iBrad said:

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Now the crazy stat. They are the same age. Soto is on year eight and will hit the 1000-game mark this season. Rice has played 77 big league games.

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So what you are saying is that not all things are created equal?

Ag_07 said:

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Spot on

Someone posted something yesterday about how Bregs read and embraced some self help book and it reinvigorated his love of the game. He said he's gone back to embracing the grind and he's gone back to enjoying just hitting line drive after line drive.

Why it took a change of scenery is the big question but seems like he's back to cage rat Bregs.

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He has always been a streaky hitter that feeds off the emotions of the team around him. He had plenty of times here where he went off for a month or two and those stretches usually covered up the month at the beginning of the season where he didn't hit anything. He is happy and having fun in the new environment and seems to be back to the patient approach with a good eye for the zone that he made his reputation on. Not getting the automatic strike call on first pitch that is 6" outside that is usually reserved for Houston batters probably helps tremendously with his approach to hitting. Remains to be seen if he maintains it for the whole season or if the newness wears off and the grind sets in.

remember with Bregman...

every offseason it's something new

a couple of years ago he bulked up like the Hulk...and was going to hit 40 homers, etc..,

And we knew both of them were great players. That's what sucks about this. But we're going to come out in the long run winning that trade.

Checking in on Yusei Kikuchi with the angels:

0-4, 4.21 ERA, 1.54 WHIP

we got the best out of him

Mathguy64 said:

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We traded potential all star level play this year at 2 positions for good to very good play this year, long term financial stability and potential player growth.

We aren't the dodgers, Yankees, cubs, Mets or Red Sox. We don't have the kind of financial freedom they do to sign whoever for whatever they want.

It was the right decision long term given the way baseball is run, the CBA and the way agents game the system.

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Hot take, but we made a major mistake not trading Framber

EastCoastAgNc said:

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Mathguy64 said:

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We traded potential all star level play this year at 2 positions for good to very good play this year, long term financial stability and potential player growth.

We aren't the dodgers, Yankees, cubs, Mets or Red Sox. We don't have the kind of financial freedom they do to sign whoever for whatever they want.

It was the right decision long term given the way baseball is run, the CBA and the way agents game the system.

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Hot take, but we made a major mistake not trading Framber

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And who is the extra starter? Right now we are short one arm. We would have been short 1 to start the season and right now down 2.

Mathguy64 said:

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EastCoastAgNc said:

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Mathguy64 said:

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We traded potential all star level play this year at 2 positions for good to very good play this year, long term financial stability and potential player growth.

We aren't the dodgers, Yankees, cubs, Mets or Red Sox. We don't have the kind of financial freedom they do to sign whoever for whatever they want.

It was the right decision long term given the way baseball is run, the CBA and the way agents game the system.

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Hot take, but we made a major mistake not trading Framber

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And who is the extra starter? Right now we are short one arm. We would have been short 1 to start the season and right now down 2.

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For the money saved on framber, we could have signed someone for cheap to be a fifth starter until the reinforcements came in. Look at how little Pivetta is making with the padres.

Bregman obviously has had extreme success at Fenway. Now he's playing half of his games there. His sample size is up to 35 games there and he's got a 1.119 OPS and hitting .346. Ironically he's hitting better on the road (.342 average, 1.009 OPS) than at home (.302 / .935) so far this year, but clearly he's somewhere that he genuinely wants to be.

If any of you guys read Ron Luciano's books (all of them 100000% incredible), one of them has chapters written by some of his favorite players, including Mike Easler, originally drafted by the Astros but ended up starring with the Pirates and the moving on to the Sox. He had some really nice early seasons for the Pirates but in 1983 was traded to the Sox for John Tudor. He writes about when he saw the Green Monster and Fenway and realized he could change his stance a little and go crazy there, sort of like what we all think Paredes will do long term with the Crawford Boxes.

