I do wonder if we will see the opener deployed for the 3-5 spots in Houston’s rotation. It looks similar to Tampa’s from last season. I think McCullers and Urquidy could both put up some insane numbers if deployed that way, and it would keep their inning counts down. 1 Verlander 2 Greinke 3 Opener followed by McCullers 4 Opener followed by Urquidy 5 Opener followed by Pruitt Openers: James, Abreu, Smith Long/Middle relievers: Peacock, Devenski, Biagini Late innings: Osuna, Pressly
I'm really not a fan of the opener. It seems like a weird gimmick that burns a pitcher more than anything. I am on board with something like a tandem system with guys like James/Peacock being allowed to go multiple innings every few days instead of single inning appearances. Save for the top 2, we have a ton of pitchers/prospects who can't really be counted on for more than 5 right now. I wouldn't mind a little structure to how we use them
Guys...how far can you get before LOL’ing. What a terrible article and stance. My god. How blind are people these days? Some of the quotes are just...is Yahoo! now The Onion?
Rays didn't have Cole and JV last season, but still pitched great. They took Astros to elimination game in playoffs. I don't expect Astros to use it except for maybe emergency replacement starters, but there aren't many teams with the top end pitching talent Astros have.
Media is about to get really humbled... they started to believe their hyperbole and over-the-top sanctimony regarding common-place practices of the effects of deciphering signs. In the end, this is nowhere near a steroid/PED like effect on the game or a team. Their numbers will be as good if not better than they were last year. Their pitching has never benefitted from any of this. It wouldn’t take much from a responsible/level headed journalist to put an article out there trying to put a stop to the conspiracy theories and to remind everybody exactly why the Astros are really good.
Rays didn’t use openers for Morton, Glasnow, Snell, or McKay. They only used it for starters who weren’t very good (Yarbrough, Chirinos, Pruitt, Richards, and Beeks). As Houstons rotation currently sits, whoever wins the 5th starter job (likely Pruitt or Peacock) is likely going to have an opener. McCullers and Urquidy are good enough that it might not make sense to have an opener, but they both will have innings concerns, so even if they start games they will probably only go 4-5 innings, which means another guy will have to throw 2-3 innings behind them.
Always believe the odds. Fans and journalists can squawk all they want, but the over/under in Houston’s 2020 wins hasn’t changed; it’s still 96-97 games. The people who know and who are invested in it know the sign stealing didn’t have a meaningful impact on the outcomes.
Which only serves to further embarrass the talking heads who have wrote/tweeted/voiced their way into a corner. and I’m sure they’ll blame the Astros for when that happens.
Anything Yahoo! does is straight up trash. In a world full of bad “journalism”, Yahoo! is the absolute worst of the worst.
he had a bounce back season last year. I don’t see where exactly he fits...but maybe this is Click’s first splash!
Peacock had a couple rough outings last year, but he's been great in the first inning generally. His problem is lasting late in the game. Pruitt and Armenteros are guys I see needing the opener, but I see them as emergency/replacement starters.
As much as I disliked the Baker hire, I equally love the Click hire and the GM role was definitely more important
To platoon with Tucker or Reddick, and give Brantley and Alvarez days off against tough left-handed starting pitchers.
An opener is designed to help a pitcher go deeper into games. Unless fatigue is a bigger issue than times through the order, an opener should help. I'm not really counting on Dusty to implement an opener.
Will be interesting to see how Dusty and the analytics department work together this year. I presume that if the analytics dept says he should use an opener for specific games he would comply. Never know though.
I would be pretty surprised if McCullers doesn't have an opener. Perfect way to help hold his innings down. Could see more of a two inning opener with a guy like Peacock, then ask Lance to get through the 6th and get to the end of the pen.
Hopefully now that we have a GM a Reddick trade is in the works, Pence RH bat would pair much better with Tucker