And even if he can't catch well enough to be a primary catcher, he can still hit well enough that he should not be a complete waste at DH or 1B.
Wasn't Whitney the one who missed all of 20 an 21 due to TS surgery? His current arm soreness could be related to that. Quite honestly his numbers do not appear that good since then. I know he had a decent outing at the end of Spring training against us. Other than what I can find out reading stats I know very little about Whitley as of late.
Literally, he had a sore shoulder so they let him take a couple of days off (it happens). i thought you knew something more.
91.6 MPH? Lance can usually hit 96+ when emptying the tank, losing a few ticks on his FB is about the last thing I want to hear.
Could be something or absolutely nothing. If he's at the 'throwing 25 pitch bullpens' stage, that'd be really really early on in spring training build-up. He's weeks to a month plus away from regular season form. And even then pitchers usually continue to pick up some more juice on their stuff between opening day and the dog days of june/july.
McCullers avg fb velo for his career is 94.8. Being 3 mph under that during a 25 pitch BP while very likely being super duper cautious is probably fine.
I feel like we're going to get a retirement announcement from Brantley soon, he gave it a go, but it's over. Hope I'm wrong.
That would be surprising, although it's certainly a possibility the Astros get very little production from him this season. While I like Brantley generally, I think his signing was the laziest and worst of the FA signings in the off-season given that he was hurt when it was made.
I respectively disagree with it likely being the worst at the time it was made (lazy, sure). It was only $12M. Very low risk signing even if Brantley doesn't recover as it only impacts 1 year and Astros should have resources to adjust if he never plays. Though, I thought it made more sense if it was part of an offseason with a 1B (Abreu or Rizzo) and Contreras to hedge bets a little on Brantley's health/recovery. Right now, I'm guessing Abreu ends up being the worst signing even if he turns things around and Brantley never plays.
Lance hasn't hit 96 in over 2 years. Part of it is likely intentional as he knows his risk of injury goes way up and the flexor tendon that requires surgery will require it sooner. He's become more of a slider/sweeper pitcher now. Usually effective... but if slightly off, World Series game 3's happen. Certainly the front office/ownership factored all of this in when deciding on whether or not to match the offer to JV... and they're still comfortable with Lance being a half-season finesse pitcher. But also wouldn't surprise me if they do go after a bigger name at the deadline (with prospects they don't necessarily have...)
