Catchers just don't do that anymore. Rutschman started 104 last year. Realmuto was the only player to start more than 116 games at catcher (130). What's sad is Maldy was one of five tied at 116. The last time someone started 130 games at catcher besides JT was 2017 when Yadier and Maldy both did it.
Ruschman was nursing a nagging injury for a good while last season. Then play Diaz at 1B 20-25 games. I still feel like Diaz can go 130+ at catcher.
All Diaz cares about is swinging a bat, I have no problem with this at all. Yordan likes to play outfield once in a while and you have rest Diaz at some point. It also appears Framber needs a baby sitter catching for him.
Rutschman career stats 201 games at catcher 70 games at DH With those numbers, limiting his time at catcher is an easy decision. Realmuto struggles at DH similar to Diaz, but JT plays 130 games. Fans will continue enduring Abreu suck in the field AND at the plate. Come September, we'll see how productive he is after 130 games on his aging body. His recent history hasn't been good.
In all fairness, they gave him nearly the full week off under the stipulation he's back for the game. He agreed to it.
In the last 3 years, only 1 catcher has started more than 120 games in a season (Realmuto 2x). In the last 2 years, no other catcher has more than 116 games started. Diaz isn't going to start 130+ games at catcher.
Just looking at the plus side.. If Diaz and Pena keep it up, Abreu is our new Maldy in the lineup... we're still better overall than having Abreu and Maldy last year...
There’s no way Crane (and Dana by extension) is going to give up on Abreu at this point. Too many dollars wasted.
We need his bat in the lineup. He doesn’t produce at DH. The Astros refuse to bench Abreu or DFA singleton. Also, see my last post.
I’d agree if we had some scrub backup like Maldy as the second option. LHBs also have an OPS 100 points higher than RHBs against Berrios in his career. Last year was 160 points higher. Offensively this lineup is probably better than with Meyers in there.
He will eventually hit as a DH. Yordan had an insane start to his career in LF vs DH too…that difference was negligible last year.