iBrad said:

---

I prefer Yordan in the 2-hole. It guarantees an AB in the first and prevents him from leading off a lot of second innings. I don't think dropping him guarantees hitting with more runner on base.

One thing I might try, however, is batting Diaz third and Tucker fourth, dropping Bregs to fifth.

---

I wouldn't mind seeing Diaz at cleanup and Bergman to fifth.
Why not - anything better than what Bregman has done so far.

Before anyone starts invoking the magic of the 2019 Nats comeback just know they went 40-13 at home to finish the year

This team sure as **** ain't doing that

good lord, Abreu pic.twitter.com/6HZb7UFsVa

— astrosmemes (@astros_memes) April 7, 2024

BadAggie said:

---

Move up Diaz and Pena in the order and move down Bregman and Abreu.

---

How about move OUT Abreu?

Pressly's ERA is now above 20

Yikes

Pahdz said:

---

I admit I didn't see a lot of Abreu in his ChiSox days, but watching his pathetic all upper body whiffs makes me wonder how the hell he ever put up the numbers he did and did someone do a body swap with him.

---

He was an absolute boss.

Astros lost on the sign an older player lottery.

BCEDAg said:

---

Beat40 said:

---

BCEDAg said:

---

Is it already time for a team meeting? I think something has to happen now to pull the guys out of this funk. Who are the leaders that will speak up - Verlander, Bergman, Altuve?

I know it's early but team needs to cut bait with Jose Abreu. Bat is slow and Loperfido is tearing it up at Sugarland. Bring the kid up - they need some kind of spark. Singleton is not the answer either.

---

Yeah, the team whose all-stars aren't performing need a kid from sugarland to provide them a spark.

I'm all for bringing the kid up, but let's be real. This offense isn't going because the all-stars aren't getting it done with men on base.

---

So do you have any better ideas? If you read my post I was referring to Jose Abreu being replaced by Loperfido. Abreu isn't an all star anymore than I am and is an anchor to the offense.
Or maybe sign Brandon Belt to play first base - he's still unsigned.

---

There is nothing you can do to improve the offense if Yordan and Bregman, and the rest of th all-stars aren't going to do more than hit singles when men are on base.

I said I agree with bringing the kid up, but replacing him for Abreu doesn't really change the offense if the all-stars outside of Altuve and Tucker don't produce with men on.

So, my idea is to wait for those guys to do their thing, because if they don't, it doesn't matter.

Beat40 said:

---

Bregxit said:

---

DeProfundis said:

---

Bregxit said:

---

Heineken-Ashi said:

---

BeaumontAg05 said:

---

It's mind blowing that we just cannot score. Our starters have done outstanding on the mound, but we just can't score. It makes no sense how we could be so bad on offense.

---

When your lineup is constructed so that your RBI producer doesn't have many RBI chances, and your OBP leader is in an RBI role, coupled with a complete failure in the middle of the order who shouldn't be on the team.. can you really be surprised?

---

Agree with this. 2,3,4 need to be reshuffled.

Altuve
Bregman
Tucker/Alvarez
Alvarez/Tucker

---

Batting 2nd vs 4th got Alvarez an extra AB tonight

---

A lot of good that did. I'd rather see him bat fewer times with more men on base. He is hitting .250 with 2 bombs and 3 RBI from the 2 hole.

---

Explain Ohtani and Judge for me then. Judge had an all time in the past 20 years offensive season from the 2-hole.

Explain Acuna.

---

Judge was the only player with over .350% OBP last year. Torres was .347%. You want the most bases on the 2 hole. It's bonus if they get you lots of power and RBI's. But if Bregman was on the Yankees all of these years, you think his elite BB% and OBP% would have been batting behind Judge? Judge would be the 3-hole.

Ohtani bats in front of Trout. Those two guys are your only two quality hitters. You bat the 2 and 3 because you have nobody else.

The issue isn't Yordan in the two hole. It's that it's really the only place to maximize Bregman. And in what world do you want your historically elite OBP% guy batting in front of your generational power guy? In the 2-hole, Yordan has one quality bat in front of him. I don't care if he gets 40 at bats less in the 3 or 4 hole. I want the RBI chances to be maximized. It's not about how many AB's Yordan gets. It's the chances that the at bats he DOES get have as many people on base as possible.

An attempt at a few quasi-objective thoughts.

