If Click (or a real GM) were here, that's not a bad move at all to force Dusty's hand on not playing a 220 hitter w/o power everyday. That being said, Crane and Bagwell are both very pro-Yuli and seem to be open to having him back as a (largely) sentimental move. I have a feeling we're going to see him back for cheap as a utility option since nobody will give him a starting 1B job (I can assure you). The bad thing is, unless it means no more Dubon (also doubtful, since Dusty and everyone seem to like him), it probably means Hensley to AAA. I want to see him as the utility guy and get a decent number of spot starts.
Yeah, the Astros would have been much better if Dusty followed the fans' advice and went with Mancini last year. Maybe we wouldn't have won the World Series by playing a guy who had a 0.173 OPS in the postseason instead of 0.850, but that's a small price to pay to at least not have Yuli out there every day!
I love Yuli but he was awful last year. Mancini was terrible also - but not until he came to Houston and had to pick splinters out of his butt. We will never know, but Mancini could have been all star calibur the rest of the year and playoffs if he had been handed 1B after the trade. Fortunately the Astros won the WS despite this, and Yuli had a good run in the playoffs. Any pro ball player can have a good run over 13 games. It's a good thing it wasn't 20 or 25 games though. As it was he was a little worse each Series. 1.000 OPS vs Seattle .867 vs Yankees .718 vs Phillies. He was on his way to well below average if playoffs continued.
And yet, he was better than the guy people demanded Dusty bench him for. People act like Dusty will go with Yuli no matter what. But maybe he went with him because he recgonized he was the best of the options he had on his team. And he was proven right. Just as he was with his decisions to play Chas against RHPs during the season. And to stick with Maldy. And to stick with Pressly when people were saying he should never pitch another game for the Astros after a random midseason BS. The complaining about Dusty is absurd and just stupid given that each of his decisions worked brilliantly in leading to a World Series, which is the actual goal. And Mancini didn't sit on the bench for the Astros. He played in 50 games and had 75 ABs/month vs the 90 or so he was averaging with Baltimore. If playing 70-80% of the time is not enough, that's a problem with the player and not the manager. With the Astros, the more playing time Mancini got, the worse he was.
That's fair. I just looked at his game logs and he played plenty. My memory failed me on that. I already said he was dreadful, and he was, but he was also terribly unlucky ( BABIP .191 after never being below. 285 in his career) but it was more than just that. It's a shame he didn't work out. But that does not change the fact that Yuli was awful all season long. His .647 OPS was 16% below MLB avg at a position reserved for offense. As an Astro Mancini's .622 was only marginally below him. And his season total was .710 was marginally better than MLB avg. Unlike most, I have no issues with Dusty's starting decisions. It's important to rest people and keep bench players sharp and give others opportunity. His lineup choices sometimes make me scratch my head but it's fine. But if this is the case, why did Yainer Diaz sit on the bench the entire month instead of getting a chance when Yuli was so awful?
"Any pro ball player can have a good run over 13 games. It's a good thing it wasn't 20 or 25 games though"?? Really? Maybe before you pop off about Yuli you might want to get your facts straight. Yuli was 10-34 the last nine gms of the regular season (.294). Then in 12 gms in the playoffs he was 17-49 (.347). So over 21 gms he was 27-83 (.325).
Astros 2023 off-season to this point: Bring back Montero and Brantley Lose Verlander, Mancini, Vazquez, Diaz, Smith Upgrade Yuli with Abreu Brantley replaces Mancini Abreu replaces Yuli Hensley takes over for Diaz S Martinez takes Smith’s roster spot Dubon was given a contract and has no options. Given his ability to cover all OF spots, his role is probably safe. The biggest deficits compared to last year are the loss of Verlander and the big question mark of the catching position. Meyers is also a big question mark. It’s probably Crane’s interest to keep looking for another bat upgrade that displaces Meyers. I think they may have lost faith in him. The only way to address C meaningfully is through a trade. Pitching probably is addressed in season.
I'm old enough to remember when he was a top prospect, and supposed to be the next big thing. Crushed pitching at every level except the highest level. He is seen as a plus defender, and the Pirates have some good catching prospects, so it makes sense they wanted a veteran in the catching room.
