I think, health willing, Valdez, Garcia, LMJ, Greinke, Odorizzi, Javier, Urquidy, Pressly, and one other guy will pitch most of the playoff innings. That other guy could be Baez. It could be Taylor, Stanek, Abreu, Raley, or Brown. I think the Astros try to get one more good/great pitcher and one decent/good pitcher that will fight Baez, Taylor, Stanek, et al. for the scraps in the playoffs.
Maybe not a strength but definitely not a weakness. Pressly, Javier, and Raley have been excellent. Stanek and Taylor have been decent. Baez, Pruitt, and James represent internal upgrades en route. But I think Joes point was that of those guys in your graphic, only the top 3-4 would pitch in any meaningful situation in the playoffs, since fewer starters are needed and arms are less coddled. So any trade is about upgrading from Stanek or Taylor. Guys like Bielak, Abreu, and Smith are highly unlikely to pitch in any kind of tight game even if Houston doesn’t add anybody.
The Astros need 3 starters for the playoffs. That leaves three starters (about 30% above average in ERA+, probably more in relief), Pressly (224% above average), and Javier (49% above average) as a 5-man bullpen.
Mainly this, but I'm even doubtful that Stanek and Taylor will be able to fight off internal options for more than scraps in the playoffs unless a starter gets hurt. I even like Taylor and his sub-3 career ERA.
Can Brantley wear his Indians jersey? I don't usually pay attention to a lot of splits (e.g., Road McCullers, Yuli's disappearing and reappearing reverse splits), but that is a very skewed split he has going against Houston.
They aren't rotating just 3 starters. They ran 5 starters last year (weird schedule) and 4 in the previous years. A guy like Javier is unproven as a short relief option - he's been good in long relief but just penciling him in as setup might be unrealistic. We've run into problems in the postseason, like in 2019, running the few proven relief pitchers we had into the ground. Pressly is your one proven short reliever, and we need him to close games. Someone needs to be able to come in with men on base and get us out of jams, and/or bridge an inning or two to setup the closer. I don't trust Odorizzi to fill a role like that when he's never done it before. Biggest need imo are a couple of stable arms to fill those setup roles.
I would think that odorizzi as a veteran and higher paid player would keep his rotation spot for sure.
I will always have flashbacks to us using Will Harris (County) too much in 2019. I think he pitched in every WS game? Even though he made a good pitch to Kendrick...we’re going to need BP arms, or at least not overuse them in the playoffs, which is damn near impossible. Rather than relying on Garcia or Odo, I’d love to add another High leverage BP arm if possible since it’s so hard not to overuse these guys in the playoffs.
Yes, they will have 4-5 starters in the playoffs, but 1-2 of those guys will have more appearance from the pen. On starters as relief, the Astros have done it 4 straight postseasons with great success from LMJ, CFM, Peacock, McHugh, Urquidy, and Verlander as relievers while the Yankees and their great proven relievers....not so much.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/07/rockies-trade-rumors-trevor-story-market.html Would not be surprised if Houston was the team asking about Story as a CF. With Straw available as a late inning defensive replacement when Houston has a lead, it wouldn’t be a big deal to acquire a guy with tools but no experience to play CF to get his bat in the lineup.
Trade for him as the CF. Hope he likes it in Houston. Sign him as a potential Correa replacement? Has he played CF in his baseball career(like minors or college)? If not, how hard is it to from SS to CF?
I don’t think he has played any CF. I do not know how hard it is, but my guess is that any good athlete (fast runner, strong arm) can pretty easily be below average, but being a good defensive CF requires being able to judge fly balls, which probably takes time to learn.
Can't be any harder than moving from second to CF, right? I thought they generally put the best athletes at SS and CF - even at the collegiate level.
IMO if that is the case then it was stupid to not give up the peanuts Tampa gave up (their 14th best prospect was the headliner) for Nelson Cruz, who is a way better hitter than Story, and put Alvarez in LF...a position he has actually played recently at a high level unlike Story and CF.
