Astros Trade Mauricio Dubón… But Did Houston Get Enough Back?

Astros Trade Mauricio Dubón… But Did Houston Get Enough Back?

It doesn’t feel like you got a lot back in return. As a matter of fact, Andy is on hold right now. Let’s talk about the All right, let’s go talk about uh Sam’s favorite player cuz uh they’re Honduran. She’s not. More confirmation. I’m Mexican is what she said. Oh, okay. It’s pretty. Ah, it’s close. Oh, don’t do that. It’s close. And let’s get to Andy. Andy, what’s up? Well, I’m a 64 year old native Texan, so uh no bias here. Uh, real quick, does anybody know what Debon hit when he was starting every day in place of Alu? I I believe it was around 280 or 285 if I’m not mistaken. Well, you now listen, he usually I mean he he you if he wasn’t starting, he came in as a as a defensive replacement and probably didn’t get many at bats. What you’re what I mean you mean is he if he was playing second base every day? Well, his batting average wasn’t anywhere near Yeah. No, I mean he wasn’t No, he wasn’t a 285 hitter. Usually when he when he when when he got at bats he was starting. No, no, I know when he was replacing Always Specifically. Oh, at second base. Oh, yeah. No, he played well then. Yeah. No, he did play well then. Yeah. As a second baseman, I think we can find that. Yeah. Uh, yes. Yeah. So, so I’m Well, so we’ve never really seen this guy what he’s going to bat for a whole year. If he had 500 something at bats and he was playing 145, 150 games. Well, he’s played the last three years, he’s played over 130 games the last three years. That’s a pretty That’s a lot. That’s a lot. Yeah, he plays a lot. But the problem is But the problem You think with another 30 games he would hit 280? And hell, he doesn’t he doesn’t even know where he’s playing. Every day he walks to the clubhouse and he has to look on the on at the sheet and say, “Oh, I’m playing second.” Oh, I’m playing left today. Oh, I’m playing right or I’m playing third. So So what are you what are you what are you getting at? Like what are you trying to say, Andy? What are you I’m getting at this. This is There’s only a couple reasons why club starts going downward and it’s bad contracts. It’s And one reason is bad contracts. You look at Breu, they paid him 199.5 million last year. What did they pay Mullers? 15 million and now they’re going to worry about $5 million for a guy who can play seven positions. Well, but ludicrous. But those guys are kind of Listen, he hit 266 as a second baseman. He had a 699. He was actually better as a third baseman and a shortstop. He was actually better at the play. I mean, you’re you’re you’re advocating for him to be a full-time player. His bat his at bats over the last three years are 467. That’s a lot. 402 and 369. That’s a lot. That’s a lot for being a Well, you get 600 at bats if you’re a regular. Yeah, if you’re a regular. Well, his plate appearances were 492, 428. Yeah, I mean, he’s had almost 500 plate appearances, but that’s way more. That’s way more than a utility player. He’s not been utility player because of the injuries. So, he has had a pretty good sample size to show what he could do. His on base percentage uh in those three years were 309, 296, 289. He is what he is. He’s a functional uh he’s an uh a functional to above average uh replacement player at multiple positions. And yeah, I would not have been hurt if they paid him 5 million estate. I don’t necessarily think that’s dumb money, but they’re trying to get a better value. You know, I do agree with you on this point that it’s really it’s probably one of the toughest thing in sports to do is not be a regular and get uh uh get at bats, infrequent at bats because it’s so hard to hit a baseball and you get into a you get into a groove and all of that stuff. But he has a pretty big sample size. 500 nearly 500 at bats is a pretty he is what he is. He’s at best he’s a 700 OPS guy. He’s not going to. And he’s a great defensive player. Now, if he’s at the same place every day, every day, every day. He had his most at bats at second base. 128 at bats at second base. And he was a 266 guy, a 699 OPS. That’s what he is. He’s not He’s That’s what he’s going to be. Um I I I don’t know. I I I don’t get I listen, you do have to save some money some places. And a utility guy for six million bucks. Yeah. I the one thing the one place I push back on Andy I agree with some of what you said. I push back on this. We don’t know who Don is necessarily. Like there still might be something left in the there still may be something untapped if he played even more games. That that’s not the case. Like we know exactly who Don is and that’s fine. U I think Dubon is pretty good at what he does, but but it he is who