How much longer will Astros lie to themselves with Jose Abreu as top prospect rakes?

If Dana Brown can't see what's going on, it's time for the Houston Astros general manager to get his eyes checked. It's painfully obvious that last year's investment in Jose Abreu was a mistake. The Astros shelled out $58.5 million over three years to bring the former MVP into the fold and take over at first base for the departed Yuli Gurriel.

But Abreu has been a disaster. During his Astros tenure, Abreu is hitting .220/.281/.354. But this season in particular, Abreu's .068/.138/.085 slash line is an absolute embarrassment.

Brown has two options. The Astros top executive can continue to send out Abreu as the team's starting first baseman until the wheels completely fall off (though some may argue that's already happened). Or, Brown can pick up the phone and invite top prospect Joey Loperfido to join the Astros roster. This isn't as difficult as Brown is making it out to be.

Astros need to bench Jose Abreu in favor of Joey Loperfido

Loperfido has the most home runs in all of baseball. That's right, more than Mike Trout, Marcell Ozuna, and CJ Abrams. The Astros prospect has 10 round trippers on the season. Baltimore Orioles outfield prospect Heston Kjerstad is the only other player this season that has hit double-digit homers.

Loperfido has played 19 games at Triple-A Sugar Land this season and is hitting .260/.359/.688. Yes, the 24-year-old is striking out 33% of the time, but at least he's getting wood on the baseball; which is more than Abreu can say. Loperfido also has a 12% walk rate in the minor league this season.

The Astros are struggling to find any semblance of good news this season. The team is off to a horrific start, the bullpen has been a disaster, injuries to the starting rotation have crippled the pitching staff, but because every other team in the AL West is struggling, Houston hasn't played themselves out of contention.

But the longer the Astros cling to this false belief that Abreu will suddenly rebound and become the player he once was, the more likely it is that Houston will fall into a hole that's too deep to climb out of. There's nothing redeeming about Abreu's stats, and there hasn't been since 2022. During his final season with the Chicago White Sox, Abreu's expected slugging percentage was .486. This season with the Astros, it's .157.

Sorry, but it's time for a change.

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