The Astros are 2.5 games out of first place in the AL West. Given the disastrous start of the season, that is an absolute MIRACLE!!!
Diaz seems he was just a flash in the pan. He burst onto the Astros with what seemed incredible offensive prowess, and lackadaisical catching skills; nevertheless the offense was showing good enough to get him into the game. But bad catching skills hinder pitchers in the long run, especially young pitchers or those of fragile mentality. Perhaps one of the reasons that Dusty would opt for Maldonado over Diaz consistently. If Diaz can’t correct his bat, he simply doesn’t belong on the team. If he can’t hit and contribute offensively, he’s hurting the team in more ways than one.
He needs to be optioned to get his offense back on track then brought back up as a backup C who also sees time at 1B and DH. He could still be a very valuable player on that role. I don’t think his gamecalling and overall defense will ever be good enough for him to be an everyday C on a contending team.
All of 19 career games, that shouldn’t be a surprise. All the more reason to send him down, get him more comfortable there. He only made 1 error and had a .992 fielding %.
Talking about Yainer just pisses me off. He, and I don't think this is a hot take, is easily the second most talented hitter on the roster. Cam Smith is the only other guy I would consider, and I don't think he has even close to Diaz's god given bat to ball ability. If he had anything going on between the ears he would be winning silver sluggers and competing for batting titles.
Butch Alsandor said "It appears the Astros starting rotation is turning a corner. They have a combined ERA of 3.20 (27ER/76IP) over the last 13 games (since May 15) with a 1.01 WHIP. They have allowed just 44 hits in 76.0 innings for a Major League-best .169 opponent average." It may occur to some that the time frame of this turned corner correlates to the change at starting catcher from Diaz to Vazquez.
no its a miracle turtle-heading D Brown & J Espada are still in leadership positions of this ballclub
This team is just totally unserious. To be simplistic we traded Dubon because he's making 8m and we are rehabbing mentally & physically Abreu in high leverage spots at crucial point in season because he's making 6m. Red Sox was ready to take him at off season but we just could't get the deal done. We got from him what was to get. He has always had kinda nerves and being wild but the stuff did overcome that. Now he's worse in every way and has no stuff. Even if he would have 3-5 good outings statwise, you can see with your eyes he will be ready to go in funk and explode every night. Im not saying Dubon would be big difference maker. Great clubhouse and utility guy. God made Joe just a bit dumber to balance it out when making someone bit smarter to help humankind. Idea was to make it so clear that everybody will see it mile away and don't put him in charge of anything so no harm done. He will be prob. running the fields crazy happy like Ben Stiller's/Tug Speedman's Simple Jack in Tropic Thunder. But somehow somebody put him in charge of leading 26 men in pressure sit. facing smarter men and better analytics leading their 26 men EVERY NIGHT. Think about how you would feel being WW2 soldier parachuted behind enemy lines Joe leading you. He made the plans with help of superior and is with you to give orders reacting to changing enemy movements. In 2 hours he would have shot himself in the foot, send the only sniper to scout with only bazooka, put medic in isolated clock tower with sniper rifle and told sexy French bakery worker lady speaking in German accent why you are there. So that has created curse upon Astros that means it does't even matter what decision Joe makes, but when he does something around the edges it fks the Astros. He has now power to change outcomes doing something, the outcome is reversal of the outcome he hoped everytime. Im superhappy to see Cam's power when ball is finally lifted bit. I was pumped about this Brewers series. Brewers not hitting at all and also way way the least homered team in whole MLB and almost got no hit in last game before Astros. They won that with 3 hit and they won against Astros with 4 making 2 crucial errors. They showed fight and stayed in it. This is like the worst we can see Brewers and we just give the game away. Joe's take post game "We showed good fight." A game you absolutely need to win and is in your pocket and you crumble. Showed fight? Seriously go fk yourself Joe. This hot streak "comeback to relevance" is 7-3, same record as Mariners last 10. We are 4th in division. We just played terrible Rangers who are ahead of us with +3 run diff. Mariners have +25. We have -38. I know it's mostly on early season pitching, walking million guys and all that plus many AL teams in WC race have horrible run diff. But what Im trying to say is this is dumpster fire. Yordan and Walker having seasons they are having and to still be behind this season Rangers takes some effort. Yesterday had real belief that we come with urgency and fight to Brewers series. Was about make WWL prediction(topic was't started yet) depending on 2nd game if we can keep from chasing the former Mets kid Sproat or what fk his name has good stuff and movement but no control. Misiorowski will probobably shove and you can't predict what Imai brings. For me this 1st game was more than crucial to nail down. We don't break it open and we bring in charity case Abreu to s**t the bed. We lose again in extras because above mentioned Joe curse. We are 7 games under and on Monday we are in June. This was not a show of fight but the opposite of that and to hear your dumbdumb manager say that is bonkers. Brewers played like s**t but showed fight.
