2024 Houston Astros GM/Manager Career

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Hello, I’m PJ Bishop and I’m starting a GM/Manager career with the 2024 Houston Astros. My main driving force of the decision to take them over was the abysmal state of their farm system. Not complaining though as I inherit a team with loads of talent both in batters and pitchers. As a GM I do value building a team from your own system so scouting, drafting, signing top tier international free agents, and developing said talent are my top priorities. Luckily I have control over a franchise that’s not lacking the funds and any holes we need to fill I can via free agency or trade if need be. Pretty excited with this new team as I’ve never had such a large budget to work with and a good team already in place and capable of making a deep playoff run. As a manager I value offense slightly over defense, but not to an extreme to a point guys are playing out of position. I do prefer guys with pop in their bat, ability to steal, and run clean bases with good awareness on when to stretch for a double and round 3rd and try to get that big run. For my staff I look for well rounded pitchers with stuff being the tie breaker if all things are relatively equal. As a former military member I will bring honor and integrity to running this franchise that still gets flack for the cheating scandal. Perhaps with time and running a clean ship we can turn a new page and garner some respect amongst our peers and fans alike.

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Starting Rotation
SP 1 - Framber Valdez 30yo 7th season all with Houston. Framber took over full time starting duties in 2020 and has been stellar in his role with no worse than a 3.57 ERA since 2020. He’s currently coming off back to back all-star appearances and will look to make it a 3rd this year as the ace of the staff and one of the best pitchers in baseball.

SP 2 - Cristian Javier 27yo 5th season all with Houston. Christian is coming off a down year as he sported a career high 4.56 ERA and 1.27 WHIP. Look for a bounce back season for the young hurler as he looks to get his career back on track.

SP 3 - Hunter Brown 25yo 3rd season all with Houston. Hunter had a tough go round last year as he sported a below average 5.09 ERA. In his brief 2022 stint he did show some flashes of being a good pitcher capable of better than his 2023 performance.

SP 4 - Ronel Blanco 30yo 3rd season all with Houston. Ronel will transition to a full time starting role after flirting with some starts last year.

SP 5 - Rafael Montero 10th season, 4th with Houston. Rafael will find himself starting for the first time since his 2017 campaign while with the New York Mets.

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Bullpen
CL - Josh Hader 29yo 8th season, 1st with Houston. Josh was signed to a huge deal by the previous administration and will look to be the closer for us for many years to come. He’s one of the best at what he does with a career ERA of 2.50. Josh is a 5 time all-star and 3 time NL Reliever of the Year. With him only being 29 we hope to keep adding to his trophy case and ours.

SU/CL - Ryan Pressly 35yo 12th season, 7th with Houston. Ryan is a reliable veteran who will take a backseat in closing today’s after being in that role for the last 2.5 years. He’s a two time all-star who has plenty left in the tank to make a huge impact for us.

SU - Bryan Abreu 26yo 6th season all with Houston. Aside from his rough 2021 season, Bryan has been stellar in his duties as a late inning option.

MR - Joel Kuhnel 29yo 5th season, 2nd with Houston. Joel was acquired via trade last season from Cincinnati but didn’t receive much action. He combined for a 5.54 ERA last year and will need to step up his play if he intends on keeping a meaningful role in the bullpen.

MR - Seth Martinez 29yo 4th season all with Houston. 2022 he looked elite, 2023 he looked below average. Needless to say but will anyway, 2024 is a big year for Seth.

MR - Parker Mushinski 28yo 3rd season all with Houston. With only 22 career innings pitched the jury is still out on Parker.

LR - J.P. France 28yo 2nd season all with Houston. Last year a starter, but with new management in town we feel it’s best that J.P. pitches out of the bullpen where we think he’ll have a bigger and better impact.

LR - Brandon Bielak 27yo 5th season all with Houston. Brandon has been a starter/reliever on and off in his career and at least for now he’ll be back in the bullpen full time.

