I actually brought this move up a couple of weeks ago. If Dana Brown is actively trying to improve the run production vs RHP and has not been able to make a trade, this move makes sense. Madris @ Sugar Land this year vs RHP: .929 OPS, 20.9% K rate, 16.2% BB rate. miserable vs LHP, but Julks, McCormick, Meyers, and Abreu are still on the roster for them. My guess is they weren't thrilled with how Dubon played at 1B yesterday ( and mentioned earlier they weren't impressed with Diaz there) so they wanted a true 1B for the bench. Keep in mind, if they didn't think 1B defense was a priority they would have been putting Yordan there too.
The thinking is that Salazar is a wasted roster spot. He never plays and doesn't add any value really as a pinch hitter or a pinch runner. Madris has a .363 OBP, 10 HRs, and 10 steals in AAA. He has more value as a bench player. I'm hoping Brown has talked to Dusty and he won't just sit Diaz as a backup catcher. Play him at 1st and DH him when he isn't at catcher. If you lose the DH in the 7th or 8th inning who cares? At least now you have a better bat to pinch hit for the pitcher's spot.
Name. vs RHP , vs LHP Chas. .791. .806 Julks. .702. .672 Meyers .671. .735 Dubon .672. .930 Abreu. .564. .643 Chas is the only one above MLB avg vs RHP Julks is the only one better vs RHP, but he's below average vs both. I could see Madris starting 1 or 2 games in LF and 1 at 1B vs RH starting pitching each week until a bat is brought in or Brantley returns Then the Astros can send him down and keep Julks when Brantley is activated.
No, that wasn't what I meant. What I meant by are you guessing or is this sourced was "is it really Korey Lee coming up or are you just guessing at that?" It looks like it's not Lee, but that was a logical guess by you I guess, even though I suspected that probably wasn't the move.
Salazar being awful and never getting to play with Dusty's poor decisions on who to play was a feature and not a bug to my way of thinking. What if we get a guy up here who just sucks instead of being abjectly terrible and Dusty decides to play him? You will be pining away for the days of Salazar on the bench collecting dust and only playing 1x a month.
Not really a concern for me. Dana Brown said he thinks they could have Alvarez back in 2-3 weeks so this is probably short term anyway for Madris. Salazar gave us nothing when he did play. At least try someone that is putting up some okay numbers in AAA. Plus Madris can play 1st. Even if he plays like a AAAA hitter that might out perform what we get from Abreu....
Salazar gave us the ability to let Dusty play Yainer even when he wanted and assigned Maldy at catcher every. single. day.
This does interest me. I read that Brown and Dusty have "an agreement" on Diaz's playing time. Either Maldy will be sitting much more often, they no longer care about moving the DH to catcher, or Brown and Dusty will have a big blowout. We will see. . .
It was based on whoever said Lee bought tickets for his family for the California series… thus if it was going to be Lee, I figured Diaz was going to continue to DH more.
Abreu sure. What about when it's Bregman, Pena or Altuve? Huh? what then Mr. smart guy? I'm just messing with you and the Salazar thing was mostly a joke.
It's just weird since this situation (Salazar being a wasted spot) has been known since long before Yordan got hurt. Hopefully the timing indicates that Dusty has come to his senses at least on this one point.
Maldy is going to start 70-75% of the games at catcher unless he gets hurt. That's not changing this season... EVER. Diaz will get the majority of his playing time at DH. Losing the DH for a few innings or even one full game if Maldy got hurt early isn't that big a deal. Now that Diaz is hitting so well I doubt Dusty is going to sit him especially with Yordan out.
Diaz is over the hump. He will start 75% of games the rest of the season. I am curious how that works with only he and Maldy as catchers on the roster though. Madris may be pinch hitting for the pitcher after they lose the DH, more than he starts
Maybe. Lee would add something with Diaz playing DH a lot. Plus if he gets hot, could boost his trade value.
