Yanier's development hasn't been stunted. He chooses to be a knucklehead. Dusty just didn't take advantage of his strengths when he could actually hit the ball.
Exactly for how many years do we get to blame Dusty for Yanier just not being as good as we hoped? Could Dusty have used him more while we were winning a World Series? Sure. But it's not his fault Yanier is where he is at the moment.
Honestly - I didn't agree with everything Baker did, and I am not even really claiming that Baker was a great manager. I think he did something well and was poor at other things. I will just say that no one stunted Yainer's development more than Yainer.
I think he’s referring to 2023, when we lost to the rangers. Yainer and his .900 OPS sat the bench while .600 OPS Maldy started every game down the stretch and all the games in the playoffs. Dusty never even allowed Yainer to catch the top 2 or 3 in our rotation that year. Not even once. This is where the split in the fanbase lies on the Dusty/Maldy/Yainer front, not the year before when we won the WS and Yainer was only on the team for a few weeks or so. 2022, he started maldy over vazquez when he was pissed that Click traded for a catcher. Maldy was Dusty’s guy. We saw how Maldy’s game calling advantage was overrated when Vazquez, in his only start in the WS, called a combined no hitter.
Yanier was a rookie in Dusty's final year, and he had the best season of his career getting 350 at-bats. Dusty has a lot of faults, but one of the things he's statistically known for is getting the best out of his players. Chas also had his best years under Dusty. Both of them, when handed the fulltime starting jobs, got significantly worse. Maybe the problem wasn't Dusty.
Dusty was told to hit the road after the incredibly disappointing loss to the rangers in 2023. The next season was Diaz’s first full season as the full time catcher and he hit .297 with 16 home runs. He was 2nd or 3rd on the team in RBI’s and hit .350 w/risp. He did this while learning the ropes as a starting catcher. Last year was his only poor season and he still hit 20 home runs. Last season had nothing to do with Dusty and whether he returns to form or not has nothing to do with Dusty.
Except in the playoffs when his teams would routinely fall on their face. Only Click could save him from himself with the bullpen he built him in 2022. I don't blame Yanier's growth on Dusty, I blame Dusty for losing another WS title in 2023 with his idiotic personnel decisions. Yanier's growth has been stunted by the fact he's lazy and has no concept of the strike zone.
Yep...realizing that now. Point still stands, though. It's not Dusty's fault that Yanier isn't what we expected/hoped for.
Like I said. Yanier is a knucklehead. But he was a pretty decent knucklehead that Baker didn't use in 2023.
Every season I tell myself I won’t get sucked in. Then some Dusty fanboy inevitably and stupidly says that Dusty is responsible for Chas’ entire career arc or that Dusty was a genius with Yainer and Chas or whatever. Still angers up my blood when I should laugh it off. Maybe next year.
I don't completely agree with the article below. Kai-Wei Teng is having a great camp and might edge out Blubaugh (who might better serve the org as a AAA starter). Both Zach Cole and Cam Smith have had an underwhelming camp so far. The article suggest a RF platoon, which means significant bench time for both. I would prefer that both ere everyday starters, either in AAA or MLB. The likely replacement would be Dezenzo, who is not even in camp atm. Trammell, who is in camp and a LH bat, is also a consideration, even though he has never hit MLB pitching consistently. Astros Roster Projections as of March 9 Pitchers recap: Starters: Brown, Imai, Burrows, Javier, Arrighetti, McCullers Jr (pending Tuesday start) Bullpen: Hader (IL) Abreu, King, Sousa, Okert, Blubaugh, Weiss, Munoz (with Hader sidelined for now) Lineup Recap: Regulars: Diaz, Walker, Paredes, Altuve, Pena, Correa, Yordan, Meyers, Smith Bench: Cole, Loperfido, Allen, Vazquez
I predict Yainer will be trade bait next offseason with the way Walker Janek is developing. It will be very nice having a catcher with all the defensive tools (receiving, arm, framing, etc), great attitude, solid bat to ball skills, can steal bases, and can actually work a count and not flail away swinging at everything. I also think Janek is part of the reason we didn't re-sign Caratini or spend big money on a backup catcher. Got a potential beast waiting in the wings. Wouldn't be surprised if we saw him as a September call-up this year.
As far as moving a very solid CF in Meyers to open up more opportunities for Cole I know it's a tiny tiny sample size, but Cole is 2-16 right now with 7 Ks, that's almost a 50% K rate. That would be a huge on a guy who in that tiny sample size is doing exactly what his past says...making good decisions, taking some walks, and swinging and missing a LOT in the zone
I do think Diaz is trade bait. He is an amazing talent offensively and the Astros are probably gonna give him a few hundred at bats to see if he is worth keeping or trading. I feel like his performance last year was actually worse than his numbers. I’ve seen few mlb hitters in my life lack patience like that guy did last season. He seems to have a little league mentality when he steps up to the plate. As he became more frustrated, he flailed even more and started having defensive lapses too. Not as bad as Maldy defensively, but bad enough. Because of this, and having a good prospect at catcher plus Vazquez, I think the next few months are make or break for Diaz. Of course I could be wrong and they give him the whole season.
Unless Janek explodes in AA/AAA Diaz won't be traded. Next offseason? Uh, yeah. I hope Diaz has a great year and makes this a problem we need to think about.
