I rarely armchair manage - but Hinch's growing propensity for pinch-running for White late in games - with Marisnick, no less - has tested my resolve as I find the practice of 1) taking your (currently) 2nd best bat out of the line-up; and 2) burning your best defensive OFer on a pinch-running assignment all kinds of maddening. ESPECIALLY in September when they could've called up Fisher at ANY point to fill Hinch's need to replace White on the bases. So the Straw promotion at least addresses one of those poor decisions. As for the other, my hope is that he stops taking Tyler White out of games. Full stop. It possibly cost them Friday night's game, and possibly cost them the Sunday night game in Boston, too, as Hinch left Marwin in LF for the B9 because he'd used Marisnick to PR for White in the 7th. ARGH!
Waste an entire roster spot on a guy that may get into a game or two? Last year, Fisher was on the roster out of necessity. Tell you what...if both Marisnick and Straw are on the ALDS, ALCS or WS roster, I'll add $50 to my contributing member status. If not you pay $50 and become a contributing member. Only caveat is no disabling injuries to Springer or Reddick.
I’m not making a bet on that. I’m laying out the thought process for why I thought he might get some run. He’s more likely to be on the roster than Tucker. They might go 13 position players and 12 pitchers in the Alds but if they go 14/11 there’s room for a PR.
Yeah. ALDS they might go 14/11. After that it will be 13/12 and no room for a PR. Unless they want to do something like leave kemp off the roster. Which I don’t see. The point is, over a short series it’s not about who is the best player it’s about who has the most useful skill. The regular season with 162 games and shuffled lineups is a time for generalists. The post season where your best player play every day is a time for specialists.
Yeah...I got to thinking about that last night. Didn’t he have to be in the 40 man prior to September 1?
Does anybody else think this poster is Caneregro or what ever his name was? I feel the Delgado post is coming soon. He is Tony La Russa-esque in his obsession with righties and lefties.
No, Straw IS eligible for the post season. Literally anyone in the organization on 8/31/18 at 11:59:59 pm is eligible, there is no 40 man roster requirement (that's an old rule that got changed something like 10 years ago. Kaplan article today: https://theathletic.com/530009/2018...e-astros-pinch-running-specialist-in-october/ Note- I'm not guaranteeing I'm correct or anything. I'm not basing my prediction on this article (I made my prediction before the article came out reading the tea leaves from the FO). I'm not saying Kaplan has any inside information. I'm merely saying that the idea of dismissing Straw from the 25, out of hand, doesn't comport with reality. You might not like it- but the organization thinks this way- and Lunow is on record as saying he thought about bringing Straw up for October LAST year, when he was not nearly as refined at his craft as he is now. It should have been really obvious when Staw got the call before Tucker that he's waaaaay more likely to have the 25th spot on the roster than Tucker is. Now, if Springer or Reddick got hurt Tucker is more likely to have a spot as a replacement for one of those guys than Straw. Straw isn't the replacement for anyone on a post season roster- he's a specialist to steal a bag, go 1st to 3rd or 1st to home or 2nd to home where a slower guy might not be able to, late in a close game, and then play defense (possibly) to finish it out, if need be.
You are correct...but not for the reason you mention. There is still a 40-man requirement by 8/31. A team can petition to add a player, provided they were in the organization before 8/31,t not on the 40-man IF they are replacing a player that was moved to the 60-day DL Straw "replaced" Gustave who was moved to the 60. http://m.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/postseason-eligibility
I shorthanded my response bc it’s not interesting (to me at least) and the point is the same. From the days of K-Rod with the angels in 2002 not being on the 40 man roster but playing in the playoffs to now, no player that an organization wants to be on the playoff roster has failed to be on the playoff roster. Straw is absolutely eligible to play. Any organization anywhere can juggle things to out anyone in their org on 8/31 on the playoff roster.
See if we can still go after Realmuto. While he'll now have one less year of team control, the price will probably be higher (if he's on the market) due to his monster season, and the fact that Miami appears to be ahead of schedule with the rebuild. Look, I know most of the best hitters seem to be placed in the outfield, but let's face it, outfielders seem to be pretty common, and our system is full of them. Speedy, strong-armed centerfielders clearly provide the best value, but we have Jake and Straw. They did put Tucker in center for one inning last July/August, but I think he's limited to just the corners. Our OF depth is fine. And catching will be weak. Not sure about Stassi/Stubbs next year, too young, and Stassi is overrated as hell. McCann is gone, and Maldo is a FA, and despite his cannon arm, his tagging/receiving skills have not been too great.
I am not seeing it; kind of like he is not seeing the ball at the plate. For a "great" up and coming hitter, he can't hit.
Tucker's problem with hitting is on balls he hits 100 mph+. His K rate is good. His BB rate is good. He gets okay production when he hits the ball weakly. League average wOBA is 0.808 for 100 mph+ EV. Tucker is at 0.135 when he knocks the crap out of the ball. He hits the ball hard often and that is killing his production. If Tucker's 100 mph+ batted balls produced value at a league average rate, he'd be the 4th best hitter on the Astros with everything else staying the same.
