Click has good talk with Greinke about role
During a conversation with general manager James Click before Game 5 of the American League Championship Series, Zack Greinke clarified comments that appeared critical of the Astros and how they’ve handled the veteran righthander during his 14-month tenure.
“We had a long conversation. It was great. It was a very healthy conversation,” Click said Monday. “He expressed his views and why he made the comments, and I mostly listened. My job in that situation was I think just to listen to a Hall of Famer and find out why he would be frustrated by those kinds of things.”
One evening earlier, Greinke threw six innings during the Astros’ 4-3 win over the Rays in Game 4. Manager Dusty Baker left Greinke in during a tense sixth inning, allowing him to face the middle of Tampa Bay’s order for a third time with two runners on base. Greinke escaped the jam without allowing a run, keeping a two-run Houston lead intact.
“It was nice having someone have confidence in me,” Greinke said afterward. “Because since I’ve been here, they haven’t seemed to have confidence in my ability. So it was nice having that happen in an important time like that.”
The most glaring example of Greinke’s ire arrived in Game 7 of the 2019 World Series, when former manager A. J. Hinch removed him in the seventh inning after 61⁄
3 dominant innings. RelieverWill Harris entered and promptly surrendered the lead.
Greinke said Game 7 was one instance of the perceived lack of confidence but added “there’s probably a dozen examples if you look back at it.” Greinke has faced 20 or fewer hitters during four of his eight postseason starts as an Astro, often limited to two times through an opposing order.
“He understands that the postseason is a very different animal than the regular season,” Click said. “He wanted clarity on his role going forward. He wanted clarity on what we expected of him going forward, and that was something that we will continue to talk about internally.”
Greinke has a 3.54 ERA in 22 regular-season starts since arriving from Arizona in August 2019. He has a 4.54 ERA as an Astro during the postseason. The Astros piggybacked Greinke with starter Framber Valdez after four innings of the wild card series opener this season.
Greinke is under contract for one more season with the Astros, who will pay him nearly $25 million in 2021.
“The fact of the matter is, Zack Greinke is a Hall of Famer, and absolutely we have confidence in him,” Click said.
No worries about Altuve’s bad year
The Astros and general manager James Click viewed Jose Altuve’s awful 2020 season as a series of “blips” and are unconcerned about the second baseman’s longterm production.
Altuve finished the 60-game regular season with a .629 OPS and a .219 batting average. Only eight qualified hitters finished the season with a worse OPS than Altuve, who totaled 14 extra-base hits and 39 strikeouts in 210 plate appearances.
“The guys told us all season that this was a roster that when it gets to crunch time, when it gets to the big stage, they are able to turn it on,” Click said Monday. “And obviously, we had high hopes for Jose in the regular season, and I think he’d be the first to say he didn’t perform up to the level that he wanted to perform at or expected to perform at.”
Altuve’s anemic season seemed an afterthought during the Astros’ American League Division Series win over the A’s. He went 6-for-15, drew three walks and struck two home runs.
Altuve’s offensive resurgence carried into the American League Championship Series, but a disastrous defensive display contributed to the Astros’ 3-0 hole in the series and invited wonder about Altuve’s mental state.
Altuve, a Gold Glove winner in 2015, committed three throwing errors in the first three games against the Rays. Tampa Bay scored eight runs in the immediate aftermath of Altuve’s gaffes, getting a series lead that was too deep for Houston to overcome.
Altuve still swung a hot bat against Tampa, finishing 12-for-26 with five extra-base hits, but his inconsistency on defense left lingering questions following a forgettable season.
“I was really impressed by the fact that he didn’t take that with him to the plate and he didn’t let that affect the rest of his game,” Click said. “We are 100 percent confident that those blips are behind him. He is going to come back next year, I’m sure, as the elite offensive and defensive player that we know he is.”