What's the big deal with Emanuel pitching? He had 3 days off and the team has an off day Monday. Now most of the pen is available today. The option to bring someone up was very limited. Like I said, Paredes and Solomon were unavailable. So was Ivey who just threw. So your only choice was Nivaldo Rodriguez who is probably starting today in AAA. Any other pitcher would require a 40 man roster move.....
This is more 2022 focused, but Espada replaces Dusty at the end of the year, right? That's got to be the plan, no? I think Dusty's HOU tenure overall has been a positive one and am not calling for him to be fired, but I hope we hand the keys over to Espada before another team snipes him. Dusty's had his share of questionable calls, but his navigation through the scandal fallout has been on point (which is why he was hired in the first place).
Using Emanuel one extra game isn't going to matter. That said, the Astros bullpen will crater if they keep relying on their better bullpen pitchers all the time because the starters can't go 6, Nivaldo isn't good enough to be trusted with a 6-run lead, they don't use pitchers from the minors, they have an extra position player riding the pine, and Smith hasn't been DFA.
Joe Smith is going to contiune to get opportunities probably up until the trade deadline. Expecting the Astros to DFA him with Baez, Paredes, Taylor, James, and Pruitt all on the IL is not realistic even if he stinks. They need to use him in blowout games until he figures it out or his arm falls off. The 4 million next to his name pretty much guarantees that. Look how long they waited to dump Biagini last year... I expect that IF our bullpen guys get healthy you will see more movement between MLB and AAA with guys like Abreu, Bielak, Garcia, etc.... I have no problem dumping Robel Garcia for another pitcher. Hell, do it today and bring up Paredes. Straw can be an emergency SS... Don't need MR Strikeout on the bench. The bullpen is also getting toasted because no Framber and Odorizzi was terrible and now hurt. Also this is why I wanted to get multiple relievers and another starter in the offseason like Rodon, etc. We are relying on a bunch of pitchers that have never thrown 150 innings in a season outside of Greinke. Framber got hurt, Urquidy is hurt, Odo is hurt.... we are lucky Bielak hasn't been quite as bad as last yeat and Garcia has been solid. We are also holding our breath waiting for McCullers to get hurt like always....
I agree with this. I am just really frustrated with the way the bullpen has been taxed. Having a guy that sucks and doesn't go more than 1 inning using up a roster spot in a 8-man bullpen is not optimal with a rotation that doesn't have many 7+ inning games. Getting better pitchers in pen will help the performance, but it will only change who is getting a lot of stress on their arms as long as he's a dud on the roster. As you mentioned, dumping a position player roster spot would be one way to fix it. Cycling guys in and out of AAA is another.
Playoff pitching staff: Game 1/5: Greinke Game 2/6: McCullers Game 3/7: Verlander as the opener (30 pitches or 2 innings) followed by Javier Game 4: Valdez Multi-inning relief options: Odorizzi, Urquidy, Garcia Single-inning relief options: a lefty (Emanuel, Raley, or Taylor), Paredes, Baez (or TBD trade acquisition), Stanek, Pressly
Looking at the other AL early season contenders, I don't really see how our bullpen is being egregiously taxed.
https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2021/...-rankings-white-sox-dodgers-cardinals-red-sox 5. Houston Astros A common criticism of modern baseball offense is that you don’t see teams manufacturing runs anymore—that it’s all about hitting home runs instead of bunting, and hit-and-runs, and so forth. (Critics often conveniently forget to trace this style of play further back than the early-2000s Athletics, when Earl Weaver was espousing “pitching, defense, and the three-run homer,” but that’s an argument for another time.) The reality is that a modern sequential offense does have those elements—they just look a little different. The Astros won pennants in 2017 and 2019 by stringing hits together. (Though the trash can thing didn’t hurt.) Sure, everyone in the lineup had at least some power, but the strength of those teams was the absence of any easy outs in the batting order. We’re seeing that again in Houston’s lineup this year. Yes, they’d rather have George Springer in center field than Myles Straw, but of the 11 Astros with at least 50 plate appearances this season, eight have a wRC+ of 115 or better, and nine are striking out at or below the league-average rate of 24.1 percent. The result: the best teamwide wRC+ in the game (120), by far the lowest strikeout rate (18.6 percent), and more runs scored per game (5.25) than any other team in the American League.
All in all our rotation has been far, far better than I anticipated at eating innings so far. I was fearing Javier, LMJ, Urquidy and Garcia routinely having 4 inning starts. The starters and our gap man Bielak have combined to throw almost exactly 2/3 of our total innings, and I don't think teams expect more than that in 2021. If we can get Framber, Baez and Odorizzi back this team should have some strong combo options with extra starters.
I don’t remember (or didn’t pay attention to) past players who had season-long injuries. With Verlander away from the team with injury, and his contract ending after this season, I just assumed he was done with the Astros. It’s almost weird to see him tweet a photo of himself in an Astros uniform. That’s how disconnected he seems from the team (to me).
He thinks he may be able to come back as a reliever for the playoffs. One, it's the playoffs and Verlander wants a chance at a ring. Secondly, nothing like showing people he's healthy for his next contract.
Generally speaking, players who are willing to stay will do something like this because there's no downside. Trying to endear yourself to the fans/ownership of your current team can only help come contract time. "I love this place, want to be a whatever for life" Ultimately all parties involved will do what they feel is in their best interest this offseason. If I were a betting man, I think one of the blue bloods will simply be willing to throw more money at him than we will given how big a risk he now is. Unless he really does defy the odds and comes back to dominate in October, he's basically an expensive flyer at his age. A 39 year old coming off TJ surgery is more than a little high risk.
If he's healthy, I think he goes somewhere or stays based on the ability to contend while still getting what he thinks is a fair market contract. If he's not that healthy, I see him staying here on a cheap contract or going back to Detroit. I think we have a 50 percent chance of keeping him if he's serviceable.
I agree with all that, but there are some factors that might make it more possible he comes back to Houston. Verlander had a great relationship with Jim Crane. Strom made him better. He has only pitched for 2 teams and won a ring in Houston. And he may feel (a very slight) sense of loyalty to the Astros for paying him $66M for 1 inning of work. All that on top of the fact that the Astros, as a team with a fairly deep stable of cheap mid/back rotation options and some money coming off the books, may be willing to take more of a risk on a guy like Verlander. What Houston does at CF/SS will have a big impact on their financial flexibility, but it would not shock me at all if Houston were in the mix to sign Verlander this offseason.
If Verlander can pull off his best Smoltz impersonation, he’s still got a chance to be valuable for 2 more years. I see him valuing pitching for a contender that he’s a vital part of... more so than going home or riding the coattails of another super team.
