Justin Verlander's injury [and more] SPOILED a productive weekend for the Houston Astros

I want to focus on the positives from a weekend where the Houston Astros won two out of three but I can't because they're still nine back of Seattle and even if ronell Blanco almost had a no hitter before being pulled in the seventh inning yesterday and Hunter Brown pitched well on Friday Justin Verlander being hurt and scratched from his start Saturday with a neck issue has me a bit concerned and of course they did cut Jose abrau hooray but they did it in such a fried a news dump kind of way Joe George that didn't involve Jim Crane and it's still lingering in the air at least for me yeah it it is Saturday was weird because well let's see the last time an Astros pitcher had a hurt neck Christian Javier got Tommy John so that that kind of like raises some some red flags about what's going on with the Astros right now Spencer arag Getti was terrible but then yeah Jose AB was just he wasn't good and they got rid of him finally but there still leaves this kind of stench a little bit on on the team that even though you're two and three this weekend it it still leaves this weird every every article you go to you go to espn.com worst contracts in baseball Jose AB is not number one but he's the headline photo that's at least a positive yeah I I I didn't click on it because it says Jose BR is not number one in the headline or at least in like the little blurb but it's still everywhere you go for Astros coverage right now it's still kind of the predominant thing but it's hey at least they won two out of three that's positive good thing not enough get a sweep get a sweep they're the Tigers how do the tigers get 19 hits against you over the course of a weekend I know or or excuse me not over the course of the weekend in one game my bad that was just Saturday yeah I don't I don't care that that Verlander got scratched I mean they've had plenty of off days Spencer retti is back to Spencer uh spaghetti Al Dente mode like that was horrible just like Al Dente spaghetti yeah I do you give him a break because it's the last minute start no didn't even give himself a break I'm not giving him a break go out and do your job the Tigers suck you should not be this far under 500 and you're nine back of Seattle now I mean you won two of three and you're nine back you won two out of three you're s back of the Wild Card like it's not even just the division like you you lost ground on the Wild Card this weekend yep I mean at some point you got to get that Second Sweep of the year and don't even try to tell me about that two game sweep Over the Rockies that's not a sweep that's two games in a row yeah it's got to come this week you you got to sweep the white socks they're terrible their best player is Cory julks yeah like like he's he's been like their best player since they got him him and Cory Lee you can't lose to those guys you can't you got you dumped both of them and look king of twitch is pointing out Tigers suck but they have a better record than the Astros yeah but they suck they're the Tigers we have an air of arrogance about us because this team has been and done what they've done for such a long period of time there's no excuse for Saturday 11 runs the first three Innings game's excuse me 10 runs my bad sorry it was only 10 nothing in the third inning to me the ground that you're not making up should be lambasted every single opportunity that you can and I would like to focus on what ronell Blanco did yesterday or to get annoyed I wish the conversation was man I wish they'd let him in to pitch for a no hitter but I kind of get why they're not letting a pitch for a no hitter because they don't have any depth when it comes to their starting pitching especially if Justin Verlander's out for a while and to what you were saying a little bit earlier Joe oh it's neck issue oh great I'm sure that won't turn into Tommy John surgery with these Astros uh 1600's level um hacksaw doctors or whoever the hell is operating and diagnosing what these guys are dealing with yeah I think verlando is going to pitch on Wednesday I on Thursday it's TBD right now according to the Astros of who's going to pitch on Thursday like that's what some of the reporters said of who's lined up in the rotation so and and Verlander him himself said there's a chance that he could pitch and only miss one St so like fingers crossed that's the case cuz that would that would make you feel better cuz the pitching depth has just taken so much so many shots this year and it it even goes back to just like the amount of scratch starts they've had they've had so many of this of these this year where guys I know they're just randomly out and and sometimes they're out for a little bit sometimes they're out for a lot of bit and you hope for Verlander it's not an injur less thing it's like the Tucker stuff where he's still not back at first first they were telling us Friday I don't even know when to expect to see Kyle Tucker again at this point yeah I I I don't trust the Astros training staff medical staff whoever the hell it is and it's a little concerning if you hear from Justin Verlander where he says yeah I've been dealing this with this for a couple of weeks oh oh okay man you're really handling that one smart you would think somebody you know with age would get a little bit of wisdom along the way yeah I I suppose he believes he knows his own body but I mean that was something you were dealing with for weeks and then all of a sudden scratched at the last second after a bullpen session on Wednesday where you said It felt weird yeah it's because the first initial initial reactions oh he just slept on it weird he'll be fine it happens it happens like we're all human we've seen baseball players Miss games for worse things but then to here he's been dealing with it for weeks like obviously it must not be like the worst injury in the world but with where the Astros are at I would rather have him rest and get healthy again than be out there pushing it too far because if you have any hope this season and it's dwindling like like there's no like even you win two out of three this weekend you look at the standings the Mariners won six games last week and you're nine games back the hope is fading quickly for me about the idea of winning