I say give Towles his shot to sink or swim. At this point in their careers I think he has a higher upside than Pudge. You basically know what Rodriguez is going to give you and it isn't very good. Towles is one of the few players in the upper minors that actually has a somewhat realistic shot at perhaps being a league average or better major leaguer. Think long-term and see what you have in Towles in an extended audition. If he is killing you in July and the team is in contention then is the time to look for a stop-gap like Pudge. But right now when there isn't an obvious big upgrade to be had, the Astros should be giving guys like Towles, Bogusevic, and Norris chances.
In theory, I agree. But you and I both know that in reality, unless Towles rips the cover off the ball these next three weeks, it's going to be Quintero's job, which is absolutely illogical and senseless. At this point, I'm willing to try anything to make the opening day starter someone other than Humberto Quintero, and getting the name of someone like Rodriguez (on a discount) is the most likely scenario to do that, imo.
OMFG, I know it's only spring training but this is getting really really tiresome. It would be nice if we could just win one game every once in a while. DAMN IT!!!
I can remember as a kid when the Astros would win the Grapefruit League and then completely tank when the games started counting. Spring Training games are meaningless.
Maybe so and I'm not one of the doomsayers around here and I don't believe that these scores are impacting our chance this season at all, but it would still be nice to have that winning feeling for once
I'm not sure at this point. I know Blake had talked about maybe coming up for a few days, so I'm not sure exactly what the plan will be. I'd say it's 50/50, but if I do, I'll probably be in town for all of Thursday's games and then Friday until the last set of games (I generally drive back to Austin during that set) unless Texas is playing or something like that!
They are. It's just when you start losing every game practically, you don't go into the season with a great great feeling and we already suck anyway so not as good.
So Backe is hurt now, too, huh? http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/...t_id=3943960&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou An intercostal strain. He had one in 2005 that kept him out for over a month. I guess it's not necessarily a bad thing. It could make it easier for Cooper to bump him out of the rotation if that's where he was leaning.
Yeah, that's just great for a staff that has few pitchers in the spring that have an ERA in single digits. Backe has a 6.00 ERA this spring. He threw two scoreless today. He was showing signs of life. Good to know that this makes you happy. Geez.
That's the understatement of the year. I like Brandon as a person, but imo this will definitely help the team if it harms his chances of making the rotation. There's nothing left to learn about Brandon Backe. As a major league starting pitcher, he doesn't cut it. Period. In this situation, it makes much more sense to use a back of the rotation slot on a younger guy with theoretical upside or a veteran (Ortiz) with a history of some success. With Backe, he has no successful track record and is far past the point where he can be expected to magically develop. He's just not good.
Read what I wrote again. I didn't say I was happy in any way. It was actually quite the opposite. I don't like seeing player after player getting injured, especially pitchers given that is projected to be one of our weaknesses. I said it may not necessarily be a bad thing if Cooper was leaning towards going in another direction. Note the use of the conditional "if." I don't know what Cooper is thinking. I just suggested it may be easier for him "if" that is what he was thinking.
Please tell me who in camp has been a better candidate for the fifth spot than Backe. Keep in mind that if Ortiz keeps pitching the way he has thus far, I would bump Moehler and put Ortiz at #4.
Jeez, Davey Johnson is trying to pull a Dusty Baker on Roy O. He threw 65 pitches in the WBC game, and was clearly laboring, but Johnson had nobody warming up in the bullpen until Oswalt was completely gassed. If Roy develops arm problems this year, I would certainly look to this game.
And there is nothing wrong with that. It's just that they're getting absolutely pounded every time out. 11-4 to Pittsburgh. 13-0 to Atlanta. 12-0 to Washington. It gets a little disconcerting when this is happening every game. At least act like you care, Astros.
They're not taking veterans on the road at all. Look at the rosters they're throwing out there. I posted one from the other day when they got pounded. It was a team of guys who'll be playing in AA or AAA this season.
The better question is who isn't a better candidate for the fifth spot. I could honestly care less what first-week ST numbers are. The sample size is ridiculously small. If you slot Ortiz at 4, I don't see what under what logic Backe starts the season in the rotation. If you want proven results, Moehler was far, far better last season than Backe. Moehler was actually a league average pitcher, whereas Backe was one of the three or four worst starters in all of baseball. If you want potential or a commitment to the future, give Paulino or another prospect a chance. They might deliver, and even if they don't, the ML experience will likely help their development. And it would be really, really hard for anyone to be worse than Backe last season. So it's somewhat of a no-lose scenario. Under no logic does sticking a 6+ ERA pitcher with no history of success in the majors and well past the age for possible development/improvement make any sense.
The wins and losses aren't the problem. The problem is that every fear people had about this team -- complete black holes at CF, C, 3B -- looks every bit as bad or worse than imagined. Yes, I'm aware that I just said the sample size is ridiculously small, and you can't take anything serious from it. However, the reason most people are pessimistic isn't spring training -- it's the joke of a way Ed Wade assembled this "offense." The ST games just serve as a launching point for discussion and highlight the absurdly illogical plan put into place over the past few months.
But it's also a bunch of guys trying to make the team. Both catchers spots are open and so far the 4 competing have a total of 3 hits. Our 3B platoon is hitting a whopping .069. I understand the concept of ST. It just gets a little worrisome when they simply aren't competing at all. It's not that easy to just turn it on when things start to count.