1) Alvarez is struggling in the 2 hole because of the guy in front of him. Altuve either gets on or gets out quickly. He loves those first pitch sabotages. That means Yordan is not seeing a lot of the pitcher in the first inning before he's up there. When he batted behind Bregman, Alex is taking 4 and 5 pitches to try and figure it out. I'm assuming Alvarez gets better as the season goes on, but right now it's not happening for the most part. If it doesn't get better, put Tucker there and let him and Altuve run the bases to generate something offensively with Yordan third again.

2) Bregman should flip flop with either Diaz or Tucker and get out of the cleanup spot. Cuz he's not a huge threat to go deep compared to those guys. I think I'd go ahead and put Diaz at cleanup because of his power with Bregman a threat behind him to eat up even more pitches and get a walk.

3) Pressley said all the right things in the off-season, but if I were him I'd be pretty pissed that I wasn't the closer anymore and not pitching in the life or death situations. He hasn't allowed a postseason earned run since the 2021 ALCS and easily could have been the World Series MVP in 2022. Doing phenomenal work year after year and losing your job regardless is a bad message to send through the clubhouse. It's easy to say that now with Hader struggling and the team off to a bad start, but that money could have been much better spent on more middle relief help and/or another starter.

4) The team seems to be playing under the same false impression that a lot of us fans have, that we're always going to be better than the likes of New York and Texas, and that last year's ALCS was some sort of a fluke. As my friend Maarva Andor says:



Yes baseball has its streaks and its breaks its bad bounces and a 2-7 stretch isn't exactly putting the Astros back to 2011-2013, but the deficit is already 4-1/2 games. A week from tonight, the season will be 10% done. Where will this team be then?

The Porkchop Express said:

---

An attempt at a few quasi-objective thoughts.

1) Alvarez is struggling in the 2 hole because of the guy in front of him. Altuve either gets on or gets out quickly. He loves those first pitch sabotages. That means Yordan is not seeing a lot of the pitcher in the first inning before he's up there. When he batted behind Bregman, Alex is taking 4 and 5 pitches to try and figure it out. I'm assuming Alvarez gets better as the season goes on, but right now it's not happening for the most part. If it doesn't get better, put Tucker there and let him and Altuve run the bases to generate something offensively with Yordan third again.

2) Bregman should flip flop with either Diaz or Tucker and get out of the cleanup spot. Cuz he's not a huge threat to go deep compared to those guys. I think I'd go ahead and put Diaz at cleanup because of his power with Bregman a threat behind him to eat up even more pitches and get a walk.

3) Pressley said all the right things in the off-season, but if I were him I'd be pretty pissed that I wasn't the closer anymore and not pitching in the life or death situations. He hasn't allowed a postseason earned run since the 2021 ALCS and easily could have been the World Series MVP in 2022. Doing phenomenal work year after year and losing your job regardless is a bad message to send through the clubhouse. It's easy to say that now with Hader struggling and the team off to a bad start, but that money could have been much better spent on more middle relief help and/or another starter.

4) The team seems to be playing under the same false impression that a lot of us fans have, that we're always going to be better than the likes of New York and Texas, and that last year's ALCS was some sort of a fluke. As my friend Maarva Andor says:



Yes baseball has its streaks and its breaks its bad bounces and a 2-7 stretch isn't exactly putting the Astros back to 2011-2013, but the deficit is already 4-1/2 games. A week from tonight, the season will be 10% done. Where will this team be then?

---

Pressly needs to get his head together. If the Hader situation is influencing his current performance. It really shouldn't. He should be a professional. He's one of the highest paid relievers in the league.

Pressly is hanging sliders over the middle of the plate right now and making very uncompetitive, sloppy pitches. It's concerning.

right now...

about half of Bregman's plate appearances (32) have come with a runner(s) on base....

and he has 1 RBI

Tyler Glasnow made it very clear why pitchers were getting injured 2 years ago. It’s not the pitch clock

Nor even joking, this is all Trevor Bauer’s fault pic.twitter.com/Tr0XN8y4En

— Nate (@notNate99) April 7, 2024

Might be something to this after all

Can we not please try Tucker at 2 and Yordan at 3? I mean just once or twice to see if it does anything? What is there to lose at this point? Or is this Espada's hill that he's going to die on?

Wabs said:

---

Can we not please try Tucker at 2 and Yordan at 3? I mean just once or twice to see if it does anything? What is there to lose at this point? Or is this Espada's hill that he's going to die on?

---

That's what I've been wanting. I like Tucker's speed at 2

Altuve
Tucker
Alvarez
Diaz
Bregman

Martin Maldonado on the Astros' blowout loss to the Rangers pic.twitter.com/sS0f7l8ucd

— FAX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFAX) April 6, 2024