Easler's career bests prior to 1984 were 21 HR and 74 RBI. Playing every day at Fenway in 1984, he hit .313 with 27 HR and 91 RBI. He hit .375 at Fenway with a 1.046 OPS, and talks in his chapter about how he was able to carry that confidence out onto the road and it made him a lot more intelligent player. I think we're seeing that from Bregman. Even if he loved being in Houston and close to Louisiana, if you're not loving the actual work environment, you're probably always thinking about that one place where everything just "clicks".

I'm way more surprised by Tucker's fast start than AB's.

Friday edition of Foul Territory!

• FT Senior Insider @Ken_Rosenthal
• Astros SP Hunter Brown
• Dodgers Director of Team Travel Scott Akasaki

Watch LIVE on YouTube and X from 1-3 ET! pic.twitter.com/Kiv1YGEk34

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Hunter gonna be on

The Original Houston 1836 said:

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Bregman obviously has had extreme success at Fenway. Now he's playing half of his games there. His sample size is up to 35 games there and he's got a 1.119 OPS and hitting .346. Ironically he's hitting better on the road (.342 average, 1.009 OPS) than at home (.302 / .935) so far this year, but clearly he's somewhere that he genuinely wants to be. . . . .

I'm way more surprised by Tucker's fast start than AB's.

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Given the home and road numbers it seems like his average and OPS should be in the .326 and .979 range rather than .346 and 1.119.

I admit I cheated and checked baseball reference when I noticed your numbers were higher than either the road/home #s provided.

Tucker's current .950 OPS is less than the .993 he put up with us last season in 78 games, and it's a contract year. I figured he was going to rake.

The bigger his bag the better I'll feel about it, even though I know even a modest superstar contract is out of our range. The Altuve contract is looking like it's going to hurt since we are in year one of five, and that .790 OPS last year was presaging the downturn to come.

tjack16 said:

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I think we won the Tucker trade for the future. I still would've liked to have matched what the Red Sox offered Bregman though.

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I think total money we did. It was the structure and opt outs.

It's known that Crane doesn't do longer free agent deals over a certain numbers of years (6 max i think??), but he doesn't seem to like giving players opt-outs either.

FYI, looks like Lance is scheduled to start next Saturday with the Reds in town. We owe them some payback.

Hoping for a Yordan rebound in May. Last time he had this bad a month (Aug '22), he raked the next one - .360/.720/1.176 .

Booma94 said:

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I plan to hold out judgement on the Tucker trade until Tucker does something in October. If he mashes in the playoffs and carries the Cubs to a title I'll be very surprised.

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If any team other than the Dodgers advances out of the NL it will be a surprise. Agreed on him mashing in the playoffs though.

Faustus said:

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The Original Houston 1836 said:

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Bregman obviously has had extreme success at Fenway. Now he's playing half of his games there. His sample size is up to 35 games there and he's got a 1.119 OPS and hitting .346. Ironically he's hitting better on the road (.342 average, 1.009 OPS) than at home (.302 / .935) so far this year, but clearly he's somewhere that he genuinely wants to be. . . . .

I'm way more surprised by Tucker's fast start than AB's.

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Given the home and road numbers it seems like his average and OPS should be in the .326 and .979 range rather than .346 and 1.119.

I admit I cheated and checked baseball reference when I noticed your numbers were higher than either the road/home #s provided.

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The first set of numbers I gave was for his entire career at Fenway, not just 2025.

Mr. Awesome Time said:

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FYI, looks like Lance is scheduled to start next Saturday with the Reds in town. We owe them some payback.

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a whole lot of payback

Astros haven't won a game against Cincinnati since 2016

swept in the last 3 meetings

The Original Houston 1836 said:

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Faustus said:

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The Original Houston 1836 said:

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Bregman obviously has had extreme success at Fenway. Now he's playing half of his games there. His sample size is up to 35 games there and he's got a 1.119 OPS and hitting .346. Ironically he's hitting better on the road (.342 average, 1.009 OPS) than at home (.302 / .935) so far this year, but clearly he's somewhere that he genuinely wants to be. . . . .

I'm way more surprised by Tucker's fast start than AB's.

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Given the home and road numbers it seems like his average and OPS should be in the .326 and .979 range rather than .346 and 1.119.

