[Official] Astros @ Rays

Read bobrek's response below.

I cant seem to be able to follow your thoughts/reasoning in your posts.

 

Gurriel is now slashing .321/.345/.446.

Maybe it's not ideal power from a 1B, but give me that line all day. He has been hitting missiles all over the field for the last 2 weeks.

 

I mean the guy did recently hit over 500 in the Cuban league he was in.

Doesn't that translate to a 320-360 average?

Guy is a pure hitter who has needed time to get back in a groove after taking a year off.

 

Can't wait untill Bregman and Correa get their **** together.

 

The guy was pretty much a baseball god in cuba.

 

Scary thing is that it's a when, not an if. When those 2 join in the fun, assuming everyone else continues doing what they're doing, this could be a 1998-like regular season. I just like how they're built right now. McCann and Beltran have brought something to this team that was clearly missing...while they're clearly still having some fun, too.

 

A very good weekend and beating a team at their home park that we have not been not good in the past.

I believe we can still can get better as long as we stay healthy and no major injuries to our core.
Feeling real happy with the rockets making a big push to go deep in this playoffs and this Stros team looking to give us a very special summer!!

 

Brian McCann has accrued 0.6 WAR in 58 PA (14 games)... which is good for 3rd best of all catchers in baseball. Pretty damn good.

 

So how many comebacks on the road now? We are crushing souls

 

I'll gladly take it, but hopefully he'll take a few more walks and those near misses in TB will get out.

 

Love Musgrove's quote after the game: "When you get punched in the mouth, you got to get up and punch back"

 

To be fair, on the flipside, guys like McCann, Marisnick, and Aoki are probably playing above their heads right now. I think the offense is probably about what we should expect with a few guys overperforming and a few underperforming. Correa will certainly get better, but Bregman is really still more of an unknown at this point.

 

For the most part agree with this. I expect offense will average slightly better than it has for the season so far, but with not all the same guys carrying the team. On Bregman, I think we know he likely won't strikeout too much and likely get a fair amount of walks as it i hard to fake contact and an eye for long. Whether he can hit with more authority is to be seen, but even without more power he should be an okay player.

 

Is Jake okay?

 

Lets hope Marwin gets better.

 

While on the subject of expectations, its difficult not to see our pitching regress unless we add a solid starter or get McHugh back in 2014 form.

 

Yep, Keuchel, Devo, and Peacock (gasp!) have been incredible the first 3 weeks. McCullers and the rest of the bullpen have been really good to great, with even Sipp showing signs of a turnaround. Morton and Musgrove have been above average to good. Fiers has been Fiers, and will likely be in long relief or traded by seasons end.

 

Musgrove, Morton and Fiers have ERA's of 5.91, 4.29, and 5.40. Don't see any reason they should get worse, if anything they are likely under performing collectively.

 

With the exception of Keuchel, all of our starters have higher ERAs than xFIP. XFIP has been proven to be better at predicting future ERA better than ERA with less than a season's worth of data. Keuchel and McCullers's health is really only thing that concerns me about starters right now. Other things can go wrong, but as long as those guys are pitching, bandaids should fix everything else.

 

The team can and should consider all move to improve the team, but so far I don't see starting pitching as a need. Keuchel is pitching great, and really Lance is pitching at a Cy Young level himself. Musgrove & Morton have been shaky, but the stuff is impressive. I'm assuming Morton will start getting more groundballs like he has in the past.