Happy for Wojo. I'm not too surprised at Singleton being sent down. On to Opening Day! Will anyone else be there?
Altuve R Springer R Valbuena L Gattis R Castro L Carter R Lowrie S Rasmus L Marisnick R 1-3 seem to be set. I could see Gattis and Carter being switched but most likely having Castro in between to put a possible left handed bat there. Lowrie and Castro also seem interchangeable in that lineup as well. I like Springer batting second (it worked for Trout) for the idea that he can get some fastballs to hit and it allows for him to possibly score more runs. I think Valbuena will be a huge reason for whether or not this offensive line up can work.
I still don't really get why Valbuena is the logical choice to bat 3rd. He hit .249 last year with so-so power...is it based solely on his high spring training average?? To me Springer, Gattis, Carter seem like more obvious choices...what's the thought process here?
I am not as worried about the batting order but just excited for the fact that for the first time in over 5 years, the Astros opening day lineup is actually big league quality top to bottom. Even as a fan who follows the team, I don't have one of those Major League moments when looking at the 25 man roster now. Baseball's back!
I'm looking forward to this year. The Astros have really solid bats 1-9...there is no one that can really be 'pitched around.' I'm a little worried about the starting pitchering. IMO we still need an ACE--I think a Cole Hammels trade would be awesome--Astros have the prospects + money to pull it off
Hmm.... no one commented on this. Are people THAT excited about Wojo that they think he'll put up a sub-2 era?!? The Wojo bandwgon has been insane this spring. I like Wojo as much as the next guy but expecting him to pitch like anything other than a rookie without top shelf stuff is a recipe for disaster. If his absolute peak were Mchugh's last season (i.e. strong #3 numbers), I'd be happy. If he puts up 160 IP of ~4.00 ERA THIS season I'll still be mightily impressed. ZIPS projects 106 IP of 5.00 ERA.
While I don't project Woj to be a stud, or even a really good starter, I put absolutely zero value in ZIPS projections for a guy who has never pitched a single inning in the show. I typically ignore them altogether, but particularly for an unproven guy. A sub 4 ERA wouldn't surprise me at all, that would basically make him a league average starter, which is certainly attainable for him IMO. That would make him a really solid 4 or 5 on a good team.
I could see Wojo putting up an era sub 4 making him an average pitcher, and i'd be more than happy about that As for McHugh, i'm not saying he is going to repeat last year, but he was certainly better than a #3 type last year, a 2.73 era with over a K an inning is not mid-rotation numbers, even in this lower scoring era.
I don't think anyone thinks he will be that good. I'm hoping for a sub-4.5era. Something like what Oberholtzer put forth last season.
I'm expecting Oberholtzer like performance from Woj, but I am hopeful he might be better. On McHugh, I have more faith in him than Keuchel.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>The Astros have traded IF Gregorio Petit to the Yankees for a player to be named later or cash considerations.</p>— Houston Astros (@astros) <a href="https://twitter.com/astros/status/583425190148886530">April 2, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Petit had a good run but this somewhat clears space to see what Villar, Sclafani and Fontana can do in the utility role.
Something for nothing. Between Lowrie, Valbuena, Gonzalez, Villar, Sclafani, and Torreyes the Astros now have quite a few guys capable of handling the left side of the infield, really no reason to have a guy like Petit.
This looks like it could be an opening day type starting lineup. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Lineup for first of two exhibition games between Astros-Royals. <a href="http://t.co/dBYlZqP04R">pic.twitter.com/dBYlZqP04R</a></p>— Julia Morales (@JuliaMoralesRS) <a href="https://twitter.com/JuliaMoralesRS/status/584076451508396032">April 3, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
FINALLY....I feel like this is the first time we are actually seeing the opening line up in a game..excited to see how they do. Hopefully Feldman gets his sh** together
Nice - I just bought a ticket for the game tonight. Figured they'd stretch Feldman out. Glad they are going with the core group around him.
