Move McCullers and James to the pen if Verlander comes back.... it isn’t perfect but likely good enough.
I keep seeing the assumption that more Astros starters don't get hurt such that 1 or 2 can be moved to the pen. I suspect more starters will go to the IL and guys from the pen or CC will have to start.
Maybe the Verlander injury has me paranoid, but Valdez is the only starter that hasn't looked tired after three inninge of work if that. I'd guess worse solely because a watched reliever always seems worse than an unwatched reliever.
Yep, my qualifications for the pen are myriad: Can you throw the ball? Can you throw the ball over the plate? Can you throw the ball over the plate with some semblance of skill? Boom...sign him up.
Javier looks fine after 3... but I agree with your premise... 6 innings now is 8 innings a couple years ago.
Well the good news is our young relievers have skill and “stuff”. The bad news is they don’t know the difference between a ball and a strike.
I can go the whole game!! Took a 6-2 lead into the 6th inning of a Little League championship game. I owned them all night. Got the first batter out and then the next guy reached on an error. Coach came to the mound and said don't you think we should let someone else pitch? He put Andy in the game. Andy tosses the first pitch over the umpire's head and off the backstop. Game ends on a walkoff 7-6 defeat and I'm stuck with a 2nd place trophy my whole life because Andy had to get his chance to pitch in a championship game. I mean mugged the coach the whole time at the trophy ceremony. Took Andy deep the following season too.
You're first in our hearts though. That's a quality story. ****in' Andy. Bubba Crosby and Cheo Jr both took me deep (and I mean deeeep) when I was 15 at some bs tournament game (****ing Crosby was about 2 years younger, cocky s.o.b. playing with the big kids, Jose Jr and his dad were cool as hell), only gave up 1 other hit over 2+ but I didn't get to throw to them again, coach pulled me between innings with them due up..."time for someone else to pitch" he said. I made contact off of Kelly Wunsch. Never saw the first pitch, just heard it, but dammit if I didn't ground out a couple of pitches later. Those are my brushes with greatness.
I used to run into Jose Jr at the Sharpstown batting cages regularly. He was a nice kid, always smiling.
Matt Albers was a couple years behind me. One of my best friends made it to AAA with Tampa. I was shocked because he wasn't that good but a lefty pitcher. He had a nice performance though for UH in a playoff game that Tony Gwynn was one of the announcers. Gwynn talked him up and I think it got him drafted. I had to stop playing in highschool because I got really sick from an allergic reaction to medication. Was homebound pretty much my entire junior year. One of my neighbors growing up was best buds with Matt Carpenter. They both played together in high school. The kid blew his arm out and needed TJ. It ended his career. I remember when Matt Carpenter got a 50 million dollar contract from the Cardnials. That was tough day for that kid.
YES! Great friend of mine grew up in Sharpstown so I went there often. What was the park that we used to play at...Bayland?
I'm guessing this is part of how the Astros develop pitchers that are raw, but have one or two pitches that has good shape. It seems they try to get these guys throwing close to max effort in hopes of developing a deadly weapon with 1-2 pitches playing off it, and then try to get them to control it and build endurance over the years. This type of strategy would increase Ks and BBs. The ones that succeed become like Urquidy and Javier. The ones that don't torment Buck in the pen. Granted, it could just be coincidence that Astros have a lot of guys wild AF at the same time with great stuff.