ASTROS OUTLOOK
Breaking down 4 Houston Astros that are heating up in May
May 5, 2022, 6:08 pm
ASTROS OUTLOOK
After completing a sweep of their division rival Seattle Mariners, the Astros are only 2 games behind the Los Angeles Angels for first place in the American League West.
Similar to last season, Houston’s bats got off to a slow start during the month of April, with only Michael Brantley hitting consistently above .270.
Once the calendar flipped from April to May, their offense has awoken and multiple players are ending their offensive woes.
King Tuck awakens
Kyle Tucker for the second consecutive year started off the season slow at the plate, and at one point had an abysmal .087 batting average on April 22nd.
The 25-year-old outfielder has since found himself out of this hole, and is hitting .455/.500/.727 over his last seven games. Tucker is also tied for second on the team in RBI with Yordan Alvarez, who also got off to a slow start this season.
Air Yordan is now boarding
Similarly to Tucker, Alvarez was hitting below .200 until the Astros went to Arlington and beat the Rangers in three of four games.
Since the conclusion of that series, the 24-year-old native Cuban is hitting .333/.448/.833 with four home runs and eight RBI during that span.
Tucker and Alvarez were two of the main reasons Houston had the best offense in baseball last year, and now that these two are hitting like they did during the 2021 season, there is no limit to how far this offense can take the Astros this year.
It's not just the hitters who are improving at the right time, as two veteran pitchers are finding their strides as well.
JV is still dealing
Justin Verlander’s start to the 2022 season has been nothing short of spectacular.
After undergoing Tommy John surgery in late 2020 and missing the entire 2021 season, the former Cy-Young award winner looks as if he hasn’t missed a beat during his time away from the game.
Through five starts this season, the 39-year-old has a 3-1 record and a 1.93 ERA. His fastball is hitting the mid 90’s as in years past, and is putting away batters with his slider and curveball with ease.
Verlander has not given up more than three runs in any of his starts and has the 6th lowest ERA in the American League.
“It's just one start at a time," Verlander said. “This game will bring you down in a hurry so you can't be complacent. But I would say it’s better to get off to a good start than a bad one, but I've just got to keep working."
If JV continues to pitch like this, the Astros staff will be in good hands every time their ace is on the mound.
Don’t discount Jake
Jake Odorizzi had the worst start by any Astros pitcher two weeks ago when he was pulled after allowing 6 runs in 2/3 of an inning.
His two starts since that outing were much better, and it seems as though the veteran pitcher has much more confidence on the mound. The 32-year-old pitched through 6.2 innings on Monday (his longest outing as an Astro) and didn’t allow any runs to score.
“It’s just good to be able to have success, go execute a game plan, give the team a chance to win," Odorizzi said.
The Astros are 8-2 over their last ten games, in large part due to their offensive resurgence and stellar starting pitching performances as of late.
Assuming the Astros can have consistent performances at the plate and on the mound, there is reason to believe Houston will be vying for their 6th consecutive postseason appearance.
Looming over baseball is a likely lockout in December 2026, a possible management push for a salary cap and perhaps lost regular-season games for the first time since 1995.
“No one’s talking about it, but we all know that they’re going to lock us out for it, and then we’re going to miss time,” New York Mets All-Star first baseman Pete Alonso said Monday at the All-Star Game. “We’re definitely going to fight to not have a salary cap and the league’s obviously not going to like that.”
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred and some owners have cited payroll disparity as a problem, while at the same time MLB is working to address a revenue decline from regional sports networks. Unlike the NFL, NBA and NHL, baseball has never had a salary cap because its players staunchly oppose one.
Despite higher levels of luxury tax that started in 2022, the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets have pushed payrolls to record levels. The last small-market MLB club to win a World Series was the Kansas City Royals in 2015.
After signing outfielder Juan Soto to a record $765 million contract, New York opened this season with an industry-high $326 million payroll, nearly five times Miami’s $69 million, according to Major League Baseball’s figures. Using luxury tax payrolls, based on average annual values that account for future commitments and include benefits, the Dodgers were first at $400 million and on track to owe a record luxury tax of about $151 million — shattering the previous tax record of $103 million set by Los Angeles last year.
“When I talk to the players, I don’t try to convince them that a salary cap system would be a good thing,” Manfred told the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday. “I identify a problem in the media business and explain to them that owners need to change to address that problem. I then identify a second problem that we need to work together and that is that there are fans in a lot of our markets who feel like we have a competitive balance problem.”
Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1, 2026, and management lockouts have become the norm, which shifts the start of a stoppage to the offseason. During the last negotiations, the sides reached a five-year deal on March 10 after a 99-day lockout, salvaging a 162-game 2022 season.
“A cap is not about a partnership. A cap isn’t about growing the game,” union head Tony Clark said Tuesday. “A cap is about franchise values and profits. ... A salary cap historically has limited contract guarantees associated with it, literally pits one player against another and is often what we share with players as the definitive non-competitive system. It doesn’t reward excellence. It undermines it from an organizational standpoint. That’s why this is not about competitive balance. It’s not about a fair versus not. This is institutionalized collusion.”
The union’s opposition to a cap has paved the way for record-breaking salaries for star players. Soto’s deal is believed to be the richest in pro sports history, eclipsing Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million deal with the Dodgers signed a year earlier. By comparison, the biggest guaranteed contract in the NFL is $250 million for Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen.
Manfred cites that 10% of players earn 72% of salaries.
“I never use the word `salary’ within one of `cap,’” he said. “What I do say to them is in addressing this competitive issue that’s real we should think about whether this system is the perfect system from a players’ perspective.”
A management salary cap proposal could contain a salary floor and a guaranteed percentage of revenue to players. Baseball players have endured nine work stoppages, including a 7 1/2-month strike in 1994-95 that fought off a cap proposal.
Agent Scott Boras likens a cap plan to attracting kids to a “gingerbread house.”
“We’ve heard it for 20 years. It’s almost like the childhood fable,” he said. “This very traditional, same approach is not something that would lead the younger players to the gingerbread house.”