Astros will stay ahead regardless if the Mariners win. Trust, they would rather be in the Astros position even without the tiebreaker.
It is simple - we can complain about the usage of a particular pitcher, but the pitching is there and has been there… since the break the Astros lead baseball in ERA/FIP and strikeouts. The pitching has not only been dependable and good, but deep. The problem is on offense. The line up isn’t deep enough. The fact that the holes are at two of the easiest positions to fill (left field/1st base) makes is even worse. The Astros tried very hard to get a quality bat at the deadline but did not. They either should have gone all in on Arozerena early or they should have addressed the issue in the Winter last year. As it is - 1st, LF and CF are largely black holes with little hope of filling them and RF is a hole until Tucker comes back … the fact we get production from C and 2nd base but not from LF and 1st is extremely annoying. My hope was Chas would rebound but that isn’t happening this year. Singleton is playable against righties but not lefties. Caratini is an elite back up C but that’s it. We now find ourselves just hoping Tucker comes back and that Dubon gets hot like he has a few times in the past. I actually kind of find it disgusting like I did with last years starting pitching - I can tell what will likely keep the Astros from winning the WS and it won’t be the rotation or pen with like 8 playoff level pitchers on the IL - it will be the lack of a league average 1st baseman and left fielder.
Its clear to every fan that the lineup has been a let down. It's been the same black holes in the lineup. Can Whitcomb play LF and 1B since Bregman is starting 3B again? Maybe have Dezenzo play 1B when Breg takes a day off at DH or fully off for that elbow, or however with Diaz and Caratini. Chas and Meyers can not be in the lineup at the same time, so let them alternate CF with Meyers playing more often. Dubon and Gamel can man RF until Tucker returns. Singleton can be in the lineup on occasion against RHP, but only at DH. I don't know, figure something out Espada.
I might be missing something but Yuli averaged an 81 OPS+ his last two seasons and had below average defensive metrics in 2023. He’s now 40 years old. I don’t see how he’s any better than our current options.
Maybe platoon Singleton and Whitcomb at 1B. just maybe we can get league average production there. Whitcomb can still play a lot in LF too.
Hopefully Gamel will fill the LF hole in a platoon with Whitcomb and Dezenzo, Caratini can be avg at 1B.
Caratini will probably regress to the mean as he plays more. His career numbers say he isn’t quite what we’ve seen so far. Of course, I could be wrong but I just don’t think he’s an .800 OPS guy outside of spurts here and there. Maybe he’s turned a corner but it would be odd at this point in his career. He is a fantastic back up catcher. I think the Astros know that they really don’t want rely on his bat. Like I said, great backup catcher and spot starter at 1B. That’s his value. Good guy to have if Diaz gets injured too.
Agreed..,. just adding the fact the cause of the current situation is mostly two things.... 1) Jabreu and 2) pitching injuries. 1) Abreu wasn't just bad, he was Guinness with his futility, His numbers even while potentially deteriorating with age suggested he could muster league-average production this season and above average last year, yet he completely sucked. Very few people could have predicted *that* level of bad when he was signed. Now we're stuck trying to find solutions while still paying 40 million for a guy to sip margaritas in Cancun. 2) With all the pitching injuries, our prospects mainly went to pitching (Kikuchi). Had we had just ONE of SIX injured starters playing, we could've used those assets to add a bat. But because the rotation did its best MASH impression, those assets went elsewhere. The situation is also a byproduct of trashcan penalty. The lost draft picks could've netted another bat, or that prospect might be the bat, or maybe another pitcher. Let's not forget certain history never happened just because it's not happening exactly right now. Regardless, the Astros are still in a great position for another WS run. We still lead the division by 3.5 games and we have proven postseason players/experience. But we definitely need Tucker and no more major injuries... same way most teams will need their best players. With Tucker, Astros are likely the Vegas favorites entering the playoffs.
Are they from the 80's (Testament, ManoWar, others...) or are they from now? eta: just looked and listened them up the above was a bit of a joke, but they're not bad at all
You are a very silly person sometimes. Warrior Soul is on the title and written (albeit rather unorthodox) on the cover. A simple Google search could have further explained. Do you know about Shazam? It's a great way to know what song you're hearing with only the audio. Not my favorite genre, but can't say it's a bad song. Pretty decent actually .
You could be right. But since Dana failed to fill the hole at 1B they should ride Caratini s bat until they find out. There's like 35 games left in the season, so this may be a case of Caratini having a career year. Anyways the smart thing to do is to ride the hot hand.
