This won't happen, but depending on whos healthy and not traded, tandeming theoretically makes sense and would be a good way to limit innings: Keuchel/Devenski 5/2 McCullers/Peacock 4/3 Morton/Fiers 4/4 TBD/Devenski 6/2 McHugh 5 With Sipp, Gregerson, Harris, and Giles in the bullpen picking up the rest. I worry about Devenski's workload. There's not a long track record of guys being used the way he has this season. I'd like to see him get down to pitching 2 innings at a time every 3 days.
isn't it pretty much a given that we are picking up a starter?-Other If not, leave Fiers 5th and move Peacock back to the pen. He will fill the void created when Harris or Devo are unavailable.
I don't think they will tandem everyone, but they should absolutely tandem a couple guys for the next few months. Tandem paulino and Musgrove and fiers and martes. Look at those as 2 off days for the rest of the staff. Whatever happens, happens on those 2 days. No other pitcher pitches regardless of the situation, unless it goes to extra innings or an injury occurs.
Probably better. I don't have a problem with Devenski pitching back-to-back days if its only 1 inning each time. It is somewhat a waste for his arm to only pitch one inning at a time, but there have been former starters who say that pitching short stints more frequently was actually harder for them. The main issue is that Sipp/Gregerson aren't being trusted to pitch in games that are close or with leads (which have been the vast majority of the games this year). Feliz has fluctuated between trying to be prominently featured vs. being cautiously inserted. Hoyt is in risk of losing his spot on the roster if he keeps giving up hits. Any bullpen that only trusts 3 guys (Harris/Devo/Giles) is going to be at risk of fatigue... regardless of what's going on with starters.
Assuming they dont tandem, I think the bullpen should be very trustworthy after they add Peacock and Fiers. In order of "shutdown confidence": Giles Harris Devenski Peacock Gregerson Feliz Fiers Sipp I'd feel pretty good about all of those guys except Sipp coming into a high leverage situation.
Gregerson has been pretty inconsistent... Hinch has used him less and less with leads, and rarely anything past the 7th. Not sure if he's nursing something or hiding something. Feliz has the most upside for somebody who isn't being used consistently in high leverage situations.
This makes sense. Now that I think about it more, the best thing to do may be to just limit all 5 of the starters to 4 or 5 innings, and use the bullpen (which should have 3 multi-inning guys) however is best based on matchups, leverage, and who is rested. That would ensure that innings limits won't be a problem in sept-oct while also allowing Hinch to use the pen how he wants.
For pen, I am fine with Devenski, Giles, Harris, and Feliz. I assume one or two of the guys starting now will go to long relief and give the Astros a much needed bridge to high leverage guys. Hoyt probably needs rest and to rehab on some low leverage situations. I have no confidence in Gregorson and Sipp outside of low leverage situations and even then, I have no confidence. I think pen as a whole will start playing better as soon as they are entering game with two men on less. Hinch has been trying to stretch starters and it has been backfiring a lot. As a result, he brings in reliever in tough situation and then leaves him in next inning to try to limit number of relievers. Reliever gets into tough situation, and next guy up comes in with 2 men on. Rinse. Repeat. I don't fault the guys starting. Paulino and Martes need more seasoning. Peacock has been disappointing with innings, but first 3 or 4 starts were just trying to stretch him out.
It would kind of suck for him, because he's done nothing to deserve a demotion, but this team needs Peacock back in the pen.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/brad-peacock-has-become-a-strikeout-god/ Excerpt below. See link for full article. Something that happens when you start pitching from a lower slot: your pitches move more left and right, and less up and down. Peacock wound up with a fastball with additional tail. And his breaking balls moved more laterally in the other direction. To put it another way, Peacock’s fastball started to bore in on righties, while his breaking pitches broke more toward lefties. This is by no means an unusual profile, but it was all new to Peacock. Suffice to say it took some getting used to.
Astros pitchers have 5 of the 10 most unhittable pitches in the league this season. Wow. Having both Peacock and Devenski in the bullpen as multi-inning shutdown relievers would be a huge advantage. Between that and Harris/Giles, if the starter can get through 6 (or maybe even just 5) with a lead, it's over.
Why are we so freaking good? Why has every single pitcher basically been successful in the majors this year for us? Is our coaches? Are anulitics working for us Erneh? What's the deal? It's amazing whatever it is. Brad Peacock!
We need Gregerson to be his old self again and then the bullpen looks fine without Peacock. I'm pretty comfortable with Hoyt despite the recent struggles. Dude has a 1.66 SIERA and 41ks in 23IP. Most importantly is we need a healthy Keuchel to give us that regular break for the bullpen and somebody else in the rotation to give us 7 innings on a regular basis. Even with LMJ & Morton back, they still struggle to get deep into games.
Gregerson feels like he's been terrible, but his numbers have been really good over the last 45 days. I'm sure Hinch is trying to work him back into high leverage spots, but you can tell he, like all of us, has lost confidence in him., every time he gets touched up. I think he's pretty close to being a reliable arm, but until he does it, he isn't. Hoyt is an astonishing conundrum. He has given up a run in 6 straight appearances, and 8 of his last 9. I keep waiting for his BABIP to regularize, and his K rate to take hold, but he keeps getting hit. I'm starting to get Josh Fields vibes from him. And I've been saying all year we need to define something with Feliz, because he's too talented for no-mans land. I think he could join Peacock, Morton, and Devo in the short burst core.
Had not realized Gregorson had been pitching that well again. It is tough to get over a few really bad innings sometimes as relievers typically pitch so few.
Gregerson hasn't been the same. It isn't that he has felt terrible, so much as he used to feel lock down in the 8th. He's not getting the groundballs he used to. Hoyt is blowing away Fields' K-rate and a .422 BABIP is extreme, even if he does become a guy that gets hit more often.
Yep, which is why, IMO, they HAVE to make a move. The gaggle of starters they have is certainly serviceable-plus - but this 'can't get out of the 5th/6th inning' bullshit needs to stop or the pen is going to be gassed by August.
McHugh may be able to provide that as well. Definitely need to have our pen well rested going into the postseason because we need to be able to lean on those guys in close ball games.
I just looked it up - Gregerson has inherited one (1) runner all year (and he, of course, scored). Harris has 11, Devo 19, Feliz 20. And while he has been much better lately, the situations have almost universally been low leverage. I believe out of his last.... 14 appearances, 7 have been in games where the Astros were up/down 4+. Fairly obvious how much trust Hinch has in Gregerson.
One could make the argument that the pen is gassed now. Question though, who among those being considered in a move pitches seven innings on a regular basis?
