2023 Season Astros General Discussion Thread

What do we do about the Abreu conundrum? We are now a quarter through the season and he is putting up DFA numbers. Dusty obviously will ride his vets and especially so with one like Abreu. Hopefully Altuve/Brantley returns alleviate the stress and leads to some improvement, but he is getting NO lift on hits hits. Conventional wisdom would allocate Diaz reps…but we are in win now mode. What do we do with the white elephant in our lineup?

 

While it's still too early to bench him outright, we're far enough in that he needs to start losing some AB's. You don't get to play every day with zero HR and an OPS in the low .500s when you're over a quarter of the way in.

It's a joke that Dusty isn't even attempting to give Yainer Diaz a fair shot. Is he the answer, dunno, but the way he is getting used we're not going to know any time soon. He is our top hitting prospect, has good projected numbers, and plays the 2 positions we are getting by far our worst offensive production from, yet he is glued to the bench. People will scream Dusty knows what he is doing, but that is indefensible to me when another, lesser rookie like Julks is getting regular AB's.

I'm sure Brown was hoping to have some read on Diaz before we have to spend resources to upgrade. Still time for that to happen, but I have little faith in Dusty. Once he makes up his mind on something he is extremely stubborn. As is we are certainly gonna have to add a bat, maybe 2 if Brantley is also toast. Maybe we will get lucky in October like last season and 2 guys will get white hot at the right time like Pena and Yuli did despite being mediocre during the season.

 

Would like to see Kris Bryant as a target.

 

Interesting... hadn't heard this take from you yet...lol.

As far as getting "lucky" in October goes... isn't the entire small sample 1 month worth of games inherently just getting hot at the right time or going cold at the wrong time? We've seen Rasmus parlay 1 hot series into a $16 million dollar qualifying offer. At the same time, the Astros didn't fall over backwards for Yuli's hot month (with far more nostalgia tied to it).

That being said, I'm glad Yuli was on the roster come playoff time... I also would have had him simply for his defense (despite Mancini's handful of decent defensive plays).

 

The Astros are winning with pitching right now. In May, the Astros have given up 5 or more runs only 3 times in 18 games. All 3 were Diaz starts as catcher. Lost 2 and needed the 6 run comeback to win the 3rd.

Earlier in the season, people were screaming "Diaz is 6-0 as a catcher and we lose with Maldanado, so start Diaz!" Now the team is winning with Maldy and losing with Diaz (1-3 in May with Diaz as starting C; 11-3 without), and people are screaming "start Diaz!"

Maldy also has an OPS near 0.700 in May, so it's not exactly been terrible production this month.

 

I can't believe how fast this "Saint Dusty can do no wrong board" has turned on him for doing what he's always done. Playing favorites with players.

But trying to determine why they are his favorites is not permissible without triggering extreme overreaction.

 

Maldy and Altuve are suddenly Bregman light, taking pitches rather than swinging wildly at balls. I like it.

 

Corey Julks?

And never mind they've reduced Diaz to catching our worst starters. When Diaz is winning games with his pitchers dominating he isn't playing any role and doesn't deserve more time, but when he loses a game it's his fault.

FWIW I'm not even worried about catcher anymore, I've largely given up going against the Maldonado cult, he'll get his one start a week there for the foreseeable future. Never starting at 1B or DH is even more egregious.

 

Supporters point to him winning the title last year so he must be a good manager

It took him 25 years to “manage” a team that was so talented he couldn’t hold them back

His treatment of Diaz is awful, and he has done the same with others. And on Abreu, people want him to sit Abreu some but he won’t even move him down in the lineup, he gets more at bats than Kyle Fn Tucker

 

I like Davis if he can play 1B. That’s kind of the issue, if we want someone to legitimately improve the lineup it needs to be someone who can play 1B or catch, and if it were a catcher he wouldn’t play anyway

 

The team, when Diaz starts, wins at a 113 game winning percentage. The team, when maldy starts, wins at an 87 game winning percentage.

 

Adding a veteran IF seems to be a must at the deadline. If everyone was healthy I’d roll with this lineup heading into the postseason with what’s available.

Altuve 2B
Dubon 1B
Alvarez LF
Pena SS
Tucker RF
Bregman 3B
Brantley DH
McCormick CF
Diaz/Maldonado C

Diaz/Maldonado C
Abreu 1B/DH
Meyers CF
Julks LF

 

Just pray that eventually Abreu gets moved all the way down to 5th in the lineup for good. Of course that sets up the nightmare of having 2 incredible lefty hitters back to back, which of course is horrible for our lineup.

 

I think Jake vs Chas is a coinflip. They suddenly have identical 108 OPS+ and Jake has .349 OB%.

Good problem to have. The issue is that 90% of the time Dusty will sit one on the bench and they are too similar to pick and choose strengths vs weaknesses.

 

I mean, isn't the obvious answer going
Altuve
Alvarez
Bregman
Tucker

 

They should both be in the lineup most days. No reason Alvarez can’t DH half of the time with McCormick in LF and Myers in CF. To keep Alvarez happy you can give him half the outfield starts and Chas the other half. Chas can DH when Alvarez is in LF. Diaz should be playing catcher and 1b primarily with an occasional DH. Dubon is your utility guy infield and outfield. Key is Abreu coming around and then the lineup would be super formidable come playoff time.

Altuve 2b
Pena SS
Bregman 3b
Alvarez DH/LF
Tucker RF
Myers CF
McCormick LF/DH
Abreu/Diaz 1b
Maldy/Diaz c would like to see Maldy as the bench catcher but will never happen unless there is an injury or Dusty quits.

 

Jake Meyers is making a star turn. He's basically on pace to put up a 4.5 - 5 fWAR season and that's with the slow start and injury. His defense has been underrated - he's not the same as Chas or even in a similar tier. He's one of the five best defensive CF in baseball. He hits the ball hard, takes his walks, and is one of the fastest runners in the league. Looking like the long term solution at CF, Drew Gilbert or not. I wouldn't mind a Gilbert, Meyers, Tucker outfield in 2024.

 

I'm not sure I see why the Giants would trade Davis. He has another year of arbitration next season and is hitting really well this year. They were desperately trying to be relevant by signing Judge and then the whole Correa mess. I think they will move Alex Wood and Joc Pederson if they become sellers, but I would be surprised if they traded Davis. Plus, I think the price would be higher than most people would want the Astros to pay with that extra year of team control.