Two of the biggest offseason acquisitions for the Houston Astros heading into the 2023 MLB season were José Abreu and Rafael Montero.
The Houston brass were excited about the upgrades at the plate and in the pen, but thus far neither signing has panned out.
At least not positively.
Abreu has been a dud offensively, despite his recent surge.
He’s slashing .255/.279/.308 this season, and his numbers are way down from the Abreu of the past.
Montero, meanwhile, may very well be the worst pitcher signing in franchise history.
After spending over a year with the organization and showing signs of success, the Astros re-signed Montero to a three-year contract this past offseason.
One of the highest paid bullpen relievers, Montero owns a whopping 7.04 ERA (with a 1-3 record) in an Astros jersey this year.
That’s beyond awful, to say the least, especially for a MLB reliever.
He’s also locked into Houston’s bullpen for the foreseeable future.
So what do the Astros do with Montero?
They can’t trade him, because absolutely no one in the Majors wants him — especially at the steep price they paid for him.
Houston’s only hope is to work with the reliever to get him back to form, but who knows how long that will take.
Baseball can be a brutal game mentally, on both pitchers and batters alike, and right now Montero just isn’t feeling it when he has a ball in his hand on a Major League mound.
He lacks confidence, and it shows every time he throws.
Could that change in the near future?
Sure, and Abreu could also start getting multi-hit games every night.
Neither is likely, unfortunately, but the reality is the Astros are stuck with both of these players in 2023 and beyond.
Houston spent way too much money on Montero (and the same could be said about Abreu) to demote him or trade him.
The biggest desire by management and fans is for things to quickly improve — and soon — if there’s even a sliver of hope for Montero having a successful season.
It looks bleak at the moment, but baseball has a funny way of turning things around with just one pitch, one outing, one strikeout.
For now, it’s one day at a time.
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