The Astros team currently is 17 outs above average. I believe that leads all of Major League Baseball. Jose Altuve, in left field- is 2 outs above average. I told everyone he’d be fine if he could catch the ball and I expected him to do so, he has. He went from maybe the worst defensive player in baseball in his position to above average/ that’s what the move to LF was about and it’s paying dividends. in addition to turning tough plays into outs better than anyone else the Astros have the fewest amount of unearned runs in baseball. This is obviously important. Still- with all that good defense going on their FIP is better than their era (or at least it was a couple days ago when I looked) meaning the pitchers are doing their job even better than their stellar numbers would indicate. This team is Yordan and Yainer heating up and hitting to their proven track record away from being a 100 win team (or at least playing at a 100 win pace) for a long time. If we can win today we will end April on a 92 win pace even with an offense that is performing like one of the worst in baseball while being populated with guys that can hit. Cam Smith has been very good defensively in RF. Meyers is gold glove caliber in CF. Altuve, as described above, is above average in LF. Paredes is above average at 3B and the other 3 infielders have all won gold gloves. This is a good team.
Isaac Paredes has a .911 OPS at Daiken Park (.601 on the road). He is the monster at home that his spray chart promised. So I’m just pretending that Paredes is taking the role of Yordan in the lineup today, so everything will be fine and we will win 5-3.
I feel like Yordan should be out there today. Altuve should sit. Punt lineup today. Making a sweep very difficult
Hopefully it's just a scheduled offday and he didn't tweak his knee on his (regularly occurring) awkward-ass slide into 2B yesterday.
One of the star players getting the day off before a bye, and the catcher resting after a night game doesn't seem unusual.
They have been saying this since his last start. More likely than not it's just load management. He's never thrown a ton of innings in a year.
We have a lot of offensive upside. Obviously Yanier and Yordan. Rodgers can be an above average hitter. Chas looks like he is mostly back. Parades still has another gear once he hones in on the Crawford boxes. If Dezenzo gets comfortable, we should be pretty at least above average on offense.
Espada said Wesneski’s velo was down in his last start and they want to give him extra rest. Get that TJ juju outta here!
