Uncustomed Heroes of 2024: Astros

 

A little while before the playoffs, I wrote a post about the Dodgers and Astros having subpar quality teams for their regime, owing mostly to pitching injuries. The Astros were going with lesser seasons from most of their regulars, a shruggingly existent youth core, and a rotation of people getting by simply because they were the Astros. And I said that they didn't deserve being handed postseason glory again. 

The fact that in the early rungs of the postseason, the Dodgers were nearly eliminated and hit an incredible second wind to take it all while the Astros got bodied by the Tigers before October was really underway is honestly incredible. I was right about one of those teams, and it was the Astros. This was not the team, and they weren't gonna shove themselves into a playoff picture that had no room for them this year. 

Needless to say that worked for me. Didn't have to see teams struggle to figure out a team with obvious flaws. Breathed easier. 

So yes, the Astros' main issue this year was rotation injuries. Three of their usual weapons, Lance McCullers, Luis Garcia and Jose Urquidy, were nowhere to be found this year, and another one, Cristian Javier, only started 7 games before his own injury. They were still good quality starts, but with 24 more of them this team doesn't have to go to Spencer Arrighetti, Jake Bloss or Yusei Kikuchi. Still, in 7 games, Javier had a 3-1 record and a 3.89 ERA. Hopefully whatever recovery he needs goes quickly, he's a pretty crucial part of this team's future with so many people leaving.

2025 Prediction: Some crucial starts in the second half. 

Mauricio Dubon has continued to be one of the most useful extra hands the Astros have. He didn't get as much of a starring role as he did last year with his month of filling in for Jose Altuve, but he was still extremely helpful, and was essentially the starting left fielder this year. In 137 games he hit .269 with 47 RBIs and some above-average defense, though not to the degree of his gold-glove 2023.

2025 Prediction: Something tells me he's gonna be one of the most called upon position players next year. Less people are sticking around, and the ones who are are older. He may be getting a ton more reps at 2nd next year.

After sending Martin Maldonado to a team that matches his mediocrity, the Astros got a new backup in Victor Caratini, who's made the postseason with practically every team he's ever played for, and has caught no-hitters from the best. Caratini, unsurprisingly, had another steady season there, and it was in fact his best statistical season to date, with a 1.3 WAR. In 87 games he hit .269 with 8 home runs and 30 RBIs, and was an above-average backstop. With Yainer Diaz being a more offense-friendly catching option, having Caratini as a backup that can play more often, and swap in at C to give Diaz a start at DH, is a great thing, and hopefully he'll deliver a similar season in 2025.

2025 Prediction: Diaz will get hurt, Caratini will need to start, and while he won't be 2024 good he'll be really competent, giving teams a nice preview for his free agency case.

Folks, in our 20th season of Justin Verlander, we finally landed upon a sight we'd rarely ever seen with the future Hall of Famer, and that is human, beatable JV. The veteran made 17 starts this year, and thanks to both injuries and his age, teams were able to figure him out more than usual this year. JV went 5-6 with a 5.48 ERA and 74 Ks. For the first time since his rookie year in 2005, Verlander ended the year with a negative WAR. Yet despite this, Verlander seems to have no plans to retire yet. He'll be 42 next year, and at the very least he'll be back from whatever injuries were holding him back this year. If anything, it's good for baseball if he does suit up for somebody.

2025 Prediction: 1 year deal with the Detroit Tigers. Not pretty but hangs 'em up with the team that made him a star. Will cross 3500 strikeouts.

I didn't understand the mentality that led to the Astros trading Joey Loperfido and Jake Bloss, two guys who were actually working their way toward aiding the Astros as they competed, and Will Wagner, someone who was league ready and would prove it in Toronto, for Yusei Kikuchi, who'd been terrible in his last ten starts and had established community with the team. And yet, because the Astros' GM always seems to know more than anyone else, this paid off: Kikuchi was wonderful in 10 starts with the Astros, going 5-1 with a 2.70 ERA and 76 Ks, more than Justin Verlander in nearly double the games. Between Kikuchi, Arrighetti, Brown and Valdez, the Astros really capitalized off of the strikeout this year. 

2025 Prediction: Kikuchi may be 34 this year, but he'll be eating well. I say he gets at least one nice year out of this Angels deal, and like Tyler Anderson it's not gonna be the first one.

Here's the oddest sight of the year for this team: Jason Heyward, who was very close to competing for a ring this year in LA, was cut in August and picked up by Houston, despite interest from Atlanta. And so we have this...very usual combination, this stage of Heyward's career and this stage of Astros baseball. J-Hey was okay for the 'Stros, he had 4 homers and 9 RBIs in 24 games, and this was a bit more energized than he was for the Dodgers, but he wasn't exactly a key contributor to the postseason team. 

