If Tucker had stayed healthy ( he was having a MVP type season) and Chas had hit like he did last year the offense would've been fine.
I hope Leon can supply some of that but I fear his youthful exuberance may have all been spent while sitting in Sugar Land for all those years. Loperfido and Bloss barely saw the high minors. Dezenzo and Whitcomb are likely going to contribute but we need to go a little deeper to find that spark.
I think Chas will get back to his career numbers going forward (i.e., his season stats are going to stink), which are fine, not great for a corner OF. I'm much more concerned with the starting pitching. Though, I think changing Kikuchi's pitch mix might alleviate a lot of concerns..or he might just be who he has been.
I think this team has been bleeding that for quite a while. Dubon brings it. Rewatching the 2017 and 2019 W.S. and seeing Carlos and George run around like crazy men when someone like Altuve or Bregman got a big hit. That was contagious. I saw McCann and Gattis the "beard brothers", running around too. It would be nice to see that more.
There were options, the Astros just made a calculated risk that Abreu's performance post injection and rest and in the post season would carry over - and it did not. The Astros could have pursued a viable replacement last winter and did not. There wasn't a lot of options, but there were some. They could have worked out a deal with Joey Votto. Brandon Belt was an option as well. CJ Cron was a free agent as was Carlos Santana... and in trade there were some options like Jake Burger, JD Martinez was available as a DH as well, As for a corner outfielder - Click traded away a near all star outfielder under team control through 2029 for a reserve catcher that never played. The point I am trying to make is that the Astros have been mediocre overall from the front office since Luhnow left. There are things that both Click and Brown have been good at - but looking back over the last 4-5 years, there have been some mediocre decisions, including trades and signings.
The start of the season was obviously bad - but in usual Astros fashion, the pitching is coming around and if it is healthy, I think it will be good enough to win a World Series. The problem is going to be on offense - the Astros lack real difference makers beyond a couple of hitters....... McCormick needs to be playing because of the upside he brings. He can potentially be a really good bat. I don't know where Brandon Belt is, but if he has been working out, the Astros should reach out to him and Joey Votto and see if there is anything left there..... if Tucker comes back and Bregman heats up, then offense isn't an issue - but as it is right now, it is mediocre and with the weaknesses at 1st and lf/dh, it is hard for me to really feel bad for the owner and front office, because those are easy to fix and the Astros did not. The more time that goes by, and the more obvious it is to me that the Astros and Brown should have addressed those issues before the deadline.
They didn't choke in the playoffs - they shouldn't have even won game 6. They were exhausted by the time they played the Rangers in the playoffs. Their pitchers were largely toast. That is a series that was a toss up.
Probably - but the issue I have is that the Astros knew that augmenting the offense was not something that was really expensive, and typically they end up a bat short. They could have added a 1st baseman with an average bat or a corner outfielder/dh type and they did not do it. No one bats 1.000, even Luhnow made mistakes - but some of this is silly to me.
My guess for this Winter - Bregman, Verlander, Graveman and Urquidy are gone. The Astros will likely look at trade situations for Ryan Pressly, and he will be okay with it because he can close for a contender and maybe get a short extension out of it. Pressly has positive trade value at 14 million next year. I know some fans were upset his option vested, I am not at all. I expect the Astros to try and resign either Verlander or Kukuchi. The more likely bet is Kukuchi, because in the past he has said he doesn't play for the money at this point, and will likely be happy on a winning team unless the Dodgers or Padres or Angels offer him more money. Next year the Astros will have: Valdez, Blanco, Brown, Arrighetti back and I expect a free agent like Kukuchi. At some point Garcia, Javier and France back. McCullers will likely try one more time before retiring, but I don't expect him to ever be a healthy big leaguer again. They will have enough in house candidates to fill the pen, and if Pressly leaves, they may sign one or two flier guys. Zach Dezenzo is likely going to get a shot to take the 3rd base job and Leon will get a chance to take it from Meyers in center. I expect one of those two will be adequate. So - the Astros will need at least one semi impact bat. The easiest way to fill that hole is DH, but that means Yordan playing the field a little more than the Astros will likely be comfortable with. Pitching wise - I think they are in good shape if they keep Verlander and believe he will bounce back. Otherwise they will have to make a tough decision about whether they want to dip into free agency for someone like Max Fried.
With the late emergence of some of their upper level farm hands as of now they will likely need just one bat (either Bregman or a LHH 1B/3B/LF) and one SP (Verlander, Kikuchi, etc.). Surely they can root thru all their internal options and have a solid bottom half of the order and bullpen, they just need a durable arm to mitigate SP risk and a bat to solidify the middle of the order.
They will need a free agent 1B, no? That's where I think they try to get an impact bat. I can't imagine the plan is to roll with Singleton as the main 1B. Hopefully they jettison Bagwell and his cronies from the front office decisions. I'm hopeful Brown can make some decent signings, but he needs to be the one making the decisions.
The free agent 1B market is pretty thin and based on the trade deadline the trade market won’t be all that great either. I would like Carlos Santana on a 1 or 2 year deal. But he carries the same risk of age-related decline that Abreu had. Other than him you’re looking at Alonso and Walker (both of whom should be out of Houston’s price range) and a bunch of meh that isn’t significantly better than Singleton.
Yordan and Altuve have a combined 12 runs and 12 RBI's over the last 30 days which is very concerning.
Yeah, sure would be nice to have Wilyer Abreu’s .856 OPS in the lineup right now. The disconnect between Dusty and Click hurt as well. I think Click assumed Vazquez would play more often than he did but Dusty refused to play him so the trade was absolutely pointless.
Cool. They came home with a 3-2 lead and got blown out both games. You see it your way, I’ll see it mine.
The backup catcher should’ve been the starter. That’s not on Click, that’s on Dusty. Fortunately, we still won.
Who says no on a Pressly for Mountcastle trade? Maybe Orioles since Batista is back right? Does Chapman have an opt out? Any chance they circle back on him? Chapman doesn't hit enough imo so that might be a concern.
The better manager lead his team to victory. Because he handled his pitchers in a way where they had gas left in the tank at the end of the season.
You think that Urquidy is done or the Astros are going to non-tender? He's arb eligible but he's likely to miss next season or a big part thereof. Second Tommy John procedure.
