Astros should rebuild while they can still get a lot for guys like Verlander, Altuve, Hader, Bregman, Framber, etc. Some of those guys are going to decline very quickly but right now they could still get a ton of very highly ranked prospects for them. Alvarez and Tucker are probably the only 2 guys I wouldn't want to trade but if they trade all the other guys first they could legitimately ask for the moon and the stars for each of Tucker and Alvarez and probably get it. If the Astros start a rebuild at the trade deadline and then continue rebuilding throughout the offseason they really could build possibly the best farm system in all of baseball and save a ton of money they can allocate towards future seasons at the same time. Now is the time to rebuild for the Astros while they can still get a fortune for some of these guys who will either decline or leave the team soon anyway. If they don't I can see them really regretting it within the next year or 2. The smart teams either win now or build towards the future. Right now it looks like the Astros are doing neither of those things which is always the worst way to go. That's how teams end up like the Rockies and Angels.
7:20 you can’t blame Dana Brown because he’s not the one who signed Abreu. This signing was a Jim Crane/Jeff Bagwell idea since they fired James Click and acted as interim GMs before Brown signed with the Astros
@Jobuwins92 what does that have to do with anything? I stated the facts. GM contracts last 3 years, Click was there 3 years and Crane didn't want to re sign him. There are no 1 year deals for baseball GMs. They last 3 years. Click made very questionable decisions and bad trades, don't blame Crane at all. Dana Brown hasn't been much better so he'll probably only last 3 years too.
@retrorygaming The Astros had just won a championship under James Click. Ok. Crane did not want to re-sign him, but playing GM with a clueless baseball player, both having zero FO experience is something to blame Crane for. It's unacceptable. The organization has not been the same since Crane decided to listen to Bagwell. Who else are we going to blame?
You can’t blame Dana Brown because he wasn’t hired at the time of this signing. It was owner Jim Crane and Astros legend Jeff Bagwell that did and they made ridiculous contracts with the wrong players
As an Astros fan, I’ll admit it. I loved the Abreu signing. Me and a lot of other Astros fans thought that it was the perfect replacement for gurriel. Obviously now I wish we had just resigned gurriel. I had faith in him all throughout 2023 and for the first part of 2024, then I finally gave up on Abreu in the beginning of may. Now the front office won’t spend money on anyone because their nervous it will turn out like Abreu
You’re not a real fan. EVERYONE who liked the stros before 17 knew this was a horrible idea (I’m assuming you wanted to sign Correa as well). Bagwell needs to be banned from Minute Maid, he’s an idiot
@@silentf0e it went away when we let go of James Click and let Jeff Bagwell be our advisor because Jim Crane thought we’re good enough to rely less on analytics
They should just put Loperfido at first. He plays first base and is our best prospect. But for some reason Joe Espada never plays him, and then he gets sent down for some reason
I say this as a lifelong 'Stros fan but you're absolutely correct. Him and Monterro (re-sign) unnecessarily bloated our payroll and that money should have gone toward resigning Bregman and/or Tucker. Won't be our last bad contract but at least we cut bait with Abreu and moved on.
Don’t blame the GM Dana Brown he wasn’t with Houston yet. This was done when Houston didn’t have a GM. This was Bagwell dum decision just like giving Montero the ridiculous contract
even if he is 38...he's old in baseball years. Power hitters who continue to be big producers past 35 or so are either on the juice, or born with magic genes--think Bonds vs Aaron...or McGwire vs Thome...
I bet you’re right. A lot of players from the islands aren’t honest about their age. But let’s say Abreu is being honest - he’s probably been playing against top level competition in Cuba since he was 14, nonstop, no school, no offseason. That’s a lot of mileage.
As a White Sox fan I was upset the team had only given him a 1 year offer for 2023, and not matched the Astros. I'm sad how correct they were not to in hindsight. It was also notable that Abreu would repeatedly start seasons slow offensively and with minimal power. When it would get a couple months into the season his power would unlock. Even his MVP season, he'd started off slow and was hovering around .250 BA .750 OPS, until the week of the series against the Cubs with that consecutive AB HR streak. In that series with the Cubs he was 7 for 12 with 6 HRs, 2 BBs! Those stats really elevated his stats for that season and he'd maintained that for the rest of that short season.
Abreu is eerily similar to Yuli. Both Cuban, both of unknown age, both had outstanding years followed by father time pulling out the rug. It just happens.
@@markkar4663 Yuli signed with the Royals and had his first game back in the majors against Houston. He still has his flare. He’ll retire at the end of next year, but I think Houston will sign him so he can retire as an Astro.
One note in your video - Dana Brown was not the GM when the Astros signed Abreu. James Click was the GM and released after winning the 2022 World Series. During the interim period Jeff Bagwell flew down to Miami - Abreus home and convinced him to sign with the Astros. Then the Astros hired Dana Brown as new GM. He got stuck with a bad call by Bagwell and had to eat it.
