THE PALLILOG
Here are the key factors that have fueled Astros hot start to season
Apr 9, 2021, 11:18 am
The Astros are crushing the baseball. Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images.
Here's what MLB should do to give fanless Astros games more juice
Quite the rollicking beginning to the Astros season. You can't bury a team by mid-April but you can push it into a very deep hole. The Astros are 6-1 while the defending American League West champion Oakland A's are 1-7. The Astros have dominated Oakland in all five early season meetings by a cumulative score of 41-11. Two more Astro wins over the A's Friday and Saturday won't exactly make it "magic number" countdown time, but the A's chances of defending their division crown would probably tumble to somewhere about five percent.
It's a tiny sample size but still "wow!" inducing if you're an Astros fan, the batting average numbers for the top six in the batting order: Altuve .310, Brantley .538, Bregman .360, Alvarez .333, Correa .321, Gurriel .346. Kyle Tucker is batting just .207 but leads the team with nine runs batted in.
In contrast the A's Thursday starting lineup guys' averages at night's end: .233, .190, .163, .148, .167, .000, .200, .071, .077. I mean, they need improvement to upgrade to pathetic. The .071 belongs to Elvis Andrus. He'll do a bit better than .071 but Elvis's talent left the building years ago. He was absolutely horrible the last three seasons with the Texas Rangers. The A's traded for him to be their everyday shortstop.
The still very very early returns mark the Angels as the Astros' foremost division challenge this year. Mike Trout is off to an awesome start even by best player of his generation standards. The Angels are 5-2 despite Rice-ex and 2019 World Series pest Anthony Rendon's sluggish start. Pitcher/outfielder, designated hitter Shohei Ohtani is their biggest question mark and upside variable. The Halos still don't have the look of a division winning level pitching staff, but if in the hunt they would probably be aggressive in pursuing any high-end starter available on the trade market.
No Springer Dingers
It's been an inauspicious start to George Springer's career as a Toronto Blue Jay. In fact thus far it's a non-start. Late in spring training Springer suffered an oblique injury that sidelined him the first week of the regular season, then the day before he was to be activated he strained a quadriceps muscle working out and will miss another week. This is not to suggest the six year 150 million dollar contract will be a disaster for the Jays, but six years 150 mil for a 31-year-old outfielder with an injury history is high risk. This is the fourth leg muscle stint on the injured (formerly disabled) list in Springer's career. Only once has Springer played more than 140 games in a season. The Astros were aware of these things when opting to not bid competitively to retain Springer, despite all he meant to and had done for the franchise.
Here's hoping Springer is fully healthy to receive a standing ovation four weeks from now when the Jays visit Minute Maid Park. This Monday, one would expect a very positive though not Springer-level enthusiastic fan reaction when Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch is introduced.
Rockets rebuild
Just in case you happen to not be paying close attention to the Rockets these days, they enter the weekend three games worse in record than Orlando. The Rockets' 14-37 record is second worst in the NBA, a game and a half worse than Detroit, the Magic's record is fourth worst. The Rockets must finish with one of the three worst records in the NBA to maximize their chance at 52.1 percent of keeping their lottery pick by having it fall in the top four picks. The Rockets are highly likely to lose Friday night in Los Angeles at the Clippers, and then play Saturday night at Golden State. The Magic has home games this weekend vs. the Pacers and Bucks. Big one looms a week from Sunday when the Rockets play at the Magic!
NFL Draft
If a draft happens and no one cares does a draft happen? Inside three weeks to the NFL Draft there is basically zero anticipation for it in Houston. The Texans holding no picks in the first two rounds and the ongoing sordid Deshaun Watson saga has just ruined any zest for anything Texans.
Buzzer Beaters:
1. Fired ESPN NBA analyst Paul Pierce broke no laws with his idiotic Instagramming. But he is married with kids ages 13, 10, 8. Come on.
2. Sic 'Em! In clobbering UH then taking down unbeaten Gonzaga to win the National Championship Baylor became just the second team this millennium to win both its Final Four games by at least 15 points. Villanova did it three years ago.
3. Best of the unavoidable NCAA Tournament commercials: Bronze-Brie Larson for some car or SUV Silver-Reggie Miller giving Kenny Smith the choke sign hamburger joint spot Gold-Magic Johnson bank commercial with Jim Nantz "goodbye friends" line.
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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.