I agree that Crane wants to win as much as any owner and more than most. I think he won't go through another long term rebuild. 1 down year is all he will tolerate. But that means he would need to bring established above average players into the system rather than wait for draft picks or international signees. And that means 2021-23 drafts and international signees need to hit or else its FA or trades.
You’re referring to 2022, not 2021… and no, they weren’t’ a 6 man staff the entire season. But yes, that certainly did work out well for them and that’s including LMJ pitching injured (but not really telling anybody). Not sure what could have been done differently last year. On the one hand, everybody wanted Javier to rest but didn’t want to see more Blanco or Bielak (and in some cases, didn’t want to see Hunter Brown either). Garcia was pitching really well before the injury and I truly believe they win the WS with him staying healthy… but yes, pitchers get injured and teams that hope to contend either have depth to withstand the injury or they have to make trades to account for them (the latter is what the Astros had to do).
I like a 6 man rotation forcseveral reasons but it has its drawbacks. 1) you always want your best pitchers pitching more often. Imagine giving 5 other pitchers like France and Urquidy the same starts as Framber just to keep a 6 man rotation? Even if Framber has 6 days between starts because of a day off? 2) you have to have 6 healthy starters. 3) it reduces your bullpen, and pitching versatility by one arm. Due to the health, age, and experience of the Astros starters, I would do a modified 6 man rotation. 1) if there is an off day, skip someone so Framber starts on regular rest. 2) keep Verlander (and McCullers when he returns on as routine a schedule as possible. Always pitch them on 5 days or 6 days rest. Never 4 and never 7. 3) piggy back Javier, Brown, Urquidy, and France rather than skipping them, when there is an offday so the bullpen stays fresher. I need to look at the schedule and plot it out but 27 starts each is an equal 6 man rotation but that's only 162 ip @6 innings per start. I think it would be best if: Framber got about 33 Verlander got about 30 Javier got 25 Brown got 25 Urquidy 22 France got 15 McCullers got 12.
A few days ago, Framber was totally replaceable and unnecessary because the goal was just to be good enough to make the playoffs, but now he needs to pitch every possible regular season game even if it comes at the expense of playoff freshness? And to do that, you'd have some crazy and unnecessarily complex rotation? It feels like every decision to make one thing better makes two things worse.
You tend to have to overuse your remaining starters when half of your initial 6-man rotation doesn't make it out of April. What would you have done differently if you were Dusty?
I agree that any team that makes the playoffs "has a chance" But a 110 win team and an 83 win team don't have the same chance when they get there You only have to look to the hometown 9 to prove that out. Who else has made the CS every year? Not teams that are just sneaking in So yes, without Framber if we make the playoffs we would still "have a chance". But wouldn't have the same chance, and the playoffs would be far from a certainty without him. We were on the borderline of playoff teams for most of the year this year even with all the innings he gave us. Don't even want to try to imagine how worn out the pen would have been if we replaced him with someone who rarely went deep into games
I never said Framber was replaceable and unnecessary. Read my posts - I have been consistent that it is nearly impossible for the 2024 Astros to as good without him. It's simply an exercise in what options are there to improve 2026+
To each his own, but it’s a boring offseason. Long and thoughtful posts are nice, as are long and thoughtful podcasts (@Wulaw Horn). Not everything needs to be bite-sized - a massive Snickers is always a welcome treat in the Halloween goodie bag.
Agreed. Don’t always agree, but if I see IdStrosfan post I always read it. Great poster and a gentleman.
Is there any way you could add some graphs? Maybe some of those dash board symbols could replace many of the words you spend like they are Dodgers dollars. I am particularly fond of pictures with circles and arrows and a short paragraph explaining what they are about.
