Ex Astros 2026

TalkZone
22

Urquidy made the Pirates as a long reliever.

4 Likes
23

Of course it is a very, very small sample size, but shocker alertā€¦Sanchez is off to a great start in TOR.

24

Brad Lidge, archaeologist?

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25

Lidge has been very serious about his second career and academic pursuits for a while now. Ive read several articles about it. So cool for him.

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26

Dubon is off to a scorching start in Hotlanta.

1 Like
27

I hate that we let him get away.

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28

There is no doubt that he is a valuable player to have on a team.

That said, heā€™s the type of player who is more valuable coming off the bench rather than starting.

If heā€™s starting 80+ games for your team, then the run production is probably lacking.

Dubon started over 100 games each of the last 3 seasons and run scoring has gotten worse each year.

They took him away from Joe and run scoring is back up.

Probably just coincidence and small sample size.

1 Like
29

Production at 1B is also up which has a lot do do with runs and little to do with DubĆ³n being gone.

But I agree with you. He was a valuable bench player. With Correa rejoining the IF and more OFers coming in they couldnā€™t justify his salary hit.

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30

Sure would be nice to have him in the lineup over Nick Allen

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31

DubĆ³n signed for $6.1M.

Allen for $1.4M.

Heā€™s 4 times more expensive.

That 6.1 would put him between Paredes ama Abreu at #7 on the payroll.

32

Well, we know heā€™s better than Abreu.

33

He also plays 2x the positions and isnā€™t a complete black hole in the linup

The Astros are also 10.something million under the tax, so the extra money shouldnā€™t really be an issue

34

Which one?

Yes.

1 Like
35

I believe they moved him before they were able to move Sanchez.

36

Had to free up all that money for the lefty outfielder Dana kept insisting they needed.

37

No, he is a gray hole in the lineup.

2023 OPS .720 / OPS+ 97
2024 OPS .657 / OPS+ 87
2025 OPS .644 / OPS+ 79

Iā€™m just glad they removed the temptation for Espada to keep starting him.

Nick Allen starting once per week is 10Ɨ better than Dubon starting four times per week.

1 Like
38

Sure, if everyone is healthy then thatā€™s correct. When multiple people go down I would rather play Dubon 8 days a week than Allen 3 days. Dubon played so much last year because they literally had no other options, if that happens again this year they will be worse off with Allen in his place

39

Maybe we can just agree that neither of them should be starting 25% of the games and leave it at that.

1 Like
40

I never had him in mind as a regular.

41

With an infield surplus and a thin outfield, Dubon likely would have seen most of his reps in CF. With where the team is right now, Iā€™d rather be rolling the dice on guys like Loperfido, Matthews, and Cole out there.

Part of the reason a rebuild works is it provides opportunities for mid-tier prospects to thrive at the major league level. If the Astros were any good from 2011-14, guys like Altuve and Keuchel likely would not have had the chance to develop into the players they became. Itā€™s the same reason Teoscar Hernandez blossomed in Toronto instead of Houston: the team was too good for him to get a shot here.

All of which to say the team is in a mode now where letting the prospects play has appeal vs. spending those opportunities on Mauricio Dubon.

8 Likes