Game was on last night while I was podcasting. Me "Damn it Andrew- when is Dana going to get rid of Nerris. Espada needs his damn crayons taken away from him" Andrew- "I don't know man- it's bad" Me- " they had to tell that SOB not to run with scissors like every day, didn't they?" I think that in the moment thing covers the Espada experience. Anyone not understanding he is an idiot doesn't understand the reality that bench coaches for a dynasty don't get interviewed for 5 different jobs and passed over every time.
So the absolute reasonably best outcome regarding injured players returning in time for the playoff push: SS Pena 2B Altuve DH Alvarez 3B Correa 1B Walker LF Sanchez C Diaz RF Smith CF Meyers Bench McCormick, Caratini, Dubon, Urias I'm not counting on Paredes returning.
Yeah I guess we could end up with Melton instead of McCormick on the playoff roster because of his speed, as I think Nook alluded to. My head is spinning from all the moving parts. And we're far from settled.
Astros DFA's Neris today. Good of them to let him get his 10, and then dump him.....he gets full pension, but he isn't good enough right now. DD
Latest injury updates: Garcia is starting tomorrow for AAA. That should be his last rehab start, putting him back as soon as Monday. France should make his final rehab start in the next 2-3 days. No guarantee he is added to the big league roster but he should be off the IL next week. Yordan is supposedly taking batting practice and will see live BP this weekend. I’m skeptical of his retirn this season, but as a DH he may not need a rehab stint and so could be back in 2-3 weeks. McCullers will make a rehab start on Friday. So he’ll be back in 3-4 weeks if all goes well but my guess is they are gonna slow play him and he won’t be back this season. Walter threw 20 pitches in a BP on 8/10. I’m skeptical of his return, but under a best case, he’ll go out on rehab in 2 weeks and potentially be back to pitch the last 2 weeks of the season. Meyers is progressing and should go out on rehab in 2-3 weeks, putting him in position to get big league action in September, but there may not be enough time. Hader and Paredes are TBD but I’d bet against either guy being back this season. Dezenzo, Leon, Rodgers, Blanco, and Wesneski are out for the season.
well, if we lose Hader, we are gonna need Dana and the pitching coaches to give Espada some paint by numbers instructions for the pen. In 2017, Hinch gave a masterclass using peacock, Morton and LMJ. Giles imploded and he had to scramble. There is a decent chance we will have arms available who can piggyback or go multiple innings, like peacock and Morton. We are going to need some good decisionmaking on pen usage to make up for Haders absence.
Walter has been out 2 weeks is all right? 3 at the tops? And he’s already throwing bullpens? Any more than 1 rehab start seems like too many. If he’s not ready, fine, whatever, but no reason if he’s ready that he shouldn’t be in houston by 9/1 at the absolute latest.
If you have all the guys back and pitching well Hader isn’t really all that necessary. Brown, Framber and Javier start best of 3. Arrighetti and Walter can take you all the way through the end of the game/to Abreu. best 3 out of 5 with the off days you again typically only need 3 guys. It’s not until the ALCS that you can’t have 2 of a potentially pretty good starting 5 ready to throw somewhere between 4-7 innings out of the pen. I don’t trust Espada to get it right, but it’s really not that hard.
At this point we just see what happens. Fans can be disappointed but at some point injuries are too much and it isn’t anyone’s fault. They will have Javier, Arrighetti and Garcia all back early enough to figure out who can start a playoff series game, who can be a leverage reliever and who is a lost cause for 2025. Adding Walter is a long shot but was told it is more possible than some think. On offense they have added Correa, Pena, Sanchez and Urias recently. Those are all huge adds. When I have asked about Alvarez I get long periods of silence followed with, claims of not knowing. I think he is done for the year. Brown has said that Yordan will play at 80% if he has to. Meyers is a wild card. He has missed a lot of time and who knows. Paredes is supposedly convinced he will be back this season. Hader is up in the air. All of these things don’t have to break the Astros way to win, but it’s a lot of variables - but at this point still avenues to overcome many of the issues.
Yes - while losing Hader would suck, with a little good luck there are routes to still win with guys back from injury leading the way.
McCullers can go work on lowering grocery prices so we aren’t left eating brisket 5 days a week or white rice.
King in the 7th, McCullers/sousa in the 8th/9th, abreu at the highest leverage. I think that’s very doable.
I just don’t understand the whole Yordan thing. No need to be secretive and so cloudy about the whole thing. If he’s not healthy and they’re forcing it, just rule him out for the season. It’s like getting a hot blonde to agree to a date and then she keeps canceling and “rescheduling”. Just let me down easy dude.
