So what is Brice Matthew's ceiling ? He doesn’t really strike me as a future star / solid journeyman ? Bench player ? Long-term starting position player ? Or do we have higher hopes?
It’s all about how much he can improve his contact rate on good fastballs. He has a high floor due to defensive versatility and ability and power and speed, so he should be able to carve out a half decade as a decent bench player. His ceiling is very high, he could be a superstar if everything breaks right. But to me most likely he is a fringe regular 2B/CF who is really exciting to watch because he makes a lot of great plays in the field, hits homers, and steals bases, but very frustrating because he strikes out way too much.
So happy we turned it around so quickly after going 0-2. -LMJ looked great! Espada did his thing trying not to accept "win" meaning he often pushes pitcher who needs confidence inning too far. Hopefully we don't hear news this week what those 7th inn. stress pitches did to Lance's arm. -Yordan looks like Yordan. Please stay healthy. League has heard the loud noise and know he's coming for all you b*tches. -Altuve looks focused and relaxed. Even the yips on defense seem to be gone. He was walking and getting even oppo hits which was great but mind wandered to could he still go for the Crawford boxes and he answered on that too. Please Espada don't panic about your own job and give Altuve some rest this season. When Altuve tires and goes to funk instead of resting him Joe usually tries to let him play out of it exhausted. -Correa looks great on D as always. Somehow he looks to lack confidence in the box. Is the power now gone with injuries? I will take those slap hits especially in risp sit.but we would need some power from top 5 lineup bat. -Pitchers overall looked like a*s but we will fix that. If bats would be dead I would be more worried as continued trend. As long as Espada is't shooting Hunter on short rest and using Hader multiple inn. and stays away from day to day pitching related stuff. -ABS. There is quite a difference how teams used it. Will we have catcher WAR stat for this next season? . I like the system so far. The option for good eyed batter to say to umpire "no you won't ring me up...." and also prevent those legacy strikes from HOF pitchers barn door strike zone is fine with me. Never liked the Maddux era (early 2000s too) zone where top was batters nuts and it was wide us fk low as long as pitcher hit the mitt. Also ABS prevents umps gifting calls to known good eye batters as long as catcher is top of this.
Sucks Cole broke his toe. At least the Astros were upfront about the injury and we didn't hear about "toe discomfort" for a month before they told the truth.
I am so happy for Lance. Man, nights like last night make me love sports (when I don’t hate them). You never know when something special will happen. Maybe this is his last shining moment in the sun. Maybe it’s going to be a bounce back season for the aged. Hopefully it will be fun to watch.
Completely agree with this. Lance had a low stress low pitch count, the team has a comfortable lead, and the bullpen had heen very taxed with many of the best arms unavailable, or at least weary. I have b****ed about Espada's pitching choices, especially leaving guys in too long, but not last night.
I wouldn’t have been mad if Espada pulled him after 6IP, given it is the first start of the year, lances history, and the desirability of getting Lance off to a good start. But, Lance had cruised through 6 and our pen was taxed, so I also did not object to sending him out for the 7th, especially given the score. Perhaps I would have pulled Lance a batter earlier, but that ended up working out. Overall, I was fine with Espada’s choice to give Lance the 7th given the pen and scoreboard. Likewise, I am happy with Espada’s lineups thus far. If we had an impact bat after Paredes, the offense could really hit another level. Pena, Yordan, Paredes is about as good as it gets for us. So far, it looks like Altuve or Walker are the best bets to fill that cleanup role. Correa is providing platinum glove level defensive value, but I don’t know if he can be a consistent threat with the bat.
I know burrows, Imai, and Javier got hit but I saw enough from them that I know they will be effective more often than not. Javier was throwing 94 mph which is near his peak abilities. Imai’s stuff is still filthy when he can throw strikes. The guys just need to attack the zone especially with the new system.
I'd probably have pulled him earlier, especially given his history. I'm not one who wants an angry mob to burn down Castel Espada, though, for one outing. Granted, I would prefer a more flexible bullpen than the Astros' mostly 1-inning outing for middle relievers, as I would try to protect the starters and the high-leverage relievers. I was happy Weiss went 2 innings.
Looking at the savant data from their starts all 3 guys had the stuff you’d want to see. I expect Burrows to rapidly improve over the next few starts. Imai may take a little while to get acclimated but I don’t think he’ll be bad, just inconsistent. Javier I am cautious of, he is such an odd pitcher that it’s hard to tell how/why he’s successful or not successful. So far all the pitchers look good in terms of stuff except maybe Abreu, who might be hurt or just going thru nerves of a walk year and closer role. Imai needs to find his command, which is understandable given the change he’s going through. Roddery Munoz has an insane slider but needs to be able to throw another good pitch. Otherwise I expect good things from this staff in the short term. Okert, King, Weiss, Blubaugh, Teng, Brown, McCullers, and Burrows all look like they could be really really good this year.
He's only an odd pitcher when his fastball defies gravity by a lot. Early returns are that his fastball has gained about 0.5-1 inch of drop. I don't think he's going to be successful the way he pitched unless his fastball bounces back. This isn't to say he can't change, but I doubt he can be a FIP-beater without generating a ton of pop-ups.
IIRC Javier starts the game with a 94 mph fastball but he fails to maintain that velocity into games. This is just the start of the season, so he might be able to build his stamina as the season develops. Worst case, he lands in the bullpen as a long reliever ... long as in as long as his FB is working.
Among all Astro pitchers who have been given a regular rotation spot in the last 6 or 7 years, Javier always had the smallest margin for error. I think confidence is a big issue for him. If he doesn't have the same whiff rate on his 4 Steamer then he needs to be committed and confident in using his other pitches more. To me, he looks like the 5th, and possibly 6th starter. If he stays healthy and is able to start 20 times while keeping the team in those games it should be good enough. Hopefully Blanco and/or Wesneski can show they are healthy before the season ends.
Arrighetti was good in the minors. They are rightly stealing a year from him and he can’t even b**** about it considering the lousy season he had last year and a slow spring. If LMJ resurgence is real then yeah- we got something going boys.
