I had no idea we had a member of the Korey Lee family posting to the sub! Welcome! Sadly, your loved one may not get that many more opportunities to hone his craft at the major league level. Maikel Garcia had the worst OPS in MLB this season among qualified hitters, and Mr. Lee was about 30 points below that mark. Not great, Bob.
OPS is not something I look for in a catcher. Just like the pitchers in the old national league, if they happened to collect an occasional hit in their opportunities at the plate it was just gravy. You couldn't count on it.
Do you look at how successful pitchers are? If so, then Diaz had a very successful first year as a full time catcher. This doesn't even take into account how successful he was with the bat. What more do you expect out of Diaz? Lead a successful pitching staff and hit well and?
The Astros didn't think so - when they called Lee up, they were not impressed with his work behind the plate. I don't hate Lee - he is your typical low average hitter that hits just enough pop to stick around on a club for awhile. Zunino was like that too. Every once in awhile, one of them turns into Mickey Tettleton. Having said that - Lee will never be as good as Diaz was this year - and that staff for the Sox did not exactly stand out as great this year. I don't see how you can conclude that Lee will be better. Right now Lee has very little value around baseball - Diaz has vastly more. You seem to hate Diaz - which I don't quite understand - he isn't Wilson Contreras..... Diaz this year put in a lot of effort behind the plate and in game preparation. You should probably get used to him being back there.
You should look at OPS... its half of being a catcher. Diaz isn't even terrible - he calls games and handle staffs better than Mike Piazza for example.... and Piazza is a first ballot Hall of Famer. I would love Johnny Bench or Yogi Berra back there - but they are not options...
Sure, stand by that; however, your exact words were "he will be pushing for the job sooner than anyone is thinking about this Fall." "This fall" is a really weird way to say 2026
I love Tuck, but in this day and age where Crane does not give out the 10-year deals, we will not keep him. I said last year, even before he got hurt, he is our key to restocking the pantry. 1 proven MLB player plus a few high-end prospects can go a long way to extending the winning window. One question not related to Tucker. Can the Astros negotiate with him at the present time or do we have to wait until the season is over. I saw there were 5 days of exclusive dealing potential. But can they negotiate anything at this time??
You’re not getting a proven MLB player plus a few high end prospects for one year of Tucker making $20M. The time to pre-emptively rebuild was last season when both Tuck and Framber had multiple years of control and Bregman could have brought back something meaningful. Without Tucker this team goes from a playoff contender to a team hoping to be above .500. They chose not to do that pre-emptive rebuild and now their only option is to push forward and hope that they are able to have multiple high ceiling/risk prospects fully pan out to extend the window (or hope Crane has way more financial clout than we all assume). Yes, the Astros can have exclusive negotiations with Bregman now and any time up until free agency begins a few days after the World Series.
Yea, cause impending free agents don't get anything at the trade deadline, right? There is definitely a great market for Tuck if the Astros choose to go that route. He would still bring back a great return.
Do you have an example of what you think Tucker would bring back in a trade this offseason? We might just have very different definitions of “great”. I think Tucker could bring back one elite prospect (I.e., someone ranked in the 30-60 range on most prospect lists) plus one or two solid prospects that would slot in most orgs’ 5-10 range. Theres value there, but it’s not the kind of franchise-altering return he would have brought back last offseason, and it’s not nearly enough by itself to justify punting on what may be Houston’s last chance to win another ring in the Altuve/Crane era.
Dubon to have surgery on torn thumb Astros ‘got away’ from their offensive identity. How do they get it back? They have preached passing the baton, practicing patience or putting an opposing pitcher in hell. And, for fleeting moments of a frustrating season, the Houston Astros accomplished all of it. Their lineup led the American League with a .262 batting average and finished with the sport’s eighth-highest OPS. Each of the seven lineups with a higher one averaged more runs per game. All had a higher slugging percentage, worked more walks and saw at least 3.84 pitches per plate appearance, too. Houston saw a major-league low 3.65. No number better accentuates a season-long departure from the franchise’s offensive foundation. Only the Miami Marlins’ lineup chased outside the strike zone more than Houston’s. Only the Marlins and Colorado Rockies swung more. No offense saw fewer pitches and only three worked fewer walks. Team | Swing% | BB% | Pitches Per PA | Chase Rate 2021 | 45.40% | 9.00% | 3.9 | 25.70% 2022 | 48% | 8.70% | 3.78 | 29.20% 2023 | 48.10% | 8.80% | 3.82 | 30% 2024 | 50% | 7.30% | 3.65 | 31.80% …In June, Bregman bemoaned the Astros’ aggressive approach but couldn’t escape blame. His swing rate spiked to a career-high 44.9 percent, his on-base percentage plummeted 51 points below his career average, and he sported an almost shocking 6.9 percent walk rate. In 2023, it was 12.7 percent. Bregman is one of eight Houston hitters who took at least 400 plate appearances this season. Four of them, including Bregman, had an on-base percentage of .315 or lower. Neither Meyers nor Mauricio Dubón eclipsed .300. Jeremy Peña did, but his .308 mark sat 16 points lower than what he posted last season. Peña is Houston’s fastest player. Meyers and McCormick rank second and third. That none of them could get on base above a .310 clip accentuated another problem — an inability to force action for a lineup that struggled to score runs. No offense took extra bases at a lower rate than the Astros’, and just nine stole fewer bases. That, in turn, forced an aging roster to play a station-to-station style it was ill-equipped to maintain. Slugging more would have solved the problem, but dramatic dips from Jose Altuve and Yainer Diaz only magnified it. Both men slugged over .520 in 2023. Last season, neither eclipsed .441. …Altuve chased outside the strike zone a career-high 37.3 percent of the time this season. Only 14 players had a higher chase rate. Two of them were Dubón and Diaz. That Altuve only made contact on 62.7 percent of those swings outside the strike zone must be more alarming. Altuve is a contact connoisseur, a man often lauded for his ability to hit anything anywhere it is pitched. His career chase contact percentage is 70.9 percent — more than 8 percentage points above what he boasted this season. Altuve still authored an admirable season. He made his ninth All-Star team, slashed .295/.350/.439 and finished with an OPS+ 26 points above league average. …
Very interesting, You can live with Pena's stats due to the position he plays. It would be great to see improvement instead of regression though. What you cant have is two OF'ers that hit as bad as Meyers/Chas did last year. Diaz/Altuve are always going to be free swingers. The lineup bears out what the stats you posted say. Altuve Diaz Pena Chas Meyers Dubon Are all free swingers that consistently chase outside of the zone and you will never have an above avg offense with that many free swingers. Particularly when they're facing top tier playoff level pitching.
Apologies, I misread. I think we kinda were thinking the same thing, but different. I think we can get a similar return to what you suggest, but adding a younger MLB ready player with strong upside.
