BILLIONAIRES VS MILLIONAIRES
Why the state of MLB is perceived quite differently by Astros fans
Mar 1, 2022, 11:55 am
The Astros are the best thing we’ve got going. Composite image by Jack Brame.
Monday’s threatened deadline for baseball owners and players to reach a new collective bargaining deal before regular season games would be canceled came and went without a deal.
So both sides agreed to extend the deadline until 5 p.m. today. That’s 5 p.m. in zany Florida, where stupid is a lifestyle. Or 4 p.m. our time, where normal rational people – you may call them baseball fans – are being held hostage while owners and players engage in what’s become a quadrennial poop-throwing contest.
Extending the baseball deadline is the doctor who gives his patient six months to live. When the patient still hasn’t paid his bill, the doctor gives him another six months to live.
The patient still dies. Get it, baseball?
March is here. Spring training should be in full swing. The season is supposed to start later this month. But the only games being played are by MLB and players union negotiators.
Has baseball taken a good look in the mirror recently? Fans have had just about enough of baseball. Attendance is down. TV ratings are down. Baseball used to be America’s national pastime, now it’s pretty much a regional sport, woefully behind football and slipping into third behind basketball in some markets. What more do fans have to do to scare baseball straight?
Houstonians don’t get a realistic picture of baseball’s descent into irrelevancy because our owner appears to be a decent guy who actually wants the team to win, and the Astros are the best thing we’ve got going. The team is lovable.
The message coming out of baseball’s negotiations seems to be that the owners wouldn’t mind the season being delayed until May. Early season games, after the romance of Opening Day dies (usually on the ride home), are poorly attended, especially in the cold weather north where most teams call home.
You try sitting in the stands at open-air Target Field in Minneapolis on April 7, the Twins’ tentative home opener. Your hot chocolate at the concession stand turns into a Wendy’s Frosty before you get to your seat. The weather almanac says the temperature in Minneapolis in early April “rarely falls below 20 degrees.”
Rarely? That’s not good enough. I’ll wait until the snow melts in June. By the way, the foreign city with weather most similar to Minneapolis is Volgograd, Russia – formerly called Stalingrad. There isn’t a sun-baked Hedonism clothing optional resort in Volgograd. It’s not much warmer in Cleveland, Boston, Pittsburgh or Chicago. I lived in Detroit for a year – baseball in April isn’t a day at the beach there, either.
It's cheapskate owners vs. money-grubbing players. Who are you rooting for?
Supposedly there’s an algorithm, the baseball schedule can be trimmed to 140 games and the owners don’t lose any money on the season. The players get paid by the number of games played, however, so a reduced season would cut into their salaries. Maybe that’s why two-time MVP Bryce Harper, who makes $26 million a year from the Phillies, is charging fans $900 to send them a one-minute happy birthday video on Cameo. Poor guy needs a side hustle.
Perhaps if MLB owners and the players union, instead of holding negotiations in Jupiter, met on Planet Earth they’d see that they’re playing chicken with baseball’s legacy. It’s the bottom of the ninth, it’s almost 5 p.m., and fans are leaving the stadium.
Most Popular
SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Listen Live
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.