Last 20 games 107 runs. 5.35 rpg That better than the best team in baseball has averaged all year long as a reference point (Orioles 5.21). We have only given up 70 runs during this span. A +37 run differential (+300 over a 162 game season). That's pretty elite baseball.
He's potentially looking at a 200-300 million $$ contract after this season. Could be he's pressing a bit.
Slow start every single season of his career... his rookie season even started with 2-for-forever slump and many on this board (not me) wanted him dealt for Chris Sale.
I remember Bagwell having multiple slow starts (explains the dearth of ASG selections) and then exploding around June
List your top 5 reasons for the Astros resurgence over these past 3 weeks. 1. Hunter Brown - stabilized the rotation 2. Alex Bregman - his June "wakeup" 3. Yordan Alvarez - he drives the bus 4. Bullpen - still not perfect but much better 5. Joe Espada - finally getting in gear
1-4. Starting pitching. Brown, Blanco, and Framber have pitched like near-aces and Arrighetti did yesterday. 5. Just enough offense. Diaz has been better, Meyers has stayed hot, Salazar is contributing, Bregman/Altuve/Alvarez have kept trucking, Loperfido is a spark plug. Dubon has stayed near .300. Pena and McCormick and Singleton have been cold but not enough to lose games. The bullpen has been good but they haven’t really been that critical since the starters have been so good. Espada isn’t really doing much different, he is listening to analytics and it’s just working better.
Dude was a 20-ton anchor both on the field and with team morale. All those close losses with a guy batting 300 OPS, GIDP'ing, and playing crap defense. .
Thanks but I am still cynical. I really haven’t done anything differently. I have always been 50% positive 50% doom and gloom. That being said, and this is pretty important in my opinion, I have never rooted for the Astros to lose because of who the manager is (or which race he is) or who the catcher is etc…. I have never rooted for them to lose for any reason ever.
I would be interested to hear @Nook 's take on this. Is the team morale thing real? Or is that just something we as fans create in our minds?
It's absolutely a real thing. What Abreu had/has to do with it I have no idea. Team ERA vs Runs/G March/April: 5.01 v 4.55 May: 3.62 v 4.14 June: 3.40 v 5.23
Team morale and team chemistry is a real thing. Having said that - I don't think that Jose Abreu was destroying team morale. He was very popular with his teammates and coaches. What did hurt the Astros was Abreu's terrible performance on the field. A big reason the Astros are winning now is that for most of the year they had Arrighetti and Brown pitching 40% of their games and they were not competitive - now Brown and Arrighetti are not just competitive, but pitching at a high level. So the Astros have Blanco, Valdez and Brown all pitching at a very high level, and Arrighetti pitching competitively in most his starts.... that gives the Astros 60-80% of their games where they know they have a good chance to win.
I can see the signs. Arrighetti's got maybe one year left on that hair before it becomes a skullet. Hopefully he realizes this and is already on the Finisteride from now.
No chance. He's still only 24, no way he's got 6 more years. Unless he acts now, by next Spring it'll be see through thin, one year after that he'll have to "go home."
Yeah, I was really referring to the Abreu situation specifically. Do guys resent other guys with big contracts who aren't performing? Or is money not talked about in the clubhouse?