CASE FOR SELLING BROWN AND PENA Now 5 games back, Mariners on 7 and Rangers on 4 game win streak. We had realistic chance of making a streak ourselves until Misiorowski start, punt there and go on another good run. We are 7 games under still, -33 run diff and against >500 teams 10-19. The last stat about the same as Angels and Athletics. This is what we are with this team and management. Lot of talk has been should we consider trading Yordan (no we should not, in the end he and Altuve harlem globetrotters base running we pay to see) and what will Paredes and Walker fetch for us. We probably would have incredible one time chance this deadline to cash in a haul for Brown ( yes Hunter, we can't get a employer for Dana) and Pena. Coming period 2026-28 will be great cut off with possible lock out and our payroll finally having some flexibility. 2026 ends contract: -Abreu 5.85m - Lance 17.7m After 2027 FA's -Pena 9.47m, will go up in last arb -Javier 21.4m -Walker 20m -Altuve 33m -> 13m for 2028-29 Media is touting Skubal the biggest fish to move. Brown did't have surgery and has 2 arb years remaining. Also been pitching under pressure to carry Astros for large part of his early career and even with short rest in regular season like that would be normal thing these days. TJ is not a if it's when and if he is not extending as is not Pena either right now would be nice to have some other team pay for rehab time and have s**tload of prospects and maybe ready MLB player instead. Jake/outfielder alone should get us depth in catching. Even with going in hard sell mode Tigers showed in near past team can still keep fighting for playoff spots. Hungry players fighting for future spots too. But to not trade Pena and Brown both would be insane malpractise. Also we can do what Tigers probably will and throw some/all money towards 2026 contracts and demand better haul. Ofcourse it's possibility that Bagwell whispers in Crane's ear and instead of selling we end up trading for Verlander in Tigers sell off because we are only 2.5 games from WC and only 7 teams in front of us counting the 3 who are in now.
I would refrain from trading those two guys. The early season woes were attributed to injuries and an implosion of the starting pitching. It took about 2 months, but the starting pitching is looking reliable and much improved. The stars out on injuries are due back very soon. Sure trading those two guys should net some good players back, but it’s unlikely they’d help for two or 3 seasons. Team when healthy should compete with anyone as it is.
If the Astros trade their SP1 and SS, they will mostly get back a boatload of prospects ... but ... it is unlikely the Astros will land their future SP1 and SS from that trade. The trade will likely guarantee that that the Astros will struggle in the short and long term to field a 500 team (which they currently are not ... but they have had significant IL time for their SP1 and SS). As an alternative unlikely-to-succeed possibility, the Astros could at the 2027 trade deadline could be sitting on the following SPs: Spencer Arrighetti (optioned to AAA to stay stretched out) Peter Lambert Mike Burrows Kai-Wei Teng Tatsuya Imai Hunter Brown plus Ronel Blanco Brandon Walter Hayden Wesneski and maybe even Cristian Javier Ryan Weiss Now that is 9-11 SPs at a trade deadline ... in a SP deprived league ... where SP trades are at a high premium. This is perfect nexus of events where the Astros could trade 1-3 MoR SPs and get a premium return of prospects. As I said above this is unlikely, but perhaps as unlikely as trading Brown and Pena getting back a future SP1 and SS.
The Astros don't have a single pitcher aside from Hunter Brown that will return anything but middling prospects much less premium. We could trade a few of them and get a decent little pupu platter, but at that return it's better to just hold onto guys and hope they can turn into great pitchers themselves. Hunter Brown by himself will get you more than the entire rest of our pitching staff combined. If one of those pitchers does become great over the next year, then why in hell would we trade them when we're trying to win. This isn't the NBA, a superstar doesn't have disproportionate value. You need multiple great pitchers more than one dominant one. You aren't trading them to just get a "star" you are trading them for hopefully a great player that will also be affordable for 6 or 7 seasons.
