This signing was bad as Jordan drafting Kwame Brown. For the record, I said from the onset, it was better to keep Yuli then use the money to extend the younger players... (...but I also defended the Montero signing...)
Scarier thought... the 'brain' trust legitimately believes he will bounce back. Bagwell got his wish... this team no longer cares about the numbers... especially the number that counts the most... WINS.
Sometimes when you want to believe something bad enough, you will convince yourself its true no matter what. This FO may honestly believe Abreu is progressing and will turn it around.
I don’t think anybody actually believes Abreu will turn it around. I think Crane has made it known that if they release Abreu and he produces for another team, heads will roll. So they are taking it as far as they can. It’s very stupid because by doing so they are contributing to a lost season for the entire franchise instead of just one player and ~$30M.
They know deep down that he's almost certainly finished, they are just desperate for it to not be true because of that horrible contract. Imagine being Jim Crane and having to pay for that ****, and then consider how it must feel to have to answer to him for giving it out or recommending it in the first place. Nobody wants him to fail, so they are letting Abreu sink the ship rather than do what is obviously best for the team. It's embarrassing.
Crane has to have a magic number. That is, some threshold where he does something. Maybe its how many games back in the division we are. Its reached 8.5 a couple times, so the number must be higher. 10? 12? What ever it is, I hope we reach it sooner than later. The worst thing that could happen is we stay 6-8 games out and Crane's threshold is never reached and nothing ever changes.
Honest question. Is there a first baseman anywhere in the organization at any level that couldn't hit or play the position about as well as what Jose Abreu has done so far this year? Hypothetical of course, but I'd bet literally anyone out there could give you just about the same production. That's pretty amazing if you think about it.
The current AA 1B Jordan Brewer, a 26 year old non-prospect who has been roughly average in AA, projects for a wRC+ of 74 if he were in the majors (fwiw Brewer also has 60+ grade speed as a former college football WR, so he’d likely offer value on the basepaths in addition to being a better defensive player than Abreu). Abreu has a wRC+ of 3 this season (although his projections still sit around 100). To get somebody who would actually project to be worse than Abreu has been, you’d probably have to go down to the lower levels and tag somebody like Cam Fisher, who would probably strikeout in ~60% of his pa if he were called up right now (although even Fisher projects for a wRC+ of 38).
At some point you will do whats best for the team? That point was weeks or months ago! Sure there is a human element. How dehumanizing it must be for the other players on the team to get beat routinely and watch the FO refuse to do the obvious things to improve. It must be maddening!
The manager of this team should refuse to play Abreu. Put his ass on the bench every day and try to manage to win some damn games with a 25 man roster. He could improve the team by playing literally anyone else at first base. There is no worse hitter in the league. None. If Espada has any hope of keeping his job he has to start managing the team to win games and ignore anyone telling him to do anything else.
The Astros social media is trying to rally fans to send Singleton to the all-star game when we can't even push them to get him to start ahead of Jose Abreu...
Singleton literally has doubled his production. Loperfido, Caratini, and Dubon would be more useful. Keep in mind this could last until the end of next season.
