So are we all hoping Fisher and Reed destroy in Spring Training to raise their trade value? Those guys and the young bucks dueling it out for bullpen/#5 spots are what we shall be primarily concerned with, right? No one seems to be talking about Cionel Perez. He's my dark horse to make the opening day roster. The health of Altuve, Correa, and Bregman are also important imo. What happens if Whitley comes in and throws completely lights out. Any chance he is our #5 starter? Highly doubtful, but him and Martin playing well would give me that warm and tingly sensation inside only young pitching prospects can provide
There’s really nothing either Reed or Fisher can do in spring training to significantly change their trade value. And really there’s nothing Reed can realistically do in AAA to raise his stock; he’s just going to have to hope a team pries him away, or wait for an injury to White/Gurriel, or wait until next season when he’s out of options. Fisher could raise his stock if he has a monster year where he strikes out less while maintaining his power and showing he can play CF (duplicating his 2017 AAA performance would be good).
There's no chance whatsoever Whitley starts the season or is our number 5 starter for most of the season. His career high in innings pitched is 92, and he only threw 52 last season. He will start the season in AAA, and will likely see fairly limited use during the first half of the season. I'm sure the Astros want him as a possible October weapon, so they will be judicious with his usage to keep him available. At this point there's not much use wasting many more innings in AAA for Whitley aside from the needed innings to build arm strength. I'm honestly curious how they will go about it, do they shut him down for a stretch or do they just give him some really short outings over the first 4 months. Martin on the other hand is ready for a heavier workload, we could probably get him up to 150 innings or so. No chance he starts the season on the roster either, but I think we could see a lot of him this season if he dominates in AAA.
There are enough stretched out arms slotted for AAA that they could easily do a piggyback rotation where Whitley is limited to 3-5 innings each outing for the first 2-3 months of the season. Somebody like Sneed or Bostick could be his partner.
Whitley will be in AAA even if he strikes out every batter he faces in spring training. If they held him in AAA for 12 days they gain an extra year of control. Would you rather have 2 extra starts or another year of control? It wouldn't look great but the Cubs did it to Kris Bryant. Also, Whitley hasn't thrown one pitch in AAA and like others have said... he needs to limit his innings early in the season so he can possibly contribute down the stretch. I think Perez has a really good shot to make the roster in the bullpen. Fisher and Reed can't do much to significantly increase their trade value, but hey every bit helps. Let's hope they all rake during spring training.
I bet we hold him down even longer than that. We need to worry about him being available for the postseason. Walker Buehler needs to be the model on how we utilize Whitley.
Heard Machado to Padres next week from someone who's close with a top prospect in that farm system. Figured I'd share the news, personally don't believe it... but take it for what it's worth. Maybe we start seeing the FA ball get rolling.
Maybe the staph infection messed his swing up and he was battling it all year? If he can return to anything even close to 2017 our lineup will be awesome.
Regarding Kemp and Marisnick: “There are definitely configurations where they’re both on the team,” Astros president of baseball operations Jeff Luhnow said. “In fact, (a roster with 13 position players is) probably more likely this year than it would have been last year.” .... “We’re not going to make that decision until the very end,” Luhnow said. “But if I had to draw it up right now, that’s probably how I would draw it up because then we get to keep all of our players happy and productive and motivated.” Source: https://theathletic.com/824514/2019...ing-training-roster-tony-kemp-jake-marisnick/
Them keeping 13 players has never been in doubt for me. I've just always assumed Tucker will have a spot unless he bombs in camp. If they are gonna keep him in AAA to start the season, then it's pretty cut and dry.
