@Radricky here you go... keep this threequel of an epic going.... volume II: some would think yoga & meditation would center the energy... but even everyone kinda expected a decline (again).
I really hope I have to eat a giant plate of crow. I’ll straight up ask for seconds. I really like abreu and want him to succeed.
I just don't think he has it physically in him anymore. The effects of getting older do not get reversed. Sure, I hope he will get one final wind... but...
We will see. He was genuinely hurt last year, covered it up - then got medical help and played better.... and then hit well in the playoffs. There are cases of older players bouncing back from poor seasons. It is four games, and I think it is too early to tell. If it is the middle of May and he has a 650 OPS, then we can talk. Luckily, the Astros may have some options in the minor leagues that could come up and hit - which would be HUGE for the long term health of the Astros, they need to develop players to fill holes
Yeah, I was wondering the potential viability of a DFA, and wondering what their plan B is? Not addressing Abreu's '23 season by securing a low-cost plan B - it's not the worst offseason decision they made (that would be letting ~200 mostly quality innings disappear from your bullpen and not being terribly urgent to replace it) - but it certainly wasn't a very good decision.
I really don't see them DFAing him - at worst he would get Singleton's spot. Even when he was really struggling with back issues last season, he was good at moving runners over, hitting sacrifice flies and working the count. As for why they didn't address it? Money is part of the problem and a lack of options as well. I was a little upset they did not sign Garrett Cooper to a minor league deal or even a big league deal for low money. There is Brandon Belt out there, but he is really a platoon player and from what I heard he was expecting 5-10 million a season for a long part of the off season. What I have heard is that Brown is favoring internal options, in the minors and sometimes on the roster over other options outside the organization. So rather than sign a Belt or Cooper, then let Loperfido play 1st if the Astros need a first basemen. They were not overly interested in Mike Lorenzo, because they wanted to give internal options an opportunity. It is a careful balance, because the only way this Astros situation works long term is to have cheap homegrown players... but at the same time, they are also in their window right now. As for the bullpen - they decided to pursue Snell and also to have some money left for the trade deadline, rather than target buys like Neris or Stanek or Maton.... as they do not believe that Stanek and Maton are playoff type pitchers. I do think it is going to hurt until at least Verlander gets back - and then someone like France can go to the pen.... but Javier and Brown just don't pitch deep into games, and someone needs to pitch the innings.
