They dont all need gold ribbon credentials. Brandon morrow was dominant in the playoffs last year, before he had to pitch in 6 or 7 straight games because the Dodgers bullpen was depleted. Luhnow lost josh hader for the amazing carlos gomez. Herrera was had for nothing and even though hes had a bad outing recently, he still keeps his head and has a sub 2 era. I dont see the point in settling for Giles, Harris , Joe Smith because statistically the Stros are a good reg season bullpen. I want to go for the jugular, and everyone can see where our weakness is. If the bats dont perform, that's fine, if the starters dont perform, that's fine, because we know they are highly capable and the best talent we can have, but if the bullpen bends over and blows it that is something I cannot live with because we dont want to part with maybe prospects like Fisher ... or a bukauskas, white, reed, davis type on the fringe...
Agree, Fisher and Paulino would be a great return for Britton. I guess I’d be ok with Houston making that deal if they were confident Britton was going to be his old dominant self. But I expect whatever return Baltimore gets to fall short of that.
Replace Giles with Rondon ... but things happen in the playoffs, you're dealing with huge bats every night for a month in the AL, depth is necessary. It's what cost the Dodgers last yr.
You say everyone can see our weakness referring to the pen Yet our pen has the second best era in all of baseball (Arizona) Getting three guys better than Giles, Harris and Smith, and dealing with the money situation around that, isn’t nearly as easy as you seem to think it is And I think everyone here would agree giving up guys like Fisher, White, Reed, Davis for a guaranteed pen upgrade would be good...but again I ask, WHO is available that we know would upgrade us, and could be had for those guys?
Yea as I said earlier if he could be had for a couple of Fisher types, I’d do that. He is a risk but one worth taking at that level The more games he throws looking good, and with no top pen arms on the market really, his price could rise quickly
Giles for Britton? They get a great arm who is controlled but has mental issues We get a rental and move on
That is luhnows job, he has the direct lines. Herrera was available for very little and slipped by right under his nose. Maybe injury concerns , maybe not, but still better than healthy harris , Giles etc. I don't need 3 guys, I need 1 badass and if possible 1 with good to above average stuff. If I had the direct lines to every mediocre and below teams pen, I go through their lineup, use my analytics and scouting reports, get aggressive and not lull myself into a false sense of security. I am privy to info that fans are not, so I know when to push buttons and how to leverage my prospects. I think the actual issue is admitting that it is a bigger problem than the "stats" suggest. Of course I am being picky considering the stros success , but why settle.
@bobrek Any more stats you'd like to post about Giles in save situations? This is why armchair fantasy guys need to know their place
You think they could pull it off. Maybe change of scenery for Giles would to the trick. Of his 34 outings... 1. 14 outings without allowing a hit 2. 11 outings without a run scoring but allowing a hit/hits. 3. 9 outings allowing at least 1 run. (4 of those 9 outings have resulted in 2-4 run disasters. ) Take away his 3 disaster outings and Gile's season doesn't look bad. Use the Jedi mind trick and make the Giles/ Britton trade happen.
The Astros shopping Giles inherently drops his value. On top of that, he is already in arbitration and will get more expensive until he reaches free agency; rebuilding teams don’t have much interest in a reliever like that. I will be absolutely shocked if they trade him this season. Their best hope is that he gets back on track and can re-establish himself as an elite setup man. If he doesn’t have minor league options remaining my advice to Hinch would be to announce Rondon as the closer and proclaim faith in Giles as an elite setup man. Then it won’t be a big deal when he is left off the playoff roster or barely used.
As in, pitching him exclusively in situations where he can't get a save? If the Astros have no intention of using him in the playoffs (which I doubt they do) there is no reason for him to still be in this organization past the trade deadline. His arbitration earnings aren't that cost prohibitive given what a dominant reliever can fetch on the trade market, which rebuilding teams are extremely interested in. We aren't gonna get much in any Giles trade. We trade him now while his value is low, or he suddenly becomes much more consistent and we stick with him throughout the postseason...at which point we won't want to trade him.
Since when are rebuilding teams interested in a dominant reliever (which, ahem, Giles is not as of last night) who is already in abritation? Rebuilding teams want prospects, guys who make the minimum and have 5+ years of control left. There absolutely is a reason for Giles to remain on the team even if they don’t expect to use him (much) in the playoffs; if they think he can be a decent setup man during the regular season, then reset (or shop him) this offseason with the chance he can mature, he makes tons of sense. They probably don’t expect to use Tony Sipp or Will Harris much in the playoffs, and they’re not just releasing those guys.
Do you just struggle with reading comprehension? Bad teams won't want him for themselves, they will want him because they think he can be good enough to flip for a better prospect next year. Bad teams have been getting buy low players forever. We aren't gonna get much for Giles, that ship has sailed.
My reading comprehension is just fine thank you very much. Give me an example of a rebuilding team acquiring a player like Ken Giles (a late inning bullpen arm who is already arb eligible and has recently had a bad run) as a meaningful part of any trade with the intent of rehabbing and flipping. Ever.
Treinen from guys that pitched last night if my memory serves correctly. He was a setup guy that faltered as a closer in Washington.
