THE PALLILOG
How Houston's current rotation is already making Astros history
Jun 4, 2021, 10:39 am
Astros fans know all about great starting pitching. Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images.
Given the caliber of competition (Dodgers, Padres, Red Sox) the Astros finishing their homestand with five wins and four losses is fine. Now they're on the road for nine starting with spending this weekend in Buffalo playing the Toronto Blue Jays. The birds flew north for the summer after playing their first two months of home games in Florida. As when the Jays were in Houston last month the Astros will not play against George Springer. For his six year 150 million dollar contract, Springer makes about 150 thousand dollars per game whether he plays. Springer has played in four games this season. He remains sidelined recovering from a quad strain.
The Astros have a rich pitching heritage, the best of which I would break down into three eras of guys whose careers overlapped for multiple years. First the J.R. Richard/Joe Niekro/Nolan Ryan era, then Roy Oswalt joined by Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte, then most recently Dallas Keuchel into Charlie Morton, Justin Verlander, then Gerrit Cole. In none of those eras did the Astros ever have starting pitchers go seven consecutive games giving up no more than one run. The current Astros' rotation did just that before Jake Odorizzi gave up a three run homer Thursday. I don't know what the Major League record in the category is, but the Astros don't have it since earlier this season the Brewers had an eight game run of starters giving up no more than one run.
Stuff happens over a long baseball season but if the Astros lose the American League West or miss out on a Wild Card by a game or two, they'd probably think back and wonder how in the heck did they get swept in series by the Tigers and Rangers. A.J. Hinch's Tigers are on pace to lose 95 games. The Rangers are worse, pacing for 101 losses. Since taking three straight from the Astros the Rangers have not won a game. 0-9. They have lost 15 consecutive road games.
Quirky: before going 0-4 Thursday Alex Bregman had reached base safely in 20 consecutive games. Over those 20 games his season batting average dropped 17 points.
Stop me if you've heard this before: the Astros have some rulebreakers on their team. No, not lingering residue from 2017/18, but pitchers who illegally put substances on the ball designed to up spin rates. Unlike the trash can scheme which was unique to the Astros in its proven breadth, it's a virtual certainty that every team has pitchers who put stuff on the ball. MLB supposedly is about to get serious in trying to crack down on it. Not a coincidence that this happens while the overall MLB batting average is a sorry .236, which would be the lowest season long mark ever. Strikeouts per game are on course to set a record high for a 16th consecutive year.
A new-look Rockets broadcast is coming
Changes happen. The Rockets have experienced a lot of them in the last year, most notably going from a good team to woeful. Nothing lasts forever, including broadcasting jobs. It is not damning that the Rockets/AT&T SportsNet are making changes to their broadcast teams beyond Bill Worrell's retirement. Word hit this week that Matt Bullard is out after a decade and a half in the TV analyst's chair. Whatever one's opinion of Bullard as a game analyst, I'd be surprised if you can find anyone with a bad word about "Bull" the guy. A smart, funny, friendly man of integrity. And he loves the NHL playoffs. I said he's smart.
To the deep chagrin of TNT and especially Disney (ESPN/ABC) the Lakers NBA title defense didn't make it out of the first round of the playoffs. It's the first time in 15 career postseason appearances that LeBron James loses a first round series. For the first time in a decade the Western Conference Finals will have neither the Lakers nor the Warriors nor the Spurs (2011 Mavericks-Thunder). Jazz-Suns would be interesting. Nets-Bucks in an Eastern Conference semifinal starting Saturday night is highly interesting. Milwaukee has the personnel best equipped to at least somewhat slow the Brooklyn scoring machine.
Still alive in the postseason: Chris Paul, James Harden, P.J. Tucker, and Clint Capela. Trevor Ariza went out in the first round.
Buzzer Beaters:
1. With regards to baserunning there is sometimes a fine line between aggressive and stupid. Sometimes the line is thick and crystal clear. The Astros too often cross the line to stupid.
2. Still no Deshaun Watson at Texans OTAs? In other news, water is still wet. Go Tyrod Go!
3. Greatest NFL Taylors: Bronze-Charley Silver-Jason Gold-Lawrence
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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.