Fair enough - but we do need 7 or 8 bullpen guys, and some are going to mostly pitch in low pressure and middle-inning situations. As of August, Fields was as good in that role as any pitcher in baseball - wouldn't it makes sense to keep in that role instead of replacing him with someone likely to be worse at the same job? I can't imagine we'll have a bullpen with 7 guys better than Fields - if we do, it means we have, by far, the best bullpen in baseball. Seems like we'll be ditching Qualls and Perez. Replace them with a pair of power arms and the bullpen seems like it would be in good shape, unless we believe these players' Septembers are more representative of them than the previous parts of the season (in which case, a lot of guys need to go). This seems like a pretty solid pen: New Guy #1 New Guy #2 Gregerson Neshek Harris Sipp Fields Generic Long Reliever (Feldman or whomever) New Guys can either be internal options like VV or free agents/trades.
I agree that there will be no way to get an elite pitcher in every spot of the bullpen... but as it is, the Astros bullpen has pretty much reached its ceiling (which is still very good). I don't expect Gregerson, Neshek, Harris, Sipp, or Qualls to get much better (but also not necessarily worse). Fields needs to get better to be a late-inning guy, but a lot of that will rely on his secondary pitch development and fastball location. The Astros can and probably will start exploring in-house guys like VV/Appel to see how their stuff may translate in short/full-effort stints... like I said before, some guys stuff just translates better than anybody (including themselves) would have expected.
Daniel Murphy, wow. Guy has been unreal. Regarding the bullpen, the Blue Jays have relied on 20 & 23 year old flame throwers to close out games in the playoffs. I'd like to see us try the same with Feliz, VV and maybe Appel if they can't crack the rotation. Can always return to a starter later.
It's great that it's worked out for the Bluejays, but they did that because all their other closers failed. If your 20 and 23 year olds don't come through, you may have screwed your whole season if you passed on the opportunity to acquire a legit closer in the offseason.
While I am completely ok with giving the prospects a chance to be bullpen weapons, going into next season relying on them is too huge a risk. We have to add at least one in the off season. Give the young guys a chance, and if none of them lock it down, we can add another one midseason if it's necessary.
Maybe should've worded it differently, I'm all in on getting a top of the line closer. It's a must. I was saying if there's no way they crack the rotation I'd hope they'd get a chance in the pen. Which Feliz and VV did this year so we'll see what happens.
But they might all benefit from moving down a slot in the pitching hierarchy, assuming the team can acquire an elite closer. I would normally scoff at the idea of investing too many resources in a closer - but I think this year's team would have been that much better if they had been able to acquire one at the deadline. Turning 9 inning games into 6 inning games can be so vitally advantageous, especially if the offense next year is again a touch streaky.
When you look back at our playoff history, no question that Brad Lidge made all the difference in the world. It also helped that Garner was willing to use him earlier in the game (though that usage may have helped cause his collapse).
Well FWIW, our closer wasn't the problem. In fact we had 2 guys in the playoffs that pitched extremely well. Unfortunately, everybody else was dog s**t terrible. I think just adding one spectacular bullpen arm will work wonders. If we could also get one of the young guys to breakout in that role, our bullpen could easily become one of the strongest in baseball.
Yep... and people also forget that when Lidge was put in the bullpen for good starting in 2003, nobody expected him to one day be a for-sure lights out closer. His slider/fastball combo were more lethal in the 9th inning... not because he allofasudden decided to throw it better, but because of the nature of the batters mentality combined with a guy who wasn't phased by having the game be truly on the line. The same phenomenon also applied to Dotel... albeit as more of a setup role vs. a closer... but again, nobody expected his stuff to translate to be one of the best bullpen pitchers in all of baseball. A "failed" starter who still happens to have a big arm/quality stuff is an undervalued asset in this game... predominantly because unless you're the best of the best in the bullpen, your earning potential as a set-up man is definitely limited.
I'd like to see them trade for Lucroy, will smith, and chapman. Sign either a top of the rotation guy or someone with that type of upside. Price, cueto, happ, and cliff lee would all seem like fits to me. Give one of Marisnick and tucker the LF job and one of lowrie valbuena 3b trade the odd men out. I would prefer Marisnick and valbuena, the appeal of the of defense with Marisnick is too strong, and I could see valbuena putting up a nice contract year with a much better shot at staying heathly than lowrie. Be prepared to let singleton and Carter open the season at DH/ 1B with the worse performer losing their job to aj reed quickly. Only players I'd really put off limits in trades would be the current 4 from the rotation, springer Gomez Altuve Correa Moran and Reed.
offer ben zobrist crazy loot. I didn't say sign him just offer it to him, then have the yankees pry him away. We have to break up the royals and their annoying 50 foul balls per at bat.
I rewatched the game McCullers pitched. He's going to be really good when he gets his control in line.
I agree that closer was not really the problem. Gregerson wasn't dominant but overall got the job done. The Astros were looking for both a closer and an elite set up man at the deadline. Everyone knows they looked at Kimbrel and Chapman, and also discussed Papelbon and K-Rod. They made a hard run at Giles in Philadelphia, Carson Smith in Seattle and asked about Carter Capps in Miami. I wouldn't put it past the Astros to get both a closer and an elite set up man, and set up a situation similar to KC. Gregerson and Harris slide down in the pecking order, hope for Neshak to rebound and then see if Farrell or Freeman are ready to be called up.
The Astros certainly expected that Brad Lidge would be a very good pitcher out of the pen. He was moved to the pen because of injury issues and a concern that his body couldn't take being a starter.
They will only be able to afford one of Gordon, Zobrist, Cueto. Glass is known as a cheap owner to tries to keep the payroll as low as possible.
I understand that... but he wasn't expected to be a for-sure lights out closer. If so, they wouldn't have made Dotel the closer over him to start 2004.
Was at the game, dude is going to be a nightmare for batters once he's settled in and gets control of his velocity.
