Um…Carter has struck out in over 41% of his plate appearances this year. Singleton, at AAA this year? Less than 21%, which is the lowest of his career. Singleton, on one hand, has potential to improve…Carter, on the other hand, is exactly who he has been…a guy that Ks a ton, hits for a lot of power, and is as inconsistent as they come.
Except if the trend is clearly pointing in one direction, why would you evaluate each of the parts of the season equally? If James Harden averaged 5 pts a game in November, December, and January and then 35 pts a game in February, would you advocate benching him or giving him a reduced role in January since his season average is only 12pts a game? Gattis was also a catcher last year. The "replacement" at catcher is a lot crappier than the replacement at 1B or DH.
Because Carter isn't going to continue hitting at a 1.000 OPS or more for the remainder of the season. The problem with baseball streaks is that we don't know when they are starting or when they are stopping…In the last two games, he's 1-8 with 6 Ks. Who's to say this isn't the beginning of a nightmare streak? Granted, I don't think it is…but the Astros are still in a place where they are planning for the future. Do you think that Carter is a long term solution at 1B? If you do, then by all means, there is no reason to consider any other options. But, if there is a possibility that Singleton is that guy, then you need to give it a shot. Are you going to wait for a full month of a Carter slump before making that decision? Because if you wait for a full month of a Carter slump, you might as well not make any moves, since the Carter hot streak is right around the corner. That's the issue with Carter…once you realize he's been in a slide…it's not worth making any changes because you know that great hitting is coming right up. And with a team of inconsistent hitters, it's good to get some consistency into the lineup. That's why mentions of Kemp come up, because he has that potential. And the reason that Singleton's name comes up is that he still has a chance to be the future first baseman for the Astros. I'd rather find that out now, than in 2 years.
As of now, I'd probably take him over Gattis. He's about as good a player but also isn't limited to being a DH. Gattis' theoretical value comes from being able to play catcher. If he can't do that, he's nothing particularly special as a player. I'm all for bringing Singleton up - I think you could put them in a 3-way rotation at 1B/DH. But I'd sit Gattis at this point, and I wouldn't give up on any of the 3 because there are too many questionmarks with all of them. I'd trim the roster elsewhere - probably go to a 12 man pitching staff. The 13th guy rarely ever pitches and if you overtax the bullpen for a few days, just switch out the 12th man with a fresh minor league arm for a days and then swap them back.
And Im fine with that too…my whole point in this is that we need to tweak something, because this offense, as good as it's been, has room to be more efficient. This is the time when we should be searching and looking for that improvement, since we have been "struggling" for a solid month now.
Not spelling his name right (not the grammar police) is disrespectful and he doesn't deserve the lack of respect, just because you don't like the way he plays baseball. Argue all you want about his skills but at least respect him as a person.
So we have now been in 1st place for 2 months.Thats more time than we have spent in first than the last 11 seasons combined, gotta go all the way back to 03. On sportscenter they were talking about Oakland and how they are 10 games behind the first place Astros. All this complaining, it still feels really good to have contender problems again.
Seriously, do you say anything else? The Astros are great, don't criticize when they screw up because this is a fan forum and that would be wrong. I think I know more than you so therefore if you disagree with me you're an idiot and I' ll put you on my ignore list! Not only will I put you on my ignore list I will announce it everyday that I have an ignore list! Who cares? If I had an ignore list you would be at the top there buddy.
Except no one has said this. Lots of people criticize the team and people have no issues with it. The issue is specific to the way you (and a few others) do it.
I just think a few people are going to have to realize that Luhnow isn't going to look at "traditional baseball" when building a roster. If he sees value he is going to jump on it. Power is obviously something he values if you look at the way he built this roster. He will obviously continue to try and find "better" players at any position he can, but he isn't going to freak out over strikeouts and fantasy baseball type of numbers when looking at the team, he is going to go after skills he think are valuable, in this case it's power. And other than a few people who don't like the way we are doing it, he has been proven right as we are scoring runs and winning games better than almost all of the other teams in the sport. I'll try my best to quit arguing over this, lol, because I do understand that even if we win the next 20 games there will be some who complain about the way the roster was built.....but for those who don't like Carter and Gattis, just understand that Luhnow isn't likely to get rid of the guys who have been his top two run producers on the team that leads the AL in wins
Wrong! This is exactly how some of "you" are portrayed. It's a fan forum, pull the stick from your butts and climb down from your self proclaimed pedestals.
maybe post better brah! it might be tough but i believe in you brah! Also, I found your little tirade that was apparently directed towards me pretty amusing... buddy. I think I'm well within my right to have the opinion that some people just aren't very good posters. You may think that it's *******-ish, but then again... maybe you've got a stick up yours, too.
Not sure why everyone assumes that I, or others, are complaining. It's just discussion on how things can improve. We are losing grip of our first place position and it's clear that we haven't been playing like we are capable of playing. It doesn't hurt to look at some of our weaknesses and try to improve upon them. This is the most excited Ive been about baseball….ever. More so than when we had our World Series team. So, no, Im not on some anger parade…Im actually loving every minute of this ride.
