Yainer Diaz in his last 57 games played has an OPS of .905 overall and he has 207 at bats and 16 homers and 15 doubles with a 294 batting average and only 40 strikeouts. His OPS+ during this streak is 145..... and his slugging is 590..... the only thing keeping him from having an OPS+ of like 160 is his lack of walks. He has an amazing total of 4 walks in his last 207 at bats. As good as he has been (including throwing out 36% of runners), there are areas he can improve on. I don't expect him to ever walk 100 times, because he is an excellent bad ball hitter - but he can get into the 40-50 a season range as pitchers begin to be more selective with him - that is similar to Mike Piazza earlier in his career. Regardless, he has been a monster this season. He is also gradually hitting lefties better. He is like 22-23 years old - he needs to start every single game the rest of the season. If Dusty wants to be an old fool and trot Maldonado out 4/5 games, then Diaz needs to be at first base 4/5 games and catching the other game. The Astros are a FAR better team when they can lengthen their line up. We saw how having a shorter line up hurt the Astros against the M's with Tucker out. Diaz, Tucker, McCormick, Altuve, Bregman and Alvarez need to be out there almost every single night....that is 6 plus to awesome bats......... Pena can have Dubon sub for him sometimes...... Meyers and Julks and Dubon can fight over at bats... and if Brantley is ready, call him up...... he potentially lengthens the line up to 7 deep.
Yes we all know and love Yainer and can't wait to see him for 5 more years, at least. But in the spirit of my post, Dusty is not leaving Yainer on the bench because he's choosing Singleton over him. Dusty is keeping Yainer on the bench by choosing Maldy over him. 13 position players. 4 must be on the bench each game. Hensley and Julks should never start a game. Dubon should only start if Altuve or Pena have the day off. That leaves Maldy or Diaz and Maldy should sit a damn sight more than he does.
My point cancels all of that out. Diaz is a catcher, not a 1st baseman. If Diaz isn’t in the lineup, it’s because Dusty is playing Maldy at catcher. Diaz should catch 5 days a week and DH the other start. 1st base should never matter.
Yes, but we know Dusty is not going to bench Maldy. We need Diaz’ bat in the lineup and we need to get Myers back in the lineup in center. That puts Yordon as DH. Diaz needs to play 1b, because Dusty is a horrible manager.
Actually the reason Diaz plays 1B at all is because Dusty is a horrible manager. Diaz is pretty awful over there. If this team is going to get hot and start winning, it won’t be with Diaz on the bench or at 1B. He needs to catch full time with the occasional DH game.
Sure, he's not Bagwell, Berkman, or Yuli, but I don't see how he is any worse than Abreu, Dubon, Kessinger, Hensley, or Madris at first... I also find it amazing he only had 2 starts last year despite being an early September callup despite locking up the division relatively early...
Altuve Bregman Alvarez McCormick Tucker Diaz Brantley, Singleton, or Abreu Pena Meyers, Dubon, or Maldonado That should be the lineup every single game for the remainder of the season. No more ****ing rest days for their best players while they watch their postseason hopes disappear.
Tucker Barnhart DFA'd. He would be a great pairing with Diaz. Oh how sweet it would be if he were to be claimed and Maldy released this week...sigh.
Podcast 21: Group Therapy! We try to come to grips with the Astros season- rationalize what’s been going on, talk schedule some and lick our wounds after a rough week. Plus, Gabe says something nice about Maldonado Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2KLpqSJoZGJQPWn38ZDVNI?si=qT0HNjcbQfmjbRdy5KkTMw Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podca...n-astros-podcast/id1683955456?i=1000625205985 Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/8...he-season?ref=dm_sh_rGGN13AwkM7vb2ce7RKdXt5qX
Do they have that statistic for the playoffs last year. It would be interesting to see how much that has flipped.
Not sure how reliable but Apollo Media tweeted people that work for them(or maybe someone that they know)in Sugarland heard as early as this weekend as long as no setbacks.
It is going to be very interesting to see how Houston approaches the big 4 pending free agents (Tucker, Framber, Bregman, Altuve) this offseason. There’s almost no way they can maintain a contending team letting all 4 leave, but there’s almost no way they have enough payroll flexibility to keep all 4 (or even 3 of the 4). I figure they absolutely have to extend Altuve, and from there they will just negotiate with the other 3 hoping to get one to bite on a reasonably team friendly deal.
I honestly don't see how we can afford tucker from a length of contract standpoint. He's going to require a lot of years. I think Altuve will be extended because it's unimaginable that he goes anywhere else. I also don't see a ton of years considering his age. Maybe an additional 4 years at 25-30 million. It's hard for me to judge Bregmans value so I can't even guess. Framber will require a lot of money but for a shorter period. I'm guessing 4-6 years.
