The Astros signed Smith thinking they were getting a reliable veteran pen arm.... looks like he may be done.
This roster has some glaring weaknesses at the moment. I imagine Luhnow will be a buyer of a bat and an arm at the deadline.
As much as it irritates me to lose games with this starting staff and lineup, I take solace in the fact that injuries will happen, especially to a starter, and the Astros have an overwhelming advantage in that area with McHugh and Peacok ready to good. I don't think many in the division have that luxury
Glaring weakness with the best rotation in baseball and a .5 game lead coming into tonight. 2017 changed us all
No, the Astros do have glaring weaknesses. They are still a very good team but they have a huge hole in the outfield and DH is bad too. The rotation will be fine, only issue there is that if they have to bump McHugh or Peacock, they need another pen arm. I can understand waiting to the deadline for a good pen arm but the line up holes are causing them games now.
He makes 15 million over the next two years... better hope he isn’t washed up at 34 and just needs some mechanical changes.
Everything you just said is what the Astros were in 2017, but what happened? It's APRIL. Settle down.
I don’t think the Astros ever even engaged in serious contract talks with him. Maybe he turns it around and has a very solid season, but I can’t see us signing him.
Mamma said there would be days like this. Who opens the roof in Texas? poor mccannonball had a gallon of sweat every time he took off the mask. have some compassion! Those innings escalated quickly for Dallas. There was that ball he was hella frustrated with that went through the shift then bam, bam, bam. =/ baseball.
Not much worth saying about this game overall. The one thing worth discussing is Marisnick. I get that he's a popular guy in the clubhouse, and has a great glove, but the strikeouts are way past unacceptable at this point. 2 more today, so now he has a 32-0 K-BB ratio, striking out in 53% of his PA. It isn't as if he has some track record of production that we can fall back on to be patient over. Fisher has been only slightly less terrible. Do these guys feel any heat right now? It's one thing to hit into some outs, it's another thing to not even be putting the ball in play more often than not.
I totally realize even great teams are going to lose 50-60 games in a year. A starter, even a reliable one, is going to blow up on occasion. And hitters will go through slumps. But its a different thing when certain players almost never contribute to getting a win. Yea, yea, yea, its only April (for two more days).
Its worth thinking about. Tough to envision it happening though, unless DK makes it known he wants to go. And there isn't any indication of that. Only way I could see it is: 1) He went to a NL club. 2) Its a team that also wants to sign him longer term. 3) All the rest of our starters are healthy and pitching effectively as well as a 6th guy who could fill in the void left by DK departing. 4) DK is pitching well enough for another club to want him, but not so well that we are reluctant to part with him.
I don't see many scenarios where we trade Keuchel. If he is not pitching well he's not worth his salary and any real prospects. If he is pitching well why trade him in the middle of another run at the championship? I expect him to finish the season with the Astros and probably get a qualifying offer if he isn't total trash.
The Astros are really struggling so far. I know they did this in April last year, but it doesn't feel like a great team again. Seems like the offense and the pitching take turns at blowing games. Not a good thing.
It's time to promote Drew Ferguson, see what he can do. Put Marisnick on the DL with a broken finger nail.
