He’s hurt again. You think the Astros should’ve paid 15 mil for the trash numbers he has put up this year?
The Astros have proven themselves to pretty astute at letting players go when they feel their pay does not match their future worth. Correa, Springer, Bregman seem to me to all be pretty good decisions. I wish the Rockets could take lessons from the Astros FO.
Dude is on the IL. Only good thing that would have come with bringing back JV would be his smokin hot wife.
Imagine having what is thought to be one of the top staff's in baseball, the guy who would be #2 in MVP voting if it occurred right now, a CF who was signed to a long superstar extension, getting off to a 20-12 start...and by early June you are looking up at a team who 1. Lost two of their top 3 hitters in the offseason 2. Hasn't had their best hitter for over half the season 3. Has gotten nothing from their top offseason signing 4. Has what would be a solid MLB rotation on the IL 5. Has worn out I-69 between Daiken and Sugarland bringing in new pitchers to get us through right now Lolol, you suck Seattle
To be fair, they've been without Gilbert, Kirby just returned after being out the first month and a half, and Bryce Miller is hurt now so they haven't really had their "top staff" either.
If you were going to spend 15M, might as well spent the $20M and brought back Kikuchi if that's your hot take. This team would legitimately be better off if they just kept Singleton and signed Kikuchi instead of Walker.
Yes to Kukuchi, no to Singleton. Walker is hitting the ball hard, but is striking out too much. I think odds are he becomes a pretty good hitter for us before the year is out.
I think they were correct in not bringing back Jon, obviously the entire MLB also does But yes, would have been better off signing Kikuchi and not Walker. Kuch likely continues to pitcher very well under our pitching staff, and Dezenzo would have got much more run at 1B and likely produces way more than Walker (and Jon)
yes to Big Jon you mean? Singleton is probably less than 1 million. Of course we’d be better off with Jon in a platoon instead of Christian Strikeouter. At this point, no contest.
I'd rather have Kikuchi and Dezenzo/Singleton the rest of the season than Walker. If you disagree, I don't know what to tell you but you might be blind. Walker's expected numbers haven't been good either - it isn't just "bad luck" that he has sucked so far.
You dont value defense as much as you should. Although I would've loved for Dezenzo to get a shot at 1B.
Kikuchi has an ERA under 3 right now for the Angels so he definitely would be pitching well here. Idc who we put at 1B...my point was you could put anyone at 1B and you'd have at least the same output Walker has given us. He's at -0.8 bWAR right now...absolutely pathetic. Combine that with Abreu's -1.7 bWAR last season and that's really impressive.
Singleton was at least in the black in terms of bWAR last season. Walker is at -0.8. His defense has dropped off compared to previous years as well.
Walker has been good very good defensively. Look at how much Pena as an an example has improved defensively. Walker has saved him quite a few errors he would have with Singlton at !B. The infield defense has improved a lot overall and Walker is a big part of that. With this said Walker has been a big disappointment.
That game must have been crazy. I wouldn't know because I turned it off when Martinez went out thinking "there's no way they don't get this last out." They were literally one strike away at one point.
Jon vs RHP last year- .773 OPS Walker vs RHP this year- .662 OPS that is a massive difference. Jon isn’t the best 1st baseman but he was pretty good with the scoop. It’s not like a bunch of Pena’s throws were getting by him. His problem was range, and he lost a bunch of weight since then, probably for that reason. Also, look at Walker’s numbers vs LHP this year. Jon was terrible vs LHP but still better than Christian, who has been absolute ass against them this year with a .320 OPS.
It’s not only bad luck, but it is a lot of bad luck. His expected %s are all above his actual by a fair margin. And his bat speed, barrel rate, and most peripherals are in line with the last few years. His issue is striking out and not walking. When he misses he’s missing completely, and he’s chasing too much. To me, his stat cast reads like someone pressing, not someone who physically doesn’t have it anymore. It wouldn’t be the first time a change of scenery lowered performance (see Paredes in Chicago last year). He may not get it together, but I would bet hard on him doing meaningfully better balance of year.
