Uh...other than all of last year's video, a full Spring Training, and the thought that they now have to scout him (along with all of their coaches), as opposed to last year when he was a Rule 5 nobody?
Wasn't he good enough April - July that all that information already existed? What did he add to his repertoire or do differently in the last two months that he didn't do the first 4? The only thing August and September proved last year was that April-July was not a fluke.
More exposure and sample sizes and the time to find patterns. Familiarity breeds contempt, or something like that. I guarantee that you and I saw every single pitch of his that the Rangers did last season, now they have the chance to see them all again another 100 times before the season starts.
Are all pitchers who start out great stay great? Why has McHugh regressed every year since his great rookie debut? I do think Devenski is a tremendous bullpen weapon (Andrew Miller lite)... but if they try and make him a starter, his stuff is very likely to be overall less effective and he won't have the game by game impact.
http://climbingtalshill.com/2017/01/22/astros-rotation-charlie-morton-not-locked-in-the-rotation/ Back in December, Luhnow said, “Charlie Morton has some really good major league weapons, and if he’s healthy, he’s a top of the rotation MLB-caliber arm.” I guess we already have our #1 SP.
Luhnow's not wrong, particularly if the stuff he showed last year is legit. Problem is he never stays healthy. I suppose the good news is that it has been things that aren't necessarily likely to happen again. They always seem to be new injuries to a different part of his body, but like Jed Lowrie, I just assume his body is made of glass.
I believe it was the Baseball America podcast, but I recall some analysts praising the amount of quality, young arms across HOU's system. They suggested that although HOU is already very good on paper, HOU has the depth to add salary and a TOR arm via trade basically whenever HOU so chooses. My guess is that Luhnow knows this, and is thinking "we don't need that arm at that price yet". It wouldn't surprise me if Luhnow is merely betting on players to either 1) re-establish their market value (e.g., Reed, Cameron, Moran), or 2) to maintain or exceed their current value (e.g., Musgrove, Martes, Paulino, Tucker). Yes, this is all a gamble, and it may eventually be said that a trade today is the smarter move. Appel is Exhibit A of just how fluid prospect analysis is...he probably could've been the centerpiece to a Donaldson deal. I just think Luhnow looks at our farm, likes the depth, thinks that most of our players will meet or exceed market expectation, and that we'll end up with the TOR arm and the better price when we need to make that move.
Moved in to a new place this weekend. Decided to try out the new bar next door. Clutch Bar. Apparently Dallas Keuchel is one of the investors. He showed up with some friends outside and I went out and got a picture with him. Pretty cool dude.
Jose DeLeon ranked #24 in BA's top 100 prospects in 2016 and the #8 RHP in 2017. His acquisition may make it more palatable for TAM to move Archer, especially if they struggle early and receive a haul. DeLeon tossed 17 IP in the majors last year.
They reportedly wanted DeLeon + 2 prospects. Not crazy given Dozier's production last year. Could see him moved closer to the deadline.
Hopin that opens the door for an Archer trade this week. Also saw the Cubs signed Brett Anderson for $3.5M. I think that's a great deal for Chicago and would've much preferred Anderson for $3.5/1yr over Morton for $14M/2yrs. I also would've preferred Rasmus over Aoki, but overall pretty happy with Houston's offseason (not landing an ace being the exception).
He only has two years left on deal. He'll have burnt through 25% of his value to Twins by the deadline and not sure if he'll still be worth a prospect of DeLeon's quality (sharp drop in quality from lower elite prospects to bottom half of top 100) . Also. I'm not sure that a contender will need a 2B. Seems like a huge risk to me to win a couple more games this year.
Hopefully this works, not sure how to post pics really. Just emailed it to myself and copied the URL. EDIT: crap, didn't work. if you or somebody could let me know how to put a pic on here I got em.
