POINT BLANK
Joel Blank: Is it possible for the Rockets to still salvage the off-season?
Jul 30, 2018, 7:24 am
Daryl Morey still has some work to do. Rockets.com
How would you rate the Rockets off-season so far? Do you think they are done wheeling and dealing, or is there still time to make a move or two even after they sign Carmelo Anthony? What if Daryl Morey was somehow able to find a new home for Ryan Anderson? Can they still be a top defensive team having lost two of their top five defenders to free agency? Training camp is a couple months away and these are some of the more pressing questions that remain.
It's kind of hard to deem this off-season as anything other than disappointing when the conversation started with the possibility of bringing Lebron James to Houston. After the King decided on Hollywood and Chris Paul resigned in H-town, fans were still hopeful of big things and big names coming to Houston. Instead, Trevor Ariza signed in Phoenix and Luc Mbah A Moute got tired of waiting and headed back to the Clippers. For all of those experts who said the Rockets would be just fine if they were just able to bring everyone back from last year, those hopes and dreams were thwarted by the exit of key rotational players.
Clint Capela’s negotiations dragged out for the majority of the month, and somewhere along the way fear and doubt crept it—assuming he wouldn’t sign a long-term deal. Thankfully, both parties reached an agreement last week and now it looks like Carmelo Anthony will be the next piece to fall. With free agency all but over, the experts in Vegas have the Rockets slipping to third in the power rankings and odds to win the title next year. By their standings, the team has dropped a notch in quality and Boston is the biggest threat to Golden State. I guess bringing Boogie nights to the Bay Area and a healthy Uncle Drew accentuate the opinion that in Houston there is still work to do? (Notice I did not say "there was a problem")
What if Houston finds a way to get off of Ryan Anderson’s final two years and $40 million? After all, Anderson has become public enemy number one in Houston due to his lack of production and inability to live up to lofty expectations. Not since Brock Osweiler or Kelvin Cato have we seen the city turn so quickly and adamantly on a local athlete. If Daryl Morey could somehow find a new home for "Rhino" and give the team some much needed cap flexibility in the process, I don't think the city would care if they got a bowl of soup back in return. If they were able to get a defensive minded and playoff experienced wing player like Iman Shumpert in the process, fans might suggest Morey should get a max deal as a reward. Before we go too far, let's keep in mind he was also the guy that signed Anderson to the deal in the first place.
If you read between the lines above, you can figure out that the Sacramento Kings might be interested in a trade for Anderson and could possibly include Shumpert in the deal. Anderson is from California and has said he would like to finish his career in Sacramento. Shumpert is a square peg in a round hole as an expensive veteran on a young and rebuilding Kings squad. So if you are holding out hopes of salvaging the off season and believe the glass is still half full, let's hope the Kings and Rockets have each other on speed dial and somehow, some way, there is still hope they can salvage what's left of the summer and be ready to run it back at the Warriors and the rest of the league next season.
Most Popular
SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Listen Live
After finishing up with the Guardians the Astros have a rather important series for early May with the Seattle Mariners heading to town for the weekend. While it’s still too early to be an absolute must-win series for the Astros, losing the series to drop seven or eight games off the division lead would make successfully defending their American League West title that much more unlikely.
Since their own stumble out of the gate to a 6-10 record the Mariners have been racking up series wins, including one this week over the Atlanta Braves. The M’s offense is largely Mmm Mmm Bad, but their pitching is sensational. In 18 games after the 6-10 start, the Mariners gave up five runs in a game once. In the other 17 games they only gave up four runs once. Over the 18 games their starting pitchers gave up 18 earned runs total with a 1.44 earned run average. That’s absurd. Coming into the season Seattle’s starting rotation was clearly better on paper than those of the Astros and Texas Rangers, and it has crystal clearly played out as such into the second month of the schedule.
While it’s natural to focus on and fret over one’s own team's woes when they are plentiful as they have been for the Astros, a reminder that not all grass is greener elsewhere. Alex Bregman has been awful so far. So has young Mariners’ superstar Julio Rodriguez. A meager four extra base hits over his first 30 games were all Julio produced down at the ballyard. That the Mariners are well ahead of the Astros with J-Rod significantly underperforming is good news for Seattle.
Caratini comes through!
So it turns out the Astros are allowed to have a Puerto Rican-born catcher who can hit a little bit. Victor Caratini’s pedigree is not that of a quality offensive player, but he has swung the bat well thus far in his limited playing time and provided the most exciting moment of the Astros’ season with his two-out two-run 10th inning game winning home run Tuesday night. I grant that one could certainly say “Hey! Ronel Blanco finishing off his no-hitter has been the most exciting moment.” I opt for the suddenness of Caratini’s blow turning near defeat into instant victory for a team that has been lousy overall to this point. Frittering away a game the Astros had led 8-3 would have been another blow. Instead, to the Victor belong the spoils.
Pudge Rodriguez is the greatest native Puerto Rican catcher, but he was no longer a good hitter when with the Astros for the majority of the 2009 season. Then there’s Martin Maldonado.
Maldonado’s hitting stats with the Astros look Mike Piazza-ian compared to what Jose Abreu was doing this season. Finally, mercifully for all, Abreu is off the roster as he accepts a stint at rookie-level ball in Florida to see if he can perform baseball-CPR on his swing and career. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Abreu is washed up and at some point the Astros will have to accept it and swallow whatever is left on his contract that runs through next season. For now Abreu makes over $120,000 per game to not be on the roster. At his level of performance, that’s a better deal than paying him that money to be on the roster.
Abreu’s seven hits in 71 at bats for an .099 batting average with a .269 OPS is a humiliating stat line. In 2018 George Springer went to sleep the night of June 13 batting .293 after going hitless in his last four at bats in a 13-5 Astros’ win over Oakland. At the time no one could have ever envisioned that Springer had started a deep, deep funk which would have him endure a nightmarish six for 78 stretch at the plate (.077 batting average). Springer then hit .293 the rest of the season.
Abreu’s exile opened the door for Joey Loperfido to begin his Major League career. Very cool for Loperfido to smack a two-run single in his first game. He also struck out twice. Loperfido will amass whiffs by the bushel, he had 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats at AAA Sugar Land. Still, if he can hit .225 with some walks mixed in (he drew 16 with the Space Cowboys) and deliver some of his obvious power (13 homers in 25 games for the ex-Skeeters) that’s an upgrade over Abreu/Jon Singleton, as well as over Jake Meyers and the awful showing Chas McCormick has posted so far. Frankly, it seems unwise that the Astros only had Loperfido play seven games at first base in the minors this year. If McCormick doesn’t pick it up soon and with Meyers displaying limited offensive upside, the next guy worth a call-up is outfielder Pedro Leon. In January 2021 the Astros gave Leon four million dollars to sign out of Cuba and called him a “rapid mover to the Major Leagues.” Well…
Over his first three minor league seasons Leon flashed tools but definitely underwhelmed. He has been substantially better so far this year. He turns 26 May 28. Just maybe the Astros offense could be the cause of fewer Ls with Loperfido at first and Leon in center field.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.