honestly curious, has Gomez had an XBH anywhere right of LCF this year? Hell, has he had any hits to RF?
Said it before that the Astros are behind the eight ball with the staff that is in place, has to be one of the worst in baseball. The lack of any moves other than moving Feldman just says we are really not interested in making a run for the playoffs. I do believe we have the talent but it's up to the front office to put the right guys in place to maximize that talent.
I'll be honest, I don't know a ton about the hitting coach market. Who's out there, and what skills do the different options bring?
Luhnow: No update on Lance? No, we don't. Evaluation later this morning. We'll know a lot more today. Could go a lot of different directions. Big blow if he has to miss time. He's been our ace. We're definitely gonna miss him. What happened? He felt something on a couple of pitches. He's optimistic. We'll see. Joe came in and did a tremendous job and would step in the rotation more than likely if Lance isn't able to stay in it in the short term. Fingers crossed. Joe Musgrove? He was terrific. Boy was he dynamic. This was the Musgrove we saw in the minors and the Musgrove every team was asking for & reason we didn't make a big deal. We want this guy. He can help now. He may get that chance sooner than expected. Last night was a terrific outing. Also give a shout out to Devenski the night before. Those two really saved us. Everyday lineup? Not enough production. It's frustrating. We go through these periods every season where the lineup goes missing. Our pitching has kept us in games but not to put us in the W column. We know how this Astros offense works. Hopefully tonight we put up crooked numbers & it gets hot for a week or so. We can't go into this weekend series without our offense clicking. Chance to decompress & watch what the rest of baseball did? We do know a lot of good prospects changed hands. MLB.com just came out with their top farm systems. We're ranked up there at #3. That's not our goal but it's our goal to win consistently at the big leagues. We feel we have a chance to be in the playoffs & compete for a championship this year and with the farm system, we'll be in it a long time. Certainly Texas improved & so did the Indians & other clubs we'll be facing in the playoffs if we're lucky to get there. Everyone tried to improve. We did what we thought was best for the Astros not only this year but also long term. How frank are the conversations (trade talk)? You always have to guess what other teams are really doing & base it off what you're hearing. Some GMs are open (here's the other team(s) I'm dealing with, the prospects I'm dealing with, you have to beat this offer). Other GMs won't say anything (give us your best offer, we'll evaluate it and let you know). Some are via text, some phone, some e-mail. It differs a lot. Over time, you get comfortable with different people and realize how they'll act. It's a fun process. How much of a BS factor? We do fact check everything. If you plan on being a GM for a long time, it's not in your best interest to pull those moves. Teams find out & you lose credibility. We're an honest group. We don't disclose everything but there are ways to find out. Bregman due for an off day? AJ & I talked about it last night. He may not be in the two hole or may not be playing tonight. I don't think he needs a mental break & doesn't need a physical break. He needs a game where he gets a couple hits & knocks one into the stands. For me, we need 50 ABs before we can think about anything. We're not there yet but are approaching it. I have confidence in Bregman. He'll have at least one game this week where he helps us win the ball game. Valbuena 15 days? Hard to tell. Right now he's doing no activity. 15 days would be the optimistic estimate. We'll have to wait & see. Marwin should be in the lineup today & Gomez is back healthy. Gregerson, with these muscle strains, could be 2 weeks or could be longer. Hoyt should be ready to go. What are you seeing from Giles today that you didn't in the first month? Fastball is approaching 100. Slider is nasty. Seems to have command of both right now. Tremendous confidence out there. He wants to be in those situations. Harris will still pitch in important parts of the game as will Hoyt & Devenski. Dominant stuff in the 9th against the best hitters, he's the prototypical guy. I'm excited to see him in this role. Hopefully he'll succeed. Gurriel? He hit the ball really hard a couple of times. Good to see the bat speed is there. I had people on twitter saying we should call him straight up. That won't happen but it's a good sign. Full week in Lancaster, then Corpus & we'll see what happens. Everything looks great so far. Fans/social media angry over deadline. I understand fans are disappointed when our rival makes two big moves and we don't. I think we have just as good a team, a better team, we have a chance to beat them and if we do, we did without giving up our future. A battle this weekend. This is the most important series coming up. Player reaction to deadline? I think in general the attitude is the players we have on the team + players at AAA should give us a chance to win. They appreciate that. It's mixed certainly. Those who know their job is solid want the team to get better any way possible. They appreciate the addition of Bregman & Gourriel. Maybe a couple wished we got a front line starter but that didn't happen for anyone.
To watch Musgrove come in a game where he figured to have a 0.0000001 percent chance of pitching in with LMJ on the mound, against one of the better offenses in the game, and to be as dominant as he was on his debut? Goodness. He must have just been letting players in AAA score some out of boredom. LMJ and Musgrove for many years to come, yes please.
Or, he had Tyler White at SS and some other goofy configurations on defense. With his control his ERA and WHIP may actually decrease in the majors. Amazing stuff on display last night.
Yep. One of the few times that I wasn't disappointed after a loss, due to the realization that we may have a guy who could be a stud for a long time. His stuff was nasty, and the kid looked like he had a ton of confidence. First guy he faces is third in the league in home runs, and had just hit one earlier in the game. That was a lot of fun to watch.
Not to be Debbie Downer, but could part of his dominance have been due to the fact that he was *just* called up and that the Blue Jays batters hadn't had an opportunity to study him yet? Once batters start getting some film on him and seeing what he does, I imagine they'll produce better against him.
Probably the unknown played a role in the 8K's last night, but the stuff backs him up. He has four pitches, a fastball that touches 95, curve, change, and ++slider as his out pitch. On top of that he has 80 command, a 0.87BB/9IP in his minor league career which if you look to the majors is only comparable to Kershaw's stats. Not saying he's gonna be Kershaw, just that you almost never see an 80 command pitcher. When you do, and the guy has velocity and pitchability too...you're talking about a potential TOR starter right there.
So at one point last season we had McCullers, Velazquez , and musgrove on the same minor league team? Wow
Of course that could be part of it but the pitches he was throwing were nasty painting corners, not being predictable, good velocity. You could see why Luhnow and company speak highly of him. Not to mention the control he showed right out of the pen like that. He had one pitch that was way off the plate and almost hit Donaldson in the head (curious pitch by the way considering Musgrove's control). Anyways, I am sure the league will respond but he proved he belongs and showed an impressive repertoire of pitches. The other aspect will be if he does have to start for McCullers or someone else soon, will he psych himself out waiting for the start? Probably not, but something to think about considering he came out of the pen in a game he probably didn't think he would play in. I am sure the coaches told him to be ready though as he was our main long relief pitcher last night. Seems most pitchers are mentally ready for whatever is thrown their way these days.
Well ****. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Source: Astros set to call up RHP Brad Peacock, who's in Houston. Not sure of corresponding move.</p>— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) <a href="https://twitter.com/brianmctaggart/status/760905005058654208">August 3, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Yes. Only positive of bringing Peacock up instead of someone like Brady Rodgers is that they aren't positive about potential Tommy John. If they were, they would probably call up Rodgers and put him on the 40 man knowing that McCullers would eventually go on the 60 day DL.
Hopefully this due to the bullpen being taxed with no long reliever available in case McHugh gets hurt/struggles tonight. Unlikely but wishful thinking.
Yes, this is what I believe. Still weird they haven't mentioned what is wrong with McCullers yet. Does it really take this long? Worried they are getting several opinions.
