The replacement guys have been good at getting on base, but they are immediately negated by Maldonado coming up after them to end the inning.

Mr President Elect said:

---

Well, I doubt it would be the first time, but it would be hard for him to slump to Maldy's level. I was probably wrong to concede that spot to Maldy though, in years past we have had the luxury of wasting that spot, maybe not this year.

---

BINGO. with injuries and people under performing Maldy's glaring hole in the line up is even more impactful.

With Diaz I wonder if him not seeing more reps at Catcher is with the Starting pitchers feeling more comfortable with Maldy. That doesn't let Dusty off the hook though as that means Diaz should be DH'ing pretty much 24/7 to get him as many reps at the plate. When you have Salazar also on the roster there is no risk of playing your catcher at DH.

Dubon is very similar to Tony Kemp to me. He's never going to be more than an average 8-9 hole hitter, but he can provide you with just enough to justify a spot in the lineup

Wow, the discrepancy in home runs is amazing, even when you take the innings into consideration. I know that HBrown is a ground ball pitcher, but still.

Dies Irae said:

---

With Diaz I wonder if him not seeing more reps at Catcher is with the Starting pitchers feeling more comfortable with Maldy. That doesn't let Dusty off the hook though as that means Diaz should be DH'ing pretty much 24/7 to get him as many reps at the plate. When you have Salazar also on the roster there is no risk of playing your catcher at DH.

---

He's familiar with Bielak and France, so Dusty needs to have Diaz catch them as well. Agree, it's inexcusable for Dusty not to give him DH at-bats with Salazar on the roster.

texasaggie2015 said:

---

texasaggie2015 said:

---

- Drew Gilbert won't be in Asheville much longer. I give it until mid-May. Maybe sooner. They do want to see his strikeout rate go down, but it's a small sample and not necessarily a concern.

---

The Astros are promoting top prospect Drew Gilbert to Double-A Corpus Christi, a source tells @TheAthletic. Gilbert slashed .361/.421/.686 with 15 extra-base hits in 21 games at High-A Asheville.

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) May 8, 2023

---

That slugging is strong to quite strong

texasaggie2015 said:

---

texasaggie2015 said:

---

- Drew Gilbert won't be in Asheville much longer. I give it until mid-May. Maybe sooner. They do want to see his strikeout rate go down, but it's a small sample and not necessarily a concern.

---

The Astros are promoting top prospect Drew Gilbert to Double-A Corpus Christi, a source tells @TheAthletic. Gilbert slashed .361/.421/.686 with 15 extra-base hits in 21 games at High-A Asheville.

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) May 8, 2023

#sources

---

I assume Chaz is also moving back onto the active roster and this is back filling his spot? Bannon will then go back down to AAA

Not sure about any corresponding moves, but that would check out

The Astros are receiving a .677 OPS and .367 slugging percentage from their right-handed hitters. Only the Guardians, Nationals, and Tigers have lower numbers from their righties.

(@Chandler_Rome)

We play an every day 1B with an OPS of .534. And slug < OBA. An OPS of .677 would be a massive improvement.

I'll add his OPS+ is 49 and his bWAR is -0.8. His WAA is -1.3. He's already costing a game over a scrub in the lineup.

As anxious as things seem right now, we are one 9-1 or 8-2 streak from being right where we need to be

We did that several times last year, and we aren't going to repeat without some hot streaks in this season too.

Find a way to take 2/3 at the Angels, then use Sox/Cubs/Athletics to start making your move

I don't hear much about Melton. How is he doing?

All these outfield options I'd like to see one of them start being developed into a 1B option. That had been a weakness for a while and it doesn't seem like we had addressed it with prospects either.

Melton has had slow start to the season but there's no reason for concern.

Clifford is someone I would watch as a guy who could play more first base down the road. They've been giving him reps there. Both him and Gilbert are a big reason why the Astros won't throw a ton of money at Tucker.

And Leon and Dirden and Chaz and Jake and maybe a bit later Melton.

This has been my take all along. It's obviously a position of strength for us and why not try to duplicate what we did with Correa/Pena

texasaggie2015 said:

---

I'm still confident Abreu will turn it around. Am I as confident as I was on April 15th? No. But from what I've heard, there's really no concern at all among the organization and I trust their eyes more than mine. We shall see.

---

That's probably the most reasonable stance to have. That's how I felt a few weeks ago and I thought "as soon as someone boldly proclaims Abreu is done, he'll start to hit and make that guy look dumb, as is the tradition of the thread". I hadn't posted it until now because I thought he'd turn it around, but now I righteously think he's toast.

I mean I don't think he's going to end up with a -4 WAR and obviously at some point he's going to hit some dingers and not be totally useless, but I think he's done being an All-star caliber player.

Hope I'm wrong.

No doubt Abreu has been disappointing so far.

Arenado, Springer, and Abreu could all vie for your "dollar for dollar" award. But I think Bumgarner takes this title this year, barring an incredible redemption story....