By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept

News Junction

Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
  • Home
  • World News
    World NewsShow More
    Vladimir Putin’s offer of direct talks with Ukraine is the latest attempt to avoid committing to a 30-day ceasefire | World News
    Vladimir Putin’s offer of direct talks with Ukraine is the latest attempt to avoid committing to a 30-day ceasefire | World News
    May 11, 2025
    Putin proposes direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul on May 15 | Russia-Ukraine war News
    Putin proposes direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul on May 15 | Russia-Ukraine war News
    May 11, 2025
    Why is Germany such a mess? — RT World News
    Why is Germany such a mess? — RT World News
    May 11, 2025
    Pope Leo explains name: AI, worker rights
    Pope Leo explains name: AI, worker rights
    May 11, 2025
    Ukraine and allies urge Putin to commit to a 30-day ceasefire or face new sanctions – National
    Ukraine and allies urge Putin to commit to a 30-day ceasefire or face new sanctions – National
    May 11, 2025
  • Business
    BusinessShow More
    Ukraine blows up bridges to consolidate its positions in Russia
    Ukraine blows up bridges to consolidate its positions in Russia
    August 18, 2024
    Commentary: AI phones from Google and Apple will erode trust in everything
    Commentary: AI phones from Google and Apple will erode trust in everything
    August 18, 2024
    The most famous Indian Dishes – Insights Success
    The most famous Indian Dishes – Insights Success
    August 18, 2024
    Life on the road as a female long rides cyclist
    Life on the road as a female long rides cyclist
    August 18, 2024
    UK inflation rises to 2.2%
    UK inflation rises to 2.2%
    August 18, 2024
  • Cryptocurrency
    CryptocurrencyShow More
    Price analysis 3/17: SPX, DXY, BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, SOL, DOGE, ADA, PI
    Price analysis 3/17: SPX, DXY, BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, SOL, DOGE, ADA, PI
    May 11, 2025
    Why is Ethereum (ETH) price up today?
    Why is Ethereum (ETH) price up today?
    May 11, 2025
    Bitcoin SV investors attempt to resurrect 2019 Binance lawsuit
    Bitcoin SV investors attempt to resurrect 2019 Binance lawsuit
    May 11, 2025
    Ex-UFC champ Conor McGregor touts Irish Bitcoin reserve in presidential bid
    Ex-UFC champ Conor McGregor touts Irish Bitcoin reserve in presidential bid
    May 11, 2025
    Ethereum, Dogecoin, and Bitcoin Pepe
    Ethereum, Dogecoin, and Bitcoin Pepe
    May 11, 2025
  • Technology
    TechnologyShow More
    How to Improve Your Spotify Recommendations
    How to Improve Your Spotify Recommendations
    August 18, 2024
    X says it’s closing operations in Brazil
    X says it’s closing operations in Brazil
    August 18, 2024
    Supermoon set to rise: Top tips for amateur photographers | Science & Tech News
    Supermoon set to rise: Top tips for amateur photographers | Science & Tech News
    August 18, 2024
    Scientists Want to See Videos of Your Cat for a New Study
    Scientists Want to See Videos of Your Cat for a New Study
    August 18, 2024
    OpenAI’s new voice mode let me talk with my phone, not to it
    OpenAI’s new voice mode let me talk with my phone, not to it
    August 18, 2024
  • Entertainment
  • Sports News
  • People
  • Trend
Reading: The Houston Astros got the band back together and are ready to retake the AL West
Share
Font ResizerAa

News Junction

  • World News
  • Business
  • Technology
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Trend
  • Entertainment
Search
  • Recent Headlines in Entertainment, World News, and Cryptocurrency – NewsJunction
  • World News
  • Business
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Technology
  • Entertainment
  • Sports News
  • People
  • Trend
Have an existing account? Sign In
Follow US
News Junction > Blog > Sports News > The Houston Astros got the band back together and are ready to retake the AL West
The Houston Astros got the band back together and are ready to retake the AL West
Sports News

The Houston Astros got the band back together and are ready to retake the AL West

Published August 5, 2023
Share
10 Min Read
SHARE

Contents
‘It’s exciting seeing all the guys again’‘We need him just to get to the next level’

NEW YORK — On Nov. 3, 2022, 39-year-old future Hall of Fame pitcher Justin Verlander secured his first World Series win. That it took until then was a nagging quirk in his otherwise storied career. In the final start of his third Cy Young Award-winning season, Verlander labored through five high-traffic innings against a Philadelphia Phillies team that had charmed the country as it rode an infectious hot streak from barely making the postseason to being all knotted up at two games apiece against the big, bad Houston Astros in the World Series.

