Yuli does mini prayers on the field. I'm sure he's already been Saved but it's sweet you are looking out for his soul.
Ok let's say the Astros resigned him. Where does he play and how much playing time does he get? And who does he replace on the roster? The only thing that makes sense is to skip Jose Abreu since Yuli is back. Tell me your thoughts on how Yuli fits.
Can he play 2nd base or 3rd base as a bench player? If he can he is a better option than Dubon. If he no longer can play an infield role other than 1b, he is not worth a roster spot.
He would represent depth. At 1B, possibly 3B, possibly even 2B, and at DH. He'd be a 30 starts a year type of a guy, and an insurance policy in case someone goes down.
If they think he can play 2nd and 3rd (shifting Bregman to short if Pena goes down) I would sign let Dubon go and sign him immediately, but I don’t think that he is good enough defensively at either spot.
Everyone wants to let Dubon go. That's fine. Not realistic, but fine. So the Astros decide to go with a bench of: backup catcher, Yuli, Hensley, and Meyers? I don't think there is a backup shortstop on that roster. I know Hensley played some and Alex played there 4 years ago but I think it's much like Tucker in CF - it could happen, but at a very big drop off in defense. Dubon is not going anywhere. The team is paying him an arbitration driven premium salary and he has no options. Besides, this team is better with Dubon on the bench than Yuli on the bench. And that's why the Astros never considered replacing Dubon with Yuli on the roster.
I think you’re right about what the Astros are going to do. I’d rather take a chance that Pena stays healthy until Altuve gets back and scramble around to trade for someone if he gets hurt, than give Dusty a chance to Dusty and give Dubon a heavy load of starts at 2b. There’s a pretty good chance that Leon or Kessinger could come up and play a decent enough shortstop for an interim period and outhit Dubon. We don’t need him in the outfield EVER! If he was Adam Everette special at defense then ok, but he really isn’t that great at shortstop, just better than Hensley (for now).
Dubon is a much better defensive middle infielder than people give him credit for. I'm not saying he is Adam Everett, but he is good enough for it to count and count highly. Last year, he had 72 chances at SS. He made the out on 62 of them. Baseball Savant said the average SS should have made 58 of them. 86% vs expected 80%. 4 OAA Jeremy Pena won the gold glove with: 440 outs in 550 chances. Average SS should have made 433. 80% vs expected 79%. 7 OAA. At 2B, he had 21 chances and made the out on 18 of them. Baseball Savsnt says the average 2B would have made 16 of them. That's 86% vs expected 75%. 2 OAA. Andres Gimenez won the gold glove with: 368 outs in 471 chances. Average 2B should have made 356. That's 78% vs expected 76%. 12 OAA.
I have a feeling that if the Astros signed Dubon for the first time this offseason, we would be very happy with the versatility he gives and would be perfectly fine with him receiving at least half the 2B opportunities until Altuve returns. He is disliked primarily because of the frequency with which Dusty used him in CF last year when clearly Chas was a better option with similar or better defence and better offense. There is no Chas equivalent at 2B. I like Hensley also, but with no shift the defence is a real concern and Dubon is clearly better. I suggest we forget last year, forget CF, and focus on the flexibility and defensive stability Dubon provides in the middle infield. Then we will all feel better with a slightly suboptimal usage rate.
If Meyers returns to 2021 form an both he and Chas stay healthy then Dubon hardly sees any time if any in CF this year. But I am not a Dubon basher. He is a perfect 26th man. He rarely K's, runs and throws better than average, and can play average or better defense at multiple positions. Really for the last guy on the bench he brings more Than most.
If Dusty plays him like he is the 26th man fine. I just think his defensive + above Hensley is not enough to overcome his offensive - vs Hensley. If Hensley poops the bed fine put him in for defense. Hensley was super impressive at the plate in his short stint in the majors. He at the very least should get a month or so tryout as 2b starter to see if the offense continues. Altuve was not a great defensive player last year, probably not as good as Dubon. We are going to sorely miss his offense and maybe Hensley can make up for some of that where Dubon will almost assuredly stink at the plate. I do think your point on the shift is valid though.
Framber, Lance and Hunter are all among the best in MLB at inducing ground balls. Because if that, I fully expect Dubon to start the majority of their games. Garcia, Javier, and Urquidy are fly ball pitchers, so I think Dusty will take that opportunity to play Hensley. However those are also the games it is best to rest Pena and Bregman. If Altuve misses 50 games I would expect: 2B: Dubon 27 Hensley 23 3B: Bregman 48 Hensley 2 SS: Pena 48 Dubon 2.
All I know is he was one of the best hitters on the team in last years playoffs. And he hit one of the biggest homeruns in Astros history to help win the 2017 WS. The numbers may or may not say it, but I'm very happy with Yuli's playoff performances.
With enough opportunities, every MLB player will have some outstanding performances. Even Bagwell who is roasted for being a poor playoff performer had 4 RBI in 4 games vs SD in 1998 NLDS and 2 doubles, 2 HR and 5 RBI in 5 games vs Atl in 2004 NLDS. Overall Yuli has 31 runs scored, 39 RBI with 14 doubles, 8 HR and a very average .711 OPS in over 1/2 a seasons worth of games and plate appearances. Let's say over .800 OPS is good, under .700 is bad, and .700-.799 is OK. In 17 playoff series, Yuli has 5 good, 4 OK, and 8 bad. He has had 5 different playoff series where his OPS was under .500 and in 2022 his OPS plummeted from the previous series the more he played. At his age, rest and days off between games and series is what allowed him to be good.
A bunch of numbers, I'll take the memories. I don't recall Bagwell giving me any memories. I'm just glad Yuli was a leader in this historic age of Stros baseball.
If your criteria was "he gave me awesome memories" I wouldn't have had anything to comment about. Your memories are your own. But when you said, "he was awesome in the playoffs", that is demonstrably untrue. Yuli had a great postseason last year. We'll always cherish that. And it was still right to move on from an old, washed 1B, with no positional versatility.
If we want Yuli, he can be had via trade for cheap. There is also scenario that he doesn’t hit in the first few months and is cut, and is a FA. Between now and July 30, we need to use that roster spot to find out what we have in Hensley, Diaz, Meyers and McCormick. Those early season ABs are absolutely wasted on Yuli. Worst case scenario is that they all suck and we realize we should get Yuli back. That won’t cost much at all. Relatedly, Diaz looks like a monster in the making. I am very interested in finding out just how well that dude can hit.