It’s wasn’t Dana Brown who signed him to the contract. If you did your research, you would have found, the Astros had no GM at the time. Jim Crane went rogue, fired James Click, then signed terrible Montreo and Jose Abreu to big contracts with the help of Jeff Bagwell. Weeks later, he hired Dana Brown
Yuli may not have been great in the 2022 regular season, but he was outstanding in the 2022 postseason: Yuli in 2022 postseason In ALDS he hit .400 vs Seattle In ALCS he hit .333 vs Yankees In World Series he hit .316 He only struck out ONCE in that entire stretch and that one strikeout didn't happen until the WS. This is a very difficult thing to do.
Yuli at his worse is still 10 times better than Jose Abreu! Not just the fact that Yuli could hit much better, but he is a much much better defensive player as well! Not even close!
José Abreu is not Dana Brown’s fault. Jeff Bagwell and the owner signed him before they signed Dana Brown as general manager. This is Jeff Bagwell’s fault.
14-21 with, 23-19 without Abreu... Bullpen must stabilize, starters can't keep going down, but otherwise it looks like they will at least be in the wildcard hunt, and with some things going their way, compete for the division. Thank God Blanco falls from the sky and becomes an ace. Also, I figure Joe Espada will be better after some time under his belt, vs being the best version of himself his first two months of managing.
White Sox fan - Jose was nothing but class as a player. The definition of what you would want a baseball player to be. Durable, could hit for contact and power, and an underrated glove. The 79 should be hanging at Sox park soon for him. Just makes me sad he didn’t get a ring
Abreu is a guy who absolutely earned that fat contract. He even won me over towards the end of the season and especially during the playoffs last year...but he absolutely SUCKED this year. I've never seen a regression like this before EVER. He was an absolute monster at the plate his entire career. But he just lost it. Don't know what happened...he just started sucking. It's a real shame. Was very excited about him signing. He just couldn't perform.
7:30 it was NOT Dana Browns fault at all. Abreu was signed before Brown was the GM. Bagwell filled in for the GM and convinced Crane to go after Abreu.
I lost my ability to hit a baseball for no apparent reason too. One year I was the best on my team the next I struck out like 90% of the time. Haven’t played since.
Astros downfall is entirely on the front office. The Abreu signing was smart at the time, but the guy hit a wall and disappeared. The rest of their decline is the fact that Crane got rid of the most analytically driven office in all of baseball and is running the operation on “feel”
I was so stoked when we signed abreu. What blows my mind is my pops who is a life long baseball fan hated the signing from the start and I just didn’t understand why. He kept saying from the start of 2023 that Abreu was washed up and screwed the Astros out of millions. I still feel like my pops got lucky with that prediction but it still blows my mind lol
As an Astros fan I didn’t like the signing either. I disagree with this video there were no signs. When we didn’t sign Yuli and signed this guy, I was like why are we replacing one aging first baseman with another? To me his decline in power - especially from first baseman - the year before he signed was a serious tell. Most of the time the power goes before the rest of the decline happens. I figured 2023 would be disappointing, 2024 would be bad, and 2025 would just be awful. It was honestly even worse than I predicted. I also don’t think our previous two GMs who built the rosters would have ever gone along with this either. They were more on youth (which I am too) and wary of age - which I am too. Baseball is a young man’s game - now more than ever before.
@@astros7242 man that’s exactly what my pops said! That’s so nuts that fans of the game were able to see what Jeff freaking Bagwell and Jim crane couldn’t see. I love Baggy, he was my favorite player as a kid growing up but my god I wish he would just actually retire and be a fan like the rest of us
@@bobsaget832 Jeff Bagwell makes a good commentator too, but I agree he is terrible at decision making. He has two main problems I can see - first he is still stuck back in the 90s. Full disclosure I love the 90s too, I wish we could go back but reality says we can’t. And his second problem is - he was a great player but like a lot of players they can’t admit that doesn’t make them a genius GM. Overall I agree I wish Bagwell would just stick to being a fan and occasionally going into the booth. I do like his stories from his playing days.
I understood why they went for Abreu in favor of Gurriel. He was a monster hitter and Gurriel was getting on in years, and while he was still one of the best defensive first baseman in the MLB, his hitting was starting to tail off. I was worried that it might be a mistake, though, since Gurriel was so money in the playoffs and you never know how a player is going to react to a team change. I thought he picked it back up in the playoffs last year even with the disappointing finish, but he really fell off a cliff to start this season. It's unfortunate, and I feel bad for everyone involved. I appreciate what Abreu did for the team, but I do believe it was time to move on. He clearly wasn't working out. I wish him the best, as long as it's on a National League team with little chance of making the playoffs.
In his last year with the White Sox it became apparent that Abreu was having more and more problems handling fastballs, which isn't strange for a 37-year-old, especially in this day and age of increasing pitch velocities. But even if you ignore that a decline was about to kick in after 2022, it's astonishing that at the time Houston chose to replace a 38-year-old with a 35-year-old.
