Good to see. So, Javier starting... coming off an injury, off an injury. that came off another injury -- and was never really a starter to begin with. His pitch limit should be 75 basically hereafter AND five days rest. He might peak more (not much) at some point but he's going to struggle to ever achieve wins again with 5 IP -- or, not without the next 'coming off injury" soon to follow. Still can't believe the carelessness management showed in '23 pitching him start after start when he was clearly struggling, clearly throwing the most pitches of his professional life within 12-month, and after just signing the contract same offseason. THAT led to the FIRST coming off injury.
With how prone to injuries pitchers are and just how the games seem to be consistently playing out, I’d like to see Houston go to a 6-4-3 pitching staff, with: 6 traditional starters expected to pitch 5+ innings each start: Brown, Imai, Lambert, Arrighetti, Javier, Burrows; if Burrows doesn’t show he’s improved the. McCullers can get another shot, otherwise I don’t see room for McCullers on this roster 4 “bulk relievers” essentially stretched out as starters with at least one available to throw 2-4 innings every game: Teng, Blubaugh, Okert, Blanco 3 traditional single inning leverage RP: Hader, King, Abreu/De Los Santos; Ullola might be able to claim that 3rd spot, Pearson’s and De Los Santos’s days might be numbered, although Pearson might be able to be a bulk RP. Jason Alexander is the pretty obvious DFA choice when Javier comes back, with one of the optionable RP or Burrows gettin sent to AAA. Not as clear who will be cut from the 40 man to make room for Blanco. Wouldn’t shock me if one of De Los Santos, Abreu, or Pearson was traded in a minor deal to make room.
I’ve been saying forever that only your two best starters should be “starters”. There should be 8 tandem guys and 3 leverage relievers. you should expect to get through 1/2 the games with just the two tandem guys at least. The only thing is if you did that you’d literally have to give the 2 tandem guys 90 or 100 pitches regardless of game outcome. Which is fine 30% of games are locked in losses where none of the decisions really matter. You just have to let it play out that way.
With our roster, I completely agree. U fortunately, we have a manager who needs a plug and play approach. Espada would chase innings and wins where he shouldn’t. I guess I should be happy that we aren’t seeing Hader with 4 run leads yet.
Slow Joe gotta go. He brings no upside. Hes also dumb. But yeah this team would be perfect for it: Brown and Imai- starters 4 tandom starts/ Lambert/javier Burrows/blubaugh Blanco/teng Arrighetti/ullola Hader/okert/santa. you couldn’t go Hader/king/okert and be all left handed with your three leverage guys. I really like Santa. I feel like you could trade king for a lot. You could get a lotto ticket for Abreu and get out of his salary. Use the salary flexibility and talent you get from selling on king to go get a thumper. Any position you want- just literally best bat you can get. If it’s an OF great. If it’s an IF tell Yordan to get a glove and play out there 50% of the time. I realize there is zero way any of this happens. It’s just what I’d personally do.
I would trade my dog if I got the right return. Yeah/ I’d feel like my overall org would be better if I went with 10 starters/tandem guys, 3 leverage relievers and whatever I could get in talent for king and salary relief for Abreu in a trade as opposed to this right here. as I said- theses not the slightest chance this would happen, it I feel like it should. Also/ you might find this kind of set up would be helpful to pitchers. Always 5 or 6 days rest. Always 80-100 pitches and if the team is getting clowned those pitches wouldn’t be max effort every time out. It would be interesting to see it happen.
This works great on a spreadsheet. It falls apart in the real world as soon as one of your starters goes 1 inning and gets blown up or a starter gets injured early in the game or any of 100 other scenarios where things don't play out as designed. There's a very good reason teams don't try this.
I think it's ironic that we are second worse in the American league in runs against and middle of the pack in runs scored. I'm more worried about our offense than our pitching and defense.
Another thing to consider is in most cases tandem guys need to start clean innings. So you will need a designated fireman to come in with runners on in mid-inning. This plan just leaves too few options for real life situations. I like the tandem idea if there was a 15 pitcher roster.
I don’t think King would fetch the return you’re talking about here. Teams aren’t stupid. They will see his 6.94 K/9 and 3.60 BB/9 this season and know that 2.31 ERA he has right now isn’t sustainable.
Abreu's contract is not crazy. I would rather see if he can figure it out rather than dump him. He is that right handed arm that you mentioned if he can steady the ship. And there have been small signs it could happen. Getting rid of the bright yellow belt has helped lol.
Our defense is very good now . If we had Correa it would be spectacular. Paredes is truly OK at 3b , he has to make difficult plays because his speed isn't too notch , but he makes them . Pena is a stud . Walker a stud . Altuve is meh , but Allen if healthy will be good . OF is all pretty damn good . Smith and Mathews in the corners are doing wonders preventing runs . Jake /trammel / fido are also good . Taylor and Jake keeping each other fresh is a nice option . Diaz and Vasquez are probably around average. Having the ability to platoon should theoretically make them fresher .
I think Matthews/Meyers/Smith is the best defensive outfield in baseball. Shame they can’t hit more consistently.
The offense is still heavily inflated due to the hot offensive start we had the first 2 weeks. Our offense has been as putrid as it feels since mid April. The pitching has been significantly more competitive since the beginning of May when we started to get decent starts.
