If ERA doesn't count then number of runs per appearance doesn't count either. Especially when the Giles' appearances are usually less than 3 outs a game. Gregerson blew 1/4 saves earlier this month. And 2 of the three blown saves you keep bringing up involved him giving up only 1 run and the Astros still ended up winning. My point isn't so much about Luke; we need a better closer. I'm just not convinced Giles is a better closer AT THIS POINT.
With Luke's regression and Giles' playing better, Ken could close now. BUT.... not gonna happen, yet. This team has shown it's not knee-jerky. Giles' recent success is great though and, in due time, everything will work itself out. Harris could easily have Greg pitching 7th's eventually. Greg @7 is better than most teams 7's.
Let's get Giles going before making any changes. He's gonna get his turn as closer if he keeps pitching lights out. Team is looking more comfortable as of late. The huge expectations rattled the team overall, with a few exceptions in Altuve. Even Giles was caught flat footed with the overwhelmingly odds on favorite status of the Astros pre season predictions.
Can't make the switch yet. Once you switch you have to be able to stick with it. If you switch and Giles gets lit up then you're screwed.
This applies for any time you make the switch. They won't know if he gets lit up until he gets a shot. His comments last night made it sound like he's only comfortable in the closing role. Will be interesting to see if he can back that talk up.
You only make the switch if Gregerson keeps blowing saves. There's no reason to make it unless that happens. Whatever Giles is doing only matters based on what Gregerson is doing. The confidence of closers is a tricky thing. You make a switch and it blows up in your face you might make the situation much worse for both players.
Too soon. Gregerson has what.....4 blown saves in the last 5 opportunities? It's painful, but still too early imo. Although, the story seems to be that Giles excels in high pressure scenarios. So, closing is his gig....the way things have gone recently he may be back there soon.
Giles with 2nd worst era on the team at 6.23 Cannot do. But even more sad. Leads the team in appearances. How does that happen? Again, seriously? The manager thinks it wise to put the worst era into as many games as possible because that will help us. There should be a serious investigation as to why Giles and Marisnick continue to get playing time.
Regardless of whether or not Giles should be the closer, he is the Astros best relief pitcher in May not named Harris (and, perhaps Feliz). He has pitched in 10 games this month and given up runs in one of them.
Giles this month has pitched about as well as he did the first two years of his career. I highly suspect that the Astros consider the last month and the 1st two years of his career as more representative of future expected results than that piss poor month he had to start the season. On Marisnick, he has looked bad a lot this season (offensive and defensive, relative to his past performance) though he actually made a couple good defensive plays this weekend.
how stats are misinterpreted and misused to draw conclusions 101 sorry man, but Giles has been good. Relievers are subject to inflated ERAs based on rough appearances because of small inning counts on the season (and in some rough appearances--0.1 IP and 2 ER is crushing). When you combine that with what the above 2 posts say...I think this is one of the places where the team is actually fine
it was bad enough when this trade was looking pretty terrible simply on the initial return on investment, but when looking at it through the lens that this could very well be a very bad baseball team, it becomes a real swift kick in the junk knowing we gave up legit young talent for a closer.
nice use of your 11K post. Very good point! Hopefully they make swift moves to turn the team around and utilize Giles's controlled years Even if this season is lost (which I don't think it quite is yet..), I still think they use the offseason to build to contend next year--rather than waste more of Giles's years losing
So far, Velasquez is the only one killing it. The luckiest thing has been the fact we avoided actually dealing Derek Fisher in the deal, who has been showing he may be able to unlock his power potential. Appel has been Appeling. He just got pulled from his last start in the first inning, and now has a WHIP higher than Giles. The Astros may have actually sold high there. Eshelman was good to start the year, but he's a ways away, and has been pretty middling of late. Obie has been awful.
There will forever be a "but" when talking about Velasquez because his arm can fall off at any moment given his extensive injury history. Appel has another year or two before he is written off but it looks like won't be more than a BoR SP. Not worried about Eshelman or Arauz. This trade looks awful but we are only 2 months into a 5 year trade. No boundaries on how this could shake out.