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Lineup vs RHP/LHP
1 - 3B Alex Bregman 29yo 9th season all with Houston. Alex will be batting leadoff and be the full time 3B vs both righties and lefties, with his combination of plate discipline and patience we feel he’s the best candidate to get on base and get things rolling. He’s a two time all-star and AL Silver Slugger at 3B in 2019. We feel he can still have many more impactful seasons even if not quite at the level of pre Covid years.

2 - CF Kyle Tucker 27yo 7th season all with Houston. Kyle can hit for average and power, falling just 1 HR shy of three straight years with 30 HR. He’s batting second vs righties and 9th vs lefties where he will also slide over to RF. Kyle is coming off back to back all-star seasons and still in his prime will look to make it a 3rd straight. He was also the AL Silver Slugger at CF last year.

3 - 2B Jose Altuve 33yo 14th season all with Houston. Jose is the full time 2B hitting 3rd vs righties and out of the 2 spot vs lefties. One of the best players at his position even at the seasoned age of 33. He will look to continue his stellar career and end it on a high note, clean and perhaps more rings to the collection.

4 - DH Yordan Alvarez 26yo 6th season all with Houston. Yordan will be a full time DH batting in the heart of the order, 4th vs righties and 6th vs lefties. He’s got power and lots of it. The former AL Rookie of the Year will look to make it 4 straight seasons with 30+ HR.

5 - RF Trey Cabbage 26yo 2nd season, 1st with Houston. Trey was an offseason trade acquisition from the LAA and will find himself in the 5 spot vs righties as he will sit vs lefties. He needs his power to show up or he will find his role even further diminished.

6 - C Yainer Diaz 25yo 3rd season all with Houston. Yainer found himself taking over starting duties at C last year and will have the full time duty this year batting 6th vs righties and 5th vs lefties.

7 - LF Chas McCormick 28yo 4th season all with Houston. Chas is the full time LF batting out of the 7 spot vs both righties and lefties. He’s had a solid MLB career thus far and will look to build on his above average performance from last season.

8 - 1B Jon Singleton 32yo 4th season all with Houston and a brief stint with MIL in 2023. Jon has had a rough career thus far but still finds himself rostered and with a full time role with the Astros at 1B batting 8th vs righties and cleanup vs lefties. If he doesn’t pick up his play there’s a strong chance this could be his last stop.

9 - SS Jeremy Pena 26yo 3rd season all with Houston. More of a glove over bat player that finds himself at the bottom of the order both vs righties, 9th, and lefties 8th. He’s a former Gold Glove winner at short so we will gladly take his elite defense even if it comes with an average bat.

CF - Mauricio Dubon 29yo 6th season, 3rd with Houston. Mauricio is solely starting vs lefties out of the 3 spot. He will play CF as a solid defender and someone who can put his bat on the ball. If he can find his footing vs righties he could easily slide into the full time role at CF.

C - Victor Caratini 30yo 8th season, 1st with Houston. Signed as a free agent to be the backup catcher.

1B - Jose Abreu 37yo 11th season, 2nd season with Houston. Signed as free agent last year and put up a negative WAR in his first year with us. At this point he doesn’t have much more to give and we will have to eat his contract and wait for him to retire.

3B - David Hensley 28yo 3rd season all with Houston. David is nothing more than a bench piece.

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Top Prospects 2024 (BNN)
1 - RF Jacob Melton #106 overall drafted in the 2nd round of 2022. I personally like him and think that both his bat and glove can have an impact for us down the road. Capable of playing anywhere on the grass, although better suited for CF/LF, even has brief experience at 1B. He projects to be an average bat that should fit well in the bottom of the order. He’s a solid base runner and posses elite ability when it comes to swiping bases. Probably won’t be ready till 2025 but if he shows solid development and plays well, he may have a chance come September of 2024.

