Forrest Whitley @ Wilmington: 5 IP, 5 H, ER, BB, 6 K Needed 92 pitches (66 strikes) to get through his 5 innings. Buies Creek leads 6-1.
Abdiel Saldaña is quietly having a pretty good season in Quad Cities after a dreadful start. He's picked it up as the weather's gotten warmer. Saldaña pitched the back end of the tandem with Carson LaRue in today's game and got the save, allowing a run on 4 hits and striking out 8 in 4 innings. The 8 strikeouts are a new career-high for him. Here are his numbers in 2017: 24 appearances (4 starts), 5-2, 2 saves, 2.84 ERA, 69.2 IP, 70 H (4 HR allowed), 25 R (22 ER), 26 BB, 66 K, 1.38 WHIP, .260 opponent average Saldaña, 21, signed in 2013 out of Panama for what I assume was a modest bonus. He made his debut in the DSL in 2014 and wasn't too bad. Mainly with the Orange team: 15 appearances (4 starts), 4-1, 1 save, 3.44 ERA, 49.2 IP, 46 H (3 HR allowed), 25 R (19 ER), 12 BB, 41 K, 1.23 WHIP, .242 opponent average He went to the GCL in 2015 and struggled in his first season in America, going 0-4 with a save and a 7.01 ERA in 16 appearances (2 starts). 25.2 IP, 25 H (2 HR allowed), 21 R (20 ER), 20 BB (1 IBB), 16 K, 1.75 WHIP, .266 opponent average Saldaña did real well with the short-season clubs in 2016 and finished with a start in Quad Cities. 2016: 16 appearances (6 starts), 1-1, 2 saves, 2.09 ERA, 47.1 IP, 37 H, 11 ER, 12 BB, 62 K, 1.04 WHIP, .213 opponent average
Gilberto Celestino hit a couple of doubles for Greeneville tonight. He's now on a 5-game hitting streak. Celestino is slashing .291/.353/.404 with 3 homers and 14 RBI in 34 games this season. He's also 8/9 in stolen base attempts.
Well, when you have 5 top prospects and the GM stupidly wants to: 1. Use 2 of them in the playoffs (who really needs a LF in the playoffs?); 2. Keep the guy that is in the prospect tier as Springer, Correa, Bregman, and Reed were at one point; and 3. Keep the 19-year-old that has the best K%-BB% for his combined A and A+ levels for his age in a decade the last time I checked. Luhnow knows nothing about building a team from prospects. Astros are probably only barely going to win 100 games this year with his build the team through the farm strategy. Weak. It just isn't working. I am sure if Astros made trades like the 2016 Rangers, they would be able to have as much post season glory as the 2016 Rangers.
Luhnow is a smart man, he knew all of the whining, complaining and second guessing was gonna come along with doing nothing significant at the deadline. In a way he hung himself out to dry, because making any move would have made for better PR if we don't win it all. Not winning the World Series this year was always gonna be the more likely scenario no matter what. Now if/when that happens people will scream about how we should have made a move, and a lack of one is the reason we didn't win it all. He is betting on himself and his prospects. If he wins it all in the next few seasons people will be singing his praises. Given title rarities in this town, we will be ready to canonize him. But if he doesn't and this whole thing never lives up to expectations, he will be remembered as the fool who stupidly held on to prospects at the expense of adding sure things.
Yep, it is better from a PR standpoint to be able to lose and say "we gave it our best shot" after one season than trying numerous times and coming up short. I am tired of the "we gave it our best shot". I want a World Series and taking numerous teams to playoffs seems to give the best odds for accomplishing that goal. Granted, as you say...it is a PR nightmare if it fails.
I think we all wanted the Astros to make a big move. I was very upset we didn't add a difference maker in a trade. When I looked at all the trades made by these teams chasing the Astros I thought we are 10 games up on every team in the AL, we just got back one of the best pitchers in MLB, another very high quality starter, and are going to be adding an All-Star starting pitcher, an All-Star set up man, an All-Star OF, and the best SS in baseball. No other team added as much talent as the Astros are about to add. I still like the Astros chances.
It isn't completely black or white. Astros have a great team that trades aren't going to boost their odds this year by much. They aren't throwing away this season as they have the best chance to win World Series of any AL team in my opinion. Kicking the can down the road a few years ago built this team and this team isn't meant to be just a one-year wonder. It takes a while for prospects to make the majors. The prospects Astros decided to keep (Martes, Fisher, Tucker, and Whitley) will likely play with Altuve, Springer and Correa. Two of them already are (do we still call Martes and Fisher prospects when it is obvious they will be on MLB team?). Granted, they aren't all going to work out. Just one of them working out will likely do more for World Series odds over next few years than a reliever this year. The myth Astros weren't willing to trade guys in the low levels is false. Other teams want guys that are near the majors. Astros think they are going to have a great team now and in the near future. Astros basically had two guys I think other teams wanted that Astros thought they didn't need for their own World Series chases. Perez and Alvarez obviously weren't enough to get players that would significantly help this year.
Agreed, A move for a guy like Lance Lynn could/should've been made. The prospect cost wouldn't have been as much as it would've been for a guy like Gray.
Nice to see Forrest get back on track. Are they still having him pitch exclusively from the stretch? Any chance he gets a taste of AA this year?
I can't answer that question with any certainty....just looking generally at the market, it looks like he would have been obtainable without giving up any of the prospects we're all sort of (cautiously, I hope) labeling a "sure thing."
