Until last week Brown was our rookie 5th starter. We’re getting pretty solid production out of that spot all things considered. We’re also one of the better pitching teams in the league. Right now the issue is undoubtedly run production. We need to hit the damn ball and hit it for power. Far too often the heart of our lineup does nothing. Some of this could probably be resolved by adjusting the order some but for some reason Dusty is incapable of unwilling to do it. Perhaps that doesn’t mean all that much in the grand scheme of things but it certainly makes for frustrating watching.
Plenty of time to turn things around, but given all the injuries to starting pitching it would be nice to still have Verlander around. I don't care about Crane having to pay the luxury tax and if the only thing he does with the money saved is lock up Javier that will be disappointing. I know pitching (outside of some relieve blow ups) has not been the main issue, but it seems like it's going to be a big problem until LMJ gets back and even after that the rotation will be thin. I like Hunter Brown, but he's still basically a rookie and shouldn't be expected to be a #2.
At this rate, you can stick a folk in this season.., Meh, I am not stressing about it. It is what it is. It’s still early in the season. The reality is that the Astros have to start turning it around at some point. Right now, there’s a lot of induced drag with injuries and offense struggles… But it wouldn’t surprise me if this year is a meh type season… A season of being humbled..
Still pretty attainable on both parts. I'm just saying a lot of the Astros perceived cushion is gone for the second bye. The Astros are 7-6 when the Astros pitching staff gives up 3 or 4 runs. More than 4 runs...0-11. Basically, every time the pitching staf hasn't had a good game, the Astros have lost. That just puts a lot of pressure every game for every pitcher to be excellent as there just has not been much cushion.
It's a 162 game marathon grind. Any 1 game or 1 series, or 1 road trip does not make or break the season. Fans need to not get too high or too low in May with 125+ games left. 3 weeks ago there Astros were 7-9. Since then, coming into this series, they played: Blue Jays, Rays, Braves, Phillies, Giants, and Mariners since then. 15 of 18 games vs playoff teams from last year - 9 of them vs arguably the 3 best teams in MLB this year. 10-8 in those games. Altuve, Brantley, and McCullers have not played at all yet. Jose Abreu and Alex Bregman are both very slow starters and should be better. Yordan and Tucker are the only consistent run producers and have not had protection from the rest of the lineup. All this will improve in the next few weeks. Altuve is absolutely critical to this teams run production. There simply is no substitute for him at the top of the lineup. This team just needs to tread water and stay around 500 until he returns.
Post game Dusty “Montero’s been so good for us,” Baker said. “It just hurts to keep losing them late.”
I think they will upgrade the rotation if LMJ flops, but if not in their minds they would have four playoff caliber starters in Framber, Javier, LMJ, and Brown with hopefully one of Urquidy or France rounding out the rotation for he second half of the season. I think another issue is that's not clear how you could conveniently upgrade the team once Altuve and Brantley return. The biggest issues are 1B and C with each of those positions being more or less settled. Even if a good, veteran catcher is acquired he's just going to ride the pine in 80% of starts.
Montero has generally been good this year. Dusty putting Stanek out there on Saturday instead of either Pressly or Abreu was orders of magnitude more stupid, and it probably cost them the game!
Alex Cintron 37 Troy Snitker 46 These two might start worrying about their jobs if the hitting doesn’t turn around. Usually it’s the coaches (fair or not) that take the blame.
I don't disagree that they are who will take the blame if the hitting does not turn around. Especially with a GM who may have a different philosophy or want his own people in place. However I would expect the team to wait for several weeks after Altuve and Brantley return to allow time for the expected regular roster to perform or not perform. I would be surprised if any team fired their hitting coaches for not hitting or scoring runs with the team leader and leadoff hitter and another of the top expected 5-6 hitters both yet to even play this year.
Yeah Dusty and Click didn't see eye to eye which is why Dusty went behind his back to Crane. Dana Brown is the new kid on the block and doubt he wants to create waves by bossing around a baseball legend in what may be his last season as manager. Dusty probably has free reign which concerns me a little. Click and Dusty started with the Astros at the same time so their was more equal footing as far as hierarchy.
1. Pena should be batting second 2. Abreu should be nowhere in the vacinity of the cleanup spot 3. Bryan Abreu should be the #1 option to pitch the 8 inning If Dusty would just have adhered to these 3 things we would be in first place.
I agree the team would, most likely have a better record. Not sure about first place. But your suggestions all sound better than what is happening. I have been convinced about Pena. And there are 2 reasons 1) he just simply is better there 2) Dusty will not hit LH batters back to back. So if Pena is 2nd then Yordan and Tucker can hit 3rd/ 5th w/ Bregman between them. If Brantley hits 2nd then Dusty hits them 4th / 6th with Alex before them and Abreu between them. Unfortunately Dusty had a chance to keep Pena in the #2 spot after the Phillies' series and he intentionally moved him despite success. I firmly believe that is because if he kept him there it would be even harder to move him when Brantley comes back. I like Altuve Pena Yordan Alex Tucker Abreu Brantley McCormick/ Meyers Catcher Much better than Altuve Brantley Alex Yordan Abreu Tucker Pena McCormick/ Meyers Catcher
