Really each of those guys has flashed periods of brilliance. Biagini and Devenski were both dominant in 2016-2017. Smith has had 5 seasons where he was an excellent setup man. We know how good Pressly and Osuna have been. Peacock has posted 5 fWAR over the last 3 seasons. James and Abreu have less track record but both have elite stuff. I am totally fine if Houston doesn’t make any more additions to their pen; I’m stoked about that group’s potential.
Yes, I think as it stands the 26th spot will be a competition between Straw and Toro, although it wouldn’t surprise me if they switched that spot out for a 14th pitcher whenever the pen gets overused. But for opening day and the majority of the season I expect them to carry 13/13.
I will be very surprised if they don’t add a SP. Peacock might be in the opening day rotation but only if there’s an injury.
I think I heard an interview with Brian McTaggart where he said James will be stretched out and given a shot at the rotation. Astros are going to need to use a 10-12 starters this season.
The new rules are a max of 13 pitchers until September 1st when it can move to 14. September calls also moved from a max of 40 to 28
I’d rather have James in the 4th or 5th spot in the rotation. His command is too spotty for a high-leverage, one-inning bullpen role right now. I think he has a better chance of settling into a rhythm with his command in longer outings.
Jeff Luhnow on the #Astros catching situation: “We’re still working on it. We’re still optimistic that we’re gonna get one of our top priority catchers and hoping that that happens before the New Year.” Jeff Luhnow on replacing first base coach Don Kelly: “We’re doing interviews this week. At this point we’re only interviewing internal candidates. We’ll make a decision at the end of this week whether or not we make an offer internally or whether we expand it to talk to others.”
Would be pretty awesome to acquire Contreras and Robbie ray and somehow get off Reddicks contract. Springer Brantley Altuve Bregman Alvarez Yuli Correa Contreras Tucker ^ top lineup in baseball not even close IMO starting staff of verlander, Greinke, Ray, Mccullers, Urquidy/Whitley ^ top 5 rotation in baseball -100+ win team again.
Astros profile for 100+ wins as-is. If they add Ray and Contreras they will be in the 105-110 win projection range.
looked way more like a dead arm to me. Guy did everything the team asked and burned a ton of innings that we needed at that price and control, I’d have likely brought him back
I’m happy for Miley. He was awesome for us from April till end of August. I don’t think returning to Houston was even possible with his September number. But 2Y/15M is a steal for Miley, not Reds.
Even with his meltdown at end of the year he was 16% better than league average. He was a good pitcher. $15m over two years is a steal in this market. He's getting 5th starter money.