I can’t count the players infamously stricken with the YIPS, all of whom (even Ankiel) were given sports psychologists, time, grace, and eventually able to resume their careers (at least stay in the Bigs). I’ve yet to hear ONE discussion about this being a classic case of the yips. Nor have I heard anything indicating he got PROFESSIONAL help w the condition (not the “18-year-olds” in the minors). What gives? ESPECIALLY w all that CHED still on his contract! 🤷♂️ Seriously. 👀
Something you left out, Yuli came alive in the playoffs and in the WS, we would not have won without him in my opinion, also, he struggled at the plate that year during the season, but he was solid at defense.
i remember the day news broke of the Abreu signing. I was on my way to school and checked my phone to see an article about Abreu signing in Houston. me and my dad thought it was gonna be good with a power bat at first like Abreu. now im here like less than a week after he was released and just.. wow. nobody, not even Abreu himself couldve seen this fall off. i feel bad for him because late 2023 houston started to see the Jose Abreu we knew he could be. even going into the postseason where he hit 3 bombs in the ALDS and one in the ALCS. I thought he would be able to turn it around after that, but it just wasnt meant to be
Jeff Bagwell has been very quiet since he used his name and influence to help engineer what is probably the 3rd worst roster move in the Astros history behind #1 allowing Nolan Ryan to go to the rangers over a relatively small sum, and #2 the whole Jose Lima debacle.
Ummm great video js 1 thing. Dana Brown can’t be blamed because he is not the one that signed him, Crane and Bagwell are to be blamed for all of it really
The Astros' worst hole in the lineup was the catching position, with Maldonado. 1st base wasn't as bad as that spot. They needed to have made upgrading the catching position a priority over upgrading 1st base. That is what I was hoping would happen. Upgrading 1st base wasn't going to address the biggest hole in the lineup, which was Maldonado
I can say 100% when Abreu was signed, the only thing people were saying was "Well maybe 3 years for 58 is a bit of an overpay." That was it, that was basically all the criticism that was had before 23 started. After the season started though, we watched Jose look just completely overmatched at the plate. He was late on like 92mph 4seams, the bat speed was gone, the eye was gone, the power was never there to begin with, but when we questioned it all we got was "Well if you look at the back of his baseball card..." From the likes of Jeff Bagwell and Reggie Jackson. Also Dana Brown is not to blame or compliment for the Abreu signing, he hadn't taken the Astros GM job yet. That was in the short period of post James Click, pre Dana Brown. Jeff Bagwell, Reggie Jackson, and Jim Crane are to blame for the Abreu contract, and the Rafael Montero contract.
As a Sox and an Abreu fan, I just felt like the last year he was here he was washed up.... I was sad we let him go, but I knew it was the right thing to do… We had Vaughn and Sheets waiting in the wings to take over first.. Pretty much the only thing the Sox front office did right in recent years..
Reminds me of Allen Craig joining the Red Sox. He was amazing with the Cardinals, then became horrible with the Sox. He wasn't quite as good as Abreu, but that's what came to mind as a RS fan.
You CANNOT blame General Manager Dana Brown. He wasn’t with the Astros at that point. In fact, the Astros did not have a GM at the time and so that is why the owner paid so much for Jose Abreu.
Nah, I think the waste of money is with McCullers. Astros renewed his contact, and since then, he has been injured. Only played a few games to go back to the IL.
As a Cubs fan - I really wanted to Cubs to sign him on a year deal (two years max) - if anyone says they knew this was coming I would very much like them to tell me the winning lottery numbers next year. Please.
As a White Sox fan I can tell you that the writing was on the wall for the decline he had for the Astros from seeing him play in 2022. He was not the same guy he was before that year. He didnt have much power in 2022 cause he really was trying to sell out for hits since im sure he knew he was losing it as a hitter.
Although I love pito As a white Sox fan and what he did for us I must say this was one of the very few good moves Sox have done in not resigning him But I’ll be open to having him back if he’s not signed for remainder of the year in a small role
No one to blame? No one could see it coming? It was his age. At the time, I never saw the value in replacing a 38 year old 1B with a 36 year old 1B. That's when the decline happens.
This was one of those should-have-beens that didn't. Sometimes, a player just doesn't always meet expectations. Sometimes, it doesn't work out. It's not the first time the Astros have gone through this, and it won't be the last. Houston will have another juggernaut on their roster at some point, and he will come through.
It’s not Dana Brown’s fault because he wasn’t even hired when Abreu was signed. The committee of Jim Crane, Jeff Bagwell, Reggie Jackson,Dusty Baker and Craig Biggio signed him
This is literally baseball's version of when the Penguins traded for Ryan Reeves in 2017 after winning the Stanley Cup. They thought that a team that won championships on speed and youth needed to get old and more physical. The same thing happened here. The Astros already had enough power, but did they not see what happened to Chris Davis in Baltimore. The same is happening with Abreu but it isn't as bad though.
I will take this to the grave. Yuli needed to go after 2021. I wanted Anthony Rizzo. He was free around the time Yuli was out the door. Seeing Abreu's stats and age at the time boggled my kind as to why they didn't pursue Rizzo.
