The Aggies play Auburn this week.Photo by Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images.
Aggies look to keep rolling against Arkansas after bounce-back performance versus Miami
Things are not going too well in College Station these days. The Aggies dropped their fifth straight game with a 41-24 loss to Florida at home. That ties the longest losing streak for the Aggies since 1980. Who saw this coming? Definitely not Jimbo Fisher, not the A&M fan base and hell not even most of the national media. Texas A&M was the preseason #6 team in the country. Yet here we are, A&M needing to win out to become bowl eligible in Fisher’s fifth season.
The issues with this team are too many to count at this point, and to make things worse this past Saturday a flu outbreak ravaged the team. When it rains, it pours. To make matters worse, five-star freshman quarterback Connor Weigman was one of the players affected and did not play. The week after Coach Fisher finds his stud QB, he can’t play and back to Haynes King we go. When it rains, it pours…you get the point.
It’s pretty predictable when a team already very thin due to injury, loses about 10-15 players due to an illness, that they are going to struggle. For the first half of the ballgame, it was pretty close as the limited Aggies got into a little track meet with the Gators, going into halftime with the lead. Coming out of the intermission, the Aggies' offense sputtered while the Gators continued to take advantage of the depleted Aggies' defense. The Ags’ ended up getting shut out in the second half in route to the Maroon and White’s fifth-straight loss. Talking about these losses gets tiring, and I can only imagine what it’s like for that squad inside the Bright Complex as they turn their attention to a road trip to Auburn.
Coming into the season, the Ags road trip to the plains was an easy chalk-up as a win. However, I think it is going to be very difficult for Jimbo Fisher and the Ags to take this one on the road. Auburn does a good job of running the ball and what does A&M struggle with defensively? Stopping the run… Jimbo is going to have his work cut out for him to keep a bowl game in play. I see the Aggies struggling yet again and losing the battle of 3-6 teams. Auburn wins 24-17 and A&M falls to 3-7.
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With the Astros now officially ten games under .500 for the season, manager Joe Espada is taking a lot of heat from the fanbase for the team's struggles.
While we don't agree with the sentiment, we even hear fans clamoring for the return of Dusty Baker and Martin Maldonado, thinking the Astros wouldn't be in this mess if they were still here.
Which is ridiculous. First of all, Maldonado has been awful for the White Sox, hitting .048 (even worse than Jose Abreu's .065). And for those of you that think his work with the pitching staff justifies his pathetic offense. Let me say this: Where was Maldy's game calling genius for Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Framber Valdez last year? All of them regressed significantly.
And as far as Baker is concerned, we have no idea how much a difference he would make, we can only speculate. Baker would also be dealing with a pitching staff ravaged with injuries. And let's not forget, Baker was the guy that refused to move Jose Abreu down in the batting order, even though he would finish the regular season with the ninth-worst OPS in baseball.
The reality of the situation is managers can only do so much in baseball. Which leads us to something else that needs to be considered. Is Espada being handcuffed by the front office? Espada and GM Dana Brown both said recently that Jon Singleton was going to get more at-bats while they give Abreu time off to try to figure things out. Yet, there Abreu was in the lineup again in the opening game of the Cubs series.
It makes us wonder how much power does Espada truly have? The Astros have some other options at first base. Yainer Diaz may only have eight games played at the position, but how much worse could he be than Abreu defensively? Abreu already has four errors, and Diaz is obviously a way better hitter. Victor Caratini isn't considered a plus offensive player, but his .276 batting average makes him look like Babe Ruth compared to Abreu. Let him catch more often and play Diaz at first. Starting Diaz at first more often could also lengthen his career long-term.
Maybe that's too wild of a move. Okay, fine. How about playing Mauricio Dubon at first base? I understand he doesn't have much experience at that position, but what's the downside of trying him there? If he can play shortstop, he can play first base. He's driving in runs at a higher rate (11 RBIs) than everyone on the team outside of Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez. And he's producing like that as part-time player right now.
The other criticism we see of Espada is his use of Jon Singleton to pinch hit late in games. Let's be real, though, who else does Espada have on the roster to go to? Batting Abreu late in games in which you're trailing should be considered malpractice. Espada can only use who he has to work with. This all really stems from the Astros poor farm system.
They don't have anyone else to turn to. The draft picks the club lost from the sign-stealing scandal are really hurting them right now. First and second rounders from 2020 and 2021 should be helping you in 2024 at the big league level.
Maybe they go to Astros prospect Joey Loperfido soon, but after a hot start he has only two hits in his last six games.
Finally, we have to talk about what seems like a committee making baseball decisions. Lost in a committee is accountability. Who gets the blame for making poor decisions?
As time continues to pass it looks like moving on from former GM James Click was a massive mistake. He's the guy that didn't sign Abreu, but did trade Myles Straw (recently DFA'd) for Yainer Diaz and Phil Maton. He also built an elite bullpen without breaking the bank, and helped the club win a World Series in 2022.
The reality of the situation is Dusty Baker and James Click are not walking back through that door. And all good runs come to an end at some point. Is this what we're witnessing?
Don't miss the video above as we hit on all the points discussed and much more!
Catch Stone Cold 'Stros (an Astros podcast) with Charlie Pallilo, Brandon Strange, and Josh Jordan. We drop two episodes every week on SportsMapHouston's YouTube channel. You can also listen on Apple Podcast, Spotifyor wherever you get your podcasts.