The accusations against Clevinger are bad, and so far no one has matched his asking price. I really don't know enough about the accusations against him to have an opinion. He also got in trouble with the Indians 4-5 years ago for being an *******. Belt was very good last year - he is ideally a platoon player at this point. He is upset no one has signed him yet. Cueto is up and down. He was good in 2022 and bad in 2023... but he does give you innings.
I have always liked Belt and he woukd be a huge upgrade from Singleton. The only downside I see is that he is positionally limited just like Singleton so production (rather than versatility) is the only area improved. I don't see that as an issue with Dubon and Kessinger on the roster If Belt could play 3 games at 1b and 3 at DH every 2 weeks, that's just under 50% of the games. Abreu sits about 25% Meyers sits 25% w/ Yordan in LF and Chas in CF.
One thing that I do not like about the Brown era so far is the timing of everything. What I mean by that, is it feels sometimes like things are not planned out well enough. For example the Verlander deal, according to Brown they did not know that Verlander was an option until Scherzer was traded with cash to Texas. Seems to me that should have been something that was discussed at some point prior. I understand that the Astros thought they were going to get Hader and Snell, but still, the Astros knew their financial concerns at the time - and Brown should have been getting creative before seeing the Rangers doing it. Also - after the Padres deal fell apart, the Astros did a good job of getting Verlander - but because everything was thrown together last minute, the Astros were not able to add another arm for the pen like they wanted. They wouldn't include Melton so they did not get Raley. Then this off season, the worst kept secret around the Astros was that they were going to go strategically but hard after Josh Hader. However, internally they also knew they were not going to have Graveman back (they held back as long as possible on the announcement) and they knew that McCullers and Garcia would not be back in April - they also knew the asking price of Neris was too much, and out of pride, he would go somewhere else....... yet Brown never traded for that elusive middle reliever in the off season, and by the time he tried, it was too late. His fall-back plan was to assemble a group of talented but flawed arms. These are minor complaints if Brown improves the farm system - and I am sure Brown would say that he was waiting for Hader's asking price to go down - and that the Verlander deal came out of nowhere - even if they knew Verlander wanted out of NYC and back with the Astros.
Sounds like they need a VP of baseball operations and basically let Brown continue to build on the minors and negotiate extensions.
Hader and Abreu unavailable tonight. Espada burned through his closer in a four game series (all losses) in which the closer did not appear in even one save situation. I know its early, but anybody get the feeling Espada is a bit overwhelmed?
Truth be told, Hader shouldn't be available until Wednesday. Already three appearances in 4 days... smh. No surprise his lone run happened 20 pitches into #3. Abreu shouldn't pitch until Wednesday either, but the bullpen is so thin and I'd bet Blanco won't see 5 full innings. All these situations are worse when the offense is barely scoring (close games).
They were all close games and there weren’t any obvious other choices for each of those instances. Ideally, Abreu does his job on Saturday and most of what’s being talked about right now goes away. Or if Hader isn’t brought in on Saturday, maybe he has better stuff on Sunday, but also a fair chance that the alternative to him gives up more and they don’t even have a chance to comeback. Hell, many wanted somebody other than Martinez/Mushinksi on Saturday… yet they both did their jobs. He’s pulled the starters at the “right” time… even though Framber couldn’t go 5. He got the max effectiveness out of Javier, Brown, and certainly France. Lineup has also been stable without difffernet people batting at different spots… no Pena or Singleton inexplicably batting 2nd, Chas/Meyers getting established as the main starters, and just the right amount of Dubon/Caratini. Hence why after Saturday, his only comment was that guys (bullpen guys and presumably some lineup stars) need to start doing their jobs. Can’t speak for the “rest” of what a manager does… keeping guys loose in the clubhouse, connecting personally with players, being able to recognize when a guy is struggling and being able to find a customized solution…. Who knows how he’s done so far and unlikely to be able to tell any of those things for at least 50-100 games (or after the team faces some actual adversity… whether it be new injuries or some true heartbreaks).
Seriously what was he supposed to do? Game 1 he had Hader, Pressly, Montero, Scott, Mushinski, and Bielak. Framber fell apart in the 5th and he brought in Martinez who allowed 0 out of 17 inherited runners to score last year. Montero in 6th. Pressly in 7th vs heart of lineup. Hader in 9th hoping to keep it at 1 run. game 2 1 run lead going to 7th Abreu is out and Pressly threw 27 pitches in game 1- he goes to Scott who pitched well in game 1 and he blew the lead. Game 3: goes to the 7th w/ 2 run lead and Abreu then Pressly give it up. Should he give up and keep Hader out only down 1? Game 4: tie game on the 9th Abreu already used and Pressly threw 27 pitches in game 1 and 17 in game 2. Have Mushinski, Bielak, Montero, or Hader to try and get it to extra innings. What would you have done differently?
Hader shouldn’t have pitched Game 3. Astros bullpen is thin, and they begin the season playing 7 straight days and 21 of 22. Diaz should almost never DH. He sucks offensively there. He should replace Abreu instead.
So for game 3 you have Taylor Scott coming off pitching back to back games including 25 pitches while giving up a hit and 2 walks in 1/3 of an inning in game 2, Bielak coming off 31 pitches while giving up 4 hits in 1 2/3 innings, and Hader. So you DON'T pitch Hader? You risk injuring one of those guys? And as for Diaz DHing, that's a HIM problem. The Astros are going to need him more than just the days he catches. It's just stupid to sit a guy with his bat because he sucks at DHing. They tried him (and Dubon) at 1b last year and were not happy with the results.
I wouldn’t have benched any starters in the first series except Abreu. Actually, I probably wouldn’t start Abreu but if I did I would never bat him higher than 7th. I wouldn’t have burned my closer in 3 different non-save situations. If you must play Yordan in left, you put the best hitter in CF and that is Chas. Even Meyers woulda been ok. I don’t like Dubon being the 2nd CF on the team and benching both Chas and Meyers. I would’ve probably pulled Framber sooner. I definitely would not have used Martinez in that situation in game 1. There is more than that I’m just already forgetting now. It just feels like Dusty moves are happening out there. He did an awful job in the first series of the season.
Let Pressly throw a second inning. Only 17 pitches and the Astros were already losing. Yanier "not happy with his 1B results / 1300 OPS" Diaz is better than Jose "suck on defense AND offense" Abreu. Are the Astros happy with Mr Half-buttoned's defense? Surely they're happy with Diaz's 600 OPS at DH.
I’m with you on almost all of this but don’t think Espada has any choice but to start Abreu. Crane has invested too many dollars and there’s almost zero chance they are giving up on him at this point. Definitely should drop him down to 8th though.
