With Scott gone, this legit might be the best bullpen Houston has had since 2005. 8 guys have an era under 3 (Hader, Abreu, King, Okert, Sousa, Whitley, Dubin, and Ort) and they all have really, really good stuff.
His velo isn’t elite (avg for a lefty RP) but the movement on his sweeper is extremely good and he generates a lot of weak contact. He has not allowed a single barreled ball this year.
Interesting question if everyone (non TJ comeback guys) is healthy, who’s the bullpen? My guess: Hader, Abreu, King, Okert, Souza, Whitley, Dubin. I’ve got Whitley and dubin up bc they don’t have options so other wise you’d lose them. I think Ort has options left and could be sent down, is that right? If not does Souza have any options? that’s a tough call for any of them not to be in the majors.
Sousa has 1 option remaining. Ort does not. Injuries will likely alleviate any roster crunch but Sousa would be optioned if it came to it.
I had it the opposite way from reality. Yeah/ that makes it easier. Starting rotation would be Brown, Framber, Arrighetti, blanco and LMJ with Gusto as the swing man. Gusto goes down when one of Javier or Garcia come back. Literally if they both came back and everyone was healthy you’d have literally nobody to send down that had options that hadn’t been playing really really well. Wouldn’t imagine that happens, but boy would that be something. Deepest astros staff ever? 22 was stupid deep as well I guess.
putting LMJr in the bullpen as a specialist isn’t a far fetched idea… i think he should be pitching out of the bullpen after a 2-3 inning “opener” on BP days… he could go 3-4-5 innings. Just wish they would strategize pitching matchups and leverage a little better.
Good news is when everyone in the bullpen is good and nasty leverage isn’t all that important. Tonight 4.2, 1 hit (ball that hit 2B and would have been an out) 0 runs, 2 BB’s 7 k’s. Easy peasy.