This is how baseball works, especially with big bopper first basemen. No shame in that and it sucks for Abreu but this reminds me of so many big power first basemen. I hope he can bounce back, but that's how baseball works unfortunately.
abreu was 36, so he was getting up there. reminds me of the phillies bobby abreu, who should make the hall one day, but he did slow down in his late thirties also. chris davis kind of lost it quick also. in the 70's, 80's, and 90's it didn't look so bad, cuz players would retire quicker ,or become pinch hitters; or platoon players. because of insane contracts, guys get their 500 at bats, if they slug .700 or .300. cabrera has been playing as a bum for 6 or 7 years, after being one of the best power and average players ever. money is the reason. money ruins everything. most players are never as good, after 30. some are though.
STROS have played more games than any other team since 2017..tired?maybe..but i wouldn't throw in the towel yet..hell at this point bring Yuli back,tell Bagwell to leave shit alone and tell Espada to man up and not be a yes man!! Keep Dubi in the line up,bring Joey back up,get a shrink for Framber and get another arm!! Go Stros!! And I love this channel!! Fair n firm always works in Texas!! Go Stros!!
I am a White Sox fan and really liked Abreu while he was with us. When they let him go, I thought it was a great decision! One of the few great decisions my horrendous franchise has made over the last 10 years. We are horrible now and I’m not afraid to admit the truth.
Dana Brown didn't sign Abreu. Jim Crane basically got rid of James Click and went without a gm for a while. Bagwell had and still has Jim Crane's ear. A reu wasn't the only bad signing during that period. The A reu contract was too long for an older player. Click would have never signed Abreu or Montero to contracts like they got.
Defensively I’m sad to see him go. I just don’t trust anyone else on the astros as much as abreu. But, his batting is terrible and he’s over paid. So im not looking forward to the first base errors that are going to happen but glad we can get a few more hits to make up for astros currently weak pitching.
Seems like teams in general are pivoting to younger players and making less and less ludicrous offers to players in their 30's (especially late 30's) unless they are in the top 2% (e.g., Verlander). The whole Boris group were poster children for this segment in Baseball. By no means "bad" players, they just are not worth what the old-school mantra would say they are. Perhaps teams are learning their lessons? Naaaaaahh...🤣
Will the Astros start having things fall into place again?
Dunno at this point. Maybe? Baseball is weird.
Probably as a Astros fan
Come "fall" yes. 😉 lol 😅
Astros should rebuild while they can still get a lot for guys like Verlander, Altuve, Hader, Bregman, Framber, etc. Some of those guys are going to decline very quickly but right now they could still get a ton of very highly ranked prospects for them. Alvarez and Tucker are probably the only 2 guys I wouldn't want to trade but if they trade all the other guys first they could legitimately ask for the moon and the stars for each of Tucker and Alvarez and probably get it. If the Astros start a rebuild at the trade deadline and then continue rebuilding throughout the offseason they really could build possibly the best farm system in all of baseball and save a ton of money they can allocate towards future seasons at the same time. Now is the time to rebuild for the Astros while they can still get a fortune for some of these guys who will either decline or leave the team soon anyway. If they don't I can see them really regretting it within the next year or 2. The smart teams either win now or build towards the future. Right now it looks like the Astros are doing neither of those things which is always the worst way to go. That's how teams end up like the Rockies and Angels.
@@matthew01234 I agree
In the wise words of one UrinatingTree: Power hitting first basemen can have a brutally unforgiving decline.
Richie season is an example
@@fredyuen2489 Who?
@@ryanphelps9161 He probably meant to say Richie Sexson
@@fredyuen2489urinating tree??? What?
@@irvingwestlll8451 yes that’s what I meant, the stupid autocorrect changed it to season for some reason instead of sexson
7:20 you can’t blame Dana Brown because he’s not the one who signed Abreu. This signing was a Jim Crane/Jeff Bagwell idea since they fired James Click and acted as interim GMs before Brown signed with the Astros
Click wasn't fired. His contract was up and Crane didn't want to extend it.
@@retrorygaminglol you have no idea how business optics work. A 1 year deal offer after winning a WS as a GM is even more insulting
@Jobuwins92 what does that have to do with anything? I stated the facts. GM contracts last 3 years, Click was there 3 years and Crane didn't want to re sign him. There are no 1 year deals for baseball GMs. They last 3 years. Click made very questionable decisions and bad trades, don't blame Crane at all. Dana Brown hasn't been much better so he'll probably only last 3 years too.
@@retrorygaming lol
@retrorygaming The Astros had just won a championship under James Click. Ok. Crane did not want to re-sign him, but playing GM with a clueless baseball player, both having zero FO experience is something to blame Crane for. It's unacceptable. The organization has not been the same since Crane decided to listen to Bagwell. Who else are we going to blame?
You can’t blame Dana Brown because he wasn’t hired at the time of this signing. It was owner Jim Crane and Astros legend Jeff Bagwell that did and they made ridiculous contracts with the wrong players
As an Astros fan, I’ll admit it. I loved the Abreu signing. Me and a lot of other Astros fans thought that it was the perfect replacement for gurriel. Obviously now I wish we had just resigned gurriel. I had faith in him all throughout 2023 and for the first part of 2024, then I finally gave up on Abreu in the beginning of may. Now the front office won’t spend money on anyone because their nervous it will turn out like Abreu
Where did the analytics go?
