I'm going to blame the batters eye. That way I don't have to vent about how $hitty this lineup is right now.
White-Davis-Tucker are all long-shots to make the post-season roster if they get all the other guys healthy. Maldonado is bad... don't think they acquired him for his bat. McCann on a rehab assignment, and chances are he's their playoff catcher. Bregman slumping, as is the team. Even before the month started, I expected this to be a losing record month... and this was before Springer went on the DL. Then they won 6 out of 8 last week, including games against the Mariners and Dodgers. Its a frustratingly funny game sometimes... but yes, you do need star players to win a lot of games, especially in the playoffs.
Even fully healthy there should be no denying this team needs another bat of some kind. All the teams in contention for the playoffs in the AL have better, deeper lineups right now as the season has progressed. You can have all the pitching in the world, but you need to score to have a chance.
Hudgens has to shoulder some of the blame for this club's offensive woes. There was a reason the mets cut him.....
I'm just not going to harp over this lineup and lament the struggles of a Tucker or White given that neither would be playing everyday (or be depended on to carry the team) if they had all of their main guys healthy. I could see them acquiring a Cameron Maybin-type player... not somebody who really moves the spectrum, but is an established MLB hitter who plays a position of need. Other than that, the season and post-season does hinge on whether or not Altuve comes back soon enough.
The offense is likely just not going to be as good as last year - it's unlikely that's going to change, even if they did add some middle-tier bat like Granderson. Yes, he's an upgrade over Tucker - but so is just about anyone, and Tucker is likely not on the team on Friday. Granderson is basically just another Marwin/Reddick/Gattis. When Springer is back, you're not improving the lineup at all by swapping a Granderson with whoever you might bench. Unless you're going to find a star, you're not going to improve the offense replacing spare parts with other spare parts. All that said, the pitching is miles and miles better. This team is just constructed differently than last year. They added an ace to the front of the staff and they added a whole array of arms to the back of the staff to the point where we're wondering which 3.00 ERA, 1+ K/inning, sub-1 WHIP reliever won't make the playoff roster.
No argument here for the most part. White-Davis-Tucker shouldn't be on post season roster...shouldn't be on regular season roster. There are 42 games left....how many wins do you see ?
Upshot to A’s winning is it keeps Mariners 4.5 games back if they win tonight. At a minimum Stros need to go 4-3 in the next 7 games. With this starting rotation I don’t think that is asking too much.
What bat do you acquire, and in a playoff game, who do you bench? Presumably zero shot at replacing these guys: 1B: Yuli 2B: Altuve SS: Correa 3B: Bregman CF: Springer C: Whoever is at catcher - they aren't bringing a new C info the fold at this point. So your options are: RF: Reddick LF: MarGo / Kemp DH: Gattis / White What bat can you acquire that is clearly better than those? And other teams lineups aren't nearly as deep as you think. The bottom of Boston and Cleveland's lineups are worse than Reddick/Margo/Gattis. Yankees are deeper once they get healthier - their problem is starting pitching.
If the Astros offense doesn’t collectively pull their heads out of their ass and start having professional at bats soon, you won’t have to worry about the playoffs, because both Seattle and Oakland will pass them in the standings. So I suggest we stop acting like the playoffs are a lock right now. As for Granderson, I’m aware he’s the same caliber of hitter as Gattis, Marwin and Reddick, but none of those three deserve to play every day right now, and he would give Hinch a proven MLB caliber option to help weather the current storm.
He's not good past the all star break... hasn't been for 3 years. When Devo gets back, Harris has a chance to be off the roster. Between Rondon, Osuna, Pressly, McHugh, Peacock, Devo, and Sipp as the token LOOGY (who is having a better year than Will), where and when is Harris going to pitch?
Granderson would basically be this year's version of acquiring Cameron Maybin. If you really want them to go for it, they're likely going to target Donaldson or McCutchen... but that would likely indicate that Altuve isn't coming back.
If the Astros collectively keep scoring 1 run a game, then swapping out Gattis for Granderson isn't going to change any of that. Gotcha - so you're just making changes for the sake of it. I suspect the Astros brass isn't going to waste their time on that. Springer returning on Friday takes away any purpose of having a Granderson.
Gattis had a great 5 week period this year. Otherwise, he has been bad at the plate and is a bad backup catcher.
