Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell on Astros' early season struggles: 'They have to start winning games'

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A round of golf can't even keep Jeff Bagwell's mind off the Astros' early-season struggles.

"Everybody is asking me how I'm doing," Bagwell told ABC13 Wednesday, prior to the Brothers in Arms Foundation's fourth annual celebrity golf tournament at The Club at Carlton Woods Creekside. "I'm miserable. My family and my life (are) great, but I live it every single day with this team. I'm in the box with these guys. I'm on the mound with these guys."

Bagwell, a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, played his entire career with the Astros. He currently serves as a senior advisor to owner Jim Crane and the team's baseball operations department. Bagwell has watched the club lose 10 of its last 13 games en route to a 7-and-17 start, the second-worst winning percentage in the American League.

"I can state the obvious: Our starters are giving up runs in the beginning, and we're giving up runs late," Bagwell noted. "It's very hard on the offense when you're behind all the time - you start pressing. And you have this thing where you're supposed to be great and things are going bad and snowballing. Everything that could possibly go wrong is going wrong. This team can roll off 10 wins in a row, but it's got to start tonight. They have to start winning games. Just winning series, don't worry about anything else."

Before the Astros hired Dana Brown to replace James Click as general manager following the 2022 season, Bagwell played an integral role in the signing of free agent first baseman Jose Abreu. Entering Wednesday, Abreu had four hits in 62 at-bats this season.

"It's certainly not from a lack of caring or a lack of effort - he works as hard as anybody," Bagwell said of Abreu and his .065 batting average. "When you get older and you struggle, it's a lot more difficult. The old saying, 'You can't teach an old dog new tricks?' He's got to learn some new tricks right now. The only one (who) can do this is him. I do feel bad. I feel bad for the team, I feel bad for Jose - but it's not just Jose. We have a lot of things that have gone wrong."

The Brothers in Arms Foundation, founded by legendary quarterbacks Andre Ware, Vince Young, and Warren Moon, raises money for diversity scholarships awarded to students who grow up in a single-parent home.

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