Deserves its own thread... Pitchers Devenski Giles Gregerson Harris Keuchel Liriano McCullers Morton Musgrove Peacock Verlander Catchers Centeno Gattis McCann Infielders Altuve Bregman Correa Gonzales Gurriel White Outfielders Beltran Fisher Maybin Reddick Springer
Gregerson over McHugh is really my only gripe. Gregerson straight sucks, and I also don't trust in McCullers right now if we need a long man. McHugh has experience and should've made the roster.
Same reaction... but if McHugh is not starting, what role was he going to play? He's not acclimated to the bullpen like Liriano is. I would have preferred him over McCullers for the sole fact that I don't think LMJ is healthy.
Yeah, I understand the theory of it, but I'd rather have a rightie who can get someone out than a leftie who usually doesn't. Liriano is hot garbage.
to be fair Liriano has pitched pretty well to end the season. but regardless hopefully these bats stay hot!
I honestly would have dumped White or Centeno to get McHugh and/or possibly Clippard on the roster. This pitching staff can be so Jekyll and Hyde that I'd rather go with another arm than another bat.
Huh? If Giles, Musgrove, Devenski, Harris, McCullers, Liriano.... all fail... in addition to the starters... the Astros aren't winning this series. Centeno allows them to play Gattis at DH against lefties. White is a reasonable PH option who can play 1B if a game goes into extras.
It was fairly predictable that McHugh was going to be left out if they were confident that McCullers arm/back passed the test. Gregerson is the last man out of the bullpen at the moment... behind McCullers and Liriano. He's not been good for most of the year. And yet despite all of that, his bullpen experience and his playoff experience (along with being a veteran) were enough to get him on the roster over McHugh.
With Devo, Morton, Peacock and McCullers a long man shouldn't be necessary. Worst come to worst and we have to waste some bullets in one of the early games, we can always deactivate a guy like Fisher or Centeno and bring in McHugh. If we make it through to the ALCS, I would be shocked if McHugh isn't on the roster for a 7 game series. As I figured, the Astros couldn't resist LMJ's wipeout stuff. When you can tell a guy like him to just throw as hard as possible and literally try to strike out everybody for 2 or 3 innings, it's very hard to pass up. Same can be said for Morton. McHugh has good stuff, but it isn't close to the overpowering stuff those 2 bring.
Looking at how these two wildcard games went, I'd have preferred both of these guys so we have more long relief guys that can go 3-4 innings if truly needed. If Peacock and Morton have back-to-back short outings in Boston, it would be nice to have 2 extra SP's to fill in there.
I was under the impression you could only make changes for injury? Assuming neither of those two guys starts the first two games, it's going to be hard to claim they got injured, I'd think. With Peacock/Morton presumably starting, only Devo and McCullers are long-guys. Musgrove could get you 2 - not sure if his effectiveness drops substantially after that. None of the SP's in the wild card games (including a pair of aces) made it out of the 3rd inning. I'd be concerned with not having McHugh - he's more valuable as an 11th guy than a Gregerson, IMO. I'd also have considered 12 pitchers. I doubt our 14th hitter is ever going to play, but I could see the 12th bullpen guy having a role.
Don't think so. The only time they can make a change mid-series is if someone gets hurt. And if they do that, the injured player has to sit out next series, IIRC.
Theres situations that calls for all of our concerns. I'd like to think the stros take care of business against Boston
Only if they put someone on the DL, then that person is also ineligible for the next series. If they do DL someone in the middle of a series, that player can be replaced by anyone in the organization, whether they're on the 40-man or not as long as that player was in the organization as of the Aug 31 deadline. eta: looks like it's not just a DL thing in-between series. After the '15 ALCS, the Royals added Mondesi Jr. to their WS roster by DFAing Joba Chamberlain (who was postseason eligible) and adding Mondesi to the 40-man.