Agreed. I Think he's starter or bust. I also think a modified 6 man rotation would be excellent for him- where it is 6 man when no days off but he gets skipped 2 X a month when there are off days making it permissible, such that he ends up only making something like 20-22 starts (with 6 or 8 2 or 3 inning relief appearances on scheduled days to stay sharp) over the course of an entire season. If that then doesn't work send him his retirement papers.
Livan Hernandez + Eric Gregg is the worst HPU game since tv turned to color. Fittingly it was vs Atlanta
2024 pitchers available Verlander Valdez Javier France Brown Urquidy Blanco Mid season returns McCullers Garcia Mid season promotable Gordon Arrighetti Relievers Pressly Abreu Graveman Montero Mushinski Potential extension Neris
1. Altuve 2B 2. Tucker RF 3. Yordan LF/DH 4. Bregman 3B 5. Chas CF 6. Brantley DH/LF 7. Diaz C 8. Singleton 1B 9. Pena SS This needs to be our everyday lineup. If Brantley doesn’t work out then Put Meyers in CF and Chas in left with Yordan at DH. Bat Diaz 6th, singleton 7th, Meyers 8th. too easy.
I haven't given up on Abreu yet, nor totally bought in on Singleton. And I wouldn't put that lineup in stone, 2-7 could be finagled a bit depending on matchups and days off. i.e. wanting the best OF defense (chas-meyers-tucker) for certain pitchers. But yes, this is the way.
If everything is rolling like it should, Meyers should really just be a defensive replacement late in games and a once a week starter.
Just depends on the pitcher and the ballpark. There's absolutely situations where you don't want Yordan/Brantley in LF. I'm also not counting on anything from Brantley yet.
If Brantley returns and is able to LF/DH. C) Maldy, Diaz Inf) Altuve, Bregman, Dubon, Kessinger, Pena, Abreu (Singleton if not healthy) OF) Alvarez, Brantley, McCormick, Meyers, Tucker. vs RHP Altuve 2B Bregman 3B Alvarez DH/ LF Tucker RF Diaz C McCormick CF Abreu ( Singleton) 1B Brantley LF/DH Pena SS vs LHP Altuve 2B Pena SS Alvarez DH Tucker RF McCormick LF Bregman 3B Abreu (Singleton) 1B Meyers CF Maldy C
No Maldy starting scenarios anymore. The rest of it looks great. Maldy in anything more than a backup role is a joke at this point, even against LHP. Diaz saves us more runs defensively and calls a better game and frames better than Maldy. Did you see Diaz smack that line drive single against a lefty just the other day? Sample size too small anyway against lefties and minor league stats don’t convince me, at this point in his development, that he will not hit lefties if given regular opportunities.
You can't be behind the plate every game, that's a given. Give Maldy 1 start every 5 games down the stretch, matchup-dependent Somebody wants a "designated catcher"? Show us it's worthwhile.
when I said “backup role” for Maldy, I meant like a normal backup. Once a week catch Verlander. The rest of the time play Diaz there. Did you really think I was suggesting that Diaz never get rest?
We're saying the same thing, just in slightly different ways. Still: I want to see Diaz catch Framber/JV/Javier/everybody. And if I see one more...ONE MORE..."personal CF" I might lose my stuff a little bit
Based on what I have heard from the Astros in the past - if I had to guess, it will be Luis Garcia moved into the pen, into high leverage spots. The Astros pitching coach duo have said that Garcia’s stuff is a whole level nastier when he pitches 20-25 pitches instead of 80-100.
Singleton, even with slumping for a few days, looks much better at the plate than Abreu has most of this season. Singleton is selective and patient and I can kinda see the hits coming if he stays the course. He has barely missed a couple that were line drive outs or a deep fly. He has like 7 walks in 7 games right? Abreu has looked lost at the plate for almost the entire season. He swings at trash, gets down 0-2 like every at bat and hits little nubbers to 2nd base or steikes out miserably. He barely ever barrels it up. I understand the whole “back of the baseball card” thing that everyone loves to say now, but the eye test currently says Singleton and it’s not really hard to see.
They're going to need to have Mushinski and Dubin along with probably bringing in a FA to rebuild the bullpen.
