RIPPLE EFFECT
How Jose Abreu’s imminent return could shake up Houston Astros lineup, roster
May 22, 2024, 12:32 pm
Who gets sent down when Jose Abreu returns to the team? Composite Getty Image.
Hey, it’s not my money, why should I care?
All indications point to Jose Abreu and his albatross contract rejoining the Houston Astros early next week. Abreu will be inserted into the lineup, at least on a platoon basis, with lefty Jon Singleton, and given “every opportunity” to regain the form that won him an American League MVP in 2020.
José Abreu will remain in West Palm Beach and play FCL games today and tomorrow before reporting to Triple-A Sugar Land this weekend, Joe Espada said.
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) May 22, 2024
But how long does “every opportunity” last? Of course fans (more so Astros owner Jim Crane) hope that Abreu’s return is successful and he is once again a productive Major League power hitter, like when he led the American League in RBI in 2019.
What if he goes 0-4, 1-4, 0-2 (his batting average when he left the Astros three weeks ago) his first week back and the Astros struggle? What if Abreu, as many suspect, is washed?
What then? It’s believed that owner Crane is loathe to cut bait on Abreu and eat the remainder of the $58.5 million contract he signed before last season – which would be about $34 million with nothing to show for it.
On April 30, the day Abreu was dispatched to West Palm Beach instructional camp to find his long-lost swing, the Astros were 10-19, dead last in the American League West.
Since Abreu’s departure, the Astros have gone 12-8 and moved into third place trailing the first place Mariners by only five games and the second place Rangers by a mere two games. Simply, the Astros have a shot at making the playoffs.
Singleton has taken advantage of inheriting the starting first base job. He’s hitting .229 with five homers and 14 RBI – including a mammoth shot into the Minute Maid Park batting eye Tuesday night in the Astros 6-5 win over the Angels.
This week outfielder Chas McCormick returned from injury and the Astros sent infielder Trey Cabbage down to Sugar Land.
What’s going to happen when Abreu is back? Who is on the chopping block? Astros general manager Dana Brown suggested, or at least raised the possibility, that Joey Loperfido could be demoted to Sugar Land so he can play every day and cut down on his strikeouts.
Joey is a fan favorite. How you doin’? Almost a month after leaving the Sugar Land Space Cowboys for the Astros, he’s still tied for the home run lead in the Pacific Coast League. If Loperfido is sacrificed to make room for Abreu, it won’t sit well with fans.
Dana Brown and manager Joe Espada are fond of saying “look at the back of his baseball card” when defending Abreu.
OK, let’s do that.
Abreu, 37, is batting .099 with no home runs and three RBI in 77 plate appearances.
Loperfido, 25, is batting .333 with one home run and five RBI in 43 plate appearances.
Seen enough?
Abreu spent the last three weeks in Florida trying to regain his stroke. In four games in the Gulf Coast League, he went 6-for-18 for a .333 batting average. The Gulf Coast League is rookie-level. It’s the lowest-rung of minor league baseball in North America.
Sending a big leaguer to the Gulf Coast League to rediscover his batting form is like sending a PGA golfer to play goony golf at Chuck E. Cheese to improve his putting.
Again, everybody hopes that the Astros are getting the Abreu of old. There’s a chance he could just be old.
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Astros lose tight one despite brilliant outing from Hunter Brown
May 15, 2025, 10:29 pm
It’s a fun series between the Astros and Rangers through the weekend in Arlington, but by no means is it a critical series. It would be nice for the Astros to not lose three out of the four games (or obviously all four) to their upstate rivals. The Astros have lost their last five road series, dropping two out of three games in each of them. As with the Astros, pitching has been the strength of the team for the Rangers thus far. After the humdinger Hunter Brown-Jacob deGrom mound matchup Thursday night, the Rangers give the ball Friday to Nathan Eovaldi with his earned run average at 1.78, then Saturday it’s Tyler Mahle with his even more sparkling 1.47 ERA. Heading into Thursday play, the Mariners having lost five of their last six games meant just a game and a half separate first from fourth place in the American League West. The Astros, Rangers, and Athletics are all right there. Only the Angels are inconsequential.
Star power!
There is an asterisk to attach but Jeremy Pena is making a real charge at becoming a first-time All-Star game selection. Among American League shortstops, the Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr. is clearly the best. The clear number two in the pecking order coming into this season was the Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson, who is on fire after a slow start that began with him missing seven games on the injured list. Athletics’ rookie Jacob Wilson goes into the weekend batting .350 and amazingly has struck out just nine times in 164 at bats. Rangers’ stud Corey Seager being on the injured list with a balky hamstring for the second time this season helps the Astros this weekend and likely frees up an All-Star spot.
Now to that aforementioned asterisk. Pena has been sensational so far, indisputably the Astros’ best everyday player. We just need to see more staying power of performance before fully slotting Pena in the top tier of shortstops. Pena’s four-hit game Wednesday night hiked his batting average to .315, his OPS to .840. Well, last year Pena put head to pillow the night of May 15 with his batting average at .333, his OPS at .830. The rest of the season Pena hit .240 with a meager .653 OPS. That Pena drew a paltry 18 walks over his last 114 games. 2025 Pena has showed markedly better plate discipline. He’ll never be a high walks-drawn guy but incremental improvement matters, and can bear fruit in other ways.
Fruitless continues to describe an awfully high percentage of Christian Walker’s plate appearances. 2023 Jose Abreu was better (2024 Abreu was not). Plenty of season still remains for a turnaround, but more than a quarter of the season is gone and it’s not as if Walker is trending in the right direction. In three games against the Royals he went zero for 12 with seven strikeouts. With his final whiff, Walker reached the 50 strikeout “milestone” for the season in his 154th at bat. Feeble and lousy are fair characterizations of a .208 batting average and .625 OPS, magnified for someone batting clean-up most nights. Starting play Thursday 13 big leaguers actually had struck out more than Walker so far this season, among them only the Pirates’ Bryan Reynolds carries a lower OPS. Walker has been even worse with runners in scoring position, batting just .171, with a sub-abysmal 20 strikeouts in 41 at bats.
Using Baseball-Reference's Wins Above Replacement statistic, the Astros’ three worst non-pitchers this season are Walker, Yordan Alvarez, and Jose Altuve. Those are the three highest paid players on the team. Altuve’s extended funk has him hitting .202 over his last 27 games with a .538 OPS. Altuve was dropped to second in the batting order basically at his request. It has not sparked him. If Altuve doesn’t pick it up, manager Joe Espada will have to consider dropping Altuve several more spots down the lineup. Alvarez is at 11 games and counting missed with a muscle strain in his right hand. He will not be approaching the career-high 147 games played last season.
Relief pitcher Tayler Scott was a revelation last season. Before joining the Astros at age 31 Scott had a big-league ERA of 9.00 in 46 innings scattered over three seasons. So it was pretty much out of nowhere that the only South African pitcher in MLB history posted a scintillating 1.36 ERA into early August before fading and winding up with a still stellar 2.23 mark. The clock struck midnight on his Cinderella story this year though, and with the Astros needing to open a roster spot this week, Scott was designated for assignment.
Book it!
Longtime Astros’ broadcasting stalwart Bill Brown has authored several books. His latest is Wartime Athletes, which tells the stories of athletes across a number of sports who served in the U.S. military during various wars. If you know anything about Bill Brown, you know each story was meticulously researched and makes for an interesting read. I’m no Oprah when it comes to the power of suggestion for reading material, but Wartime Athletes is worth your time and/or is a worthy gift for someone else.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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