But Verlander pitched well enough to put the Astros up in the series, and two days later, he and Houston won their second championship in six seasons together.

It seemed to mark the likely end of his time in Houston. Verlander declined the player option in his contract, making him a free agent, and the Astros are known for a principled approach that prevents most splurges. Amid the celebrations that would double as a sendoff, Verlander’s mother thanked manager Dusty Baker for leaving him in Game 5 long enough to check off that conspicuously lacking career achievement.

But, Baker said this week, “I never said goodbye to him.”

[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for free today]

‘It’s exciting seeing all the guys again’

Nine months to the day after that World Series start, Verlander walked into the visiting team clubhouse at Yankee Stadium, where the Astros were opening a weekend series in the Bronx. On Monday, Verlander and the rest of the 2022 World Series champions will go to the White House to be honored. The Astros had a tough time scheduling the trip, which is how it ended up being this late — between a series in New York and one in Baltimore.

If it had been any earlier, Verlander couldn’t have attended. Between winning the World Series with the Astros in November and starting for them Saturday night, he signed with the New York Mets on a record-setting contract.

But when the Mets’ stunning failure this season, despite a staggering payroll, forced the team to tear down at the deadline, Verlander was able to reunite with an Astros team that is starting to look a whole lot like the one that won the World Series less than a year ago.

“It’s exciting seeing all the guys again,” Verlander told reporters Thursday. “It feels a little weird because it hasn’t been that long, so it feels like you don’t miss a beat, and you’re right back in the locker room. But on the other hand, there’s this whole segment that happened. So here I am, still staying in my apartment in New York. It’s a really odd feeling.”

Since Verlander was last on the team, José Abreu replaced Yuli Gurriel at first base. Mauricio Dubón is playing more with Aledmys Díaz gone. Yainer Díaz is backing up the regular backstop, Martín Maldonado. The rookie Hunter Brown, who had a cup of coffee last year, is now a regular in the rotation.

But for the most part, the Astros went into 2023 with Verlander’s departure as perhaps the only high-profile change.

Well, that and the top baseball executive. One day after Verlander opted out, World Series-winning general manager James Click departed the Astros rather than accept a contract offer that was never intended to be appealing enough for him to accept. He was replaced later in the offseason by Dana Brown, who until this week had only ever overseen an Astros team that didn’t employ Verlander.

Brown’s friend and former boss, Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos, told him when he took the job that he had two priorities in his first year: the draft and the trade deadline.

“You got to nail those two things,” Brown said Anthopoulos told him. As the deadline approached, Brown thought that meant securing reinforcement for the back end of a bullpen that has been heavily taxed already this season.

That changed as soon as it became clear to other teams that the Mets might sell.

“We started to think of ways that we could get him back at that point,” Brown said of Verlander.

‘We need him just to get to the next level’

The deal to reacquire Verlander is something Astros owner Jim Crane would’ve overseen directly. They have a preexisting personal relationship, and Crane acted as GM during the offseason. In fact, Brown had never met or spoken to Verlander until after the deal was officially done. Mets GM Billy Eppler sent him Verlander’s phone number.

“I texted J.V., and I was like, ‘Hey, welcome aboard. When you get a chance, give me a call. I know you’re swamped. A thousand phone calls from friends and family — just hit me up when you get a chance,’” Brown said. “[He] called me back like five, 10 minutes later, and we had an excellent conversation. He was fired up. I was fired up.”

“We need him just to get to the next level,” Maldonado said.

Brown, who was a scout and scouting director his whole career until the Houston job, told Verlander, “Man, I remember as a scouting director, I would have loved to draft you, but you were taken so high. I didn’t get you as a scouting director, but I got you as a general manager.”

Brown got his bullpen reinforcements as well — most notably bringing back Kendall Graveman, who had a 1.64 ERA in the postseason for the 2021 Astros — but outside of Verlander, the most important deadline-ish additions were simply getting back two key pieces of the lineup in José Altuve and Yordan Alvarez.

This season, injuries have meant that the Astros’ top two position players last season — by fWAR or by wRC+ — were both in the lineup for only 13 of the team’s first 101 games. They rejoined the team together just over a week ago, and in eight games back, Altuve is hitting .343, and Álvarez is hitting .413 with three home runs.

