Agree but McCullers would still be huge for us in the playoffs. He would fill in long relief and extra closer roll for us. He brings a fear element to the back of the pen only Osuna can bring. Hope he can be ready for the playoffs. Yes.... Astros need to start thinking about McCullers as a elite closer. This will be 3 years in a row he has been injured and this year was the most he had ever pitched in MLB with 126 innings. It is what it is. Even if this is minor, I would expect to shut him down during August.
Don't like Altuve is being examined...hope that is just precaution and not that his knee still feels bad. Surprised Chris Devenski is being checked out.... I thought he went on the DL because he was out of options and has been terrible lately. Expected McCullers to be examined and fully expect him to be shut down for a minimum of a month based on his August 2016 injury that kept him out for the rest of the season. Not expecting great news with McCullers and I hope I'm wrong.
McCullers fastball velocity dipped in the 4th which is associated with the elbow pain he was feeling. Expecting the sprained elbow as reason. Hoping its a minimal sprain. Anything big, and he will be looking at surgery and we may not see him next year on top of the rest of this year. Over Dramatic Prediction: Will come back with same velocity as before and will become the a dominant Astros reliever.
Agree.... I don't think the Astros can keep throwing him out there as a starter. If Lance McCullers wants a long career....he needs to step into the elite closer role. He has the stuff to be one of the best. He is only 24 and has been injured 3 years straight. As a closer, he would pitch a max of 70 innings.
And now Hinch saying he might go 4 man rotation. That kind of surprises me. If they continue to get a little daylight and have a 7 or 8 game cushion here when they get home to Houston I wouldn't be surprised to see that plan change again. Peacock is pretty obviously not needed in the bullpen and has been relegated to longman/mop up, so yeah, I'd personally stretch him out and start him and use a 5 man rotation if there's a decent amount of separation in the division so that you limit other guys innings.
Yeah but with the Osuna you might have your closer of the future through 2021. Lance just might be a starter that you want to keep around 130 or so innings a year. Or, maybe not. I don't know. He's certainly capable of being a weapon in the bullpen. But, going to the bullpen and having to answer the bell 60 or 70 times a year has it's own stresses different from starting 30 times.
I am pretty sure that when Altuve, McCullers, Correa are done with the Syndicate, they will return to duty. I feel better knowing they are out there protecting the world.
We're talking 10 potential starts between now and the end of the year (and it could be less, given The good news is, last year we carried 12 pitchers for the playoffs. The four starters (JV, Keuchel, LMJ, and CFM) pitched 108.1 playoff innings combined. If we can repeat that, you're swapping out LMJ for Gerrit Cole. The relievers combined for 50.1 innings - the most of which were Peacock's 12. Giles and Devo each pitched about 8. As of now, the playoff staff without Lance would be: JV Cole Keuchel Morton ===== Osuna Rondon Pressly McHugh Peacock Sipp Smith Devo Harris is on the outside looking in. For the ALDS, we're likely dropping either Smith or Devo as well. That's actually a pretty tough roster call if Lance ends up being healthy enough for a pen role. This is where the Whitley injury hurts -- he'd probably be in contention for a spot start / playoff role (a la rookie David Price).
Armenteros, James and Valdez are legitimate prospects. They aren't just some scrub minor leaguers. Not sure if they are starters long term, but capable arms. Thornton is more of a fringey type, but not without potential. Rodgers is probably only mentioned because he's already on the 40, he still isn't back all the way.
Josh James is the only guy on that list whose minor league numbers give me any level of confidence in him starting on the big club. 154 strikeouts in 99 innings between AAA and AA. Limits batters to a .180 BA, 1.07 WHIP. I'd give him a chance for a few starts if they wanted to keep Peacock and McHugh in their current roles.
Why? Valdez has 120K:29BB in 94.1 IP this season, which is damn impressive. Armenteros has put up good numbers throughout his minor league career. Trent Thornton has enjoyed a great season, but his track record isn't impressive. Brady Rodgers, I just assume we DFA. He had a great 2016 at Fresno, but nothing else, and he definitely doesn't have swing and miss stuff. Josh James has the higher potential, and has been lights out this season, but has control issues.
