I do too but I don't see that happening. I think/hope with the whole season off, he might go a year without being hurt. Other than the Phillies world series game where he was tipping pitcher, he actually pitched pretty well last season he played.
He can hit anything except for down and away. However, he absolutely crushes balls thrown anywhere in the strike zone. He reminds me of young Altuve but with a lot more power. If he could just be slightly more selective, he could easily have an Alvarez level impact. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/yainer-diaz-673237?stats=statcast-r-zones-mlb
Yuli had close to the same bb% the first few years. He eventually got his up to 6% the third year and continued to improve. If Yainer could even get to 6%....there is a 50 homer season in there somewhere.
That would be quite impressive. Fairly certain if he shows that sort of elite hit tool, they’ll try and move him off of being an everyday catcher asap.
26 man active roster. 19 are set: Diaz, J.Abreu, Altuve, Bregman, Dubon, Pena, Alvarez, McCormick, Tucker. Brown, Javier, Valdez, Verlander, B.Abreu, France Graveman, Montero, Pressly, Urquidy. + Gacia and McCullers once healthy. Openings: candidates B/u catcher: Salazar, Knapp, Berryhill, Stubbs Starting OF: Meyers, Julks, Leon, Dirden, Corona, Barber, Hamilton, Loperfido Bench (1B): Singleton*, Kessinger, Hensley, Matijevic, Loperfido, Bench: Kessinger, Hensley, Loperfido, Leon 3 pitchers: Bielak*, Blanco, Dubin, Gage, Kuhnel, S. Martinez, Mushinski, Ortega, Paredes*, Sousa, Whitley* Arrighetti, Tamarez, Solis, Kouba, Gordon, Melendez. Bold= already on 40 man. (2 openings) * out of options and must make 26 man or put on waivers.
I feel good about them as the 7th or 8th starter. Both are maybe they can maybe they can't guys and i'd rather not find out by needing them as a regular starter The other big thing in my opinion is if you are counting on those guys the chances of needing to trade for a starter at the deadline is great again. Not only do we not have a ton of ammunition to do that again, we really need to be in a position to not have to trade away prospects to fill a big hole in the rotation (or anywhere for that matter). Yes we are in the middle of a GREAT run and winning now is what's most important, but at some point we have to start building back a little depth in the system
The strength of the starting pitching in the minors was in AA last year from what I can tell. Those guys should start next year at AAA and by mid season one or two of them will be France type depth guys. What they really need is Whitley to be the young Ace it looked like he was going to be a couple of years ago.
Whitley ain’t doing ****. I say this as a fan of him because I picked up a psa graded rookie card of him on eBay for .99 lol. Dude is a bust
Few notes/musings after reading through everything. I haven’t been on CF at all in the past few months… 1- I’m surprised no one has mentioned Maldy for manager? Surely he is mulling retirement, but I think he could be one helluva manager, and especially so with this group. Also. I could see a very likely scenario where he is re-signed to a 1y / backup deal. I wouldn’t hate that… 2- The Bagwell GM jokes are a bit overkill. First, Crane was pulling all the strings…it’s not like Baggy had free rein on anything. Crane was definitely the one who negotiated Montero, and we ultimately went with Brown over Ausmus for FM…Also, for as much grief a Baggy got for the Abreu signing…he was absolutely pivotal vs MIN and TEX and did right the ship after his horrendous start. hindsight GMing is an easy undertaking. I’m just a big Baggy fan and think his name has been dragged too much in the mud. He didn’t set the Stros back for god sake like countless other GMs across the sport
I was reading an article and they did mention Maldonado as a backup as a possibility because they doubt anyone else will sign him as a starter. Only concern they had is what happens when the veteran starters demand to pitch to Maldonado? If new manager says no, are the pitchers going to get butt hurt?
There’s only two veteran starters… and Framber is a slight reach on that. It also wasn’t just the starters, it was the bullpen guys chirping as well. And we know JV will have no problem pitching to anybody (minus young Max Stassi, lol). Javier, Urquidy, Neris (if he’s back), Abreu need to just focus on being the best pitchers and executing their pitches without their crutch.
I would like the job to go to someone with coaching experience. If Maldy would accept a lesser coaching assignment for a couple years, and assuming he does well, then I might be good with that idea. I agree Bagwell is getting a lot of **** from people. For me, I just dont know what, and to what extent, the accusations against him are true. Do some folks around here have inside knowledge of the inner workings of the FO, or is it speculation and mangled facts?
How dare you question the internet warriors posting “facts” from their basements (Alamo has a basement?).
Further … what about Framber or Javier’s performances last year would suggest Maldonado was helping them stay calm, collected and focused? Both were constant head cases, and if anything Maldonado’s pitch selection (too many FBs) and framing likely contributed to some of their bad innings. Nook told me at one point “sure, take always Framber’s preferred guy, that sounds like a great idea.” He was being needlessly sarcastic, but he shouldn’t have been. Two pitchers with Cy Young chatter preseason just clocked in mediocre seasons pitching exclusively to their “safety blanket.” I don’t want him, his absurd ego, and his “leadership” anywhere near the active roster formenting dissent and tempting a manager to placate his pitchers. The definition of insanity and all…
