I'm not defending him, per se - but, man. People are really arguing in the margins and just ignoring the state of the team. If you start to list its shortcomings this year, it's going to be a while before you get to mis-managing Julks/Dubon/Meyers/Singleton. He didn't manage the Diaz and Chas situations with enough urgency. But he seems to have course-corrected that as much as he can (McCormick is an everyday starter now), knowing his hands are somewhat tied on the Maldonado/Diaz situation.
"In his latest piece for The Athletic, former baseball big leaguer Lars Anderson talked about his experience using Adderall as a performance-enhancing drug (PED) while playing in Japan and how much it improved his on-field performance. The big picture: Amphetamines were once super common in baseball. "Greenies" (real medical name Dexedrine), which were rumored to have been brought back by players who served in WWII, were passed around casually for decades. It wasn't until 2006 that MLB began testing for amphetamines, which meant the days of pre-game coffees spiked with greenies were over. Players responded by "going legit" with Adderall prescriptions, and by 2013, 9.9% of them had one. What Anderson is saying: "I had boundless amounts of easily-controlled energy," writes Anderson (subscription). "But the most striking difference was my inner state: All I wanted to do — all I cared about in the moment — was baseball." "I was utterly in the moment. And what a relief it was. There was a clear mission: Win this next pitch. And then the next one. And the next one. There was no tomorrow, only the everlasting now." Why it matters: The process for MLB players to acquire Adderall prescriptions is thorough, but since it's so easy to get pills (from, say, a friend) and relatively easy hard to test for (stays in urine for four days and blood for just 46 hours), its use could be more rampant than anyone realizes." For what it is worth - here is a quote from an old article, the rumors I have heard from those around the Astros is that the number of players with ADHD permissive use was at one point extremely high.
This gets back to my earlier question: who were the better players? Chas had a .552 OPS in May. Julks was .597. Meyers was .778. *That's* the reason Dusty was slower on the trigger finger with Chas after he heated up in June. But that's not really on Julks - Julks was playing LF that was expected to be manned by Alvarez and, eventually, Brantley.
One game is separating us from first place and a bye, the margins matter this season. Nobody is arguing Dusty is responsible for the huge falloff, but he clearly has not given us our best chance to win in most games, and still continues to do it (Dubon in CF, Julks getting starts, Meyers not playing vs.LHP). And his hands aren't tied on Maldy/Diaz, he's the manager. JP France, Bielak and Hunter Brown have no authority. Chaz was the best CF option all of last season, and in October and then suddenly Corey Julks is his equal in a 3 way time split with Chaz being the last of the 3 to get a start , give me a f**king break.
But how do you explain Chas sitting on the bench the 1st 2 games of the season? One of those Julks, as the last non-roster ST invitee to make the team started while he sat. Julks has started way more than any player in his position coming out if spring training had a right too AND at the expense of players who had earned it. Julks has started 7 games where the Astros have lost by 1 run. He is 3-25 w/ 1 run and 1 double in those games. 2 of those Chas was healthy on the bench. In the past 8 weeks, Julks has played 10 games while Chas was healthy on the bench. The Astros are 4-6 in those games. What are the odds the Astros could have won just 1 more game and be tied for the AL West lead?
Man that really looks like Chas, Meyers, and Julks were in a time share for 2 spots for two months to start the season (when Chas was healthy), Chas got so incredibly hot that even Dusty couldn't keep him on the bench every third game and just recently passed Julks in PAs, it only took a moderate slump for Meyers to get his playing time cut in half, and Julks going 1 for 45 to lose his PAs to give Meyers a chance to catch up. Injuries should only have cost Chas about 60 PAs. He's down about 200 from a fulltime starter's amount currently.
Margins kind of matter when there is less than a 3 game margin and tie breakers are not in your favor without a game 163.
Mr. Julks, we love your son, but we just wish that if he's going to bat 1-45 that he would be doing this in the minors.
He probably personally met or know Julks, and I'm sure Julks is a nice guy outside of baseball. But can't win consistently with him in the lineup and there's no real excuse for Julks to be with the current team.
Hitting Branley 2nd is lunacy in my opinion, so I fully expect it. 2nd place hitter is supposed to be your best hitter- so Dusty putting our 7th best hitter in the org there would be on brand. Replace Diaz with Maldonado and Singleton with Abreu and that's fully what I expect to see more days than not. I wish it wasn't so, but... yeah.
Just freaking sad that Chas saved Dusty's butt in the WS and Dusty treats him this way. Not starting Chas the first two games of the regular season was the ultimate screw you moment.
They shouldn't have been in a time share, Chas was a major contributor on a championship team. Total lack of respect.
Give me a F'ing break. You can't cherry pick a month to legitimatize Dusty's BS. Do you how months Chas has had an OPS less than 700 in his 3 year career? 4 including the one you mentioned. Do you know how many months Chas has had an OPS of over 800? 8 months Do you know how many months Julks has had an OPS under 600? 3 in his 5 month career. Do you know many Julks has had a month over 800? I'm sure you do since it's never happened. We're not even considering defense, because Chas is elite in left and well above average in center.
