Look - I said in in the middle of April before all the injuries, and it still remains true even now.... the Astros pitching, for the purposes of playoff series is uber elite. They have two legitimate aces, they have an exceptional and deep bullpen and they also have guys that can plug holes in a playoff series.... The issue is going to be hitting and possibly some with the glove. They need at least one more quality bat, ideally one very good one and one good one - and if the price is decent, an inning eater would be nice. Add someone like Ozuna and Lux would give the Astros a very good line up. Pena Lux Alvarez Paredes Ozuna Walker Altuve Diaz Meyers The defense in the outfield will be sketchy - but they can sub in Cam or Melton when necessary. Good luck to pitchers running the gauntlet in the middle of the line up: Yordan/Paredes/Ozuna/Walker/Altuve/Diaz
QFT... we saw this last year against Detroit. Margin of error is so small when you are going up against the other team's ace(s) as well in the post season. The offense went 2005 Astros and they got bounced.
I'd love Ozuna's bat in the lineup but he hasn't played the OF in years now. Just don't see them making that move. They would also have to send Cam down if they were to do this.
Yordan would have to play the field in the playoffs... if they want both Ozuna and Alvarez in the line up together. They could try splitting them up in the regular season, or take them out early with a lead --- my concern was mostly for the purposes of the playoffs.
Sometimes, you just need to get the best player, not necessarily the best fit. But if I were the Astros I would look at other options first. With the top 2 SP bring extreme ground ball pitchers, Altuve does not need to be playing 2b with them on the mound.
Yeah, the identity of this team is pitching and defense so I understand the logic here. That said, they do need a bat and I'm not sure there is going to be a 2B on the market that meets the criteria - there's a good chance OF is the only chance for an upgrade.
We don't know any of this I would have rather taken my chances with the best pitcher in MLB on 2 days rest than run Harris out there for the 5th time in 6 days and Hinch even said before the game that Harris was running on fumes. Doing some Monday morning QB'ing Hinch would've been better off leaving Greinke in rather than using a worn out Harris. I said at the time Cole should've been pitching instead of Harris because of what happened in 2015 and the fact that Harris had pitched 5 times in 6 days. I feel really sorry for Harris because Hinch put him in that situation to begin with. But hey, Hinch came out smelling like a rose. Harris not so much.
I've thought about this as much as anyone and had plenty of moments when I wake up crying at night and scream out his name, and I have to say I think anyone who has a strong opinion on the matter, one way or another, is just flat out wrong. Greinke was cruising so you just couldn't have pulled him. Then they started to hit him a little bit so you can roll the dice or let him finish it off/finish the inning. Whatever- that's a coin flip. That was Will Harris job- he did it all season and did it really well. He didn't do it poorly imo against Washington- he just got beat on a pitch in a place he never got beat. Cole was allegedly ready to go, but he was on 2 days rest and thats dicey. Also- they said before hand he would only come in with a clean inning to start as he'd never been a reliever before. JV was more deserving of the Cy Young that year but Cole was the best pitcher. That situation, outside of Madbum, just hasn't worked a lot in baseball- and even MadBum, I think, came in to a clean inning. There wasn't a right or wrong answer there. Everyone in the org sat down and talked through it before the game and they decided on the rules for Cole and Hinch decided not to violate those. Then, it just becomes about leaving Greinke in or pulling him and replacing him with Harris. That, to me, made sense as Greinke was clearly past his prime, he was basically a two times through the rotation guy at that point, and was on fumes. Could he have gotten out of the inning? Sure, but it's not like Will Harris threw a bad pitch or missed his spot, or even messed around with a really good hitter- that dude was basically a spare and he'd never hit a ball like that out of the park before or since- sometimes baseball happens. Hinch was a collaborative and process guy, which worked really well with a brilliant front office- and that's what Game 7 was about. I'd gladly let him manage my team every day of the week and twice on Sunday- he didn't make a mistake- there wasn't really a mistake to be made as you had 3 pretty equal options and any of them were probably equally likely to work or backfire. Sucks that his roll of the dice came up snake eyes that day.
The Astros really need to upgrade 2B if Jose Altuve is a Part Time 2B Brendan Rodgers/ Mauricio Dubon.
Greinke wasn't starting to get hit, Rendon hit a homerun on a good pitch and the umpire missed a pitch on Soto or Kendrick would've never gotten a chance to hit that homerun. Pitching Harris 5 times in 6 days when Hinch obviously was worn out was by far the worst option and I said so at the time. So this isn't a case of Monday morning QB'ing.
Add a bat, get Yordan back, play Diaz regularly and hopefully Walker gets going and this doesn't just have to be a pitching and defense team. Even if three of those four things happen.
