Fisher by a mile. Or 2. Or however many bobrek runs at one time. And that's given Fisher's noted issues playing there last year and Marwin's awesome throws from time-to-time. Marwin's got the arm, Fisher has everything else.
I would add Marwin's arm advantage is negated often because he's slow to the ball. That said, Fisher still isn't good defensively. Speed just helps covers up some of his missteps.
Yeah, I kinda covered that. Fisher ain't great, Jake is, but Marwin is terrible. I'd use Marwin to maximize his strengths as a utility guy unless injuries force otherwise, if they really need a vet LFer after a couple of months I'm sure there'll be one to trade for relatively cheaply.
https://amp.mlb.com/264701164-astro...st-in-2018.amp.html?__twitter_impression=true 1) Astros, 98 wins In addition to everything we talked about above, remember that Carlos Correa missed six weeks with a thumb injury and Alex Bregman's monster second half (.315/.367/.536, a 141 wRC+, after a decent .256/.338/.419, 105 wRC+ first half) may have suggested a breakout to come. Sure, a player like Marwin Gonzalez probably isn't going to repeat his unexpected career year, but this team has basically everything.
Long time lurker here. I'm as excited as the rest of you, but I think we should tap the brakes on the statement, "best rotation in the mlb." I have a feeling Yu ends up in the Bronx and likely would give them the crown for best in MLB. The Indians and Yankees + Yu would surely give us a run for our money.
I'd expect more early arrivals... who wouldn't rather train in Florida weather vs what they've been getting here. Now that guys routinely train year-round (no more "off" seasons)... in all sports.... its really almost expected at this point.
What about their rotation looks so great? Severino is great, but otherwise they don't have a single guy that posted a FIP under 4.07 in pinstripes. xFIP paints a little better picture (Tanaka could be in for a bounce back), but still not much special. Meanwhile the Astros, Verlander 2.69, Keuchel 3.79 (xFIP 3.32), Cole 4.08, Morton 3.46, McCullers 3.10, Peacock 3.07, McHugh 3.82 (4.66 xFIP). We have 5 guys who were getting near ace results last season when they pitched, another guy in Cole with ace potential, and our 7th pitcher is a guy in Colin McHugh whose results are very similar to what most of the Yankees rotation has been doing.
Honestly, way too much focus on the Yankees as being their main competition. The Indians are still very much in the thick of things... and wouldn’t be surprising if they finish with he best overall record again.
Astros pitching finished with a 4.12 team ERA and 3.91 team FIP last year. With the improvements that have been made, the team has a real chance of bringing the team ERA under 4 in 2018. If the team can score an average of even 5.3 runs per game (a tick under last year's mark of 5.52), that would be a huge margin between average runs scored vs average runs given up (even if we add in the occasional unearned run).
153 innings of Mike Fiers and his 5.22 ERA were replaced with likely 200 innings of Justin Verlander and his likely low 3's ERA. 26 terrible starts of Musgrove, Paulino, Martes and Diaz were replaced by the at worst average Gerrit Cole. If our ERA isn't under 4 this year, a lot has gone wrong.
