Are the Astros cursed at first base? Plus, Patrick Corbin's spidey senses

New York Times

18-04-2025

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In today's Windup, a cursed base, and we are on very high Spider-Man alert!
Plus: These division leaders are waiting on the trade market, and Ken wonders if Bud Black's days as Rockies manager are numbered. I'm Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal. Welcome to The Windup!
Before the 2023 season, the Houston Astros signed 1B Jose Abreu to a three-year, $58.5 million deal for his ages 36-38 seasons. Eighteen games into his Houston tenure, he was hitting .253 (.584 OPS) with zero home runs, 19 strikeouts and three walks in 79 plate appearances.
Halfway through the second year of that deal, Abreu was released. It was an abject disaster. Houston is still paying him $19.5 million this year.
This offseason, the Astros signed 1B Christian Walker to a three-year, $60 million deal for his ages 34-36 seasons. Eighteen games into his Houston tenure? He's hitting .154/.267/.215 (.482 OPS) with 23 strikeouts, eight walks and one home run.
As Chandler Rome writes in a recent story, some of Walker's underlying numbers are still OK. His bat speed is still a pretty dark red on this chart. Other numbers, though … check out that Launch Angle Sweet-Spot % percentile (that's batted balls with a launch angle between 8 and 32 degrees). Yikes.
By comparison, here's Abreu's chart from 2024. You'll note that his bat speed was also still above average (but Walker isn't in this territory just yet).
True story: As I was writing this up last night, I had originally planned to compare Walker's slump to that of Tigers outfielder Riley Greene — who entered play with more strikeouts than anyone in the sport — and ask which fan base should be more concerned.
There's no way to prove it, but my conclusion was that Greene would be fine, despite his underlying numbers not looking so great either. Then he went 3-for-5 with a couple of RBIs and may have scooped me on his own breakout.
The ritual sacrifice of a hitting coach is standard operating procedure for a team in crisis. The Colorado Rockies took that half-step yesterday, firing hitting coach Hensley Meulens. The move would merit only a yawn — it's only the Rockies, after all — if not for the person the team chose as Meulens' replacement: former Rockies manager (and hitting coach) Clint Hurdle.
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Changing hitting coaches was justifiable for a team that is 3-15, last in the majors in scoring and first in strikeout rate. Changing managers also would be justifiable, considering the Rockies are a complete wreck as they head for their seventh straight losing season under Bud Black.
Here's my question: If Hurdle, 67, was willing to leave his position as a special assistant to get back in uniform, why wouldn't he want Black's job? Even if he doesn't, the Rockies could have ripped off the Band-Aid yesterday and made the managerial change that seems all but inevitable.
I included Black in my column Monday on managers whose job statuses could be in question. As I wrote, Rockies people think highly of him, and so do people throughout the industry. Hardly anyone seems comfortable posing the question: As the team skews younger, is Black still the right person for the job?
Black cannot be blamed for the team's consistent failures or for its continued irrelevance. The Rockies seem to operate in a separate universe from the rest of baseball. But at some point, it stands to reason the team would benefit from a fresh voice.
Third-base coach Warren Schaeffer, who managed at three levels of the Rockies' organization from 2015 to '22, is the obvious heir apparent. Management previously has seemed disinclined to humiliate Black and dismiss him in-season.
'Buddy's done a good job — it's a tough situation we're going through right now,' general manager Bill Schmidt told MLB.com yesterday. 'I think he's been a positive influence. Our guys come to play hard every day, and that's what I'm looking at. As I said, I'm looking for the growth to continue to develop, and Buddy is the right person for that.'
Fair enough. But with Black's contract expiring at the end of the season, the team will again face a decision. Schaeffer could be the Rockies' version of Brandon Hyde, taking over the organization at a low point and growing with his young players.
