The Astros are on track to contend for several awards in 2019
How much hardware can the Astros win this year?
Jul 29, 2019, 6:55 am
photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images
With Yuli Gurriel and Gerrit Cole likely on their way to player and pitcher of the month awards for July, it creates consideration for the type of season-long awards this team could come away with this year. We know Justin Verlander is on Cy Young pace, but could some of his teammates also be on their way to some hardware?
Teammates battling for the Cy Young
While we wait to see what Houston's front office can do before the trade deadline to further bolster the pitching rotation, two of the current arms in it are on a course to push each other towards being named the best in the league. Right now it's Justin Verlander deservedly favored to take home the award, but Gerrit Cole has rocketed up the ranks to give him a run for his money.
With the win on Saturday in St. Louis, Cole finished his second consecutive undefeated month. He went 4-0 in July over five starts, besting his 3-0 record over six starts in June. His last loss came on May 22nd and ended that day with a 4-5 record and 4.11 ERA. Fast-forward to today, and Cole has rattled off eight straight wins, and has his ERA down to 2.94, tied for third in the AL behind Charlie Morton in first and Verlander in second.
Where Cole has the advantage is in strikeout numbers. He currently sits atop the league with 212 on the season, with the two pitchers (Max Scherzer and Chris Sale) tied for the second spot still yet to reach 200 at 189. He has been down-right un-hittable at times, which has resulted in his becoming the second-quickest to reach the 200 strikeout mark in a season.
Still, though, it's Verlander at the top of the class. He's currently one start behind Cole, with his next Tuesday night to start the series in Cleveland against the Indians. Despite being a game behind, he still boasts a better record (13-4) than Cole (12-5). As mentioned, he also sits with a better ERA and owns the best WHIP in the league at an impressive 0.84.
While the back end of the rotation may need some help, the Astros will have a fun battle on their hands with these two aces trying to one-up each other the rest of 2019 to take home the Cy Young award.
A batting title for Brantley
By this point, there's no doubt that Michael Brantley was a great acquisition by the Astros in this past offseason. It's also no question that he's a hit machine. Brantley has flirted with the best batting average in the American League in several seasons, finishing third in 2014, fourth in 2015, and fifth in 2018.
This year, he currently sits third in the AL with a .324 average, close behind Rafael Devers in second with a .329 average and DJ LeMahieu who sits at the top with .332. The good news is, Brantley is on the rise after posting his worst monthly average in June (.280), surging back with a hot July (.371 so far).
Brantley has had a better clip at home than on the road on the season (.335 vs .315), but that gap has widened with a below-average performance in away games in July. Luckily for Brantley, the Astros have a near-even split of road vs. away games the rest of the season, and many of those away from Minute Maid Park will be against very hittable teams.
He could easily heat up and outpace the two in front of him before the end of the regular season, or stay consistent, and wait for them to fall below him. For reference, last year's AL winner was Mookie Betts with an impressive .346 average, the same as Jose Altuve when he took home the honor in his 2017 MVP season.
Gurriel could win a Silver Slugger Award
As mentioned, Gurriel is a no-brainer to take home player of the month for his amazing July. So far in this month, he is hitting .407 with twelve home runs and twenty-eight RBIs. That has his season average up to .298, currently the best amongst qualified American League first basemen. Also in comparison to that same field, he sits second in RBIs, sixth in home runs, and first in doubles and triples.
With the return of Carlos Correa which solidifies the defense to keep Gurriel at first base, he has a decent chance at maintaining his average above the field and if he can stay hot, will be in contention, if not the easy winner, of the silver slugger award for AL first base.
Alvarez has a shot at Rookie of the Year
While Brandon Lowe of the Rays remains the leading candidate for AL Rookie of the Year, he has made his way there over many more games played than Houston's phenom Yordan Alvarez. Alvarez has remained a menace at the plate for opposing pitchers, so much so that he set a new MLB record for RBIs in his first thirty games, driving in 35 over that span to beat the old record of 34.
Alvarez currently has 12 home runs in his 129 at-bats, which paired with 31 other hits has him at a .333 average and a monster 1.113 OPS. If he can continue to perform at the plate as he had for the remaining games of 2019, he could very well come out ahead of Lowe and give the Astros their first winner of the award since Carlos Correa in 2015.
Still, it's all about the Commissioner's Trophy
While individual awards are fantastic, those remain accomplishments to reflect on when the season is over. Until then, the team remains focused on one goal, which is still within their grasp: a World Series win. While the next 48 hours or so full of potential trades can quickly shake the odds up, this Astros team should still have as good a shot of any to bring home another Commissioner's Trophy.
An extra arm in the rotation would be a big boost, but the way this team is playing now that they are healthy, they could still be favorites to beat any team in a five or seven-game series. Getting stronger through trades will only make them an even bigger force for other teams to contend with in October.
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A lockout appears unavoidable! Photo via: Wiki Commons.
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.”