Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Image
Tuesday's doubleheader against the Angels represented games 30 and 31 of the shortened 60 game season, pushing the Astros past the halfway point of the year. The Astros are 17-14, which is 2nd in the AL West, 4.5 GB of the division leading Athletics. Of course, because of the expanded playoffs this season, 2nd place is good enough to get the Astros in the playoffs as a six seed. If the playoffs started today, they would square off against the Yankees.
What have the major storylines of the first half been (brawling aside)?
Injuries
This bears repeating from a previous story. Take a gander at this pitching staff.
Gerrit Cole
Justin Verlander
Wade Miley
Collin McHugh
Jose Urquidy
Roberto Osuna, Will Harris, Joe Smith, Hector Rondon, Brad Peacock, Chris Devenski, Joe Biagini, Cionel Perez
While, yes, a majority of the names on that staff are unavailable due to free agent departure, the likes of Verlander, Urquidy, Osuna, Smith, Peacock, Biagini, and Perez have all been unavailable for all of or portions of the season due to injury. Now, one could argue that the Astros would be better off with some of these guys on the IL instead, but that's a discussion for another day. The Astros staff has been ravaged by injuries, and that's just on the pitching side.
Yordan Alvarez was available for less than a week, Michael Brantley spent a stint on the IL, George Springer missed time with injury, and Alex Bregman is currently unavailable due to injury. Those guys alone would create one of the most fearsome foursomes in MLB regardless of the supporting cast. Luckily for the Astros, the rest of the supporting staff is pretty good, which is why the team has stayed afloat, but the injury bug has certainly bit the Astros.
New Faces
People say when a door closes another one opens. The exodus of talent and injury issues have provided opportunity for some youngsters to seize. Kyle Tucker has played the best baseball of his big league career over the last two weeks, Enoli Paredes and Blake Taylor seem like legitimate bullpen options long term, Framber Valdez has been the Astros second best starter, and Cristian Javier has been impressive at times. All-in-all, the Astros can't be too upset with what they've gotten from their young crop of players.
Struggling Stars
Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, and George Springer have all stumbled out of the gates to different degrees. Springer and Altuve's batting averages add up to .400 (.207 and .193 respectively), which isn't very good. Bregman was just starting to really heat up before straining his hamstring in Colorado and hitting the IL. With Alvarez out of the lineup for the year, it's hard to take the Astros seriously as a contender without these guys posing a threat and clicking. Let's hope they can get it together sooner rather than later.
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The phrase most associated with the late former Oakland-Los Angeles-Oakland Raiders’ owner Al Davis was “Just win baby.” One has to think Al would strongly approve of the Houston Astros. Going to the fifth inning Sunday against the Mariners the Astros were facing a 3-0 deficit and staring at the prospect of being swept out of Seattle and having their American League West division lead slashed to just two games. Now after roaring from behind with 11 unanswered runs to take the series finale in the Emerald City, and then sweeping three games from the Diamondbacks in Phoenix, the Astros stand six games up with 60 games to go. So, if the Astros play just .500 ball the rest of the way (which would have them finish with 90 victories), the Mariners have to play .600 ball to catch them. If somehow the Astros are to maintain their season long win pace to the finish line they’d close with 95 wins, and the race is already over unless someone thinks the M’s are poised to uncork a finishing kick of 41-19 or better. It’s quite a pleasing perch from which the Astros survey the standings. Coupled with the freefalling Detroit Tigers having dropped nine of their last ten games, the Astros amazingly start this homestand sporting the best record in the entire American League. On the homestand they follow four games against the team with the second-worst record in the American League (Athletics) with three versus the team with the second-worst record in the National League (Nationals). I know, I know. There is fear of the Astros playing down to the competition, but that is not the way to look at it. A bad Major League team can beat a good team in a series at any time. If it happens it happens, but it wouldn’t mean it happened only because the Astros didn’t take their opponent seriously. This isn’t the NBA.
Trade deadline looming
Of course, It hasn’t been all good news with Isaac Paredes badly injuring a hamstring Sunday. Paredes could be back in three weeks (doubtful), he could miss the rest of the season. GET WELL SOON JEREMY PENA! Lance McCullers’s latest Injured List stint could be considered addition by subtraction for the Astros’ starting rotation. Whether impacted by his blister issue, Lance was lousy in four of his last five starts. So, one week from the trade deadline, if general manager Dana Brown has the ammo to get one deal done, where does he make the upgrade? The left-handed hitter everyone knows the Astros can use regardless of Yordan Alvarez’s status is a natural priority. With the Astros’ weak farm system it would seem difficult for Brown to put forth the winning offer for the top bats that could be in play. That probably rings even truer now, since if he wasn’t already untouchable, Brice Matthews may have cemented untouchable status by darn near winning the first two games of the Diamondbacks series by himself. Matthews is going to struggle mightily to hit for a good average if he can’t make notable improvement in the contact department, but the power is obvious, as is the athleticism in the field. The 23-year-old Matthews and 22-year-old Cam Smith (though presently mired in a three for 36 slump) are the clear (and right now only) two young shining beacons for the lineup’s future.
You can't have enough pitching
While Brandon Walter has been a revelation, a starting pitcher would make sense unless the decision is to hope Spencer Arrighetti and/or Cristian Javier can contribute meaningfully upon return to the big leagues, likely sometime next month. Going after a reliever or two may make more sense in terms of availability and transaction cost. Overall the Astros’ bullpen has been excellent, but Bryan Abreu is the only trustworthy right-handed option for Joe Espada. Back to Walter. Barely two months ago no way Walter himself would have believed he’d be where he is now. Nine starts since being summoned basically out of desperation, Walter has a 3.35 earned run average, and a stunning 13 to one strikeout-to-walk ratio with his 52 strikeouts against a measly four walks allowed in 53 2/3 innings. Walter has pitched fabulously in seven of his nine starts. He only has two wins, but that’s because in five of the six Walter starts the Astros didn’t win the game they failed to score more than two runs. Walter turns 29 years old in September. His only prior big league experience was 23 innings in relief with a 6.26 ERA for the Red Sox two years ago. The Bosox released him last August, the Astros signed him basically as minor league depth. Look at him (and the Astros) now.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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