HOUSTON NOMINATES FACE OF FRANCHISE
Award nomination adds more proof Jose Altuve's vilification is unwarranted
Sep 9, 2022, 2:26 pm
Jose Altuve has a chance to take home some more hardware. Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images.
It was only a matter of time before Altuve fully embraced his new role
Each year, all MLB clubs nominate a player as a finalist for the Roberto Clemente award, which then goes to a fan vote. The award aims to honor players that have gone above and beyond in their team's communities to leverage their reach to have a beneficial impact.
For the past few years, Alex Bregman has been Houston's nominee due to his volume of work with his charity, Bregman Cares, and multiple different initiatives with Houston-based programs to help those in need. For the 2022 award, the Astros have selected Jose Altuve.
"For the past two years, Altuve has hosted the “Uncork for a Cause” fundraiser through the Astros Foundation, which focuses on raising money and awareness for youth sports and education programs, the nation's military, childhood cancer, domestic violence awareness and reducing homelessness." - mlb.com
The disparity is drastic for Altuve in MLB. He is cherished and cheered by fans in Houston and his clubhouse. When he steps into the batter's box anywhere else, boos (and worse) rain down on him as if he had single-handedly ruined the game of baseball and their team's success, often shortly after Altuve took time out of his pre-game routine to meet with young fans of both teams. Why is that?
Altuve rightfully became the face of the Astros franchise and will continue to be during his current contract, which goes through 2024. Most know the underdog story by now of how he ended up on the team, and it's no secret about his stature and how exciting it is to see his performance despite it.
The reason fans outside of Houston turned on him harshly lands squarely on the sign-stealing scandal of 2017-2018. With Altuve being the most prominent and identifiable part of the Astros during that period when the scandal came to light, he became the face of Houston's cheating, even though it's been widely proven that he personally did not partake in the scheme.
There is a valid argument that even though he didn't receive the benefits of knowing what pitch was coming when he was batting, those in front of him probably did. That could have given him a boost in stats like RBI, which may have played a role in him winning the 2017 AL MVP over Aaron Judge. Another argument is that he could have stopped the scheme altogether, but we may never understand the true clubhouse culture surrounding the cheating and who did or didn't do or say things at the time.
That level of argument is not why most people who despise him continue to do so, though. The age of misinformation has instead been the driver of leading people to their conclusion about Altuve, and unfortunately, it's far more difficult to disprove lies and spread facts. I'd argue that most people that continue to hate Altuve don't know the work that earned him the Roberto Clemente award nomination, and even if they did, they would diminish it.
Many out there still believe, despite the overwhelming evidence otherwise, that he not only took part in the trash can portion of the sign-stealing (which he didn't) but wore buzzers and used other widely debunked methods to cheat. The video below says it all. (Graphic language)
"I'm telling you that of all the reporting I've done on the subject & it's a lot I found no evidence that there was a wire on any of them"@JeffPassan on the #Astros #PatMcAfeeShowLIVE pic.twitter.com/GI3IbjtWfj
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) January 27, 2021
Altuve is so admired in his own clubhouse that the initial hate he got, including Cody Bellinger stating that Altuve stole the MVP award from Judge, is what led to Carlos Correa's infamous "If you don't know the facts, you gotta shut the f--- up."
It's also telling of Altuve's character that despite no direct involvement in the scandal, he still went to the initial press conference and apologized on behalf of himself and the team. He didn't make things about himself and try to clear his name on his own; instead, he went back to playing baseball and being the same person he's always been, which as this award nomination shows, is a good one.
He likely will not win the fan vote for the Roberto Clemente Award, despite all of Houston behind him, and the underlying reason for that is unwarranted and, maybe over time, as more people embrace the facts, can change.
