Houston Astros Utility Man Clarifies Comments On Former Team

Mauricio Dubon is back in San Francisco for the first time since he made some choice comments about his old organization.

May 25, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; Houston Astros second baseman Mauricio Dubon (14) high fives teammates after scoring a run Oakland Athletics during the sixth inning at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. / Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

The Houston Astros traveled to San Francisco on Tuesday to face of with the Giants, which marked the first time that Mauricio Dubon has played at Oracle Park since being traded to the Astros is 2022. Houston acquired Dubon from the Giants in May of 2022 for Michael Papierski and immediatley played more games for the Astros than he had ever played in a season.

Dubon struggled in his first 83 games with Houston, but had a career year in 2023. He set career highs in games played (132), home runs (10) and RBIs (46). He was also extremely versatile on defense, playing every position but catcher throughout the season.

He made news in May when the Astros played the Giants for the first time, when Dubon had some choice words about his former team and his playing time with them.

"You'd think I would probably get more playing time," he said at the time. "With Dusty here now, I'm in heaven."

He never mentioned his former manager, Gabe Kapler, by name, but by mentioning then-Astros manager, Dusty Baker, that's seemingly what he was referring to.

In his return to San Francisco, he hopped on with a local radio show, "Papa & Lund," to clarify what he had said last year.

"...It was funny just because all the guys knew what I was talking about. All the guys knew what was going on and everything," he said. "Everything came out the wrong way, honestly."

Dubon went on to say that he later thought to himself that he needed to "clarify" what he meant, and that he was "treated the right way by some people, except for the people making the decisions." While he didn't name any names, that would seemingly refer to Kapler and the Giants' President of Baseball Operations, Farhan Zaidi.

Though Dubon had his issues with Giants management, he did say that he has love for the fans, and was looking forward to being heckled because he used to do it as a kid.

The Astros utility weapon faced some backlash among the Giants fanbase for his comments at the time, but him being traded to Houston seems to have been the best thing for his career. With the Astros, he has been playing nearly everyday since he became an Astro. In San Francisco, under Kapler, there was a lot of lefty-righty splits being played, and Dubon is showing that maybe he should have been playing everyday for them, too.