Jose Abreu and his .124 batting average while questioning if he will have more errors than hits did more to hurt this team than Pressly ever did.
I dont know about that. Look at how many holds Pressly blew at the beginning of the year. Although they were both really bad.
I believe it's been eliminated. You can still pick players up, but they're ineligible for the playoffs.
All I know is that when Caratini and Diaz are in the lineup together the Stros usually score 4-6 runs and win. That's even without Tucker. You're reasoning is why the stuck with Maldonado, the offense/defense suffered and the Stros paid the price for the way you're thinking last year.
Diaz,Whitcomb,Dubon,Dezenzo I'm pretty confident we can find one guy who can competently play 1B and hit LHP at an average level by years end. Just keep running them out there.
This - and in the playoffs, the depth of the line up really matters. Even if Tucker comes back and contributes, the line up is really only 5.5-6.5 deep, which means that someone has to be hot for the Astros to win a series, that can be Pena or Meyers or the 1st or DH, but someone has to be.... it is why I still wish that the Astros had gotten an above average bat at the deadline. Every year there is something, in 2022 the C/1st combo was really bad and Gurriel got hot and the Astros won the WS. Last year Abreu got hot, and if the pitching wasn't so over worked and hurt, the Astros beat the Rangers in 6 and win the WS..... hopefully this year the Astros are back in a position to determine who wins the WS again.... the pitching has for the most part been rectified with the deadline addition..... now need someone to start hitting consistently.
I think it's much more than MY reasoning. I am pretty sure the Astros think their starting pitcher is much more important than the opponents starting pitcher when choosing the starting catcher. Thats usually not true at any other position. Catcher is still a run preventing position much more than a run producing one. Right or wrong, I think that's how it is.
During the playoffs, Caratini might be the answer. He’s hit both lefties and righties pretty well this season. If the playoffs started today (and Tucker healthy), my lineup would be: 2B Altuve 3B Bregman DH Alvarez RF Tucker 1B Diaz SS Pena C Caratini LF Whitcomb CF Meyers Bench: Dubon, Singleton, Leon, Salazar Dubon/Salazar gives you R/L contact-oriented pinch hitters, Singleton/Leon gives you L/R power-oriented pinch hitters. Leon gives you speed for pinch running and an elite arm as a defensive OF sub. And those 4 can provide cover for all 8 spots in case of injury. Just gotta hope Whitcomb (or McCormick or Dezenzo) gets adjusted/hot between now and October.
Josh Bell has a .816 OPS since joining the Diamondbacks. Ty France has a .802 OPS since joining the Reds. Obviously a very small sample size but better than everyone we've rolled out at 1st base this season.
I respect the way you think and I think the same thing. If you want to keep Diaz at C fine, then put Caratini at DH or 1B.Isn't Caratini catching a couple of days a week now? Would it be wrong to have him also catch JV when JV makes it back? I'm just saying the offense is much more productive when both of these guys are in the lineup at the same time.
It is - and so much of it is just luck when it comes to guys like France and Bell. I was hoping the Astros would add someone like Canha or France because it would have given them another option.... but who knows, maybe Dubon or Diaz end up at 1st and then Caratini gets hot behind the plate.
Pretty much this But if a RHP was throwing I would put Yordan in LF/Diaz or Caratini at C and DH and Singleton at 1B. Man I wish Dana had traded for a league avg bat to play LF or 1B at the deadline. Altuve 2b Bregs 3B Alvarez LF Diaz C/DH Tucker RF Caratini DH/C Pena SS Singleton/Dezenzo 1B Meyers CF
If you want Whitcomb in LF in the playoffs, the Stros need to get him some run there in the regular season. He's started all of 10 games in LF in his minor league career. I think if he can hang at SS and 3B, he can hang in LF given enough reps. Alternatively, you could run Alvarez in left, Diaz or Caratini at DH, Whitcomb at 1B (where he has even less reps). I do think, with his batting approach, he's the most likely of the current group of prospects to provide productive ABs this season. And I don't think Leon makes the postseason roster over Chas, as bad as Chas has been, at their current rate of production. They're not going to carry a rookie on the bench with a .243 OPS who strikes out in half of his plate appearances, no matter how good his outfield arm is. If they do start giving Whitcomb ABs in left, I could see them demoting Leon back to AAA to let him keep working on his plate discipline.
Usually this is correct, but this is not what was happening with the Astros last year. Maldy was the absolute wrong choice and he wasn’t chosen to start for baseball reasons.
If the best plan is to start Singleton vs RHSP but find a platoon partner, it may not be much of an issue. Potential playoff matchups w/ LHSP Orioles: Irvin - currently in AAA Yankees - Cortes, Rodon Guardians- Matthew Boyd Twins - 0 Royals - Ragan Red Sox - Paxton- currently injured Mariners - 0 Only the Yankees project to have more than 1 and most don't have 1 in their top 4.
