I hope so as well. As much as I'd like to see those guys develop as starters, we don't have the luxury of not using them if they make our ball club better.
The Astros have several internal options that have a strong chance to make the club out of spring training. Riley Farrell as a set up man with very good stuff and also Michael Freeman as the lefty specialist. I personally don't think Fields will be back with the Astros and Sipp will depend on the amount of money. Harris, Neshak and Gregerson are certain to be back.
Forgot all about Riley. I doubt he makes the team out of Spring Training, though I would expect him to get a NRI and possibly added during the season. You think the would non-tender/waive Fields?
Riley has a good arm, I think he would have a shot out of spring training. I think Freeman has a better shot though. I think that the Astros would trade Fields. There will not be a whole lot of spots available out of the pen, especially if the Astros add two pitchers in the pen outside of the system. I could see Fields being included in a deal for a closer or a position player. He wouldn't be the primary piece, but would appeal to a team that has pen openings or is unlikely to win in 2016. As you said, he has the raw ability, but lacks consistency.
Just weird to see everyone want to trade Fields. Astros should keep Gregorson, Neshek, Fields, Sipp, and Harris. Add a closer and a couple other very good relievers (internal or external) and the Astros likely have a bullpen that even Astros fans can't complain about.
Neshek was nails for 80% of the season. I wonder if our bullpen just got tired? Their sudden collapse makes no sense, especially because they were bottom 5 in bullpen IP.
Fields is kind of like Carter. We can't trust him. He's either striking everyone out, or getting hit hard. I think he led the team in FIP in each of the last 2 seasons, but his ERA has been more than a run greater each time. The potential is there for him to break out, and I'd love to have him if I were rebuilding, but I want guys I can trust on a playoff club.
Well.... it comes down to a numbers crunch. You have: Keuchel, McCullers, Fiers, McHugh as likely in the rotation Kazmir is a real possibility to be back Feliz, Velasquez, Appel, Feldman as possibly in the rotation or in the pen if they fail to make the rotation Gregerson, Neshak, Harris are almost certain to be back. You are very likely to trade for a closer, and from everything I hear they will go for an elite set up man if there is one available and a deal can be worked out. There is a good chance Sipp is back. That doesn't include pitchers such as Freeman, Farrell, Wojo, Oberholtzer, Qualls and the also ran pitchers that may be given a shot. So does that mean Fields won't be back? Of course not, but there are more arm options than slots. No doubt some of the them will end up back in AA/AAA, but not all of them. I suspect some of them will be dealt and it makes sense that a team would have some interest in Fields and the Astros have arms to plug in.
I don't see the LF need. I like a Gomez/Marisnick/Springer/Tucker OF just fine. I see White and/or Reed taking over 1B/DH. I hope we trade at least one of Gattis/Carter if not both to make room.
It's not a LF need so much as it is a need to find a quality bat - and among positions where they can easily upgrade is LF. Marisnick is an excellent 4th OFer, which has tremendous value. Tucker, right now, looks like a prime DH/platoon candidate. He's a terrible fielder and just god-awful against LHers. In an ideal world, he and Gattis would be a perfect DH platoon - Gattis hit LHers really well in '13-'14; was not very good against them last year.
He's a reliever. His sample size just is too small to place too much faith in ERA after just too seasons especially since his ERA wasn't too bad this year. He deserves to be on the team.
I'd rather he not take up a roster spot that could be used for somebody with a higher ceiling than him (and yes, I'm referring to the young guys who are possible starters, but are also possibly good enough to be in the bullpen regularly... in fact, they may end up being even better there).
How about Marco Estrada? His change up is so filthy. I'd feel really good about a Keuchel, Mchugh, McCullers, Estrada, Fiers rotation.
I honestly think it has a great deal to do with the lack of power pitchers on the entire staff. Who, outside of McCullers, was throwing regularly above 93-94? No one. When you're playing teams for the 15th, 16th...19th time and they're seeing the same guys throwing the same speed over and over again, it's easy to adjust. There was no one that would come in and change the look, other than righty/lefty. Maybe I'm completely wrong about this. But I do think there is something to having a staff full of placement pitchers.
Interesting--I agree with the general concept here I think. I think there's a generally accepted idea that the ability to change speeds (for any single pitcher) is good because it allows pitchers to mess with hitters' timing. So if you extrapolate that, it might be better to have a few power pitchers just to add more variance to the flow of the game. 80/90 (Pitcher 1) and 85/95 (Pitcher 2) is 4 speeds to adjust to. I like that line of thinking more than "we need a power arm because closers are always power pitchers and we don't have them." (Though I do realize that strikeouts are lower risk than balls in play.)
Wonder what the season would have looked like if we kept Folty and started building him up as a reliever instead of trading for Gattis. I think the number 1 priority is a solid high avg/obp bat at one of the corners LF/3B/1B. I'd love to toss some money at Alex Gordon. Number two is a closer.
Folty's control issues were his biggest concern... don't know if that gets better as a reliever. And now, his health issues (along with Ruiz falling off a cliff) pretty much make that trade a wash.
Is there any reason to think Fields' ceiling is that low? He's improved in each of his 3 MLB seasons. And before he got bizarrely sent down to the minors in August, he had an ERA of 2.20. He sucked after coming back up (along with the rest of the team), but he's also the top strikeout guy on the team. Seems like that's something the Astros can build on and is different from all the other relievers they have.
Yes. His "got the yips" moment with consistency, confidence issues, and lack of a quality secondary pitch pretty much tell us he is who he is (which can still be used on a MLB bullpen... just not necessarily much different than what the Astros had him doing this year). I actually thought he showed more last year in a more "featured" late-inning role... this year, he was buried behind Luke, Pat, Will, Chad AND Tony, with most of his appearances involving either pitching in a game the team was losing or literally being one of the last remaining options. He's got good speed on a fastball that has very little movement and he really doesn't spot well... but I guess that alone is enough to get him some outs in mostly non-pressure situations. He's also going to be 30 next year... so if he's not yet close to his ceiling, I'm not sure how much longer its going to take him if its even higher.