The reigning champions have yet to spend a single day in first place so far this season. A Texas Rangers team that lost 94 games last year jumped to an early lead in the AL West and has yet to relinquish it. Since overhauling their rotation in the offseason, the Rangers have kept their foot on the gas. Days before the deadline, Verlander’s counterpart and co-ace on the Mets, Max Scherzer, was traded to Texas as part of an aggressive approach to talent acquisition that turned the team around quickly and signaled the Mets’ sell-off.

Houston, however, is coming. With the Astros now just 1.5 games behind, FanGraphs’ projections give them a slight edge to win the division. It’s not that the Astros are inevitable — although six straight ALCS appearances make it seem that way. It’s that they’re a good team that’s going to be better down the stretch after adding Verlander and getting Altuve and Alvarez back.

“The team that goes on a run will probably win the division,” Brown said. “I think we set ourselves up to go on a nice, little run.”

Now in his sophomore season, 2022 ALCS and World Series MVP Jeremy Peña said he didn’t really appreciate just how incredible his rookie season was until spring training this year.

“Because that’s when I kind of had time to reflect on everything that happened, and I was like, there are great players that go through their whole careers that don’t win a World Series,” he said.

It’s an important bit of perspective to maintain, especially when you’re staring down another six-month regular season. But now, as they head into the stretch, the Astros are basically back to full strength, and they’re done being humble.

“I feel like we have our team right now. And with this team, we go up against anybody,” Peña said. “I feel like we can compete with anybody.

“We’re excited to have the band back together.”

#Houston #Astros #band #ready #retake #West

TAGGED:AstrosbandHoustonReadyretakeWest
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Whatsapp Whatsapp LinkedIn Email Copy Link Print
Share
What do you think?
Love0
Sad0
Happy0
Sleepy0
Angry0
Dead0
Wink0
Previous Article Thespians thrill with ‘Storytelling Sosa’ in a variety of formats Thespians thrill with ‘Storytelling Sosa’ in a variety of formats
Next Article Thai ex-PM Thaksin postponing return from self-exile Thai ex-PM Thaksin postponing return from self-exile
- Advertisement -

Latest Post

Price analysis 3/17: SPX, DXY, BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, SOL, DOGE, ADA, PI
Price analysis 3/17: SPX, DXY, BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, SOL, DOGE, ADA, PI
Cryptocurrency
Vladimir Putin’s offer of direct talks with Ukraine is the latest attempt to avoid committing to a 30-day ceasefire | World News
Vladimir Putin’s offer of direct talks with Ukraine is the latest attempt to avoid committing to a 30-day ceasefire | World News
World News
Why is Ethereum (ETH) price up today?
Why is Ethereum (ETH) price up today?
Cryptocurrency
Putin proposes direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul on May 15 | Russia-Ukraine war News
Putin proposes direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul on May 15 | Russia-Ukraine war News
World News
Bitcoin SV investors attempt to resurrect 2019 Binance lawsuit
Bitcoin SV investors attempt to resurrect 2019 Binance lawsuit
Cryptocurrency
Why is Germany such a mess? — RT World News
Why is Germany such a mess? — RT World News
World News
- Advertisement -

You Might Also Like

President Biden hosts Astros, says he can relate to Dusty Baker, oldest manager to win World Series
Sports News

President Biden hosts Astros, says he can relate to Dusty Baker, oldest manager to win World Series

August 8, 2023
Zac Taylor: Bengals QB Joe Burrow ‘looks great’ as he rehabs calf injury
Sports News

Zac Taylor: Bengals QB Joe Burrow ‘looks great’ as he rehabs calf injury

August 22, 2023
Brock Purdy had ‘a hell of a week’ in practice, says 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan
Sports News

Brock Purdy had ‘a hell of a week’ in practice, says 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan

February 9, 2024
Miami Marlins stun Clay Holmes, Tommy Kahnle, beat New York Yankees on Jake Burger single
Sports News

Miami Marlins stun Clay Holmes, Tommy Kahnle, beat New York Yankees on Jake Burger single

August 16, 2023

About Us

NEWS JUNCTION (NewsJunction.xyz) Your trusted destination for global news. Stay informed with our timely and accurate reporting on diverse topics, including politics, technology, science, entertainment, sports, and more. Count on us for unbiased and reliable updates at your fingertips.

Quick Link

  • About
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact

Top Categories

  • World News
  • Business
  • Technology
  • Entertainment
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Sports News
  • Trend
  • People

Subscribe

Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!

    © 2023 News Junction.
    • Blog
    • Advertise
    • Contact
    Welcome Back!

    Sign in to your account

    Username or Email Address
    Password

    Lost your password?