The Yankees, and every other AL team*, are desperate to keep up with the Astros. Fans need to remember this. We're the juggernaut. You better be loaded up if you want to bring us down. * With the exception of the Indians, who are probably, like, "What's the big deal?"
I am slightly more optimistic, I think they can keep 2-3 of their big 5... that is assuming that all 5 are healthy and productive and worthy of a spot in 3-4 years.... which isn't likely. Also, I am sure the Astros are clutching tightly Martes and Whitley and possibly Perez for the inevitability of losing Keuchel. Honestly, we don't even know how in demand Keuchel will be in 2019. He has had serious health issues last year and this, and it is quite possible he misses a lot of time over the next 18 months and may have issues with productivity.
Record vs. Cleveland - 1-5 Record vs. Boston - 1-2 Record vs. NY Yankees - 5-2 Record vs. Kansas City - 3-4 Aside from maybe the Yankees, the teams we are likely to face in the playoffs have no reason to be scared of us.
No team should fear any team; my point is - the Astros are far and away the best team in the AL and when the playoffs start, the road to the World Series will go through Houston. Also, I should have mentioned, we're the only team virtually assured of the postseason and the vast majority of deadline deals have at least some stake in the team trying to make the playoffs.
The only thing the Astros plausibly "need" right now is a very good left hand reliever, like maybe Pat Neshak. As part of a package go get him, the Astros should offer Jake Marisnek, which would clear the way for Derek Fisher to be permenantly added to the Astros big league roster, where Fisher would lock down the spot of starting center fielder for the next decade.
I don't think fisher is a center fielder. Everything I have ever read on him cites his poor instincts and his speed not playing up in the field. Even last night...the announcers were generous on him for that first inning catch. It wasn't an easy catch...but he made it look a lot more difficult than it was imo. I think he might be on display the next couple games as the potential headline piece for gray. Total speculation
Ive just about gotten to the point that unless a Kimbrel type reliever or a Sale type TOR hits the market, why bother? We have depth already. Why add guys who are no better than 3-4 guys we already have? Health insurance?
mostly..particularly since they're burning up innings like crazy. I'd be good with adding another starter to help in that effort, as well. I don't think we can expect years like this to come around very often. It's time to seize it by the throat and not let it get away.
Why not though? All our core guys are young and under control for a while. Granted, I don't think they're going to win 100+ games every year for the next five years or anything, but they should be WS contenders as long as Altuve-Correa-Springer is on the team.
I think gray isn't being given his due...He was a Cy Young candidate before injury. He seems to be returning to form. Health and pitchers will always be dicey. I feel like almost EVERY pitcher is an injury waiting to happen. Worth considering and not be ignored, sure. But any move we make has to be with full health in mind. That's why they do the physicals before finalizing.
Lets look at the playoff rotation 1) DK 2) 3) Lets keep it simple and only look at the top 3 SP's. In my mind, we got Fiers, Morton, Peacock, LMJ (if he recovers) and McHugh that are more or less pitching at the same level (viewed broadly) for two spots in the rotation. Certainly by late September, we will know which two of these guys has risen to the top. But as things are, 5 guys for 2 spots. Unless 4 of them get hurt or lose their mojo, we seem covered. I am all about Carpe Diem, but adding anyone (SP) thats no better than this lot helps us how?
I thought his play in center field was ver good last night. It was interesting that Hinch started him in center field with Maresnick on the bench and Reddik in right field, don't you think? Why would Hinch do that if he did not regard Fisher as a legitimate option that position? I think Hinch may have been giving Fisher a test drive at that spot. And what is stopping Fisher, who is a stronger hitter than Marisnek, from being brought up to the Astros permanently? It is either Marisnek or Aoki taking up a spot on the roster, although both are good players. Aoki us too old to trade for much, but Maresnick's best days are ahead. If the Astros could get a very good left hand reliever in part for Marisnek, this could really work out well for the team.
Why do people make such a big deal about random series records? Take Boston for example. What does 1-2 tell us? We didn't face Sale, and we faced a Price that was just coming back from injury. They didn't face Keuchel, McCullers, or Peacock. We won a game with Paulino. None of it means anything. Cleveland faced bad-Fiers twice, Musgrove, and Morton in 4 of the 6 games (they did face Keuchel and McCullers, which we split 1-1). These are the ultimate ridiculousness of small meaningless sample sizes. All of these teams are good, but we'll be heavily favored against any of them.