the division about making the playoffs cuz even like yeah I get the push back about yeah you're saying the tiger suck are the Astros they also suck like they're also not good enough this year but the expectations for these franchises are so different the Astros you still expect to turn this thing around at some point the real question is can they turn it around and make up the ground at the same time like they can play Better Baseball they can get above 500 again I firmly believe that can they chase them can they push themselves back into a playoff position I think are almost two separate conversations cuz they dug such a hole I trust the boy King Aon Targaryen in House of the Dragon to successfully win that war more so than I trust the Astros to turn this thing around and coming out of this weekend winning two out of three I'm sorry to bring you know things into uh a bit of a downer when it comes to the mood here but I mean I I just can't look at all the good things that happened over the course of the weekend um I suppose we could focus on the Abu cut I don't like that they did this on Friday I think they could have done this before I feel like they were trying to hide from everybody and they do it in this Friday press conference kind of way Jim Crane's not even there he's just mysteriously out of town Dana Brown poor Dana Brown the whole time is basically saying yeah uh not a decision that I made made that clear a couple of times felt the need to make it clear that he was the one that led the decision for the release you have to wonder how long he had been knocking on Jim Crane's door along with Joe asata to make this officially happen here is what Astros manager Joe aspa had to say about the release of Jose Abu on Friday you know we wanted to give Jos Al bro every opportunity because I think he's earned that um I think we we wanted him to succeed and because he's he's a big part of our of our team um but right now it's just time to move on and um we have all the guys that are here to take over that spot and we need those guys to step up and and and produce for our lineup spot shouldn't have had to answer that question no and I wish that Jeff Bagwell did a interview for the masses like I I appreciate that he did a one-on-one with Brian mctaggert but I feel like you he should have answered to more than just Brian you know because even when he says that it just didn't work out when we signed him if you look at his 22 numbers back of the baseball card analytically data driven all that he was the guy to get it just didn't work out I thought the Astros were moving away from analytics Jeff Bagwell like I'm confused so analytics is what told you to sign an aging player with a lessening bat speed that makes so much sense Jeff like he's blaming numbers for his own mistake I it just it still leaves This Cloud o over the team like like at maybe it's because the way Saturday played out I do appreciate the fact that you know the Astros when they lose like that it happens early so I can just turn it off and go to something else on a Saturday instead of suffering someone asked me if I went to the game and I was like I'm sorry not until they're above 500 I'm not going back to Mid Park I'm going Saturday at least they're playing the Orioles not going for the Astros right I mean like I'm going to the opportunity to see like gunar Henderson and ABY rushman I mean that might be the bandwagon I jump on a lot of guys who used to work for the Astros are in the uh front office of that team so you know they got orange I like Syracuse I I feel like that's a transition for me but yeah lots lots to be frustrated about coming out of the weekend we heard from Joe spot we also heard from some of the teammates for Jose Bru I do feel for Bru from this perspective it doesn't seem like he was actively trying or excuse me not trying he was trying to get good but it wasn't working out here's Mauricio duban talking about that it's devastating I mean he he's a good good Clubhouse guy you know you know obviously he seems quiet around you guys but he's he he he's very vocal to the teammates about know giving advice giving advice to the young guys you know how he he he views the game I mean he's a you know MVP and everything I mean it's he has a lot to know give to the young guys and just you know like I said before just watch him go it's it's a it's a gut punch for sucks man uh he's a big part of the clubhouse and just watching him go it's it's not good man we're a family here that's a thing um you know it's it's a got punched for know for the vibe in the clubhouse and just watch him and go it's know it's not good it's interesting that they mentioned what a big part he was of the team a couple of times you heard it from MB you heard it from dub Bond there was he oh okay I mean look they like him no doubt about it and there is a human element here but I I I think it's interesting that they're talking about that he was not a big part of anything good he was a big part of the struggles for this team watching the dubon video versus listening to it gives me different reaction like like watching duban the the video from the clubhouse I felt bad for the guy like you could just tell how much they cared about Jose it goes back to when he got sent down to Florida hearing what Alex bregman had to say about him like you just like it's it does it's the human element of this that makes it harder for sure but it's the right move because look what happened this weekend Maurice duban immediately is making an impact on this team in a much better way than Jose Abu ever did like we we joke about restarting the season but having duban there every single day it's so much of a better thing for this team than Jose BR it's one of the things that's the most encouraging from this weekend like I I I hear where he's coming from but they also have to acknowledge internally like this is what's best for the team and they know that they they know they know that doie being out there playing every day and it should continue even when Tucker returns he should be in my opinion the primary first baseman over John Singleton he's a better baseball player he's sitting 300 this season like like he should be out there playing different positions he played every single single position on the field this year besides pitcher and catcher