You do realize that there will be starters getting key outs in the playoffs. They won’t be pitching the likes of Harris, smith, Sipp, or presumably Giles against those teams.
If not for Lucroy we would have gotten swept by the As. I get they’re on a tear now but we are supposed to be one of the best teams. Marwin has been so bad this year and the offense still inconsistent as a whole, at least at home. We blew a 4-0 lead twice this series. I agree with the sentiment that we have seemed to struggle against the better non-cellar teams. Oh well maybe it’ll even out again
Of course I know that, and that obviously helps. Still, Harris and Giles pitched a fair amount last year in the playoffs. Peacock is struggling and Giles is likely not going to be pitching for us in the playoffs. Harris has been mediocre to bad for awhile now. I am not saying the Astros bullpen is trash, but I also do not believe that the Astros bullpen is the "second best in baseball". Our pen has struggled against the best teams this season, and is the weakest part of our team. The Astros would really benefit from adding another very good reliever to the roster.
Sometime after the break. https://www.chron.com/sports/astros...-Correa-out-after-All-Star-break-13070085.php
Not sure I’d say embarrassing, the A’s look like a pretty damn good team. That said, wish we could have at least split. Tough series.
I mean the Yankees who went 5-2 against us in 2018. The Yankees who have a much better record against winning teams in 2018 than we do. We had a winning regular season record last year against the Yankees and Red Sox. Well never know how we’d have done against Indians in playoffs as we didn’t face them. Did not play dodgers last year until playoffs. So in summation we had winning records against NY and BOS in 2017 regular season and it was predictive of how the playoffs went. We aren’t just having bad games here or there in 2018. A clear trend has emerged. .700 plus ball against bad teams and below .500 ball against good ones. That’s not good and no amount of spin or what happened in 2017 changes that. You must beat good teams in October to have a deep playoff run. We’ve shown no signs of being able to do that in 2018.
I'm pretty sure everyone realizes we need a bullpen arm or two at the deadline. Devo, Harris and peacock have all regressed. No time to panic though...
No...no.... we have the second best bullpen in baseball! No need for a bullpen arm, we are set and ready to go!
I totally agree with what you are saying but I think the need for another bat outweighs the needs in the bullpen, which can be masked by extra use of starters like we saw in 2017 playoffs. Given mccanns age and the rarity of a good hitting young catcher I think a Realmuto or Ramos should be the primary targets with bolstering of the bullpen a secondary priority. The bats have been streaky in 2018. And unfortunately most of the good streaks have been.l against weak teams who won’t be playing in the playoffs
Yep exactly Stros are too much streaky. Look at Gattis he was on a roll for a month and now he's back to garbage Gattis. I want consistency.
I'd have Astros pen as a whole as third. The weakness of the pen is that top guy. Get that, and hallelujah the Astros pen will look rock solid even before the playoffs start with Morton or another starter sliding to the pen. Any chance the Pirates deal with Astros after the Cole trade?
It’s never really mentioned that astros should be in market for a starter as opposed to a reliever but in so many ways Morton seems to be a high end relief option in playoffs. Dude is dynamite first couple of times through lineup but often hits a toad heading towards mid to late innings. Age of starting pitching has to be a long term concern as well. Cole and lance are young but Verlander and Morton in mid 30s. Keuchel likely gone in FA and seems to be on slow decline curve. Mchugh also in early 30s. Grab you a young starter and move Morton to pen and you solve both problems. Morton seems humble enough to relish this move if hinch sells him that it helps Team. Might prolong his career too. I could easily see him being a top 5 closer and last years playoffs have to give him great confidence in that role. He has the put away stuff rondon and devo lack. Degrom anybody?!?