I'll Say This About That - Volume IV

The makeover has begun

There was a time when I thought Mauricio Dubon was a waste of $2,000,000.

It became a joke in my household that my teenager couldn’t resist telling me Dubon was, “your guy” and he and my wife even got me a Dubon jersey for Father’s Day one year.

A funny thing happened on the way to hating Dubon, though. I began to respect his effort, flexibility and willingness to do whatever, wherever the team needed.

I still and always have hated his bat and felt that his offensive contributions were effusively praised and often exaggerated due to his “team first”, “friend of the media” personality.

His best offensive season was never average ( high of 97 wRC+) and got worse every year (97, 86 and 80 wRC+).

His defense was top-notch, winning two Gold Gloves in three seasons and seeing more playing time than the totality of his skills demanded.

That’s the thing. Dubon is made for 250 plate appearances per year, but was forced into 400-500 with the Astros through a combination of managerial stubbornness, injuries and even some deferential treatment for pitchers.

I wish him well in Atlanta.

I don’t know much about Nick Allen, but he was described to me as “one of the worst hitters in baseball” by a trusted source, and sure enough his career 53 wRC+ makes me long for Dubon in the lineup. I kid.

Allen has played mostly shortstop, with a little second mixed in, plus a tiny sample at third. He has not played MLB outfield.

This was a salary dump, with the Astros likely saving between $5 million and $6 million this season, which they can use on pitching.

Other 40-Man Moves

About three seconds after I posted my analysis of the Astros’ 40-Man roster, it changed with Ramon Urias being DFAd and Miguel Ullola being elevated to the 40-Man.

I’ve updated that analysis, but there’ll be more changes coming Friday, so I’ll wait to republish next week after the dust settles.

I thought Urias was a trade or DFA candidate, but admit to being a bit surprised that Urias AND Dubon are now both gone. That leaves Allen to cover both second and short, at least for the time being.

Ullola was obviously being protected from the Rule 5 draft, but he has an interesting profile, with a max 97.3 MPH fastball and a very high walk rate of 6.18 per 9 IP in 2025 and 6.14 per 9 in his MiLB career covering 431 IP.

The good news is Ullola has averaged over 12 strikeouts and less than 6 hits per 9 over his career, but 6 walks per 9 is something that needs to be addressed before the next step is taken.

Can he contribute in 2026? That’s a question I asked Kenny Van Doren of Astros Future.

Contingent upon who Dana Brown can sign this offseason for the rotation, Kenny believes Ullola has the skills to contribute, but is better suited as a spot starter and reliever at this point of his career due to the command issues discussed above.

With the additions of Ullola and Allen and the subtractions of Urias and Dubon, the Astros remain at the 40 limit.