Kessinger should be benched for throwing that game away. I would rather have Dubon at SS and Hensley at 2nd.
Let's not get carried away. The Astros are the defending champions, are 3 games back in the division with 69 to go and hold a wild card playoff spot. The Mets are a joke, you should have seen their loss to the Dodgers, especially the play where the 3B missed the pop fly and while he fell down it bounced and hit his face. That said, it's starting to be a real concern for this team given the ways we find to lose. Hopefully getting a healthy Yordan, Altuve and Urquidy is all we need to get flowing in the right direction.
Maldanado has a FIVE FIFTY NINE OPS, and he is awful on defense Bregman may not be playing up to expectations, but his on base % right now is the 3rd highest on the team. His OPS is 17 points higher than Dubon who everyone loves. Bregman is playing way below what we expect, but putting him in the same conversation as Maldanado is laughable Pena also, as bad as he has been, his OPS is 128 points higher than Maldanado, and Pena provides top third ss defense in all of mlb while Maldanado is awful behind the plate And I know a lot of people don't like hearing it, but Pena's OPS THIS YEAR while batting 2nd is .885! I know only 77 at bats, but it was .837 batting their last year too, and over 1.000 in the playoffs He should have been put there and left there but Johnnie can't
Also I saw a video that showed his direct swing path to the ball is off/inconsistent. Believe it or not, it has to do with where the knob of the bat is at contact. The knob of the bat is higher at contact than it was in previous years. He goes through stretches where he corrects this issue, but unlike in the past, now he's falling back into doing the wrong things. Hard to believe that what seems like such a minor thing could turn Bregs from a .290 hitter to a .250 hitter, but this appears to be the case.
There’s still no valid reason to put him there when Yordan is out. There’s an overwhelmingly large sample size, including the minors, that suggest the playoff run was the outlier…. And he’s much closer to the hitter he’s been (but his power numbers have dropped more than expected this year). Basically, you’re using similar logic to what you’re accusing Dusty of by always playing Maldanado because of “other” reasons. Pena somehow becomes a HOF/MVP player when he’s simply batting 2nd even if Yordan isn’t there?
I would like to find out if Pena could hit 2nd without Alvarez in the lineup. Pena shouldn't have been allowed to continue to bat after he got hurt. Has anybody heard if they're going to put him on the DL? Pena also gives the things this team is lacking, speed and above avg defense.
It’s more of an indictment on Pena to say that he can only become an above average hitter in the # 2 spot of a lineup. It’s magic feather logic. He is an important part of this lineup… especially when he’s a threat to go deep. His power numbers dropping off considerably thus far is concerning, regardless of where he’s batting.
Maldy is only magnified when everyone else is playing like trash. If Peña, Bregman were actually performing no one would be talking about Maldy.
Dusty still needs to make out lineups that puts his players in positions that give them their best chances for success. Pena hitting 2nd would be a good example of what I'm talking about.
Rangers took care of business against the sorry ass Guardians. Astros can't afford to keep giving games away if they ever want to catch them.
Yep, the team isn't good enough this year to carry Maldy, especially with Alvarez, Altuve maybe playing 100 games a piece this year. They aren't talented enough to get away with Altuve going 4-4 one game and sitting on the bench the next game.
The team formerly known as The Indians aren’t doing us any favors. Cleveland has blown a 5-3 lead in the 8th and now trail 6-5
If Yordan was in the lineup too Pena was never a plus hitter as a prospect or the minors. He was always projected to be slightly below average with a bat, great glove, overall very good player THAT WHAT HE IS. He needs to be hitting at the bottom half of the lineup, especially vs RHP. If Dusty wants to hit him 2nd in front of Yordan vs LHP I'm down for that.
Except Pena's success at #2 has only been with Yordan protecting him, which was the underlying logic of the move in the first place. There is no Yordan right now to do that.
FWIW, the cheating happened in 2017, but the cheating scandal broke after 2019. So if he's been affected by the boos or the publicity or whatever, then that could still apply.