You’re not a real fan. EVERYONE who liked the stros before 17 knew this was a horrible idea (I’m assuming you wanted to sign Correa as well).
Bagwell needs to be banned from Minute Maid, he’s an idiot
@@silentf0e it went away when we let go of James Click and let Jeff Bagwell be our advisor because Jim Crane thought we’re good enough to rely less on analytics
They should just put Loperfido at first. He plays first base and is our best prospect. But for some reason Joe Espada never plays him, and then he gets sent down for some reason
Honestly I was worried from the jump. You don't give big money to a guy AFTER he starts to show signs of decline. Simple as that.
The White Sox actually did something good letting him go
I say this as a lifelong 'Stros fan but you're absolutely correct. Him and Monterro (re-sign) unnecessarily bloated our payroll and that money should have gone toward resigning Bregman and/or Tucker. Won't be our last bad contract but at least we cut bait with Abreu and moved on.
Same thing with Hader! They were all Jim Crane and Bagwell moves
Dana Brown wasn't yet the GM when the Astros signed Jose Abreu. He was signed technically by Jeff Bagwell as a special assistant to the owner.
Don’t blame the GM Dana Brown he wasn’t with Houston yet. This was done when Houston didn’t have a GM. This was Bagwell dum decision just like giving Montero the ridiculous contract
Baseball 101: don’t sign old players to long term agreements.
3 years is not necessarily long term
Im a White Sox fan - I am 100% convinced Jose is 4 years older than he claims to be.
That sharp decline was soooooo sharp. He's really 42
even if he is 38...he's old in baseball years. Power hitters who continue to be big producers past 35 or so are either on the juice, or born with magic genes--think Bonds vs Aaron...or McGwire vs Thome...
I bet you’re right. A lot of players from the islands aren’t honest about their age. But let’s say Abreu is being honest - he’s probably been playing against top level competition in Cuba since he was 14, nonstop, no school, no offseason. That’s a lot of mileage.
This guy is at least 40 with the story about him eating a page out of his passport book he's most likely lying about his age.
He looks 50
That makes the most sense it’d explain the decline
As a White Sox fan I was upset the team had only given him a 1 year offer for 2023, and not matched the Astros. I'm sad how correct they were not to in hindsight.
It was also notable that Abreu would repeatedly start seasons slow offensively and with minimal power. When it would get a couple months into the season his power would unlock. Even his MVP season, he'd started off slow and was hovering around .250 BA .750 OPS, until the week of the series against the Cubs with that consecutive AB HR streak. In that series with the Cubs he was 7 for 12 with 6 HRs, 2 BBs! Those stats really elevated his stats for that season and he'd maintained that for the rest of that short season.
Abreu is eerily similar to Yuli. Both Cuban, both of unknown age, both had outstanding years followed by father time pulling out the rug. It just happens.
But Yuli is still far better than Abreu though!
@@grandwonder5858"Yuli is still far better", currently? Right now? That's a bit of a leap.
@@markkar4663 Yuli signed with the Royals and had his first game back in the majors against Houston. He still has his flare. He’ll retire at the end of next year, but I think Houston will sign him so he can retire as an Astro.
Meanwhile Chris Taylor is still employed
Because no one else wants him lmao
He can play multiple positions so there's that
He's a good defender and we don't have any replacements. He'll be gone soon once injured players come back like Muncy but it will be a bit
He is returning to his Mariner form
Well said
"I'm not going to shame the Astros for this" Literally shames the Astros for this in the title.
One note in your video - Dana Brown was not the GM when the Astros signed Abreu. James Click was the GM and released after winning the 2022 World Series. During the interim period Jeff Bagwell flew down to Miami - Abreus home and convinced him to sign with the Astros. Then the Astros hired Dana Brown as new GM. He got stuck with a bad call by Bagwell and had to eat it.
Dana Brown wasn't the GM when Abreu was signed my guy.
Dana brown did not sign him, he was signed before he got to Houston
It’s wasn’t Dana Brown who signed him to the contract. If you did your research, you would have found, the Astros had no GM at the time. Jim Crane went rogue, fired James Click, then signed terrible Montreo and Jose Abreu to big contracts with the help of Jeff Bagwell. Weeks later, he hired Dana Brown
Yuli may not have been great in the 2022 regular season, but he was outstanding in the 2022 postseason:
Yuli in 2022 postseason
In ALDS he hit .400 vs Seattle
In ALCS he hit .333 vs Yankees
In World Series he hit .316
He only struck out ONCE in that entire stretch and that one strikeout didn't happen until the WS. This is a very difficult thing to do.
Yuli at his worse is still 10 times better than Jose Abreu! Not just the fact that Yuli could hit much better, but he is a much much better defensive player as well! Not even close!
José Abreu is not Dana Brown’s fault. Jeff Bagwell and the owner signed him before they signed Dana Brown as general manager. This is Jeff Bagwell’s fault.
