Let Fields and Folty fit that role if they're good enough. Teams that lose 90+ games don't need $50 million closers. I think Luhnow has an itchy trigger finger. He wants to spend some money.
Maybe..... Or they don't think Fields or Folty are ready. My guess is they hope to push for .500% this year and an elite closer gets them closer than improvements at other positions. There were atleast 7-8 wins lost just because of the top of the pen.
And how much of that is better simply due to no Porter being Porter? Pitches Fields three days in a row (for another attempted save) at a time where they were supposed to be going with a "committee". Pitches Jerome Williams to try and save a 1 run game against a quality opponent. And even though the Sipp to the OF fiasco wasn't a save situation (or even a blown save at that), it still warrants revisiting as to how r****ded a move this was at the time. And this is all off the top of my head as far as games where managing decisions helped turned wins into losses... I'm sure there were at least 3-4 more. Bullpen management is actually an area I prefer a seasoned manager to cultivate/figure out... rather than having the GM try and solve it all on paper.
I tend to agree with you on having a manager cultivate and build his pen from the inside in a majority of cases. However, in this case I can see where the GM looks at so many blown saves in the 8th and 9th and thinks that it is a quick way to add 5-6 wins. Something else to consider is the pressure Luhnow is receiving behind closed doors to suddenly win. If he was given a mandate to reach .500% in 2015, I can see that playing a part in this as well.
I think one thing that's underrated in here is the amount of time Springer was out. With him here for a full season, and an upgrade in the bullpen, I think we're easily a .500 team. Not to mention the time Fowler was out.
I think .500% should be the goal. However "easy" is taking it too far. We have few players with lengthy track records of success. For all we know the top of the rotation comes back to earth, Altuve and Carter slip and the Astros are at 95 losses.
yup. this is a young team. expect vast fluctuations from looking great to looking clueless. Altuve will surely come back to earth next year and I'm not buying into CC. His track record of suck is much longer than his track record of being good. Still, with Springer getting a full year (knock on wood), Singleton having an offseason to work on the improvement in pitching he's facing, a top half rotation that you actually feel pretty good about (Keuchel, McCugh, Feldman) and a back half beginning to fill with the upcoming talent, I do think .500 is realistic with an outside shot at going over depending on the rest of our offseason moves.
11 more wins and we're a .500 team. Springer didn't play half the season, Fowler missed 40+. Jesse Crain ended up being a useless signing with him hurt all year. If you're gonna mention Carter and Altuve, why not mention Castro rounding back to form or Dominguez for that matter? Full seasons out of Springer and Fowler as well as an improved bullpen gets us to .500 imo.
If you consider 2014 as being good, then it seems you would have to consider 2012 being good as well which means: Good - 2 Suck - 1 (assuming you have 2013 as suck) His other two seasons have a pretty small sample size of at bats. < 100 each.
I just don't expect him to keep up last years performance. Not expecting a crash, but that was a career year any way you slice it.
11 games is a lot of games. It is possible Castro rounds back into shape (although the advanced stats are not promising), and I am not saying better than .500% is impossible, but I do think expectations should be tempered. If the team gets to .500% with young players developing, it will be a good season.
The Astros last half of last season they played 500 ball. Add in a full season of Springer and a top end closer, the Astros should be pushing 90 wins.
Anyone expecting a full season out of Fowler as a way to indicate improvement for the team is kidding themselves. The guy is way too injury prone. I'm personally expecting a little bit of falling back to earth for McHugh and Altuve. But hopefully a full season of Springer and some improvement (though I'm not holding my breath) from Singleton counteracts that. And can we say .500 or 50% instead of .500%? I don't know why that bothers me so much but it does.
Why? The power is legit. His walk rate was down from his career norm to that point, so that returning to norm might offset any other drop off. It isn't like he posted overall amazing numbers. He just got so hot after starting the season so cold. No such thing as a full season of Dexter Fowler. He might not miss as many, but you can pencil him in to miss 20+
Based on what? His OPS in 2012 and 2013 was exactly .799. Hell is OPS in his "terrible" 2013 was a respectable .770. There is absolutely no reason whatsover to not expect an OPS in the high .700's or even into the .800's. People still haven't adjusted to new stats. We are now in a pitcher dominated era. Only 35 qualified players in all of baseball had an OPS over .800., only 8 had an OPS over .900. By comparison in 2009, 27 players had an OPS over .900, and 82 had an OPS over .800. If you have a player with an OPS around .800, that is not a number to be scoffed at. Most teams only had one, and a few had none. Carter is an extreme case because he is such a feast or famine hitter he can go through stints of absolute uselessness, but ultimately productive.
