Last 30 Days Name wRC+ Jose Altuve 177 Yainer Diaz 174 Alex Bregman 160 Mauricio Dubón 153 Chas McCormick 142 Jeremy Peña 141 Kyle Tucker 130 Yordan Alvarez 126 Jake Meyers 101 Jon Singleton 99 Martín Maldonado 94 José Abreu 42 Corey Julks 4 I knew Dubón was hot, but didn't realize he was this hot. Also, Maldy! Diaz has been so great that I didn't notice that Maldy's been an average hitter lately. Julks...I think he will become about an average hitter at some point, but it is rough right now. Abreu...need him to be at least average.
Last time I checked... didn't something HUGE change from last year such as a different general manager and asst. general manager?
Aggressively small sample for Abreu, but his numbers collapsed right before he went on the dl with the injury. His expected numbers in the few games back are in line with his 2 good months. Again, really small sample upon return so far so can't say anything with confidence, but it looks like injury very well was the reason he was such a catastrophe to start August. 25 PA sample, which has less wild variance Spoiler
I worked for the Astros during the steroids period - and what I will tell you is that the OVERWHELMING majority of big leaguers were doing two things - taking steroids, HGH and uppers and second, cheating on their wives. If I had to guess, it was 90%. As for Javy Lopez, he was open about it around other players.......including a number of Braves and Astros starting pitchers doing it too.... if you want proof, here is one of the quotes he has made on the topic........ "The AJC’s Dave O’Brien points us to an extended podcast interview of Former Braves catcher Javy Lopez on Atlanta Baseball Talk last weekend, in which the topic turned to steroids. While the hosts did not explicitly ask Lopez if he personally did steroids, he was pretty candid all the same: “Well, everybody seen players getting big, hitting the ball harder, home runs and stuff. All of a sudden - boom -- they got the big contract and everybody’s like, ‘You know what, did that, it worked for him, why not do it?’ . . . I mean, how can I explain this? It’s like if you’re going to race cars, if you’re going to race a car and some people are using nitro in the fuel [Lopez laughed], and you see them winning all the time, and you’re using regular gas - you know what? If they’re using nitro and they’ve been winning, well, I’d be stupid enough not to use nitro, too.” FWIW uppers were even more common - they were illegal, they were speed and Lopez admitted using them in the past. Just about every baseball player used them and knew they were drugs and illegally obtained but it did not matter. Craig Biggio was a huge user, as was Brad Ausmus. The biggest user of them that I have heard about was Dykstra and Barry Larkin, who thought they were candy.
If 1) Abreu plays 66-75% of games w/ Diaz backing him up and Singleton starting if Diaz is catching and he needs a rest. 2) Brantley can be at least as good as last year and platoon (traditional - by handedness) with Meyers. Then this team should be very good and deep offensively. If (somehow) Diaz was able to catch more games and Dubon never plays the OF again it could be good defensively.
If your argument is that he doesn't play the better player *every single game* - there's really not much to discuss. Of course he doesn't! But Chas & Jake play significantly more often than Julks. It's not close, really. Julks played when Yordan was out. When all are healthy, he is the 5th OF option by a pretty wide margin.
The front office having a huge say in line ups and how the pitching staff is used has been consistent under Crane.
Julks has played way more than his skills, potential, scouting projection, and/or production merited. As of right kow, Meyers has 1 more PA than Julks despite completely out performing him, being better in actuality AND projection in all facets of the game, and seniority over " the rookie" And Meyers has been on the roster all season while Julks was sent to AAA for 14 games earlier this month. Julks has actually DH'd 10 times despite being 22% below average by OPS+ and 20% below average by wRC+. Julks being anything other than an injury or blow-out replacement bottom of the bench player is criminal and a perfect example of why the Astros are not currently the #1 seed in the AL.
Yeah. Supposedly it has been bothering him off and on since the end of Spring Training. I know some fans groaned when he went on the DL, but it can actually be a good thing. While back injuries are nothing to sneeze at, having a cranky back that limits mobility and ability to drive the ball gives a possible explanation of his poor season. He had a great Spring Training, then a horrendous April and May where he just couldn't drive the ball at all. He had a normal June and first half of July and then progressively had issues again. He had injections, which work for some people but not for others, but he has looked at least some better. I think if his back was the issue - then we are probably looking at an OPS of 800-840 going forward the next couple years, with the outlier of an OPS around 900 one of those years - as the difference between an average and a good season for him is flipping one mediocre month for a hot one.
I can definitely confirm the second. I spent some time working player's will call at the stadium back in the early 2000s, and yeah, 90% of players would leave 2 sets of tickets, one for their families and another for their gumars. Many times both would pick up within just 10 minutes of each other.
All that has to happen is for Maldy to get hurt, then the best lineup will be on the field consistently. I'm not wishing for Maldy to be injured.
What's the deal with baseball players and uppers? Is it just to help overcome the interminable grind of the regular season?
I knew about the uppers... I do recall Berkman being open about it. Julks being 10th on the team in plate appearances is wild... as is having less than 10 starts than Chas and Jake each.
They do a few things. First, they help wake you and your body up. So a player can play the night before, wake up really stiff and in some general pain - uppers will get the blood flowing, give you a lot of pep and your body will start to loosen up. Second, they give guys focus. When people are on uppers they usually are really locked into a particular task - which is perfect for baseball. The focus as a hitter or pitcher or fielder is great. It is less common now - but they used to be everywhere.... in the 50's-90's they were prescription pep pills, and players didn't even think about if they were cheating or not. Guys would get them, pass them to teammates.... trainers would have them too. They used to put them in the coffee even. They would have coffee and "green coffee", which had speed in it. That was still the case through the early 2000's. I know that by around 2000 guys were using both prescription speed, but also effedrine, which you could get from cold medication and from gas stations. It was also in some of the popular unregulated weight loss drugs. People started dying and they were then regulated. You would have a very hard time finding a baseball player that did not cheat or use performance enhancing drugs in one way or another - a lot of them did not think it was a big deal or was cheating, but most have done it.
But was he at Darryl Strawberry levels though? https://www.si.com/mlb/2017/12/21/darryl-strawberry-sex-addiction-dr-oz-between-innings-during-games
Yes; between their system being drained and various, unexpected injuries, they've been more desperate than they have been in many years.