Or maybe the Rockies will just recycle Hurdle, who managed them from 2002 to '09, leading them to their only World Series appearance. It would be typical of the game's most insular organization to turn to one of its own. And it would be the latest reflection of the team's lack of long-term vision.
On Wednesday night, Patrick Corbin picked up his first win as a member of the Rangers, going 5 1/3 innings against the Angels and allowing just one run, striking out six. But thanks to Kennedi Landry of MLB.com, we now know there was more to the story.
Corbin was bitten by something — it's still not known exactly what, though manager Bruce Bochy suggested maybe a spider — and could 'hardly walk' when he got to the park before the game.
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'Something bit me, but I still don't know what,' Corbin said the next day. 'They were able to kind of work it out and just kind of maintain it throughout the day. But it's pretty sore.'
That Corbin was in a big-league clubhouse at all was notable. Here's a list of categories he's led the league in lately:
2020: hits allowed
2021: losses, earned runs, home runs
2022: losses, hits allowed, earned runs
2023: losses
2024: hits allowed, earned runs.
But there's more to this story also. Since returning from Tommy John surgery in July 2015, he has been the most reliable — or at least reliably available — starting pitcher in the game. His 277 starts and 6,871 hitters faced since then are most in the league (Aaron Nola is second in both, at 272 and 6,735, respectively). Corbin's 1,586 1/3 innings trail only to Nola (1,643) and Gerrit Cole (1,596 1/3) over that time frame.
So he's had more opportunities to allow hits and runs.
We'll see if that continues. If he is ejected for sticky stuff in coming games, I think we'll all know why (radioactive spider).
When Justin Steele went down with an injury, it seemed like a foregone conclusion the Cubs would attempt to bolster their rotation via trade. One problem: It's April. Teams aren't unloading pitchers just yet.
It makes sense for sellers to be methodical; wait it out and see if there's some other team out there is willing to make a better offer. (Does Mavericks GM Nico Harrison subscribe to The Windup?)
In Patrick Mooney's story about the Cubs successfully breaking even on a very tough West Coast road trip, there are quotes from president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer that essentially confirm: Yeah, the Cubs are looking. But nobody's really selling just yet.
Meanwhile in Queens, the Mets' center-field situation has become somewhat shaky, after news that Jose Siri has a fracture in his leg. One solution, suggests Will Sammon, might find Jeff McNeil in center field once he returns from the IL, with Luisangel Acuña manning second base.
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Or at least until the trade market starts to come into sharper focus.
Thickening the plot: The Mets might find themselves bidding against their division rivals, as the Phillies are also running a little light on productive outfielders.
You ever have one of those weeks where so many crazy things happen, you can't even start? Baseball did that this week. But Jayson Stark knows right where to start: his Weird & Wild column (there's even a musical).
Think you know how many perfect games there have been in the Statcast era? Incorrect: The answer is two. Oh right, we're talking about umpire perfect games. Tyler Kepner has that and more in this week's Sliders.
Garrett Crochet has been about as close to perfect this year as any reasonable person could expect. Apparently, Crochet is not reasonable, and wants to be even better.
Well, you're not allowed to argue balls and strikes, and you're definitely not allowed to tweet about it from the clubhouse. Jazz Chisholm Jr. did both last night.
After a high-and-tight pitch to Andrew McCutchen led to a brief soirée at midfield, Nats pitcher Jorge López has been suspended for three games.
Everyone else is hurt in Minnesota, so it's time to call up Luke Keaschall, who was No. 3 on Aaron Gleeman's list of top 40 Twins prospects (No. 62 in Keith Law's top 100 prospects). The Twins also acquired utility player Jonah Bride from the Marlins for cash considerations.
Patrick Mooney didn't use the words 'calm down' to Cubs fans when writing about Ryan Pressly, but it was sort of implied. The closer has been much better.
We love a good reclamation project. For the Mets, it appears Griffin Canning is their latest.
Most-clicked in our last newsletter: Our 2025 MLB front office rankings, as voted on by 40 decision-makers throughout the sport.
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