A bad back might’ve saved Jose Abreu’s season, as the first baseman’s debut season in Houston didn’t start to turn around until a two-week stint on the injured list in August. Abreu was batting only .234/.291/.343 in 464 plate appearances prior to the IL trip, yet as Astros hitting coach Alex Cinton told ESPN’s Buster Olney, Abreu “was a different guy” after returning to action. Abreu improved to .248/.315/.530 with eight home runs over 130 PA in the rest of the regular season, and he has a .962 OPS and four homers over 39 PA during Houston’s postseason run.
Beyond just letting his back heal, the IL trip also seemed to serve as a mental reset for Abreu after the grind of his first four-plus months. After signing a three-year, $58.5MM contract with Houston last winter, Abreu was perhaps too eager to contribute to his new team. Olney writes that “Cintron began to view Abreu’s relentless diligence as a problem. As Abreu relentlessly took batting practice, his coaches believed, he was sapping his energy day after day — and likely prolonging his slump.” Fortunately for all parties, Abreu has found his form at the ideal time for an Astros team that is one victory away from a return trip the World Series.
More from around the American League….
- Former Nationals assistant GM Johnny DiPuglia is interviewing with the Rays about a front office job, according to reporter Francys Romero (via X). DiPuglia had been working as Washington’s international scouting director since 2009 and assistant GM since 2020 before he resigned from the organization in September, reportedly due to the Nationals’ desire to reduce his salary. It isn’t surprising that the Rays (and presumably other teams) have interest in hiring DiPuglia, who has over 30 years of experience of scouting and front office experience, and a rich history of success in finding and developing Latin American talent.
- Zach McKinstry is planning “to live in the weight room” this offseason to improve his core strength, the Tigers utilityman tells Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. This represents a departure from last winter, when McKinstry was rehabbing from a torn groin suffered in August 2022, though he played through the injury without going on the IL. The interruption to his usual offseason routine may have been a reason behind McKinstry’s underwhelming .231/.302/.351 slash line over 518 PA last season, not to mention the increased workload as a whole. McKinstry had played in only 121 MLB games and received 364 PA from 2020-22 as a member of the Dodgers and Cubs before taking on a regular role with Detroit in a variety of different positions. Petzold notes that McKinstry is out of minor league options, so there’s less of a margin for error as the uilityman will try to retain his spot as a multi-positional option. “I’ll try to get my rotational strength a little bit stronger. Hopefully, it can last me a little bit longer throughout the whole season, not just one month, two months or three months,” McKinstry said.
McKinstry was an on base machine early in the season, if he can just do what he did early, he’d be an awesome guy to have in the lineup.
You’re right.
He was a different hitter for the month of May.
TWENTY of his 44 walks were in that month.
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO
26 73 16 22 2 0 2 6 6 0 20 15
BA OBP SLG OPS
.301 .454 .411 .865
Sorry, it list its formatting when I pasted it. You can see his stats here—
baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=mckin…
Someone needs to enlighten Abreu, that his shrunken head beard is distasteful. He’s a great BB player, but when he comes to bat, I change the channel. It reminds me of Lou Albano, who was gross back then & is gross now.
Of course lou albano is gross now..he’s been dead for 14 years
If you wear someone else’s JUJU, be prepared for the worst.
McKinistry can play a lot of positions but the Tigers have a glut of backup infielders in the majors and minors who they will need to choose from. Andy Ibanez has earned one spot but there will be less at bats to go around once they bring up Colt Keith, and maybe Jace Jung later in the year. Numbers game might bite him.
Jung is more than a year away.
Jung could get called up later in the year if he keeps developing. Depending where Keith plays (2b or 3b) I expect Jung eventually moves to the vacancy. One article had Ibanez keeping the seat warm until the second half of the season when Jung gets called up. Personally I agree with you given how Harris handled Keith and Malloy this year and donyltvsee more than a cup hf coffee in September.
What can the Tigers offer to acquire Soto and sign him long term? Sorry Mckinstry just don’t care how much you spend in the weight room lol
I saw Juan Soto play this year. Great player but…how will his mega contract age in the long term? Miggys was worth it overall but in the layer years it didn’t age well. Seems like he will eat up a significant portion of someone’s budget. Don’t get me wrong, if they trade and sign him long term I’ll be cheering but I dont see it with Harris in charge and I wonder about the long term effects for fielding a competitive team year after year. We have pitching and teams always want pitching (NOT Skubal though).
Motor City Beach Bum;
When Juan Soto was called up with the Nationals in 2018 I wrote that he was a better player than Bryce Harper. At that time Bryce was heralded for his physical abilities – particularly hitting with power – but was a low Baseball IQ player, which along with being a hot dog cost the Nationals games. Soto came to a contending team and was a big part of getting them a championship.
But when Bryce got to Philadelphia he immediately turned his game around. He stopped doing dumb things on the field; instead of saying he “really wanted to win” he did things to help his team win; and most importantly became the Phillies team leader both on the field and off it, as well as the heart-and-soul of the team.
