What Is And What Should Never Be
Yes, readers. I'm making another Led Zeppelin reference for my post title today. It should come as no surprise though, for those that know my eclectic musical tastes well enough. Nevertheless, it does signify what has been going on with the entire Houston Astros team lately. Some of these things have gone beyond the game of baseball itself. And unfortunately, not in the good way.
As many of you know, another school shooting took place at nearby Santa Fe High School last week. It is now the second time in merely a full year that H-Town has had to deal with some level of tragedy. Out of respect to everyone, I will not get on any kind of political soapbox or preach to some hearsay ideological dogma. Except for me to say that this is something else that could have been avoided and that more needs to be done to prevent it from happening again. No matter where you stand on things, this is something that everyone can agree to.
Even from the ashes of darkness, light can still prevail over it. The entire Houston Astros ball club wore these wonderfully made shirts yesterday during practice as a means of showing support to that school and the victims and families affected. That kind gesture could have very well been a spark plug in guiding the team to a resounding 11-2 victory over the visiting San Francisco Giants last night. Gerrit Cole took to the mound and kept his pitching greatness, the proverbial "Cole Train," rolling along. Despite giving up a 2 run bomb to his brother-in-law, Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford, Cole and the rest of the Astros pitching staff kept the boys from the bay "at bay," if you will. (Late edit: They just completed a two game sweep of the Giants with a 4-1 victory, and are now heading to Cleveland to face the Indians the next 4 games!)
In a second victory over the bay area, the Houston Rockets also won game 4 of the NBA Western Conference finals. This sends the series back to Houston for a pivotal game 5 tomorrow evening. All the Rockets have to do is win that one, and the momentum will be clearly in their favor. Even though I am not a big basketball fan, I will certainly be joining the rest of you to #RunasOne!
Back to baseball, however. Your people's champion and mine, Evan Gattis, certainly did his part last night in the victory over the Giants. He was the first hitter to get on base, with a lead off double in the 3rd inning. Additionally, he had another base hit single, and scored 2 of the 11 runs of the game. Yes, his average and OPS still have some work to be done, as they both sit at .213 and .645 respectively on the 2018 season. This after he unfortunately went 0-for-3 this afternoon. But the bull-bear has shown tremendous progress in the month of May, like he has always done throughout his career.
Despite this, there are still too many out in the fan base and across the internet that are making some kind of case, however foolish, about wanting to DFA or release him outright. The biggest culprit of this is none other than my blog nemesis, Jason Marbach, of the Crawfish Boxes. He put out THIS recent piece, clearly click bait, about how El Oso Blanco needs to be moved to make room for the minor league youngsters that are "tearing it up." He even goes so far as to say that Gattis will be gone before the season is even over.
Okay, so now he's awoken the sleeping giant. First of all, Marbach deliberately refuses to accept the fact that Gatty is hitting well over .280 across his last 12 games with an OPS around 1.000 in that stretch. You're not going to get Jose Altuve superstar numbers out of him. Even I as his most loyalist fan can admit to that. Regardless, Gattis still brings plenty of value to this team, and will continue doing so going forward.
The only way you will get him away from this Astros team is if you pry him away via next winter's scheduled free agency. And even then, I still believe he can be signed to a team friendly contract to catch with Max Stassi in lieu of Brian McCann likely not being vested next season, and the need for a veteran catcher to still be present. I know so many out there are high on Garrett Stubbs being at the big league level. That may happen at some point, with both he and Tim Federowicz are holding down the catching core pretty well at AAA Fresno. There are options for that position.
If the organization really doesn't want Gattis to catch, there is also the conversion to first baseman. Marwin Gonzalez is likely gone and Yuli Gurriel in need of some spotting. It's early to speculate over what will happen with the team next season. That much is true. But to completely write off Evan Gattis as being useless and a waste of roster space, as Marbach and others have, is both ignorant and insulting to a veteran that has long proven himself. It is slightly inconvenient that he is having these early struggles in his walk year. But that's the unfortunate nature of this game sometimes that you cannot always blame on the player. And lest we forget, tearing it up at the minor league level doesn't always translate to the big leagues. Tony Kemp is the exception disproving that rule this year.
The point in my rants and reflections is that, like the title of the Led Zeppelin song says, there are things that are, but also things that should never be. Evan Gattis being put to a double standard just because he hasn't fielded this year, even though he still can, is something that should never be. Let's just hope that the Astros organization sees it the way I do, and not the way these reckless writers, CDH crowd and trolls do.
