All season this team has played w absolutely ZERO urgency. A byproduct of a manager who very early let the team know production and talent fell squarely behind seniority, favoritism, and “feel.” The fact that the franchise let Dusty run this team into the ground is staggering. At some point someone needed to let him know that once this race became a dog fight - and that was becoming painfully obvious before the all star break - he needed to manage like it. Instead they let him turn a team of hardened winners into a team who embraced complacency, where even our worst players got unwavering support at the expense of better ones, where job security was guaranteed and internal competition completely stifled. It’s obvious this attitude permeated throughout the entire clubhouse. We just saw Alex Bregman make 2 and almost 3 errors in ONE INNING at the single most pivotal point of our season. Something I wouldn’t have thought possible a year ago. Thank you for the title Dusty but please ride off into the sunset.
He has been sucking for months. That ball from Tucker - he has to leave the bag and get his body in front of it, but he lazily reaches.....he is just not the same. DD
Abreu will open the season as the starting 1st baseman and I am fine with it. His pace for the last 40 games (since injection) is per 162 games: 32 homers and 125 rbi That also included bad luck as his BBBIP is only 225 and should be 300 So his production should be quite a bit better than it has been. His OPS in Aug/Sept is .840 If he struggles - then they can replace him. Maldy will be gone and Diaz will be the catching. The Astros will likely look to Cesar Salazar to be the back up or maybe someone like Tucker Barnhart. Whoever the manager is for the Astros in 2023, I would be shocked if Dubon is playing a lot in CF. McCormick is more than capable and Meyers is available too. From what I have heard - an inning eater for the rotation is very likely. I’m sure that they would love Lance Lynn because of his past success - but a more likely target is Martin Perez, Luis Severino or Jack Flaherty are more likely financially. They offer some upside, and may be willing to take a 1 year prove it deal. I think the Astros have to look for another reliever. Matt Moore will probably be too expensive - but maybe a Reynaldo Lopez is possible. I know the Astros plan to make a run at Josh Hader - but he is a special case.
