I'm sure that's their hope.... do pray tell what moves the Astros are going to make this offseason, Rangers announcers!
Looking at the box score it looks like McCullers struggled with his control. He isn’t at all the same pitcher on the road and that will hurt the Astros all season.
In the post season you can get away with it though, like 2017 or even last year. Valdez comes back = Greinke, Valdez, Lance and Urquidy. You have Javier, Luis Garcia and Pressly with a prayer that one of these scrubs can be of service every other game or so. My main concern is getting to the post season.
In all seriousness, Dusty decided to start burning relievers in the ****ing 6th inning. Only because LMJ has the worst case of road jitters in the history of the game.... and before you exclaim “hyperbole”, his splits are getting more and more ridiculous by the minute. Home Lance is a HOFer. Road Lance wouldn’t have lasted 5 years in the big leagues, let alone receiving a 5 year extension for decent money. It’s mental. The Astros should invest in top notch psychological counseling to help him. At this point, they are literally relying that Framber/Odorizzi will not only come back but be able to pitch effectively for 6+ as Garcia will be the first out of the pen every 3rd day. I’m not yet conceding Javier to the pen solely because Urquiddy needs to get back and go through the whole process again of initiating the great experiment of throwing strikes on every pitch and daring MLB hitters to actually try to beat the shift or simply get a hit and not hit a HR (the secret solution to the 3 outcomes that apparently hitters can’t commit to). Ah well, rant over... Astros will be fine as their lineup still rolls out of bed elite, there are just enough bad teams, and still a weak-ass division to ensure post-season again where none of this bullpen **** really matters.
There’s no way the window closes anytime soon. Astros payroll sitting at 91 million next year (currently at 186 million) with two FA’s they need to re-sign (Correa and JV or Grienke) Give Gurriel, Pressly their options. Pay a few guys like Valdez, Pruitt, Stanek arbitration they should have 60-70 mil to spend to reach where payroll has been at year to year. And that’s staying under the tax (with an owner who doesn’t mind getting into it) Correa 20-25 mil JV or Grienke <12 mil Top Closer <12 mil Top Setup Man <7 mil We have tremendous upgrades coming soon through the minors at catcher and CF.
Correa isn’t staying for 20. And the Astros aren’t giving him the 10 year (at least 25 million per)deal he wants.