2 - 1B Luis Baez #185 overall signed in 2022 as an international FA. He posses plus power and plus stealing ability. He’s good enough to hit 5th or 6th in a future MLB lineup and possibly cleanup. Defensively he’s limited to 1B and does have a good enough arm for RF. Still only 20 he has plenty of time to develop but should be a solid bat in the heart of a lineup with 20/20 or even 25/20 potential.

3 - RHP Jake Bloss #196 overall drafted in the 3rd round of 2023. Currently starting in the minors but if he wants to reach the majors as a starter and not as an emergency bullpen option he’ll need to work on his pitching arsenal.

4 - RHP Spencer Arrighetti #269 overall drafted in the 6th round of 2021. Back end rotation piece is he’s current projected role. If that doesn’t work out he should be an average bulk inning arm from the bullpen. Should be ready to make an impact this year at the MLB level.

5 - 2B Brice Matthews #333 overall drafted in the 1st round of 2023. Not a prospect I can get overly excited about. Projects to be below average offensively with the capability of playing 2nd, 3rd, or short with 2nd being his natural position. If he fully develops he’d be nothing more than an infield utility bench player.

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The introductions are over and it’s time to play ball. Let the 2024 season begin with a 4 game home stand vs the mighty New York Yankees.

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Little over a month into the 2024 campaign and we find ourselves at 12-17 4 GB from 1st in the AL West and 4 games back from a WC. The bats have shown up but our pitching is holding us back thus far. Neither the rotation or bullpen can seem to put together a good stretch of baseball. It’s still early but things need to turn around in May if we don’t want to get even further behind.

March 31st, 2024, RF Trey Cabbage suffered an elbow contusion and is DtD for a week.

RHP Brandon Bielak suffered an injury and is being further evaluated.

April 2nd, 2024, RHP Brandon Bielak placed on the 15 day IL with a herniated disc and is expected to miss 5-6 weeks.

RHP Luis Contreras had his contract selected and will be looking to make his MLB debut.

April 3rd, 2024, LF Yordan Alvarez suffered an injury and is being further evaluated.

April 4th, 2024 LF Yordan Alvarez suffered a bruised knee and will be DtD for 2 days.

RF Trey Cabbage suffered a setback and will be DtD for another week with an elbow contusion.

April 7th, 2024, LHP Bennett Sousa was activated from the IL and optioned to AAA Sugar Land.

April 13th, 2024, RHP Seth Martinez was optioned to AAA Sugar Land. In 5 appearances, 8.2IP, he accumulated a 5.19 ERA.

RHP Rafael Montero has been moved to the bullpen.

RHP Justin Verlander has completed his rehab assignment and has been placed on the active roster.

April 27th, 2024, Houston Astros sign RHP Tyler Ivey to a minor league contract.

April 28th, 2024, LF Yordan Alvarez suffered an injury and is being further evaluated.

April 30th, 2024 LF Yordan Alvarez placed on the 10 day IL with a strained PCL and is expected to miss 6 weeks.

CF Jake Meyers had his contract selected. He’s currently slashing .291/.353/.471 with 3 HR in 26 games at AAA Sugar Land.

May 1st, 2024, LHP Parker Mushinski was optioned to AAA Sugar Land. Parker has had a rough going to start his 2024 campaign, in 12IP he’s sporting a 9.75 ERA.

RHP Seth Martinez has been recalled from AAA Sugar Land. He’s converted on 3 straight save opportunities and sports a 1.80 ERA at the AAA level.

RHP Ronel Blanco has been optioned to AAA Sugar Land. He’s off to a woeful start and will look to regroup in Sugar Land. In five starts 22IP he’s sporting an atrocious 8.59 ERA.

RHP Tyler Ivey had his contract selected and will serve as the 5th starter.

RF Trey Cabbage has been optioned to AAA Sugar Land. He’s currently sporting a poor .578 OPS and will look to get his timing down at the AAA level.

CF Corey Julks had his contract selected. He’s currently slashing .240/.383/.520 with 5 HR in 22 games at AAA Sugar Land.