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While holding one’s breath that for a change the Astros aren’t publicly grossly underestimating an injury’s severity with Jose Altuve having missed the last game and a half with “right side discomfort…”
The Astros averting a sweep vs. Oakland Thursday was in no way a must-win, but getting the win allowed a mini sigh of relief. The Astros are NOT in the process of choking. Could they collapse? Sure that’s possible. Also possible is that they’ve just been in one more ebb phase in a season of ebb and flow. They certainly have left the door ajar for the Seattle Mariners to swipe the American League West, but with the M's simply not looking good enough to walk through that door the Astros remain in commanding position. The Astros made a spectacular charge from 10 games behind to grab the division lead. But there was a lot of runway left when the Astros awoke June 19th 10 games in arrears. September 3 the Astros arose with a comfy six game lead over the M’s. With Seattle blowing a 4-1 eighth inning lead in a 5-4 loss to the Texas Rangers Thursday night, heading into Friday night the Astros' advantage is back up to four and a half games despite the Astros having lost six of their last nine games and having gone just 10-12 over their last 22 games. Not a good stretch but nothing freefalling about it.
While the Mariners have the remainder of their four-game series vs. the dead in the water Rangers this weekend, the Astros play three at the lousy Los Angeles Angels. The Astros should take advantage of the Halos, with whom they also have a four-game series at Minute Maid Park next weekend. Since the All-Star break, only the White Sox have a worse record than the Angels 19-31 mark (the White Sox are 6-43 post-break!). Two of the three starting pitchers the Angels will throw this weekend will be making their third big league starts. To begin next week the Astros are in San Diego for a three-game-set against a Padres club which is flat better than the Astros right now. That does not mean the Astros can’t take that series. The Mariners meanwhile will be still at home, for three vs. the Yankees.
There are some brutal Astros’ statistics that largely explain why this is merely a pretty good team and not more. As I have noted before, it is a fallacy that the best teams are usually superior in close games. But the Astros have been pathetic in close games. There used to be a joke made about Sammy Sosa that he could blow you out, but he couldn’t beat you. Meaning being that when the score was 6-1, 8-3 or the like Sammy would pad his stats with home runs and runs batted in galore. But in a tight game, don’t count on Sammy to come through very often. In one-run games the Astros are 15-26, in two-run games they are 10-14. In games that were tied after seven innings they are 3-12. In extra innings they are 5-10. The good news is, all those realities mean nothing when the postseason starts. So long as you’re in the postseason. In games decided by three or more runs the Astros have pummeled the opposition to the tune of 53 wins and 28 losses.
General Manager Dana Brown isn’t an Executive of the Year candidate, but overall he’s been fine this season. Without the Yusei Kikuchi trade deadline acquisition the Astros would likely barely lead the AL West. Brown’s biggest offseason get, Victor Caratini, has done very solid work in his part-time role. Though he has tapered off notably the last month and change, relief pitcher Tayler Scott was a fabulous signing. Scrap heap pickups Ben Gamel, Jason Heyward, and Kaleb Ort have all made contributions. However…
Dana. Dana! You made yourself look very silly with comments this week somewhat scoffing at people being concerned with or dismissive of Justin Verlander’s ability to be a meaningful playoff contributor. Brown re-sang a ridiculous past tune, the “check the back of his baseball card” baloney. Dana, did you mean like the back of Jose Abreu’s baseball card? Perhaps Brown has never seen those brokerage ads in which at the end in fine print and/or in rapidly spoken words “past performance is no guarantee of future results” always must be included. Past (overall career) performance as indicative of future results for a 41-year-old pitcher who has frequently looked terrible and has twice missed chunks of this season to two different injuries is absurd. That Verlander could find it in time is plausible. That of course he’ll find it? Absolutely not. His next two starts are slotted to be against the feeble Angels, so even if the results are better, it won’t mean “JV IS BACK!”
Presuming they hold on to win the division, the Astros’ recent sub-middling play means they have only very faint hope of avoiding having to play the best-of-three Wild Card Series. Barring a dramatic turn over the regular season’s final fortnight, Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown are the obvious choices to start games one and two. If there is a game three, it is one game do or die. Only a fool would think Verlander the right man for that assignment. No one should expect Brown to say “Yeah, JV is likely finished as a frontline starter.” But going to the “back of the baseball card” line was laughable. Father Time gets us all eventually. Verlander has an uphill climb extricating himself from Father Time’s grasp.
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