As many of you know, another school shooting took place at nearby Santa Fe High School last week. It is now the second time in merely a full year that H-Town has had to deal with some level of tragedy. Out of respect to everyone, I will not get on any kind of political soapbox or preach to some hearsay ideological dogma. Except for me to say that this is something else that could have been avoided and that more needs to be done to prevent it from happening again. No matter where you stand on things, this is something that everyone can agree to.
Even from the ashes of darkness, light can still prevail over it. The entire Houston Astros ball club wore these wonderfully made shirts yesterday during practice as a means of showing support to that school and the victims and families affected. That kind gesture could have very well been a spark plug in guiding the team to a resounding 11-2 victory over the visiting San Francisco Giants last night. Gerrit Cole took to the mound and kept his pitching greatness, the proverbial "Cole Train," rolling along. Despite giving up a 2 run bomb to his brother-in-law, Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford, Cole and the rest of the Astros pitching staff kept the boys from the bay "at bay," if you will. (Late edit: They just completed a two game sweep of the Giants with a 4-1 victory, and are now heading to Cleveland to face the Indians the next 4 games!)
In a second victory over the bay area, the Houston Rockets also won game 4 of the NBA Western Conference finals. This sends the series back to Houston for a pivotal game 5 tomorrow evening. All the Rockets have to do is win that one, and the momentum will be clearly in their favor. Even though I am not a big basketball fan, I will certainly be joining the rest of you to #RunasOne!
Back to baseball, however. Your people's champion and mine, Evan Gattis, certainly did his part last night in the victory over the Giants. He was the first hitter to get on base, with a lead off double in the 3rd inning. Additionally, he had another base hit single, and scored 2 of the 11 runs of the game. Yes, his average and OPS still have some work to be done, as they both sit at .213 and .645 respectively on the 2018 season. This after he unfortunately went 0-for-3 this afternoon. But the bull-bear has shown tremendous progress in the month of May, like he has always done throughout his career.
Despite this, there are still too many out in the fan base and across the internet that are making some kind of case, however foolish, about wanting to DFA or release him outright. The biggest culprit of this is none other than my blog nemesis, Jason Marbach, of the Crawfish Boxes. He put out THIS recent piece, clearly click bait, about how El Oso Blanco needs to be moved to make room for the minor league youngsters that are "tearing it up." He even goes so far as to say that Gattis will be gone before the season is even over.
Okay, so now he's awoken the sleeping giant. First of all, Marbach deliberately refuses to accept the fact that Gatty is hitting well over .280 across his last 12 games with an OPS around 1.000 in that stretch. You're not going to get Jose Altuve superstar numbers out of him. Even I as his most loyalist fan can admit to that. Regardless, Gattis still brings plenty of value to this team, and will continue doing so going forward.
The only way you will get him away from this Astros team is if you pry him away via next winter's scheduled free agency. And even then, I still believe he can be signed to a team friendly contract to catch with Max Stassi in lieu of Brian McCann likely not being vested next season, and the need for a veteran catcher to still be present. I know so many out there are high on Garrett Stubbs being at the big league level. That may happen at some point, with both he and Tim Federowicz are holding down the catching core pretty well at AAA Fresno. There are options for that position.
If the organization really doesn't want Gattis to catch, there is also the conversion to first baseman. Marwin Gonzalez is likely gone and Yuli Gurriel in need of some spotting. It's early to speculate over what will happen with the team next season. That much is true. But to completely write off Evan Gattis as being useless and a waste of roster space, as Marbach and others have, is both ignorant and insulting to a veteran that has long proven himself. It is slightly inconvenient that he is having these early struggles in his walk year. But that's the unfortunate nature of this game sometimes that you cannot always blame on the player. And lest we forget, tearing it up at the minor league level doesn't always translate to the big leagues. Tony Kemp is the exception disproving that rule this year.
The point in my rants and reflections is that, like the title of the Led Zeppelin song says, there are things that are, but also things that should never be. Evan Gattis being put to a double standard just because he hasn't fielded this year, even though he still can, is something that should never be. Let's just hope that the Astros organization sees it the way I do, and not the way these reckless writers, CDH crowd and trolls do.
Original Photo Credit: Houston Astros on Twitter
He's catching wind, so let's see him spin!
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