder what teams would be interested and what prospects would be included? FTR I know there is no way Tucker is going anywhere because the Astros are competing not rebuilding. But it's fun to think about it.
Yeah he’s a big leaguer but should be playing LF for the A’s or Tigers or some team like that. A team that’s tanking or rebuilding.
There is no rationale. Dusty is a total hunch manager. If the Astros are serious about the World Series this year, keep all the players and fire Dusty.
This team needs to come together in Yordans absence. They need to somehow play a few games better than .500 ball while he’s out. Then, he and Abreu and tucker and altuve and Bregman and one or two other guys need to RAKE!
this team without Yordan and Brantley can’t overcome Dusty. BP woes obviously aren’t his fault but his lineup construction day in and day out is too much to overcome as is his inability to win in extra innings
I agreed with PH Diaz for Julks as he is hot and simply better than Julks who should be a 1 day per week starter to give the regular LF a day off, or for specific matchup. How can you start a hitter 19 below MLB average at DH? And if Diaz had not driven in Tucker, then YES Dubon would have been the right move, as only a single would have been needed and a strikeout would be the worst possible outcome. Once Diaz tied it, Meyers needed to hit because an extra base hit or multiple hits were needed to score another run. Dubon was less likely to drive in the winning run and you waste a bullet and have a worse lineup and defense going into extra innings.
This team should have scored at least 2 runs and not let it go to extra innings. None of this should even be an issue. Maldy should never have hit leading off the bottom of the 8th of a tied game. - that's where you PH for Maldy but with Dubon. Then if you want to save Diaz for the 9th, put Dubon in left and Salazar catching. If Dubon gets on, you have speed on first with Chas, Altuve, and Bregman coming up needing a run to take a lead going into the 9th. Pressly is having a tough stretch and this team will need him, but putting him into a tie game in the 9th is not a good spot now. Maton needed to be the choice for the 9th. Maybe Maton still gives it up. We will never know, but different situation, different hitters, bases empty- maybe he pitches better. I hope this got out of Phil's system- and that he didn't punch any lockers or walls. Any RP can have a bad game but he has been nails. Hard to stay mad at him. Unless he breaks his hand again. If Maton was available and going to be used in the 10th anyway, he should just have been used in the 9th. Pressly is scuffling now. Maton would have been better.
Agreed with everything except, Diaz should have started over Maldo to begin with. Diaz should be playing catcher 3x/week minimum and even that's being generous to Maldo. Astros have too many injuries, too many struggling players, and too much competition in the division to be deploying "special" lineups damn near every game. I'm surprised Maldo hasn't DH'd yet.
Diaz is a far superior player to Maldy, but I am trying to be realistic. I'm not talking fantasy here !!