he is now. And listen, I didn’t I thought was a great glove guy. You Lis Diaz was before him. He was really good at what he did. you find utility guys, you don’t have to pay them $6 million. Utility guys are guys that are uh pre-arbitration and really good gloves and you can stick them all over the place. They’re they’re you know they’re these uh what are those jack knives? They’re they jack of all trades. Yeah, they can I mean they they can they can do all kinds of stuff. Those are guys you can find though. I paying $6 million for that. I don’t know. I don’t know. I mean, I think a lot of people I Hey, listen. I’ll spend Jim’s money. A lot of people a lot of people like Dubon and he was you know what he was best friends with. He and Yordon are best became best friends too after Elma Miaz left. Well, they seem like it. Yeah. Right. And a lot of people in that dugout in in that dugout liked him. He was Hey, and there’s something to be said about subtracting likable guys that are and I don’t know if he’s Swiss Army knife is what I was looking for. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Uh I don’t know that there’s like you have subtracted a you know there there’s such a thing as as subtracting the core u the core um charisma the core dugout guys. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Good. Good. Yeah. Good guys in the locker room. Good locker room guys. Yeah. There’s something to Absolutely. Especially in a 162 game season. But man, I mean, it’s not I mean, I can understand, but wow, we don’t keep Tucker and we’re not we’re not keeping Frober, but Dubon, I’ve come to terms with the fact that the that that the the Astros are the run’s over. Anything that happens now is a different thing. Uh, you know, the run is the run is over of who they were. They’re not they’re not a feared team right now. They’re not a uh they’re they’re probably respected. They’re not feared. You can’t really look at the pitching staff and the lineup and just, you know, there’s there’s players like Altuve who are aging. There’s Yordon who’s always hurt. You know, there’s some real question marks about the Astros had so few question marks for so long and anytime they popped up, they were immediately answered with moves that worked out with young people who came up with with Garrett Cole being plugged into a whatever it was. And oh, look at Javier now. Wow, Garcia. Look at these guys come out of nowhere. And uh it happened for seven years and now you know the run is the run is over. I mean they’ve it’s you’ve got out you got Carlos back but you know Carlos is a good player. He’s not an elite player. Jeremy Pena is a good player. Yordon like you still you still are a dangerous team but I don’t know. I just I feel like the energy from the last the energy from the run that we had is kind of over. Uh you lose Bregman, you lose Tucker. Those are two big hammers in the in one season that you lost. And you know, you couldn’t hang on. It took a miracle year before last to get into the playoffs. Not a miracle, but it took a lot. You needed a lot of help. This year, you you trailed off and just played miserable baseball at the end of the year to miss the playoffs. So, I don’t know. You got major major questions uh in the pitching staff and Dana Brown says this thing like getting a frontline starter. And we know that really means somebody like Dylan CE. It doesn’t it doesn’t really mean front line. It means it means a guy who we’re getting at a little bit of a discount because he’s not as good as maybe he once was and we’re hoping he can still be better. He can get back to form. That’s what that means. Mhm.

The Astros have officially moved on from Mauricio Dubón — but was it the right call? 🤔 In today’s show, the guys dive deep into the trade and debate whether Houston gave up a valuable multi-position defender for too little in return.
We break down:
⚾ Dubón’s true value as a “Swiss Army Knife” player
⚾ His batting numbers at each position — including that .266 stretch at 2B
⚾ Whether he ever got a fair shot as an everyday starter
⚾ Why the Astros may be cutting cost at utility positions
⚾ How this affects clubhouse chemistry and the “core energy”
⚾ What this says about the state of the Astros’ run
Is this simply a money-saving move? A sign the Astros are transitioning out of their championship window? Or was Dubón always destined to be replaced by cheaper utility options?
We also discuss the bigger picture: injuries, aging stars, pitching questions, and whether Houston’s seven-year run of dominance is finally shifting into a new era.
Join the conversation and drop your thoughts below — was moving on from Dubón the right move?

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