I’ve stopped watching since game 1 of the guardians series. There’s just zero good energy with this team right now. Maybe not zero but every game feels like a loss before it even starts.
Assuming no setbacks... this will look the 2005 with dominant pitching and subpar hitting by month's end. SP1 - Valdez SP2 - Brown SP3 - Arrighetti SP4 - Javier SP5 - Walter Bullpen: Sousa Okert King Abreu Gusto Gordon Ort Hader Depth: Garcia France
I knew they were in trouble before the Guardian series. Cleveland was 0-10 entering the series. Trap series. I watched the game last Sunday. That’s the only game I’ve watched. Nothing better than a good nights sleep not watching this team lose and being frustrated. Just too many injuries to overcome.
The gains in the weeks leading up to the All-Star break have almost been erased the last (3) series. We’re all left to decide which streak is fool’s gold.
We basically have 2 pitchers to count on, right now in Framber and Hunter, our hitters are the walking wounded....we need at least 2 pitchers back from Arrighetti, Javier, Blanco and Garcia - before we need our hitters back. Pena should be back already - he is closest. DD
Gordon is averaging 5 innings per start and has pitched into the 5th inning in every start. McCullers has failed to record more than 10 outs in 4 of his 11 starts. Last night he got THREE swing and misses on 75 pitches. Okert came in and got 7. If you can’t see McCullers is washed, I don’t know what to tell you man.
They both were. The Astros are 6-8 this month which tracks to their talent level considering all the injuries; not abysmal but not a good team. They are lucky in the sense that they have a relatively weak schedule over the next 10 games, playing 3 deadline sellers and 2 of the 5 worst teams in the league. So even though they are dramatically depleted they should be able to win some games. If Houston isn’t going to get all 3 of Pena, Alvarez, and Paredes back before mid-September they are toast imho. They also really could use Arrighetti and Javier back in the rotation in place of McCullers and Gordon.
Astros should release him. He gets his money either way. He’s just not an MLB pitcher anymore. His numbers confirm it.
I am trying to figure out if he is done, or he is still working out the new normal - he doesn't throw the 12-6 curveball that he was known for as much.....and his FB is around 93....he needs to be a breaking ball junk pitcher.....but his control is not good enough to do that....so yeah, he might be washed, give him more time to work it out......and our catchers to learn how to call his game. DD
Nah. Brandon Walter has been badass and Gordon hasn’t been good but has been a fine temporary SP5. It’s McCullers alone who is killing the pitching staff. The Astros are far more desperate for hitting than pitching especially now that Paredes is out.
Like I said last night, if his velocity wasn’t down, I would be willing to give a few more starts to see if he can get back to form. That’s the issue though - his stuff just isn’t good anymore.
He will never have the control to be this type of pitcher…he never had good control before all these injuries so he’s not magically going to find it anytime soon. I’m not sure another team would even give him a MLB contract right now.
What happened to Paredes? I didn’t get to watch the game and am surprised there is no thread on our best player this year being injured.
He was 91-92 on his FB last night. Most of the contact he gave up was hard hit. He was not a viable major league pitcher in any way shape or form last night. He might be able to contribute in the bullpen as a lesser used 2 inning middle reliever if he changes his approach to stop fearing injury and rely on his curveball. His curveball still has elite (93rd percentile) spin and movement. His changeup is good. His fastball and slider are trash; but maybe out of the bullpen he would pick up a tick and at least be usable enough to keep hitters off his curveball and changeup. But at this point I don’t see any path for him to be a viable starting pitcher; you can’t throw 60+ curveballs every 5 days.
Can you imagine giving 4 hours of your life up for a game that ending at 12:30am CDST and losing? Then it takes 1-2 hours to unwind. Knowing the way this team is playing?
