To recap: the Houston Astros are not 'back', they just won two games against the Pirates. Anybody can do that. I'm surprised the Rays haven't done that yet.
I've longed for the point where the Astros lose enough of their key members that they stop being a shoo-in to be good every year, and this year, ironically around the same time the Dodgers are equally human, the Astros are peddling around .500, and have dropped games to the Twins, White Sox, Tigers and, for one glittering instance, the Pirates. It's not just the loss of staples like Yuli Gurriel, Justin Verlander and Aledmys Diaz, and injuries to Lance McCullers, Jose Altuve and Michael Brantley.
It's really just...who's left.
It's not that the replacements aren't doing well, it's just that a lot of them are, well...replacements. Mauricio Dubon is the starting 2nd baseman, and even if he's still hitting .361 and leading the team in WAR, A.) Mauricio Dubon is starting for the defending champions and B.) Mauricio Dubon has a higher WAR than Yordan Alvarez, Alex Bregman and Framber Valdez right now. Mauricio 'I was scrappy and contact-y enough for Dusty but not enough for Gabe Kapler] Dubon.
There's lots of guys like that right now. Since Alvarez is taking reps in the outfield [which should be your first clue that something is amiss] David Hensley is the predominant DH, and he's hitting .212 with 2 RBIs, which makes him a very ineffective DH. Chas McCormick is, at the very least, hitting .275 so far, but unlike Kyle Tucker he hasn't made the leap from 'homegrown prospect the Astros are keeping around' to 'perennial everyday guy the team can't be complete without'. And there's lots of new young guys like Corey Julks and Yanier Diaz skulking around, trying to get playing time. If this was like 2019 or 2020 that wouldn't be a forethought, the team would be all figured out.
To add to all of this muddying of the second half of the lineup, Bregman's not hitting, Pena's not hitting, and Martin Maldonado hasn't hit since Kansas City.
At the very least, the pitching still looks good, Hunter Brown has made an excellent rotation addition, and they'll be absolutely fine until McCullers gets back. So it's possible that this will still make them relatively tricky to beat in the coming weeks. They just...really don't have the lineup edge that they used to, even with Alvarez already cracking 16 RBIs and Tucker hitting 4 homers. It's just not...everybody anymore, which is an adjustment.
As always, I'm hoping this inefficiency keeps up. It'd be fantastic if someone else won the AL West this year, though...knowing the Astros, it's not a lock.
Coming Tomorrow- Just a guy from North Jersey who can finally throw fire again.
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