Did you see What's trade proposal years ago when Martes was still a top prospect for Houston? He proposed Martes and Tucker for Hedges. It's always fun to bring that up to him. He takes it well and is a good sport about it.
My facts were VERY straight. Maybe you better be sure before you "pop off" at someone telling him he is not accurate. So Yuli was better the last few games of the season. yay !!!!! Everything in my post was correct and accurate. Yuli had a hot start to the playoffs and gradually came back to Earth as the games went on. FACT. What does the last 9 games of the regular season have to do with that? And why choose 9 games? Why not 10? Or 12? Because Yuli was 0 for 15 in the 4 games before those 9. Why not choose 8? Because Yuli was a very pedestrian 8 for 29 .276 in the last 8 games. He was 10 for 49 .204 in the last 13. And even in the 9 WONDERFUL games you chose he was a below average .316/ .361 / .677 OPS if you use stats that actually mean something.
Maybe you might want to lay off of the Crack pipe. I didn't just take a random # of games but you did ("any pro ball player can have a good run over 13 gms" followed by "it's a good thing it wasn't 20 or 25 gms though"). So based upon your hypothetical sample Yuli did do extremely well in his final 21 gms (12 gms in playoffs and 9 in the regular season) which falls between your sample of 20 to 25 gms. So Yuli had a "hot start in the playoffs and gradually came back to Earth as the games went on"? He was 6-19 in the WS (.316 avg) so I would hardly call that "coming back to earth".
First of all - by your own logic. - why 21 games? If you used 20 or 22 or 23 or 24 or 25 his numbers are worse. Secondly - AGAIN nobody cares about batting average. It's an outdated stat that does not give an accurate or complete picture of how good a player is performing. Yuli's real stats in the playoffs: Vs Seattle: .400 OBP .600 SLG = 1.000 OPS Vs Yankees .333 OBP .533 SLG = .867 OPS Vs Phillies .350 OPB .368 SLG = .718 OPS Once again - hot start then back to just OK.
I am NOT going to go back and forth with you. Why "21 games"?? Because you popped off saying anyone could "have a good run over 13 gms" and then you said "it's a good thing it wasn't 20 or 25 gms though" (like there's that much of a difference between a random sample of 13 or 20 or 25 or 21 or 22 or 23 or 24 games" for crying out loud). You want to look at his ops, obp and slg ok great but having a .316 avg in the MOST PRESSURE SITUATION IN ALL OF BASEBALL (the WORLD SERIES) and (.349) 17-49 in the playoffs sure in the hell paints a good pic of how he performed AND by the way his obp, ops and slg #s are pretty damn good as well especially for someone who you've painted as trash. By the way he also struck out only ONE time the entire post season.
Just for a change of pace, What do we look like if we take an optimistic view of our present situation. Pretend the players perform near their ceilings rather than their floors or even reasonable expectations. I'm not talking about BEYOND their ceilings or even AT their ceilings. This is where the players like Hensley, McCormick, Meyers, Diaz, Lee, Leon, etc. are living at the moment. Even Garcia, Urquidy, Brown, Whitley and McCullers need a ceiling perspective.
Altuve 25-30 HR, .300+ BA Peña 30-40 HR, .290+ BA Alvarez 40-50 HR, .300+ BA Bregman 30-40 HR, .275+ BA Tucker 30-40 HR, .270+ BA Abreu 20-30 HR, .290+ BA Brantley 15-25 HR, .300+ BA McCormick 20-30 HR, .250+ BA Maldonado 10-20 HR, .200+ BA
I don't think BA means anything. Altuve 25-30 HR .350 OB% Pena 22-27 HR .335 OB% Yordan 40-45 HR .400 OB% .600 SLG Alex 25-30 HR .425 OB% .550 SLG Tucker 30-35 HR .350 OB% .550 SLG Abreu 25-30 HR .370 OB% .500 SLG Brantley 5-7 HR .350 OB% .450 SLG Chas 16-18 HR .340 OB% .450 SLG Meyers 15 HR .325 OB% .475 SLG. Maldy - will call great games !! About 1700 PA between DH, LF, and CF Yordan 600 Chas 400 Meyers 300 Brantley 300 Other 100
