Fills a hole, but he barely pitched last year plus they gave him a player option. I hate those! Still, it’s a good move...
Astros To Sign Jake Odorizzi Odorizzi doesn’t quite fit the Astros’ usual model of pitching acquisition, as he lacks the big spin rates that Houston has often favored in recent years. It could be that the need to replace Valdez put Odorizzi on the team’s radar, and Astros GM James Click is quite familiar with Odorizzi from their time together in the Rays organization. Houston will be gaining a veteran arm who has a track record of eating innings, though Odorizzi did pitch only 13 2/3 frames with the Twins in 2020 due to a series of minor injuries. Blister problems, a ribcage strain, and being struck in the chest by a line drive resulted in three separate injured list stints for Odorizzi, bringing a sour end to what had been a pretty successful tenure in Minnesota. Odorizzi posted a 4.01 ERA and an above-average 24.83K% over 323 1/3 innings in 2018-19, and chose to return to the Twin Cities in 2020 after accepting the team’s $17.8MM qualifying offer. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/03/astros-to-sign-jake-odorizzi.html
In the 2019 ALDS against the Yankees he kept them in the game. Pitched 5 IP, gave up 2 runs, gave up 5 hits, and had 5 K. Twins didn't score a run for him while he was in there. Doesn't have the big spin rate the 'Stros like, but I'm also curious to see what Strom can do with him.
Report: Astros, pitcher Jake Odorizzi agree to 2-year deal Odorizzi owns a 3.92 lifetime ERA and garnered an All-Star selection in 2019 with the Minnesota Twins For 2021, though, Odorizzi projects to provide stability in a rotation without much of it. He threw at least 143 innings in every season from 2014-19. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/te...-Jake-Odorizzi-agree-2-year-deal-16005895.php
Good signing. Decent chance the September/October rotation will be Greinke, Verlander, Odorizzi, McCullers, and Urquidy. That's a pretty solid group. Obviously the $ matters but all in all hard to hate the signing.
My guess is that his AAV with the player option will be <$13M so they'll technically be under the tax this season. Any deadline moves would put them over, but they can adjust for that by including dead money (Verlander) and/or add'l prospects in any future trades to make sure they stay under.
Gotta assume the Odorizzi signing means Framber is done for the year, but if not, even better; Greinke, Verlander, Odorizzi, McCullers, Valdez is a stacked rotation, possibly the best they've had since Oswalt, Pettite, Clemens.
1st Spring training game for him and he broke his finger. Apparently he pitched 1 inning with the injury as well so it was a surprise when the news broke. Needs surgery and could be out for the season. Astros wanted a 2nd opinion but haven't heard anything since.
Crane is not wasting what might be the last year of Bregs/Altuve/Correa, and you can throw in mccullers, Grienke and Verlander too. He knows full well this could be the best chance to win a title in the next five years or more. anybody who has a bad thing to say about crane or this move needs to understand this context.
Still think it’s way more likely Valdez with a broken finger comes back before 8 months than JV does coming back from TJ..and if he does come back early..I think he is in a long relief role. Astros are loaded with options!