Meanwhile Soto continued to put up great offensive numbers for a declining Nationals team. He was traded when his agent – Scott Boras – declined a massive contract extension that would have made Soto one of the best payed players in MLB. While Padres fans like him, most think he’s hardly been the superstar they thought they were getting. He’s a superior power hitter with a consistently high OPS, although a low BA.
The issue here is that Juan Soto is not a Bryce Harper-type team leader / franchise-changing player. He’s more of a superior rotisserie league player. He doesn’t have anywhere near the outgoing personality of Harper, nor the desire to win each game that sets the example for his teammates. When he hits free agency I don’t doubt that Mr. Boras will get him the highest player contract in history other then possibly what Shohei Ohtani gets (wouldn’t surprise me to see Ohtani give up some salary to get to where he wants to be.)
I agree with you that Soto is hardly a ‘face of the franchise player’ for the Tigers or Mr. Harris. He’s more of a guy that goes to a large market team to fit in with other big name / highly paid players – Yankees, Angels – or some extremely desperate owner/FO that Scott Boras always seems to find in cases like this – the Giants immediately come to mind; maybe the Cubs (although they’ve become smarter in using their payroll); Preller’s twin in Seattle; and possibly the Jays. (I believe Cohen has learned his lesson and Stearns has already been talking him out of it.)
Mr. Harris is still putting the organization together and people are learning to work with one another. I’m very impressed with the way the team played on the field this year, and think that can win the AL Central in 2024 – easily the weakest division in MLB. But I believe that Mr. Harris is in it for sustainable contention, and will make moves to do so. I look for growing the core with young players while making them better, along with some strategic short-term signings. Basically what the Orioles have done, but the Tigers will have more money to spend on players.
Harper won the first of his 2 MVPs with the Nats and he won it unanimously. Also with Nats had his highest BA for a season, OBP for a season, HR total season, SBs, triples, Rs, BBs, etc… If he had a long baseball IQ then as you said, he seemed to play better with said lower baseball IQ. Not that he is playing bad now.
Now I will say yes it seems as he as matured, but most young men do that in their late 20s compared to their early 20s.
Tigers3232;
I watched the games. Obviously you didn’t.
Take your stats and…….
@Samuel they are not my stats, they are MLBs. And I was notoneof those who unanimously voted for him to be MVP.
For someone who watched the games tho, apparently you missed that he had career highs in nearly every statistical category while wearing a Nats unifom.
It”s going to be no joke this spring in Lakeland for Detroit’s players. They set the bar high, real high by their play this year. This is the season they were supposed to have had last year. They didn’t. New G.M, and new players did it. The G.M is staying next year, but we now know some won’t. The new G.M is not going to let moving guys slow down progressing the team. It worked real well last year.
They have a whole lot to figure out. A lot of Detroit’s most touted young pitchers even though they’ve not pitched much are getting into becoming pricier, A few have Boras as the agent. Detroit has guys they can trade now after what they showed last year. Detroit also played very well in the second half or more. .They started off 2-11, then later when injuries hit they went 0-9. By the end of the season when they lost Greene again, they still won. They should be better for just having more experience..
This is going to be an exciting season in Detroit. Whoever is here we’re going to cheer hard for them.
ZMac is only 23?
With such a large draft every year, it’s really, really tough to give a fair chance to all the hopefuls.
It takes several years at the MLB level to really make the adjustments and get going….
Good luck!
28. Wrong again mini-Fife!
Yep……28 and 175 days…..
.231 BA.
It’s tough to give everybody a fair chance. Tough to make those decisions.
That’s all we were saying…..
I actually like the guy.
McKinstry’s fit in 2024 would be interesting. He and Vierling are both similar utility players, I don’t see how either could be relied upon as a regular starter on a competitive team, but both are totally adequate for a bench role. Is there room on the roster to carry both of them? And that brings Ibanez into the same question as well. We’ll see to wait and see what Scott Harris has in mind.
HARRIS needs to have the better off season. Hopefully, his new Yes man GM will help him understand his players contracts.
Zach McKinstry is planning “to live in the weight room” this offseason to improve his core strength.
Zach, run 35-40 miles a week, that will do it my friend. And do it outside, no weight room required.
Zach McKinstry is a Gold Glove Finalist. That was a little surprising.
Mr. McKinstry plans to “live in the weight room.” Well, why stop at living there? Why not move your entire life to the weight room, right? After all, we know that the secret to baseball success lies in working out to the point of absurdity, and rotational strength is the key to immortality. We eagerly await Mr. McKinstry’s transformation into a Marvel superhero by the end of the offseason. Bravo, gentlemen, for enlightening us all with your astounding insights into the world of baseball.
Doubtful the Tigers are splurging in FA or on the trade front. They are gonna try to Moneyball it.