Well shoot, they look good, gotta hand it to them

tough night for the Astros

only 6 hits

Well, get 'em tomorrow.

Aggie95 said:

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A's to Vegas makes sense. I just don't see Portland supporting baseball.

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Salt Lake is also making a bid for that franchise. I think the league would rather PDX over the Mormons.

Hornbeck said:

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Aggie95 said:

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A's to Vegas makes sense. I just don't see Portland supporting baseball.

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Salt Lake is also making a bid for that franchise. I think the league would rather PDX over the Mormons.

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If their baseball fans are as classy as their NBA fans, sounds great!

Did Dana sign Abreu? Or is he a Bagwell special?

f1ghtintexasaggie said:

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Did Dana sign Abreu? Or is he a Bagwell special?

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Bagwell I believe. Super early in the off-season

The Porkchop Express said:

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Abreu OPS .571
Yuli OPS .722

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Let's hope Abreu turns it around and isn't this year's version of Mancini, all hype but no results…

Salt Lake: Beer sales MLB low
Portland: Weedy Wednesday's

Hornbeck said:

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Salt Lake: Beer sales MLB low
Portland: Weedy Wednesday's

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If SLC charged for yelling racist epithets at the opposing players they'd more than make up for the lost beer sales……

Put some CBD dispensaries around the stadium in Portland and they could have an $800 million pay roll and still turn a profit.

That certainly sucked.

Series win still on the table!

A's pounding Angels pitching early in Anaheim and on FS1

Very nice.

Our stinker won't likely change the standings at all.

Let's hope we just bounce back tomorrow like it didn't even happen.

Hornbeck said:

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Aggie95 said:

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A's to Vegas makes sense. I just don't see Portland supporting baseball.

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Salt Lake is also making a bid for that franchise. I think the league would rather PDX over the Mormons.

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You been to Portland lately

interesting looking at a few of the Astros' hitting stats after 23 games...

Pena is the team leader in x-base hits with 10

the Astros have drawn 81 walks

Yordan, Tucker, and Bregman account for 45 of those 81 walks. Chas was walking at a nice clip (6) before he got hurt.

otherwise none of the regulars in the lineup walk much at all. We've discussed Dubon and Julks, but Abreu (4) and Pena (4) are not walking either

I can't believe we only have 24 home runs. I think that's almost half what the league leader has

Dies Irae said:

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I can't believe we only have 24 home runs. I think that's almost half what the league leader has

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Altuve would be good for at least 3 right now, if healthy.

Dies Irae said:

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I can't believe we only have 24 home runs. I think that's almost half what the league leader has

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Well, we have 2 spots in the order that don't hit them, ever.

I don't know if you guys have noticed it when he bats but Abreu is swinging like Ichiro. He's slapping at the ball with just his arms without getting his hips or body engaged. He's never going to get any power like that.

Would explain why his average is still pretty good but he's not getting any pop on the ball

Dies Irae said:

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I don't know if you guys have noticed it when he bats but Abreu is swinging like Ichiro. He's slapping at the ball with just his arms without getting his hips or body engaged. He's never going to get any power like that.

Would explain why his average is still pretty good but he's not getting any pop on the ball

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Definitely have noticed. Swinging to make contact and not swinging with power. Has his swing always been like this?

AustinCountyAg said:

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AggiEE said:

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Wabs said:

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Ag_07 said:

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f1ghtintexasaggie said:

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Did Dana sign Abreu? Or is he a Bagwell special?

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No matter how it ends up playing out that was a great signing when it was done.

That was pretty close to unanimous.

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Unanimous that Abreu was a good signing. Yep.

Not at minimum offering Yuli a one year deal? Not so unanimous.

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We are lucking out that Doubon and Julks are getting a chance to shine though.

I just don't think Yuli had space on the team, but in retrospect now it seems like he would have been a much better deal than Abreu and we could have spent that money possibly elsewhere or given us more flexibility at the trade deadline.

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Jesus. It's ****ing April. How about we wait until June to trash the Abreu signing.

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This! He's a traditionally slow starter (although the lack of HR's is eyebrow raising) but he's a Cuban ballplayer and those guys are just wired differently. If his numbers are similar in June we can start to grumble but I have a feeling a lot of folks are going to be eating crow.

Some stats for thought on Abreu

2022 hitting fastballs: .302 avg, .314 xBA, .509 xSLG, .390 xwOBA

2023 hitting fastballs: .235 avg, .299 xBA, .507 xSLG, .371 xwOBA

We could be seeing some positive correction coming for him. I don't know how significant the differences in xBA and xwOBA are, but it doesn't seem like much. The one thing that stands out as a potential warning sign is average exit velocity on fastballs.

94.1 in 2022, only 89.0 right now.

He also isn't pulling the ball as much as last year, and it's resulting in a lot more weak contact. I'm going to remain a bit more patient.

Hmm, a final note in this thought exercise: Not sure teams will feel the need to throw him fastballs, as he's currently terrible at hitting breaking balls.

Its so wild to see this kind of drop off.

Here is what happened to Yuli from 22 to 23.
EV: 89.8 -> 88.2
Sweet Spot%: 31.0 -> 30.3
Hard Hit%: 42.0 -> 35.6
Barrel%: 3.4 -> 1.9
K%: 11.2 -> 12.5
BB%: 9.8 -> 5.1
xwOBA: .325 -> .280

It was a bunch of little things across the board.

Here is what is happening to Abreu
EV: 92.2 -> 86.7
Sweet Spot%: 34.5 -> 30.6
Hard Hit%:51.8 -> 36.1
Barrel%: 9.5 -> 6.9
K%: 16.2 -> 23.8
BB%: 9.1 -> 4.0
xwOBA: .373 -> .280

Everything just fell off a cliff.

I choose to believe he will figure it out. He's had a decade of high-level success as recent as 2022. He is aging but he's 36, not 40. He's still slow but hasn't slowed more. His movement on defense is fine. He doesn't look to be playing injured. I am trying to find bright spots.