Valdez has an ERA over 4 in AA and a 1.3 WHIP. Armenteros has similar #s at AAA. Both of them just give up too many baserunners for me to feel comfortable. James strikes out more guys and gives up fewer hits than either of those two. I just think he's head and shoulder better than the other options at this point. James has really been a different pitcher this year than he was previously and I'd like to see what he can bring at the big league level.
What we should have done is trade for Glasnow. That guy still has a ton of potential. But regarless, if this is long term, we have McHugh. I have no interest in just throwing away every 5th game when we have two extremely capable starters we can run out there. And we have several capable relievers. If it's one or two starts, ok. If it's more, let's get a 20 game winner out there.
Not a fan of Rodgers. We can just DFA him for all I care. Agree about Valdez allowing too many baserunners. I believe Josh James has EARNED a promotion, and hopefully we see him up soon.
If they just need 2-3 starts, Thornton is the guy I’d pick. If they need another arm for the playoffs, hopefully Whitley proves ready, otherwise I’d go with Josh James.
All things considered, it’s good news. But they’ll still need to call someone up starting the week of 8/20. Maybe Whitley will be ready by then, otherwise it’s Thornton or James.
Muscle and not ligament sounds great. I was about 3/4 that it was Tommy John territory so I’m pretty happy about this update.
Armenteros has a 3.09 ERA 1.199 WHIP 178K:54BB in 154.1 AAA innings. A hitting friendly park & league at that. Cool facts: My name is James and I share a birthday with James (albeit 7 years apart).
F' the nl. no place for it in this world. we've come too far as a baseball society to be held down by pitchers batting. Woohoo you can double switch. That don't impress me much. And I hated the move to the al as it happened.
Well, a universal DH is likely to be inevitable. Strategy vs offense debates aside, I do, however, generally like the NL opponents better and I when we were in the NL I liked being in the older league. I also liked the Silver Boot being a shorter series that happened quickly rather than being spread all season long. Made it more exciting and special. Also meant every team plays in Texas each year. And I prefer the DH be spread among bench players to give them all time, but I understand position players not wanting to DH. Another thing full time DH'ing does is extend careers of guys like Victor Martinez (Tigers) and keeps them around longer instead of giving deserving AAA guys a shot. But it is what it is. Pray for all our injured guys to recover and come back strong, and Go Astros!
NL really doesn't add "strategy" Yea they double switch...well everytime you are past the 5th inning and the pitcher is up in a close game you pinch hit and change pitchers. Yea I know it's not exactly that simple...but so much of the time just being in a pinch hit for the pitcher situation makes it automatic that the pitcher comes out...AL you have to make true pitching decisions, many times those are much tougher than "ok it's a pinch hit situation so let's pinch hit"
Yeah, I'm totally aware of that, strategy still definitely exists in the AL. And this goes well with an article I read last week that claimed managing in the AL is actually tougher. But I will say, it would be nice (and great for Texas) if all teams played in TX every year. A lot of teams like the Cubs, Cards, Dodgers, etc. have sizeable fanbases in Texas and would love that.
Crazy that I agree with this since experiencing the DH by a forced move to the AL. I used to feel like I was a baseball “purest”, but that’s such garbage. Just say no to pitchers hitting.
