THE PALLILOG
Despite tough week, Astros should cruise into postseason
Jun 21, 2019, 6:52 am
Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images
Welcome to summer! In sports that does mean the dog days, as for the next two months-plus baseball is the only mainstream major team sport in season. Despite stinking this week and losing five games in a row, the Astros are wonderfully worthy of having the stage to themselves until late-August. Think what a depressing sports stretch this is in Baltimore, Kansas City, or Miami, where the baseball season has been effectively finished since Easter. Heck, it was utterly miserable here for several years running before 2015.
Big series between Astros and Yankees
The Astros-Yankees series this weekend could certainly wind up being a precursor to them meeting in the American League Championship Series matchup for the second time in three years. The Astros should cruise into the postseason as the winner of the AL West. The Yankees are in a battle for the East with the Tampa Bay Rays, and the reigning World Series Champion Red Sox are definitely within striking distance.
Before this week's hiccup the Astros had rolled on despite the extended absences of Jose Altuve, George Springer, and Carlos Correa. The Yankees have rolled just as well, and their injury toll this season makes the Astros look like they've been a paragon of health. Giancarlo Stanton has played in five games. Aaron Judge just 20. 2018 AL Rookie of the Year runner-up Miguel Andujar played only 12 before being lost to season ending shoulder surgery. Their best starting pitcher each of the last two seasons was Luis Severino. He hasn't thrown a pitch in 2019, neither has four-time All-Star reliever Dellin Betances. Domingo German leads the Yanks with nine wins, now he's on the IL.
We'll presume that Jose Altuve has plenty of good baseball ahead of him. With five years 151.5 mil kicking in next season the Astros darn sure hope (pray?) so. It's extremely likely that Altuve's best seasons (2016 and 2017) are behind him. The Altuve of 2014, 2015, and pre-injury 2018 is an outstanding player, but not worth 31 mil per season.
Rockets spectators at NBA Draft again
When the highlight of an NBA team's draft night is unveiling revised uniforms, you know draft night was a dud. Behold the Houston Rockets who had zero picks. It's the fourth year in a row the Rockets had no first rounder. This year was a straight salary dump, the pick a necessary attachment to get Cleveland to take Brandon Knight and Marquese Chriss off of the Rockets' hands. Last year's pick was a piece of the Chris Paul trade, the 2017 pick went to rent Lou Williams. The 2016 pick given up for Ty Lawson is the one that smarts most in hindsight. Lawson stunk, the Rockets finished 41-41 making the pick number 15. Among the players who went later than 15th in 2016 before the Rockets selected Chinanu Onuaku and Zhou Qi in the second round: Malik Beasley, Caris LeVert, Pascal Siakam, Dejounte Murray, and Malcolm Brogdon. Oops.
Who knows what to believe about the extent of hard feelings between Paul and James Harden. Of course the Rockets are doing to deny, deny, deny that it's messy or problematic. Especially as they try to find a dumping ground for Paul's contract. There may not be one. Paul is still a capable NBA point guard but his superstar days are done, making the three years 124 million left on his deal a nightmare. Ask Tilman Fertitta.
Clown show tendencies on display for Texans
When, as Clay Walker sings, it's football time in Houston, what will the Texans look like? The answer should be at least a decent team. Though the last couple of weeks they made themselves a punch line. Two weeks ago they fire general manager Brian Gaine, trying to bury the story best they could when they did. Then they target New England Patriots exec Nick Caserio for the job. They evidently clumsily and ignorantly make their move, resulting in the Patriots filing a tampering charge against the Texans, then two days later the Texans humiliatingly announce they are dropping their pursuit of Caserio. You wonder if the Patriots also took the Texans' lunch money, or maybe gave them a wedgie.
The Texans have never been a top tier football organization. They have never sustained excellence. They have rarely achieved excellence. But they have not been an incompetent clown show of an organization. Clown organizations don't win five division titles in eight years, regardless of softness of the division over some of those years. A clown organization doesn't go a full decade without having back-to-back losing seasons. Through this episode the Texans have looked like a clown organization.
Winning big is the best deodorant in sports. This coming season the Texans better win big or the sentiment of many around here will be that they stink, even if they don't stink.
Buzzer Beaters:
1. Zion Williamson averages 18 & 10 as a rookie. 2. Properly grilled corn-on-the-cob needs no butter, no salt, no pepper, and NEVER mayo. 3. Greatest "Summer" athletes: Bronze-Champ Summers Silver-Pat Summerall Gold-Summer Sanders
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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.