Carlos Correa in the leadoff spot paid off. Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images.
Are the Astros giving us a preview of October?
The Astros finished the first inning of the regular season Thursday night. 18 games out of 162, one-ninth of the schedule. Viewing the season in single game form, they're behind 2-nothing going to the second. A deficit nowhere near insurmountable, but not inconsequential either. An 8-10 record is not a big deal. Still, for late April this is an important American League West homestand with four against the Angels followed with four against the thus far spunky Mariners. It's not remotely make or break. A winning homestand and the Astros are just fine. A 2-6 or 3-5 mess? Wouldn't be catastrophic though even this early in the season, falling five, six, seven games behind three teams within the division would be a bona fide concern.
The Astros enjoyed a much-needed breakout game Thursday night in routing the Angels 8-2. They sure didn't want their stretch of brutally bad baseball to drag into the weekend. It's been a team wide affliction. In losing nine out of 10 games the offense had been generally comatose, just once scoring more than four runs. Ironically it was in the lone win that the Astros plated the smallest number, a 1-0 victory at Seattle. Astro pitching had been straight lousy, just once during the ten game stretch allowing fewer than six runs.
Dusty Baker makes the occasional dubious tactical decision, but props to him for slotting Carlos Correa in the leadoff spot Thursday with Jose Altuve still out. First time in his big league career Correa led off. It's simple. You want your best batters up the most. It doesn't matter how fast Myles Straw is. Until/unless he demonstrates something resembling competence as a batter no way should Straw ever be higher than eighth in the lineup.
Mike Trout's greatness
The Angels in through the weekend means the beyond great Mike Trout is here. Among the greatest center fielders of all-time Willie Mays was no greater than Mike Trout. Mickey Mantle was no greater than Mike Trout. At their individual peaks Mantle has the edge for greatest offensive player. Willie was 34 at the end of his last absolutely awesome season, Mickey was 32 at the end of his last. Willie had a great season in his last as an everyday player when he was 40! Trout turns 30 in August. It will be fascinating to see how long Trout sustains baseball God level of play. He's under contract for eight more seasons after this one at more than 37 million dollars per. Alas in baseball, even the greatest everyday player can only do so much toward team success. Trout has been to the postseason once in his career (2014). The Royals swept out the Angels in three straight. Trout went one for 12.
By the way, Ty Cobb was more statistically dominant than any of them but most of his career occurred during the dead ball era. Comparisons can be made but they're a little more apple vs. orange-y.
Rocket science
The Rockets are closing in on nailing down a finish of the worst three records in the NBA and hence maximizing their chances of keeping their lottery pick at 52.1 percent. The Rockets have to finish worse than Orlando or Detroit. Even if the Magic or Pistons lose all remaining games (except the game someone has to win when the Magic and Pistons play), the Rockets would have to win four more to rise above the bottom three. Yeah right! The Rockets' remaining schedule: Clippers, at Denver, Timberwolves, Bucks, Warriors, Knicks, 76ers, at Milwaukee, at Utah, at Portland, at the Lakers, Clippers, at Atlanta.
Sterling Brown is fortunate to not be in worse shape as he recovers from getting attacked outside a Miami strip club early Monday morning. What could have been a life or death matter takes on the most importance, but the Rockets should be concerned, distressed, and ticked that Kevin Porter Jr. was among those out with Brown in the wee hours. On the Rockets' lousy roster, Porter is one of the few beacons of hope. During his freshman season at USC Porter was suspended for misconduct. His behavior with the Cleveland Cavaliers led to the Cavs basically giving away a first round pick in his second season to the Rockets. Porter is now basically suspended because he breached NBA/COVID protocols. It was an irresponsible and lousy job of "mentorship" by Brown and whatever other Rockets were on hand ahead of a game upcoming in Miami that night. Brown was on the trip while not even available to play because of a sore knee.
Buzzer Beaters:
1. Interesting timing by the Astros extending Martin Maldonado's contract through next season and giving him a 1.5 million dollar raise for it. Maldonado is batting .081. He's not here for his bat, but come on.
2. If the 49ers really traded their 2022 and 2023 first round picks plus a third rounder next year to swap up from pick 12 overall to third overall to take quarterback Mac Jones out of Alabama, they're nuts. Doesn't mean it can't work.
3. The next three (okay four) best center fielders ever: Bronze-Oscar Charleston/Ken Griffey Jr. Silver-Tris Speaker Gold-Joe DiMaggio
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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.