2025 Prediction: Signs with a low-marker team with a lot of openings. Mentors some youth and does alright. Perhaps even Sacramento at this rate.

Coming Tomorrow- Speaking of Sacramento, a few extras from an A's team that outdid some expectations. 

Uncustomed Heroes of 2024: Angels

 

The blog's annual 'Uncustomed Heroes' series, spending all of December commemorating great seasons that weren't awarded custom cards in-season, team by team, begins, as usual, with a look at the ongoing tragedy of the Los Angeles Angels. Unlike recent years, where the team struggles to get anywhere despite having Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, the team struggled to get anywhere despite having Mike Trout, and only having him for a month. Seeing Ohtani get a ring the second he leaves Anaheim must not have been good for the Angels' morale.

To this team's credit, Trout's play during April did give this team more of a chance than they had for the remainder of the season. This was still peak Trout, as the 32-year old spent his 29 games of the 2024 season hitting .220 with 10 home runs and 14 RBIs. And that's the damning stat- 10 homers, and for a while they were mainly solo homers, and only 14 RBIs, meaning other than the 10 times he batted himself home, there were only 4 other opportunities he made to score runs. He also stole 6 bases on 7 attempts, so those numbers were back up. And then, as he tends to this decade, Trout got hurt and missed the rest of the season. This time felt especially heartbreaking, as you can tell he's getting tired of missing all this time. 

2025 Prediction: I genuinely think this is gonna be his fullest season since 2019, and it's gonna be a Griffey-in-2005-esque return to form. 

Patrick Sandoval remains one of the chief starting weapons the Angels have, and though he's under team control for a couple more years, there is the worry that he'll truly hit his best years once he's out of Anaheim. To this point, 2024 was an injury-addled season following two fuller ones, where Sandoval's ERA rose over 5 with a 2-8 record. Simply put, Sandoval was not healthy this year, and by the end of June he was done for the year.

2025 Prediction: As he is currently undergoing UCL surgery, misses a couple months. I do think he'll be firmer and more consistent when he does eventually show up, though I'm guessing that'll be a second half thing. I'm not sure who it'll be for, though, and someone may need to take a flier on him.

It's funny that the Angels now have two different huge prospects that now just sit in the middle of their lineup and strike out 150 times a year. Jo Adell is the homegrown version of this, as he was a huge organizational piece in the late 2010s, was heralded upon his call-up, and hasn't done a dang thing in the majors. After four seasons of bobbing between Anaheim and the minors and not finding the sweet spot up here, Adell had his fullest, most consistent year yet...as a fill-in for Mike Trout. Adell, in 130 games, hit .207 with 20 home runs, 62 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. Those aren't terrible numbers, and they're the best numbers of Adell's career, but considering where the Angels thought Adell would be by this point, it's pretty underwhelming. 

2025 Prediction: I actually think he's gonna improve even further, but if the strikeouts are still an issue he might go the way of Joey Bart.

The other former top-ranked prospect who the Angels just have lying around now is former Phillies #1 overall pick Mickey Moniak, who struggled during his development and was swapped for Noah Syndergaard in 2022. This season Moniak had some pretty heroic moments during the second half, but it took a rocky first half to get there. Moniak finished with 14 homers and 49 RBIs, as well as a .219 average. For a team that really doesn't have much right now, he's at least a partial crowdpleaser.

2025 Prediction: 20+ homers but a lot of 'but's. 

The big surprise of the year for the Angels was Kevin Pillar, who, after being too mediocre for even the 2024 Chicago White Sox, was picked up and immediately caught fire. Pillar's May was incredible, as in 19 games he hit .409 with 5 home runs and 21 RBIs, immediately catching the attention of most of the league. Of course, his subsequent numbers couldn't match up, and so he hung on as a sort of above average hitting outfielder [he only hit 2 homers the whole rest of the season], but that May alone made his season worthy.

2025 Prediction: He'll be 36, so I don't think he'll top that, but he'll be moderately interesting in a minor role for a competitor. 

And finally...Anthony Rendon. Not since Cameron Crowe has someone taken a paycheck as a sign to never be good again. Since joining the Angels, Rendon has rarely showed any of the full baseball prowess he held on a daily basis in Washington. This season was more of the same, but with a new clarification from Rendon that, no, he didn't dislike playing baseball. And so through 19 games, it seemed like Rendon's energy was back, with a .267 average. Then he gets hurt again. And this time, for once in Anaheim, he actually seemed to be frustrated that he would be missing playing time and sitting in his mansion with all his money. He did come back for about a month but, of course, he got hurt again. So the former MVP candidate finished the season with a .218 average, 14 RBIs and no home runs.

2025 Prediction: Can it get any worse? Yes. We just don't know how yet. But it will.

Coming Tomorrow- Dispatches from the Astros team that, after seven years, failed to make an ALCS.