Should be a trap door behind the mound through which relief pitcher can crawl out to save time. Put them underground.
I'm very disappointed people don't think we have an ace. Sure he had a down year trying to pitch with a back injury but he was the 2015 AL Cy winner. Can make a case that LMJ even pitched like an ace when healthy, if he overcomes the injuries that young pitchers go through. It's not like they can't get Quintana right now, they feel Martes will be better.
Health is a huge part of the equation for any player's true greatness. There's a litany of guys out there who would have been HOFers had they only stayed healthy.... and in the Astros situation, you're combining two very extremes of the injury scale. One could very well be an over-use type that doesn't fully recover... the other could be a young pitcher with a violent throwing motion, who many expected to succeed mainly as a reliever, who is having elbow/shoulder issues quite early in his career with only a limited number of innings.
This.... I am very skeptical of LMJ's long term ability to remain healthy and remain as a starter. It is why I would move him in the right deal.
I am too, but I also don't see anything wrong with seeing how the first month plays out and then making moves from there.
Play the Mets in Sept and the last 7 gms of the year on the road against the Rangers and Boston. OUCH!!
Very skeptical of his ability to stay healthy long term though I think Astros will stick with him trying to get 2-3 seasons out of him as a starter if possible. I do think Astros would have a tough time trying to trade him. Pitchers with injury concerns that the Astros have traded/not signed have not been making it a full season lately often before season ending injury.
The risk is that the players you might have used in a trade get off to a slow start or get injured, or on the flipside, the players you wanted to trade for start out hot or their teams have a great start. Let's say the Astros get off to a slow start and need pitching, and CWS starts out 20-10. They are almost certain to fade eventually, but it's much harder for them to tell their fans they are giving up on the season in that scenario. Now, you have to trade for a lesser player or a shorter-term rental as a result. It's rare that club-controlled top-tier starters are ever available - if you can get one, you're playing with fire by waiting.
LMJ needs to learn to pitch off his FB more often. It's more of a show-em pitch despite being mid-90s. His curveball usage is unsustainable.
It is pretty disappointing to know that we're not going to address pitching until the trade deadline, but I also understand that teams like the White Sox and Rays are operating from an advantageous position right now. Luhnow is going to gamble (much like he did a couple of seasons ago) that as the deadline approaches, there will be more sellers added to the equation, and more opportunities to make a reasonable deal. Right now, from a supply and demand standpoint, the suppliers have all the chips.
There's also likely to be more buyers... and as Major just eluded to, you now potentially have fluctuating value of possible players you can trade. A.J. Reed (who I was against trading at the time) is a perfect example of a missed tradable opportunity cost.
