I really think McCullers is a very good number 2. McHugh and Fiers are very good middle of rotation guys. And as number 5, Feldman is capable, or maybe Appel or VV. If Feldman pitches good, then we can trade him. Also, Appel has the stuff to be as good or better than McCullers.
No the staff is fine. They have larger holes to worry about, primarily on offense and the pen. Very possible Kazmir bounces back or McCullers takes the next step. Even with his recent struggles, Kazmir has been good this year overall. They have to address 1st, 3rd and DH. Unacceptable to get the offense we get out of DH/1st.
Key contributor? Likely not but you got hot trash out there and at worst, Reed is hot trash with the rest. Or he helps you. Singleton in "2" major league seasons <PRE> Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB Pos Awards 2 Yrs 112 416 355 46 61 15 0 14 50 3 3 58 151 .172 .288 .332 .621 75 118 4 1 0 2 1</PRE> Chris Carter in 2015 <PRE> Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB Pos Awards 28 121 430 365 45 69 15 0 20 56 1 2 54 142 .189 .300 .395 .695 90 144 5 6 0 5 1 *3/D </PRE> He's an AAAA player.
The big question is, will Reed make the jump from double A to the majors? The only thing that i wished was Singleton playing more and see if he is the guy or not. We did not get much this year, and we still don't know about Singleton. At least if he played bad, we could move on and play Reed or White next year.
This is a great question. I don't believe that there is anything statistically significant about any of this. The truth is that this team has some significant personnel shortages that have come home to roost. I've tried to quantify the strength of this roster since day one, and at no point in time could I come up with a single reason WHY the Astros stayed in first place for as long as they did. This is a very average roster which benefited from some above average pitching for most of the year. Once that pitching came back down to earth, most notably from the bullpen, so did the rest of the squad. Unlike most people, I do not think it is the manager. This is simply an average baseball team right now with some holes that need to be filled before they can expect to go anywhere in the playoffs. In my opinion, they have somewhat overachieved for most of the year. They should be better next year.
At this point I move Singleton. The Astros don't have the luxury of finding out. Trade for someone to play first/DH like Lind. If Reed likes like he is ready, you can get Lind bats as a DH.
Man, this game is taking forever! I was watching in my living room till the 2nd inning, went to my room and go distracted with some youtube videos for like 40 minutes, turn on the game and its only the 4th inning. An hour and a half into the game and it's only the top of the 4th.. I mean, I like baseball but they really need to fix this timing thing. I don't know how since they were supposed to be conscious about the time of the game this season but its so hard to watch 3-4 hour games practically every day.
The staff isn't fine. You're relying on young/unproven arms to get you through the season. They need another ace if they have any dreams about going from what we are looking at to contending for a championship in the immediate future. It's the reason they traded for kazmir. Hopefully they use their noodles and give price 30 mill
I still have high hopes that Appel will be a number 2. And i really like McCullers, so young and he has pitched very good. Only 1 bad game, and great stuff. If we get a number 2, great, but we have other needs.
