Yep. With his past accomplishments and success it never made sense to me not to give him a month and see if he was fixed.
Coaches don't make mistakes. When Dusty played Dubon over Chas in the regular season in 2022, Dusty was right. When Dusty decided he was wrong and played Chas over Dubon in the 2002 postseason, Dusty was also rigfht*. * Granted, I think most guess Chas playing in the 2022 postseason was likely a compromise so Dusty could play Maldy and Click got Chas to play. It is obvious that Chas playing in the 2022 postseason was the right decision and that him sitting for Dubon in the regular season other than for rest days was wrong. Edit: Just to be clear, I'd have played Chas more to see if he was out of what plagued him last season. I have no issue with Dubon playing over Rodgers or vice versa. I think what happens over Chas's next 60 or so PAs will give a 100 or so PAs to give better information. Assuming Espada is definitely right or wrong on whether Chas is out of his funk is probably too strong. I'd like to see more data, as the worst Chas has been is not worse at the plate than Dubon or Meyers over their last 250 and 350 PAs, respectively.
The fact that this team has 2 black holes at the plate, in the best of times, is not the issue. During this golden era, every year there have been poor hitters on the roster. In fact, excluding 2020, 82 times a hitter has had at least 200 PAs in a season for the Astros, since 2017. 28 of those seasons were an OPS+ of under 100 (34%) with at least 4 each of the past 3 seasons. By its very definition, everybody in MLB can not be 100 or better. It's crazy to think that any team does not have weak hitters. The amazing 2019 team had 3. Having Rodgers or Dubon at 2b and Meyers or Chas in CF is not the problem. Those guys are not expected to be great hitters, so them sucking is baked in to the expectations. Having Diaz, Walker, Yordan, and a starting RF under 100 is what keeps this team from scoring runs. And THAT has to change if this team wants to do anything.
If there are guys on 1st and 2nd w/ no outs and Altuve, Yordan, and Paredes coming up and they can't even get a guy to 3rd, that is a way worse problem than a bad lineup.
Sure. It’s not all his fault. Guys have to perform no argument here. And that’s more important than anything the skipper does. But he doesn’t add any value in anything.
He's not a player who's earned an automatic starting gig - his only success in his career was when he had to fight for playing time and was being motivated by being pissed off at Dusty all the time. The minute they gave him the starting job to start last year, he sucked. He wasn't better in spring training and he wasn't better for most of this year. He had 1 good game, which probably should have earned him a few more starts, but as it turns out, 6 at-bats later for Meyers and he's back to having the higher OPS. There's just a not a strong case to be made that Chas needs to play over Meyers, and certainly nothing enough to think it's going to make a major difference for the team. Chas is a backup 4th outfielder - he's been looked at that way by multiple managers and multiple GMs for the Astros. His performance has also been that. People said the front office had to fire Dusty in part because they couldn't control him - but they sure as hell can control Espada and you're seeing the same exact thing for the past year and a half. There's probably a reason for all of that. With Altuve's move the OF, his path to playing time is going to be a Meyers injury or an extended Meyers slump. Beyond that, his sporadic offensive potential isn't likely to earn him playing time over Meyers' consistent defense.
He was a full time player in April last year and then he was hurt. His playing time since then has been very sporadic and too small of a sample size for you to draw any conclusions. Your Dusty story is stupid and you have no idea what actually went on there. If Meyers is hitting for the first time in his career then I’m cool with him starting. He has been given ample opportunity to start hitting, way more opportunity than Chas, who has actually hit in the past, when he was given the opportunity that Meyers has gotten since May of last year. Also, Chas can play all 3 OF positions. It’s not really just about him vs Meyers
Your welcome. I turned the game on and the score was 3-3. I immediately turned the game off so I wouldn't jinx them.