14-21 with, 23-19 without Abreu... Bullpen must stabilize, starters can't keep going down, but otherwise it looks like they will at least be in the wildcard hunt, and with some things going their way, compete for the division. Thank God Blanco falls from the sky and becomes an ace.
Also, I figure Joe Espada will be better after some time under his belt, vs being the best version of himself his first two months of managing.
I was super pumped when we picked up Abreu. Buyer's Remorse doesn't even begin to cover it.
No Real Astro fan was happy to see Abreu replace Yuli.
Whoever said so is BS you.
White Sox fan - Jose was nothing but class as a player. The definition of what you would want a baseball player to be. Durable, could hit for contact and power, and an underrated glove. The 79 should be hanging at Sox park soon for him. Just makes me sad he didn’t get a ring
I remember over the years so many who sucked with Astros shined with other teams.
Abreu is a guy who absolutely earned that fat contract. He even won me over towards the end of the season and especially during the playoffs last year...but he absolutely SUCKED this year. I've never seen a regression like this before EVER. He was an absolute monster at the plate his entire career. But he just lost it. Don't know what happened...he just started sucking. It's a real shame. Was very excited about him signing. He just couldn't perform.
The astros made a mistake when they didn’t sign Yuli Gurriel period.
His 2022 stats were not good, Astros should have given Yuli another year and see.
7:30 it was NOT Dana Browns fault at all. Abreu was signed before Brown was the GM. Bagwell filled in for the GM and convinced Crane to go after Abreu.
3:39 look at the guy behind the fence in the bullpen lol
7:20 hitting a home run at the field of dreams, that's pretty cool
I lost my ability to hit a baseball for no apparent reason too. One year I was the best on my team the next I struck out like 90% of the time. Haven’t played since.
Astros downfall is entirely on the front office. The Abreu signing was smart at the time, but the guy hit a wall and disappeared. The rest of their decline is the fact that Crane got rid of the most analytically driven office in all of baseball and is running the operation on “feel”
I was so stoked when we signed abreu. What blows my mind is my pops who is a life long baseball fan hated the signing from the start and I just didn’t understand why. He kept saying from the start of 2023 that Abreu was washed up and screwed the Astros out of millions. I still feel like my pops got lucky with that prediction but it still blows my mind lol
As an Astros fan I didn’t like the signing either. I disagree with this video there were no signs. When we didn’t sign Yuli and signed this guy, I was like why are we replacing one aging first baseman with another? To me his decline in power - especially from first baseman - the year before he signed was a serious tell. Most of the time the power goes before the rest of the decline happens. I figured 2023 would be disappointing, 2024 would be bad, and 2025 would just be awful. It was honestly even worse than I predicted.
I also don’t think our previous two GMs who built the rosters would have ever gone along with this either. They were more on youth (which I am too) and wary of age - which I am too. Baseball is a young man’s game - now more than ever before.
@@astros7242 man that’s exactly what my pops said! That’s so nuts that fans of the game were able to see what Jeff freaking Bagwell and Jim crane couldn’t see. I love Baggy, he was my favorite player as a kid growing up but my god I wish he would just actually retire and be a fan like the rest of us
@@bobsaget832 Jeff Bagwell makes a good commentator too, but I agree he is terrible at decision making. He has two main problems I can see - first he is still stuck back in the 90s. Full disclosure I love the 90s too, I wish we could go back but reality says we can’t. And his second problem is - he was a great player but like a lot of players they can’t admit that doesn’t make them a genius GM.
Overall I agree I wish Bagwell would just stick to being a fan and occasionally going into the booth. I do like his stories from his playing days.
I understood why they went for Abreu in favor of Gurriel. He was a monster hitter and Gurriel was getting on in years, and while he was still one of the best defensive first baseman in the MLB, his hitting was starting to tail off. I was worried that it might be a mistake, though, since Gurriel was so money in the playoffs and you never know how a player is going to react to a team change. I thought he picked it back up in the playoffs last year even with the disappointing finish, but he really fell off a cliff to start this season. It's unfortunate, and I feel bad for everyone involved. I appreciate what Abreu did for the team, but I do believe it was time to move on. He clearly wasn't working out. I wish him the best, as long as it's on a National League team with little chance of making the playoffs.
our ridiculous amount of pitching injuries definitely isn't helping. It's been such a weird season but on-brand because it's freakin' baseball.
wait...dude saw a major drop in his 19th or 20th professional seasons? We've never seen that before...smh
In his last year with the White Sox it became apparent that Abreu was having more and more problems handling fastballs, which isn't strange for a 37-year-old, especially in this day and age of increasing pitch velocities. But even if you ignore that a decline was about to kick in after 2022, it's astonishing that at the time Houston chose to replace a 38-year-old with a 35-year-old.
I can’t count the players infamously stricken with the YIPS, all of whom (even Ankiel) were given sports psychologists, time, grace, and eventually able to resume their careers (at least stay in the Bigs).