I admit I cheated and checked baseball reference when I noticed your numbers were higher than either the road/home #s provided.

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The first set of numbers I gave was for his entire career at Fenway, not just 2025.

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I read there as playing for Boston, and the 35 games seemed like it would be right. Mea culpa!

Faustus said:

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Booma94 said:

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I plan to hold out judgement on the Tucker trade until Tucker does something in October. If he mashes in the playoffs and carries the Cubs to a title I'll be very surprised.

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If any team other than the Dodgers advance out of the NL it will be a surprise. Agreed on him mashing in the playoffs though.

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Anyone but LA. I know they're the favorites, but I won't be surprised if they don't win the NL this year. Too many good teams in that league.

It definitely sounds like that's what I was saying when I re-read it, no problem.
We're all just bored to tears waiting for the next Astros game. Rockets too I suppose.

That stadium where Bregman plays matters, but what he's doing this year makes it matter a lot less. Whatever he figured out, he's performing at a level he never has before in several ways.

1. He's hitting the batter harder than he did any year prior by a significant margin, with a 92.9 EV. His previous best was 89.4 in 2018.

2. His batted ball profile improved. He was already pretty dang good at pulling the ball in the air. His fly ball and pull are both at career bests. He's pulling the ball at a 52.9% and 29.4% in the air. You combine this with the better exit velos and the short porch in LF matters less and less.

He sacrifices his elite K-BB ratio to do it, but it's absolutely worth it when he hammers the ball. He's at career bests in xSLG, xISO, Brl, Brl%, EV, Max EV, & HH%.

Regarding Tucker, his March/April last year was actually better than his March/April this season for the Cubs. Ever so slightly and both were damn good, but he is pretty much the same player we had. The Cubs will benefit, though, if he plays a full season.

ESPN has come out with its report cards for April. Astros get a B- with this write-up

The Astros probably shouldn't be over .500: Yordan Alvarez hasn't delivered at his usual super-powered level, Christian Walker hasn't hit much, the Jose Altuve left-field thing remains one of the stranger decisions in recent years, Framber Valdez is 1-3 with a 4.00 ERA and Spencer Arrighetti got hurt after two starts. Yet here they are, finding a way.

Hunter Brown has been perhaps the best pitcher in the AL, the bullpen has been clutch, and every time I check the highlights, Jake Meyers is making an outstanding play in center field. Heck, Lance McCullers Jr. will even make his first start since the 2022 World Series this weekend. The Astros haven't had a losing record in a full season since 2014, and it wouldn't be surprising to see them capture an eighth straight non-COVID-season AL West title.

A's were given to : Mets, Tigers, Giants
A-: Cubs, Padres
B+: Yankees, Mariners
B: A's, Dodgers
B-: Red Sox, Astros, Indians
C+: Reds, Rangers,
C: Phillies, Royals, Brewers, Rays, Diamondbacks
D+: Nationals, Cardinals, Twins,
D: Marlins, Braves, Blue Jays
D-: Angels, White Sox (OK?)
F: Pirates, Orioles
F-: Rockies

So we've already played series against all the A's and one of the A-.

SI's article is horrifying about the Rockies. They are 6-25. Here's some of their upcoming schedule.

May 2-4 @ SF
May 6-8 vs. Detroit
May 9-11 vs. San Diego

Starting the 19th of May, they have 4 at home vs. Philly, 3 at home vs. the Yankees, 3 on the road at the Cubs, then 3 on the road at the Mets.

The Rockies have 10 more games this year vs. the Dodgers (already 0-3)
10 more vs San Diego (0-3 and didn't score a run)
12 more vs. the Giants (who they actually beat last night)

So far, those 3 divisional rivals are a combined 59-34.

The move of Altuve to left field would make more sense if we had a solid contributor slotted at second. But we don't. Still, you'd have to think standing around in left is easier on his body and might help him stay more productive as he ages.

I also think Jose has done quite well in the outfield, especially when you see the lowlights from around the league of other outfielders.