No. The bottomless hole in the batting order is at 1B. The rumored Jose Abreu trades also imply that the Astros are trying a new approach at 1B. Loperfido played 19 games at 1B in 2023. Word on the street Spoiler
It's mostly luck/chance. - Dubon is playing well - Bregman is sucking more than normal - Abreu is record-setting suck and shouldn't be playing - Singleton is a AAAA player _____ Before season's end, Bregman will have better stats than Dubon.
Singleton- big LOL. Bregman will have better stats because he gets 2x more at-bats than Doobie. Just don't let Doobie play CF, sometimes he looks like a CF player from the Bad News Bear.
Not just because of more ABs, but percentage stats too --- OPS, SLUG, OBP, etc. Doobie should definitely play CF less, true.
I mentioned it in another thread, but Meyers' arm is to me (no idea what the Stros are thinking) the main thing keeping him from full-time CF duty. You can't give up extra bases (1st-3rd, 2nd-3rd, 2nd/3rd-HP) on medium-deep FBs and singles to CF. I'd run on him every chance I got until he can prove it otherwise. eta: especially with flyball pitchers on the mound
Not sure if there's greater statistical breakdown, but what if those balls are caught in the first place? Seems that's been a recent issue lately. Meyers covers much more ground than Doobie supposedly. Don't follow prospect info, but don't recall Meyers' arm being the issue that it's currently portrayed/displayed. Shoulder injury will never fully heal, ala Bagwell.
I was talking about taking extra bases on caught flyballs, and also on singles/doubles. His arm is not only weak, he misses the cutoff with more regularity than you want. Like I said, that's the only downside I see to him in CF
That and I heard he's a tough hang... sorta douchey, no close friends... whereas Dubon is universally loved by all. (this is totally a joke... but wouldn't surprise me if superficial stuff like "I just don't like the guy" starts to weigh into why non-superstars sometimes play, sometimes don't). At the very least, Dubon does seem really well liked. Yordan's best friend. Seems to be always joking around/keeping guys loose. One of the few Astros that posts on social media. Springer/Correa/LMJ used to bring that youthful energy as well.
You can think that all you want, but the actual evidence suggests his arm value is right at league average since the beginning of last season. Runners are 1% more likely than average to advance on him, currently at 39% (the exact same as Dubon despite his stronger arm). When attempting to take an extra base they succeed 98% of the time (compared to 97% for Dubon) His arm strength is certainly below average, but there's zero evidence of it actually hurting us in any meaningful way. At worst he's slightly below average in that regard.
I know the numbers...and I know what I've seen by watching them regularly for the past 200 games (something that nobody but FO guys do on a league-average, league-wide basis). Then you mush the 2 together and come up with a hypothesis (Science!). Not an argument I'm interested in having right now, so let's keep an eye on this...throw-by-throw.
For Crane as an owner, mostly I wont disagree. But shoving Click out the door was an owner move that IMO was a bad one. But as our defacto GM, while not trash, has deservedly earned some criticism and ridicule.
He's been signing off on the big trades/signings/deals throughout his ownership. Fans feel like they have an 'inside track' simply because of how long they've been following the team now, but Jim Crane has always been involved.
No doubt that is true. But the distinction I was trying to make is with Luhnow and Click, his brain trust was better. It seemed the moves he ultimately approved were more sound. Since Luhnow and Click's departure, his moves have seemed less so.
But that leads to cherry-picking and having recency bias... unless you want to give Crane full credit for all the moves that did work (including the current ones... Altuve extension, Yordan extension, JV trade/extension/signining/trade.) Not all the trades or signings earlier truly paid off either (Gomez trade, Beltran signing for example). And depending on who you listen to, Montero/Abreu deals were already on the agenda for the brain-trust even before Click was fired (or his contract wasn't extended... sorta the same).
What about Chas' arm? It's even worse. According to Baseball savant: 2023 ( not enough 2024 data yet) Chas: avg 85.0 mph 50th percentile Jake: avg 86.0 mph 58th percentile Dubon: 90.4 mph 85th percentile. 2024 range Dubon: 34.0 ft. -1.4 ft/avg Chas 35.9 ft + 2.0 ft/avg Jake 40.8 ft. +5.4 ft/avg The Astros may be playing Dubon because of his arm, but the balls he doesn't get to cause as much damage to the chances of winning as Jake's mediocre arm. We see it often. It's funny how Jake gets inserted as a defensive replacement in the 9th inning, but Dubon starts because they are worried teams take advantage of Jake in the field. If Jake's defense is better in the 9th inning w/ a lead then it's better the rest of the game too.
I'm still skeptical that Joey is slotting in at 1st. He may fill in, but I'm thinking Kessinger is the odd man out here, not a 1st baseman. Dubon picks up anything that GK was getting and we get a pinch hit bat up in the bigs that can take over in the 9th for 1st/OF or spot start in the outfield.
I just find it hard to believe they cleared a 40 man spot and started Loperfido’s clock just to let him sit the bench most days.
