As we sit here at the fifty game mark of the Major League Baseball season, as I type this during the middle of an off day for the Houston Astros, oddly enough, I find myself reminiscing about the shortened COVID season in 2020. At 22-28, the last time the Astros got off to this poor of a start was in that season, which finished at 29-31, with the Astros sneaking into the postseason with the final playoff spot.

If you recall, after barely qualifying for an expanded playoff, the Astros went on a tear that eventually led to them making the ALCS (again) and taking the Tampa Bay Rays to a seventh game. So why does that matter now? Well, it's a good lesson that even good teams play mediocre baseball for 50 or 60 game periods.

Again, at 22-28, by measure of their won-loss record, this Astros team is not a good baseball team. However, they've warmed up of late, going 7-3 in their most recent homestand, and sit on the cusp of a massive opportunity to carve into their deficit in the AL West this weekend and next week. Starting tonight, they have three games in Oakland against an A's team they just swept, and then four games in Seattle to play the Mariners, whom they trail by five games in the standnngs.

For now, with an off day to reflect, let's look at the most pressing questions facing the Houston Astros in the days and weeks to come:

How does this Jose Abreu situation ultimate resolve itself?
For the last month or so, first baseman Jose Abreu has been at the Astros rookie developmental camp in West Palm Beach trying to figure out what's wrong with his swing. It's an unprecedented move for a team to invoke (and a player to accept, for that matter) to try to get an aging player to perform. As of Thursday, Abreu had "checked all the boxes" for a return to playing real baseball again. It appears that will start with a couple games in Sugar Land at the AAA level, and inevitably, Abreu will return to the Astros. My hope is that the Astros have a very, VERY short rope with him. If Abreu looks just as lost in his first few games back in Houston as he did when he left, then eject, pay the freight, and get him out of here. I hate that a struggling team is wasting valuable at-bats on a guy who is likely washed up.

What will the starting rotation look like come September?
It feels weird to say this about a starting rotation that's been so injured and inconsistent, but the Astros are on the cusp of having a surplus of big league starting pitchers, and Joe Espada is going to have some big decisions to make to whittle what could be a list of nine down to five, maybe six, starting pitchers. Here's how it lays out, as of now:

IMMUNE TO DEMOTION: Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez, Ronel Blanco

AUDITIONING TO KEEP THEIR ROLE: Cristian Javier, Hunter Brown

LIKELY FALL GUY: Spencer Arrighetti

RETURNING WILD CARDS: Jose Urquidy, Luis Garcia, Lance McCullers

Assuming Blanco continuas to pitch the way he has, he's earned a solidified rotation spot, and is truly some nice "found money" here. Javier will likely get every chance to keep his spot, and Hunter Brown has been better, as of late. Of the wounded, Urquidy is the first to return from injury. He'd better string together a few good starts, otherwise Luis Garcia is nipping at his heels, and then there's the wild card that is Lance McCullers, who likely gets some audition starts right away, given his $17 million salary and big game experience. This is a big juncture coming up here for Espada.

Can Kyle Tucker win the AL MVP on a bad team?
Several outlets have Tucker as their American League MVP as of the one quarter mark of the season. At the very least, he is among the top three candidates, and deservedly so. With every home run Tucker hits, and no one has hit more of them in the American League this season, he adds more and more millions to what will inevitably be a gargantuan contract extension in the next year or so. If the voting happened today, Tucker would be dragged down by the 22-28 baseball team for whom he toils. Juan Soto of the Yankees would likely win the award. So, do it for Tuck, guys! In all seriousness, the team needs to minimally be in the playoff hunt for Tucker to get high level MVP consideration.

Does Alex Bregman wake up, and if he doesn't, what does free agency look like?
On the other end of the Astro spectrum sits Alex Bregman, who, like Tucker, is also playing for a big money contract extension. Aside from a 10 game flurry earlier this month, Bregman has been one of the worst hitting third basemen in all of baseball. The defense is still elite, but that doesn't matter as much when Joe Espada insists on placing Bregman at cleanup in the everyday lineup as a walking grenade of suck in between Yordan Alvarez and Jeremy Pena. Bregman is rapidly playing his way into a short term, prove-it contract extension from someone, maybe the Astros, this offseason.

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