I’ve yet to hear ONE discussion about this being a classic case of the yips. Nor have I heard anything indicating he got PROFESSIONAL help w the condition (not the “18-year-olds” in the minors). What gives? ESPECIALLY w all that CHED still on his contract! 🤷♂️
Seriously. 👀
Something you left out, Yuli came alive in the playoffs and in the WS, we would not have won without him in my opinion, also, he struggled at the plate that year during the season, but he was solid at defense.
i remember the day news broke of the Abreu signing. I was on my way to school and checked my phone to see an article about Abreu signing in Houston. me and my dad thought it was gonna be good with a power bat at first like Abreu. now im here like less than a week after he was released and just.. wow. nobody, not even Abreu himself couldve seen this fall off. i feel bad for him because late 2023 houston started to see the Jose Abreu we knew he could be. even going into the postseason where he hit 3 bombs in the ALDS and one in the ALCS. I thought he would be able to turn it around after that, but it just wasnt meant to be
But the back of his baseball card.....
Jeff Bagwell has been very quiet since he used his name and influence to help engineer what is probably the 3rd worst roster move in the Astros history behind #1 allowing Nolan Ryan to go to the rangers over a relatively small sum, and #2 the whole Jose Lima debacle.
Ummm great video js 1 thing. Dana Brown can’t be blamed because he is not the one that signed him, Crane and Bagwell are to be blamed for all of it really
Front office has been mid since 2019 just coasting off the previous guys
Front office didn't coast into 2022, that was Click's bullpen that shut everyone down in the playoffs.
@@bobbygetsbanned6049was gonna say, Click was an amazing GM. Firing him was a horrible decision
It's crazy how players have it one year and then the next season, nothing.
The Astros' worst hole in the lineup was the catching position, with Maldonado. 1st base wasn't as bad as that spot. They needed to have made upgrading the catching position a priority over upgrading 1st base. That is what I was hoping would happen. Upgrading 1st base wasn't going to address the biggest hole in the lineup, which was Maldonado
The thing that you have to grasp about Cuban Baseball players is that NO one knows how OLD they really are. Abreu is a case study.
I can say 100% when Abreu was signed, the only thing people were saying was "Well maybe 3 years for 58 is a bit of an overpay." That was it, that was basically all the criticism that was had before 23 started. After the season started though, we watched Jose look just completely overmatched at the plate. He was late on like 92mph 4seams, the bat speed was gone, the eye was gone, the power was never there to begin with, but when we questioned it all we got was "Well if you look at the back of his baseball card..." From the likes of Jeff Bagwell and Reggie Jackson.
Also Dana Brown is not to blame or compliment for the Abreu signing, he hadn't taken the Astros GM job yet. That was in the short period of post James Click, pre Dana Brown. Jeff Bagwell, Reggie Jackson, and Jim Crane are to blame for the Abreu contract, and the Rafael Montero contract.
As a Sox and an Abreu fan, I just felt like the last year he was here he was washed up.... I was sad we let him go, but I knew it was the right thing to do… We had Vaughn and Sheets waiting in the wings to take over first.. Pretty much the only thing the Sox front office did right in recent years..
Reminds me of Allen Craig joining the Red Sox. He was amazing with the Cardinals, then became horrible with the Sox. He wasn't quite as good as Abreu, but that's what came to mind as a RS fan.
You CANNOT blame General Manager Dana Brown. He wasn’t with the Astros at that point. In fact, the Astros did not have a GM at the time and so that is why the owner paid so much for Jose Abreu.
Abreu has been a great player for a good while. He had a great run
I don’t think many people would have thought that signing would end up this bad
Nah, I think the waste of money is with McCullers. Astros renewed his contact, and since then, he has been injured. Only played a few games to go back to the IL.
Abreu was definitely playing hurt. He looks like he’s in pain on a lot of his swings & also his swing completely changed from his White Sox days
You earned my subscription when u first started
'21 124 OPS+ in 659 PA
'22 134 OPS+ in 679 PA
'23 87 OPS+ in 594 PA
'24 4 OPS+ (yes, really) in 120 PA
That is an INSANE decline
From day one I wished the Astros would have picked up Josh Bell instead. He was also a free agent at the time they were looking for a 1B playwr
As a Cubs fan - I really wanted to Cubs to sign him on a year deal (two years max) - if anyone says they knew this was coming I would very much like them to tell me the winning lottery numbers next year. Please.
No position in MLB is more at risk of an immediate decline than power first basemen. Can happen overnight!
You can't blame Dana Brown. He wasn't even the GM at the time Abreu was signed. That was Crane's doing
I still can’t believe I saw Jose Abreu hit a homer on June 1st
As a White Sox fan I can tell you that the writing was on the wall for the decline he had for the Astros from seeing him play in 2022. He was not the same guy he was before that year. He didnt have much power in 2022 cause he really was trying to sell out for hits since im sure he knew he was losing it as a hitter.
The Astros usually don't swing and miss on signings, couldn't happen to a better team!
Although I love pito
As a white Sox fan and what he did for us
I must say this was one of the very few good moves Sox have done in not resigning him
But I’ll be open to having him back if he’s not signed for remainder of the year in a small role
Problem is hes not 37. More like 45
That's probably true.
