By Clint The Scout
At 59-55, the Astros find themselves in a dog fight for the AL west division title. Today, the Astros took the deciding game for the Silver Boot Series. We witnessed the arrival of Zach Dezenzo. It's been a good debut, but we must always temper expectations.
As we have seen with Pedro Leon and Zach Dezenzo, it’s a work in progress. However, we have two minor league players exceeding expectations now. Shay Whitcomb and Forrest Whitley have been exceptional lately.
Obviously, any move to bring either Whitley or Whitcomb up to the MLB roster would involve a DFA or an option. With a bullpen going through a lot of innings, and Aledmys Diaz, a 34-year-old veteran who hasn’t played since July 23rd, it becomes a very questionable approach. What’s the Astros front office doing?
After making a trade for Yusei Kikuchi that cost you Joey Loperfido, Jake Bloss and Will Wagner, the Astros lived up to the buyer status that Dana Brown boasted during the team’s run to get back into contention. However, we left first base alone. Why? Jon Singleton’s recent success has been movie-worthy, but we know who he is as a ball player. Mauricio Dubon is a role-player and has been atrocious in his last 30 games.
The halfway in-halfway-out mentality of the trade deadline was perplexing, not to mention the overpay in the Kikuchi trade.
Not to mention that the organization is struggling to maintain salary numbers that keep them below the CBT 2, it begs the question of how do they plan to fix that? In what world did we ever believe Crane would be okay with exceeding it?
The only world I can think of is one where the Astros win the World Series this year.
Personally, I always lean towards attaining the ceiling of any player’s potential. As we have watched players like Mauricio Dubon struggle, Jon Singleton be only viable against right-handed pitchers, Aledmys Diaz not playing whatsoever, it warrants the fans to be skeptical of the decision making for this roster.
So, as I watch Forrest Whitley and Shay Whitcomb outperform the expectations, I find myself wondering if there’s more to it than what I said below. Perhaps the front office is more worried about Dubon than we imagined? Maybe Whitley isn’t performing as well as it appears when we see the reports?
However, give me the guy who can throw 99 MPH with movement, someone who can overpower hitters, and not just pitch around them. Call up the kid who’s performed at Triple-A and dump the dead weight of a veteran who hasn’t played in two weeks. This team is loaded with veterans who have championship experience. Why isn’t that enough? This team was fully capable of supporting the youth that can be viable now before adding Diaz. I understood this move before the trade deadline, but to let this linger is problematic.
You know what this team can’t afford? They can’t afford to leverage their playoff hopes on the “back of the baseball card” mentality that seems to be leading the way. The Astros can’t lose sight of the fact they need to take chances, and not fall back into the routine of expecting the same results from players who are older and less reliable.
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