I remember last year the Astros took down a tweet early in the season showing that the Astros were undefeated in Yainer's first 7 or so starts... someone complained internally...
It’s not “feels” like it is. NOTHING has changed and everyone can see it. He can’t get around fast enough, the hands are too slow and the top and bottom are still not connected. It’s over for him…..
<iframe width="414" height="233" src="" title="Are the Astros COVERING UP highlights to protect Jose Abreu??" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe> It’s 12 minutes, but it’s about Abreu/Loper, the removed tweet, and a jab at Brian Windhorst…. It’s pretty amazing, have a listen
Sad fact... Brett Wallace .716 OPS in his final season in Houston is higher than... Bregman, Singleton, Diaz, McCormick, Cabbage, and Abreu... his OPS+ is higher than all of the same minus Singleton.
Bregman has turned the corner. He is nearly up to 100 OPS+ for the year after a terrible start. His 829 OPS over the past 28 days = 131 OPS+ And don't look now, but he's 4th on the team in HR after hitting his first in game #29. It's time to move on and start ragging on those not producing
The reality is than other than making some mechanical changes, nothing was going to change other than perhaps a clearer mind. There are some exercises that he can do that can perhaps increase his wrist speed, but that would take many months to pay off -and even then, it isn't going to make a major difference. He has not had a fast bat since he was in his very early 20's - he has always been an under-rated technician and player that really understood counts, the strike zone, moving base runners over, avoiding hitting the ball to the wrong side of the field etc. Last year he was able to move runners over, avoid hitting into crippling situations and capitalize by getting himself into hitters counts. This year he has worked the count - but he just cannot make the pitchers pay as he is late on hitter pitches and eventually, he misses late and strikes out. I never want to count someone like Abreu out - he is a legend in the game because of his performance in Cuba, where he was a huge stud, then he came over the USA and lost weight, worked hard and adapted to high velocity and won an MVP award - and last year he was a monster in the post season and when not injured, he hit..... but I don't see it happening this year. He really needs to change his body some, work on his reaction time and work with guys on swing adjustments to SEE if he can get enough bat speed. I know he still has back issues as well - he just, at this point is fighting and losing to Father Time. The Astros would be better off with someone else playing 1st base and let Abreu workout somewhere else.
At this point, I'd prefer a defensive specialist that can't hit. The combination of Altuve, Singleton, Abreu is just a scary right side of the infield. Altuve has lost a step laterally (especially to his left) and Singleton is . . . OK . . . but I wouldn't call him a plus defender. Part of why I really like the look of Dubon over there . . . might screw our pitcher sometimes, but he can stop balls in the gap. It's why taking that Lopertini video down is aggravating. If we are going to have a donut in the lineup - I wish it could be a net positive on the defensive end. Sigh.
Understood counts, capitalize by getting into hitters counts? Dude started out 0-2 like 75% of the time lol
For me, we were projecting no higher than 25th in the league at 1b in WAR preseason. So we knew what it was going to be like. And yes, it has been worse than we expected. But this was a hole on day one that we decided to live with. So it hasn't really bothered me as much as the lack of production elsewhere.
I'm pretty sure that's the point. Pitchers weren't scared of him so they didn't pitch around him, which, in turn, did not allow him to cheat which has been needed to compensate for his slow bat.
Ok so he is bad, we know he is bad... but why in the blue f#ck did they throw him in there to pinch hit? What planet am I on?! I missed the game and only saw the highlights... did Caratini get killed by a foul ball or something?