@@bobbygetsbanned6049 just look at his picture on baseball reference. Jesus, he looks terrible
CUBA MENTIONED 🎉🇨🇺
No one to blame? No one could see it coming? It was his age. At the time, I never saw the value in replacing a 38 year old 1B with a 36 year old 1B. That's when the decline happens.
This was one of those should-have-beens that didn't. Sometimes, a player just doesn't always meet expectations. Sometimes, it doesn't work out. It's not the first time the Astros have gone through this, and it won't be the last. Houston will have another juggernaut on their roster at some point, and he will come through.
It’s not Dana Brown’s fault because he wasn’t even hired when Abreu was signed. The committee of Jim Crane, Jeff Bagwell, Reggie Jackson,Dusty Baker and Craig Biggio signed him
This is literally baseball's version of when the Penguins traded for Ryan Reeves in 2017 after winning the Stanley Cup. They thought that a team that won championships on speed and youth needed to get old and more physical. The same thing happened here. The Astros already had enough power, but did they not see what happened to Chris Davis in Baltimore. The same is happening with Abreu but it isn't as bad though.
Bro your content is fire who is your favorite music artist
Thank you!!
Now do one on Stanton! Lol
Red Sox need to send it and give him a min deal. It literally CANNOT be worse than Bobby and Dom
It seemed like his last year or two in chicago he struggled to hit high velocity
Crazy thing is the Astros have been on fire after getting rid of Abreu. It really feels like he was the main issue with this team.
Dana brown didn’t sign Abreu , that was bagwell and company. Astros had no acting gm
I will take this to the grave. Yuli needed to go after 2021. I wanted Anthony Rizzo. He was free around the time Yuli was out the door. Seeing Abreu's stats and age at the time boggled my kind as to why they didn't pursue Rizzo.
This is how baseball works, especially with big bopper first basemen. No shame in that and it sucks for Abreu but this reminds me of so many big power first basemen. I hope he can bounce back, but that's how baseball works unfortunately.
As someone born and raised in houston it kills me to say this but Jim crane has turned into the Jerry jones of baseball
Imagine complaining about the owners who brought dynasties in 2 sports to your state.
Boo hoo.
People don’t understand what back issues can do to a person. It’s obvious there’s issues with his body
abreu was 36, so he was getting up there. reminds me of the phillies bobby abreu, who should make the hall one day, but he did slow down in his late thirties also. chris davis kind of lost it quick also. in the 70's, 80's, and 90's it didn't look so bad, cuz players would retire quicker ,or become pinch hitters; or platoon players. because of insane contracts, guys get their 500 at bats, if they slug .700 or .300. cabrera has been playing as a bum for 6 or 7 years, after being one of the best power and average players ever. money is the reason. money ruins everything. most players are never as good, after 30. some are though.
STROS have played more games than any other team since 2017..tired?maybe..but i wouldn't throw in the towel yet..hell at this point bring Yuli back,tell Bagwell to leave shit alone and tell Espada to man up and not be a yes man!!
Keep Dubi in the line up,bring Joey back up,get a shrink for Framber and get another arm!! Go Stros!!
And I love this channel!! Fair n firm always works in Texas!! Go Stros!!
I am a White Sox fan and really liked Abreu while he was with us. When they let him go, I thought it was a great decision! One of the few great decisions my horrendous franchise has made over the last 10 years. We are horrible now and I’m not afraid to admit the truth.
Astros swept the O's after this, thank God. Maybe things are turning around? Still got half the season.
YOOO I WAS AT THAT GAME AT 4:32 IT WAS SO CRAZY
dana brown didnt sign him ..that was a bagwell advisory to jim crane
Dana Brown didn't sign Abreu. Jim Crane basically got rid of James Click and went without a gm for a while. Bagwell had and still has Jim Crane's ear. A reu wasn't the only bad signing during that period. The A reu contract was too long for an older player. Click would have never signed Abreu or Montero to contracts like they got.
Everybody in baseball was jealous of the Astros. We all would have signed him. Oh well. Baseball happens.
Abreu would have had HOF stats if he came up to the majors in his 20s.
Defensively I’m sad to see him go. I just don’t trust anyone else on the astros as much as abreu. But, his batting is terrible and he’s over paid. So im not looking forward to the first base errors that are going to happen but glad we can get a few more hits to make up for astros currently weak pitching.
Seems like teams in general are pivoting to younger players and making less and less ludicrous offers to players in their 30's (especially late 30's) unless they are in the top 2% (e.g., Verlander). The whole Boris group were poster children for this segment in Baseball. By no means "bad" players, they just are not worth what the old-school mantra would say they are.
Perhaps teams are learning their lessons?
Naaaaaahh...🤣
The Astros are suffering from a James Click curse. It could run 30 or 40 years.
White Sox will bring him back
Jose Abreu you are a Oakland/Sacramento/Las Vegas Athletic
Brown wasn't the GM when they signed Abreu.
I think Astros are 8-2 in their past 10 and have gone from 9.5 gb to 4.5 gb. They're not dead yet. I think they still win the division.